[Jalek Moye]

In ancient times most of the population of China consisted of peasants. The people would work in
the fields all day until sunset, and then return to their homes to rest. Some would gather together and
listen to the stories of their elders, while others would go and enjoy the cool night air after the heat
of the day. Since the people enjoyed the refreshing nights more than the stifling days, they preferred
the moon to the sun; that is why the Chinese calendar follows the moon -it is a lunar calendar, as
opposed to the West's solar calendar.

Out in the moonlight, the weary peasants could wind down and relax. And it was then that they
became aware of something moving around inside their bodies -something that felt a little like
steam. This steam could move up or down, and in different places such as the legs or arms; it also
seemed to be related to their breathing and to the mind. The people noted all these various feelings
and eventually discovered that each person had a centre, just below the navel, which made the rest of
the body warm and strong. They called this centre 'Dantien'.
With continued observation they found that the flow of the steam could make the body warm and
was related to the spirit -spirit in the sense of a feeling of wellbeing rather than in the religious sense
of the word. Gradually they discovered a network of channels crossing the body, linking the internal
organs. Distributed along these channels were certain points which affected the way the steam
flowed through the body. Thus energy (Qi) and the system of acupuncture points and channels were
discovered, and people found that touching and massaging the points could heal a variety of
problems.
Movement and breathing of various kinds to create heat were thus perceived as ways of healing
physical ailments from very early times, long before the formulation of medicines. Throughout the
centuries Chinese sages and philosophers have written of the beneficial effects of this treatment.
The Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine, an ancient text of 722-721 BC which is known
in Chinese as the Huangdi Neijing, contains the following passage:
“People live in the centre [of China, along the Yellow River]. The area is damp, therefore
suffering from tiredness, depression and hot and cold illness [similar to today's ME -myalgic
encephalomyelitis or post-viral syndrome] is common. The curing method is Daoyin [breathing
techniques] and Angiao [stretching].”
Even earlier than this, about four thousand years ago, the people of this region are known to have
danced to rid themselves of damp and arthritis. Dancing made them hot, and the heat expelled the
damp and poison from their veins and joints.
The movements and breathing patterns of animals were also regarded as valuable examples to
follow. In his book Chunway Chu, written around 600 BC and dealing with the subject of breathing,
Zhuang Zi said: 'Breathing techniques can improve metabolism; moving like a bear and a bird will
result in longevity.'