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FENG SHUI
1
Rising to the clouds
It is a clear autumn morning during my early youth. The trees are starting to turn yellow
and red. The air is pungent with fall smells.
I decide to skip school.
As usual, I race to the top of a nearby mountain to pay homage to my favorite wok-shaped rock.
Massive in size, this rock lies in the middle of an even larger stadium-shaped hollow cut in
along the side of a hill. A stream runs nearby, and a slight wind rustles the leaves.
I sit here for some time admiring the rock and the beauties of the steep-sided gorges and
hills that surround it. The sun is high in the sky, and the air is wonderfully clear. I glance upward
at the procession of clouds marching across the turquoise-blue sky. I watch for many minutes,
spellbound, observing as the ever-changing animal forms in the clouds meld one into another.
Theres a giant musk ox. Theres a falcon. Theres a two-headed horse.
Then, suddenly, without warning, I feel a curious lightness.
The next moment I am leaving my body entirely and rising to the sky. A moment later I
am literally floating with the clouds, dancing between them, changing shapes with them,
blending with the rhythm of all creation.
So strange and sublime is this feeling that I lose all awareness of time and space,
merging into a sense of oneness with my surroundings. I look around and see leaves flying
through the air without motion. I listen, and hear water running without sound. I sense the rocks
and ravines, the water slopes, the flapping birds, the wild grasses, as it were, from the inside,
from the essential center. The more I gaze the more I can see that the earth is an entirely
different place than my ordinary senses tell me it is. I understand for a precious moment that
everything, all of abounding nature, is constantly being created, then recreated every second,
every millisecond, in one unimaginably vast orgasmic dance.
Looking back on this event many years later, I realize I was undergoing a moment, as the
Buddhists call it, of seeing into, a kind of mystical absorption. As a young daydreamer, I was
prone to these sudden and mysterious experiences, why, I did not know. I often found myself
wondering what was happening to me, and what I was really doing here on this planet.
Today I understand that these moments of heightened consciousness I experienced as a
youth were the beginning of a quest that all of us must someday set out on - a quest to
understand how the symphony of existence is orchestrated, and how the visible and invisible
realms of nature work together to produce the astonishing world that surrounds us.
3
Across the harbor from our home was another landmark, Kowloon Peninsula, its name in
Chinese meaning nine dragons. This signified more good Feng Shui for all of us my father
said.
Nine dragons?
Good Feng Shui?
5
sound and vibration of a name has enormous power, and that people must choose the names they
give to things with great cleverness and care.
Now Bruces Lees name, it turns out, in Chinese means literally little Dragon. Since
Lee lived in an area of Hong Kong dominated by the far stronger Nine Dragons of myth, these
creatures, Feng Shui experts believe, slowly weakened the lone little dragons inner powers, and
ultimately contributed to his premature death.
7
disappearance, here one minute and then plain air: It was an excellent subject for meditating on
the Buddhist notion of the impermanence of all things.
Sometimes too when I stood in our front yard with my father looking down at this airport
he would say something to me he had told me many times: that my fate was different from the
fate of my brothers and sisters, that someday I would leave China and travel far away to a
foreign land, that I would blossom there, and not return back home for many, many years.
And so it was.
9
New Territories, was not developed. Many grave sites dotted the hillsites, and on a good
day I could spot and study five or six of them.
Like myself, Wong wondered why these families went to such great lengths to preserve
their dead relatives. Why take all the trouble? We love and cherish our departed relatives,
certainly. But no matter how honored, deceased family members are, after all, gone from this
earth forever, and no longer play a part in the world of the living.
Or do they?
As with many of the supposedly nave practices found in ancient cultures, things are not always
what they seem. Beneath the surface of practices that appear as pure superstition to outsiders
often lurks a remarkably sophisticated, if somewhat esoteric, form of science.
The veneration of ancestors, for example, is one of the most esoteric of all oriental
practices, and one of the least understood. In one sense, this ritual is not so far from Christian
beliefs in the immortality of the soul, and in the power of prayer to influence family members
long since passed away. Oriental people, however, take the idea of the immortal soul several
steps further, believing that the actual physical remains of deceased men and women stay
sympathetically tuned to the flesh and blood of their living descendants. Given the right
circumstances, this connection can be used as a kind of communication device, much in the way
we use a telephone or TV.
Let us assume for the sake of analogy that every family possesses its own distinct
biological frequency; its own individual telephone number assigned to it by nature.
This frequency is determined by the biological materials a family shares in common as
part of its similar genetic inheritance blood, minerals, metals, genes, the crystalline pattern
structures in the bones, the very DNA.
These materials have their own unique electrical charge or signals which, under the right
circumstances, can be transferred across our planets electromagnetic field like any electronic
message. Since all members of a family are tuned to the same channel (or share the same
telephone number), and since there is a kind of mutual magnetic attraction between the physical
materials they all share, if properly tuned, family members, both the living and the dead, are
capable of serving as electronic sending-and-receiving stations for one another. Relatives can, in
this sense, broadcast psychic information back and forth between themselves on their own
private genetic network.
But theres a catch: All the necessary communication components must be properly set
up and in sync if this transmission is to take place. That is, the mausoleum must be housed in the
proper location. It must face the right direction. It must be composed of the correct materials.
And so forth.
These elements, in short, must be adapted to fit the specific Feng Shui of the family in
question. Just as you and I have different phone numbers, so our family history also differs, with
its unique combination of biological variables. My family cannot receive your familys signals;
your family cannot receive mine. The fit must be exactly right to work properly.
Theres another catch too.
If all the necessary components are all in place for broadcast, let us say, but are
improperly arranged, transmission will take place, yes. But it will become jumbled. Or worse, it
will become short-circuited, possibly even electrocuting those in the vicinity. A poorly
designed tomb is often more dangerous to surviving ancestors than no tomb at all.
11
Shui direction, the tomb helps aim and send the electric output from the bones crystal structure
to all family descendents, and genetic messages can then be accurately sent from the grave.
Along with the positive signals broadcast by an ancestors remains, moreover, preserved
bones serve as receiving stations for higher energies sent to our planet every microsecond from
the cosmos - from the sun, moon, planets, and stars.
These forces were absorbed into our ancestors bones during their own life times, and
now, while in their resting place, they continue to be absorbed over the years. If circumstances
are right, and if the tomb is properly aligned, these positive forces can be deflected toward
descendants.
Ancestral remains, in this sense, are both a safe deposit box for the etheric traces of
family genetics, and an antenna for receiving and broadcasting higher energies from the
universe.
A second important consideration in tomb building is the placement and structure of the
structure itself
To begin, the tomb should be constructed so that it opens out onto a broad,
unencumbered view. If a body of water is located somewhere in this vista, all the better.
A large mound of earth or even a mountain is then situated at the back of the tomb for
support, while gentle hills on either side of the mausoleum grant further protection. Tomb
materials are usually made of earth and stone, sometimes very ornate stone with ingenious
decorations, religious carvings, and meaningful inscriptions.
In one of her essays on Feng Shui, Eva Wong tells a remarkable story demonstrating just
how powerful the influence of a burial site can be on all of human history.
Tutored by her venerable granduncle for several years in the practice of Feng Shui, this
old man one day decides to see how much his young pupil has learned.
Hiking together into the Hong Kong wilderness, they make their way to a grave site
located in an especially picturesque part of the forest. Wongs uncle tells his niece to study the
tomb, and to analyze the effect the structure should have on its descendants,
The grave turns out to be over 100 years old, and the many inscriptions on its headstone
are almost obliterated. Using her Feng Shui compass, the lopan more on this later Wong
takes bearings and examines the landscape surrounding the tomb.
In front she sees a large, cleared area with waterfalls in the distance running down slopes
and into pools directly below the grave. Here is the water and open space called for by the
masters. Very good so far.
On the left of the tomb is a large green hill inlaid with rocks, and resembling the shape of
a dragon. Also excellent. To the right sits a smaller hill topped with granite outcroppings
polished white by wind and rain.
Green dragon on the right hill, smaller white tiger on the left - the perfect blueprint for a
successful tomb. (This same arrangement, you will recall, graced my familys home overlooking
the harbor in Hong Kong.)
Continuing to examine the area, Wong finds that the land behind the tomb is backed by
a large vertical rock wall beautifully lined with green moss. It was as if the grave were cradled
between the arms of a chair, she writes. And this was no ordinary chair, for it resembled the
seat of an emperor as I had seen its pictures of the Imperial Palace in Beijing.
Putting all the evidence together, Wong realizes that this site is no ordinary tomb. When
I matched the calculation for the site with the surrounding landform, my mouth dropped open in
disbelief. The grave in front of me was a king-maker site. In other words, a descendant of the
person buried in that grave was destined to be a king, or have the status of one.
And yet, Wong notes, China had not had an Emperor since the Ching Dynasty was
deposed in the early 20th century.
Puzzled, Wong nonetheless relates her findings to her uncle, announcing that whatever
the case may be, this tomb bears the marks of a royal generation.
Her uncle agrees his grandniece has passed the test.
He then calmly informs her that this tomb holds the remains of the mother of SunYat-
sen, the famous revolutionary leader who in the early 20th century established the first modern
republic in China. Sun Yat-sen never became the emperor of China Wong explains, although
he could have if he had wanted to. Yet he is honored as the Father of the Republic of China,
and remains the most respected figure in Chinese history.
Direction, then, and placement, are critically important Feng Shui concerns when
designing a tomb. But there are other considerations as well, especially the environmental
temperament of the area itself.
13
Weather conditions, for example.
Rain, lightening, thunder, snow, high winds, sudden storms, all have a profound effect
on the electric charge surrounding a burial site, and all must be factored into the Feng Shui
equation. If the site is located in a place that cannot process these weather conditions in a way
that makes good Feng Shui, a kind of electrical interference results, just as interference occurs
on a cell phone or TV, and reception is quickly blocked.
This interference then exerts a direct effect on the nervous system of all family
descendants, and causes subtle but real chemical changes to take place. Eventually many aspects
of the descendants lives such as health, education, business success, personal relationships, and
day-to-day good fortune, become negatively modified.
If, on the other hand, the directional Feng Shui of a tomb is properly balanced, and a
harmonic convergence of genetic forces takes place, the tombs energetic output becomes
positive, and benevolent effects are broadcast to descendants. Health improves as a result, minds
sharpen, and luck run smoothly and on a steady course.
In our society when things go wrong, we turn inward for reasons. Am I depressed? Am
I neurotic? The Chinese, on the other hand, look around at the world. Is my Feng Shui bad? they
ask.
15
On the site of this landfill were now erected office buildings, highways, an enormous
convention center. Much of the great open Kowloon Harbor, the same Feng Shui ball that the
nine dragons had chased for time immemorial, the very Pearl of the Orient itself, was sliced up
and reengineered into a long, straight, narrow canal.
What did all these topographical changes mean for the city itself? What happens when
you disturb the delicate balance of a citys chi? Remember, in Feng Shui water is a symbol of
money and good fortune. Change the shape of a body of water, and you alter its symbolism as
well.
So consider: The harbor is dug up, narrowed, and sliced into strips. These excavations
expose the currents in the harbor to stronger winds, and cause the water to flow more quickly
out the new canal and into the sea.
Strong winds and swift waters carry good chi away. And with this chi, symbolically
speaking, goes much of the citys capital resources and good luck. Like flushing money down
the toilet, one Feng Shui master describes it.
And so, at the end of the 20th century the magic began to leave Hong Kong.
But theres another force at work too in all this symbolism.
My father frequently spoke of Hong Kong as representing the black spot on the white
side of the yin-yang circle.
This makes the city, symbolically speaking, the center of all yang activity in the area. My
father went this concept one further too though, comparing Hong Kongs geographic position as
outlet into the sea with the shape of the male phallus.
The male genitals are the organ that releases life-giving energy into the world hence
Hong Kong is a leader in shipping and commerce and trade. The genitals are also the center of
regeneration, and the repository of the life force. And in Chinese medical theory, the male
orgasm is a means of ridding the body of chemical and psychic toxins.
But what becomes of this fertile symbolism when modern technology truncates the
landscape?
In the case of Hong Kong it causes the symbolic phallus at the tip of Hong Kong to
disappear, draining the area of its life force. This act of geographic castration, in turn, produces
negative Feng Shui affects all across the area, and ultimately leads to its atrophy and paralysis.
Indeed, since Communist China took over Hong Kong and excavated the harbor, the citys
financial fortunes have plummeted, Fortune Five Hundred companies have pulled out of town
along with many of the financial elite while crime, pornography, AIDS, and other woes of the
times have arrived to fill the vacuum.
Moral: if you have a recipe for success, dont tamper with it. Let it be. There is a famous
Chinese proverb that when reduced to its essential message echoes the wise and apt American
proverb which tells us if it aint broke, dont fix it.
If it aint broke, dont fix it. Number one rule of Feng Shui.
17
From a traditional Chinese standpoint the idea that human beings are separate from the rest of
nature, and that we can use nature in any way we wish for our own pleasure, is a strange
philosophy indeed.
Yes, it is possible to get what we want in life, the Chinese sages believe. And yes, we are
masters of our fate. But only in a certain way.
What way?
First, people must stop thinking of themselves as individual units separate from the rest
of creation, and realize they are all as much a part of the natural world as any rock and tree.
This, the Chinese sages say, is the first prerequisite. People are not controllers of nature, they
are participants in it, Taoism insists, threads in a tapestry that was woven at the beginning of
time, and that extends infinitely into the future and infinitely into the past, with a grand design
that is known only to the Infinite that which the sages call the Tao. When people are born and
when they die they are merely ripples in the movement of this Tao. Wind creates ripples on
water, it does not change the waters properties. Transitions through different stages of life and
death do not change the Tao. The Tao is eternal.
Second, the sages tell us people must realize there are immutable laws, both physical and
spiritual, that govern creation, and that all of us are subject to these laws.
Finally, people must learn to cooperate with these laws, and live in harmony with them.
If people achieve these goals, the sages tell us, they will be in tune with the Tao. Then
they will live happy, prosperous lives.
If they oppose these laws they will be unhappy, sick, miserable, and out of tune. Its like
rowing in a fast-moving river. If you row your boat upstream against the current an enormous
amount of effort is required, you will move at a snails pace, and sometimes you will capsize.
But float downstream with the current and you will be swept along, effortlessly reaching your
goal. The river does all the work for you as long as you cooperate with it. The same is true for
the Tao.
19
environment - heat, cold, light, temperature, magnetism, electricity. They shape our soil, our
weather, our atmosphere. More importantly, they are the stuff of our own bodies and minds. We
cannot escape them.
Once in the dead of winter I was driving along a highway with my mother-in-law,
heading in a westerly direction. As we drove, I explained why in Feng Shui during the cold
months we are advised to face a southerly direction during much of the day.
But thats just superstition, she insisted. And anyway, modern science has invented
heat and air conditioning. Why do we need Feng Shui?
At that moment I noticed several large rock cliffs facing us on both sides of the highway.
I told her to look at these cliffs carefully. The sides facing south appeared to be dry and
sunny. They even had traces of vegetation growing on them, though it was the middle of winter.
The sides facing north were sheer walls of ice.
The condition of the human body is something similar to this, I told her. No matter how
high we turn the thermostat, if we stay mostly in the north side of our living space during winter
time, the blood and fluids in our bodies stagnate like ice. Why? Because the laws of nature are
the same for everyone and everything- for a rock cliff or for a human being. This is not
superstition, I assured her, just good common sense. Good Feng Shui.
21
magnetism have on their emotions. They do not arrange the living space in their houses or
apartments in harmony with the sun, moon, and four directions; and they suffer accordingly.
With advances in technology, scientists have come up with a variety of artificial devices
that make our lives easier, but which literally poison us and make us sick. Electromagnetic
waves and chemical emissions bombard on all sides of our cozy homes- the gas stove, the TV,
the electric alarm clock by our bed, the cell phone next to our brain - the refrigerator, radio,
microwave oven, computer, FAX machine, stereo on and on.
Most homes now come equipped with these labor saving devices, and we take them for
granted. The results? We live in a kind of chemical and radioactive waste dump that kills us be
degrees. I myself have seen innumerable instances of polluted household environments making
people sick.
On a Saturday afternoon, for example, I received an interesting call.
One of my patients, a famous singer, was feeling dizzy and disoriented. Her boyfriend
explained to me that she was booked for 12 appearances at major theaters across the country,
and that she had barely made it through her first performance. At times the singer had trouble
simply standing up. And there were 11 more shows to go. Her worst fear was that she might
collapse on stage in the middle of a show.
Could I help?
I went to her loft immediately. When I arrived she was lying on a living room couch
feeling sick and dizzy. I questioned her, examined her pulses, and took a history.
I have these fainting spells, she explained. They come on suddenly. I never know
when theyre going to strike, and knock me galley-west.
Where do they happen most? I asked.
She thought for a moment. Well, I guess here in my loft. In New York
Had she visited any specialists? I wanted to know.
Ive been to doctors all around the world, she answered. Theyve given me brain
scans, Catscans, MRIs, you name it. They cant find anything wrong.
I performed a course of acupuncture on the spot, and the woman felt better right away.
But this improvement was symptomatic. I wanted to get to the bottom of things here.
I began walking around her apartment, poking into hallways, bathrooms, examining the
living room, dining room, kitchen. From a Feng Shui point of view nothing appeared to be
amiss. I asked permission to check her bedroom. There was nothing unusual there either.
Then, suddenly, a picture flashed into my mind, and in an instant I realized what the
problem was.
The kitchen and bedroom in the apartment were located next to each other. This is not
considered a very good Feng Shui arrangement to begin with. But far worse, the refrigerator was
on one side of the wall, the womans bed directly on the other. This meant that every night the
refrigerator motor had been spinning a few inches away from her brain.
Now brain waves are electrical in nature. And like any electrical current, when they are
situated near a strong electromagnetic force (such as the type generated by a refrigerator) they
are easily disturbed
It was obvious then what the problem was: the refrigerator motor had been scrambling
this poor womans brain waves on a nightly basis for years. It was amazing that her fainting
spells had not started sooner.
That afternoon we moved the singers bed from one side of her room to the other, and
that night she slept peacefully for the first time in months. Next day she gave her performance
with blazing colors, and then went on to finish the 11 more shows without a hitch.
I was invited as a guest to attend one of these shows, and at the end of the performance
the whole crew came up and thanked me for tracking down the problem. Here was an excellent
case, I thought, of what you dont see can still hurt you, and usually will.
Another basic law of Feng Shui.
A similar event happened several years ago. A middle-aged lawyer visited my office.
The woman was suffering from multiple brain tumors, I learned, and had recently undergone
several brain operations. The surgeons who operated were unable to remove all the tumors,
however, and none of doctors could not explain why the tumors kept reappearing, and why they
were growing so aggressively.
I questioned the woman carefully, and soon found a possible cause of her problem. Like
most of us today, she kept several computers in her home. And worse, both were located barely
a foot away from her head. Brain scrambling again.
23
The woman moved the computers, and improvement followed.
Several months later, however, she moved the computers back to the original spot. A
week or so after that she was in the hospital with a sudden resurgence of the tumors. Several
weeks later she was dead.
Our outer world and our inner world, Feng Shui tells us, are moved by invisible forces.
What you dont see in either world can hurt you. And what you dont change in either world can
change you as well.
25
THE GLOW
Achieving Super Health with the Cycles of the Tao
27
In 1998 eight million Americans consulted a licensed practitioner of TCM. In the last
eight years this number has doubled.
Many more statistics could be cited to show the dramatic rise in Chinese medicines
popularity. Plainly, this system has gone mainstream, changing the way Americans look at their
own bodies and at the forces that promote or sabotage their health.
At the same time, TCM is more than a system for curing disease. If you see a doctor
with an office full of sick people, writes a famous seventeenth century physician from Canton,
avoid that office. Only visit doctors whose patients are smiling, in good humor, and full of
constant good joy.
Why?
Because in China a crowd of sick patients languishing in a waiting room is a sign that the
doctors primary duty has not been fulfilled: to make patients so healthy that they do not get sick
in the first place; to keep them, one could say, in a state of super wellness -- in a state of The
Glow.
29
applied program of traditional TCM techniques to achieve what I call The Glow. These TCM
techniques run the gamut from internal power exercises to energizing herbal tonics, from healing
foods to therapeutic massage, from Feng Shui practices to protect against harmful influences in
the environment to acupoint stimulation to relieve fatigue, from Chinese secrets of cosmetic
enhancement to sexual positions that cure disease, from breathing exercises that make us look
younger to seasonal diets that hold back aging - and much more.
Practiced in China for over 3000 years, the healing procedures associated with these five
cycles and presented in this book by Dr. Chan are little known in the United States. A majority
of them have long been the privileged secrets of Taoist physicians and of the moneyed elite in
China. Most have not yet appeared in print. This book features many of these methods for the
first time.
31
In the opening chapters of The Glow readers are shown how to use this built-in
biological clock to chart the best and the worst times of day for undertaking important activities
of daily living such as eating, sleeping, waking, exercise, sex, and more.
Cycle Four: The Cycles of Flying Star Feng Shui: Keeping Your Home
Safe, Prosperous, And Aglow
As time and environmental forces change in our lives, the conditions in our homes
change as well. Using the easily grasped principles of Flying Star Feng Shui, in this section
readers are shown how to adapt their household environment -- decoration, furniture placement,
furnishings, wall color, interior space, room direction -- to the shifts in positive and negative
energy each year over a 20-year period.
The charts and formulae featured in this section explain which rooms and which
directions in a residence are auspicious or inauspicious, healthy or harmful, romantic or anti-
romantic. A year-by-year Feng Shui blueprint is provided, showing readers how to prevent their
home from becoming oppressive, confusing, even hazardous, and how to enhance their
prosperity, health, and inner spirit.
33
CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER OUTLINE FOR THE GLOW
The tone of The Glow is first person, informal, and advisory in a friendly, non-directive
way. Its structure is step-wise and programmatic.
The Glow begins with a general introduction to concepts of Taoism and Chinese healing
methods in general.
Five sections follow, each containing a set of chapters elucidating a different Cycle of
the Tao, and explaining how each of these cycles can best be used to get The Glow.
The book concludes with a general chapter of little-known wellness strategies designed
to help readers survive and prosper in todays high speed, high-tech, high burnout world.
The chapter-by-chapter structure of The Glow is as follows:
35
CYCLE ONE: LIVING IN TUNE WITH THE BODYS 24-HOUR
ENERGY CLOCK
Chapter One: Introducing The Bodys 24-Hour Energy Clock
We all have a 24-hour bioenergetic time clock hard-wired into our systems. This clock
connects our mind and body to the rotation of the earth, and to the internal flow of life energy
that Chinese physicians call chi.
Plug into the rhythms of this clock in the appropriate ways and the rewards quickly
become apparent.
Indeed, one of the main reasons that people undergo so many oddities of health and
unpleasant states of mind is because the timing of their everyday endeavors -- eating, drinking,
exercising, taking naps, imbibing alcohol, having sex -- is out of sync with their bodys true
biological needs of the moment. This imbalance can be quickly remedied by learning to
cooperate with natures bio-energetic rhythms.
Study the diagram to the
right. Note that when the name of an
organ -- the lungs, liver, heart -- is
printed in bold letters this means the
chi energy is strongest in this organ
during the corresponding two hour
time period marked in the circle.
On the opposite side, twelve
hours later, the same organ is
printed in italics. This organ is now
at its weakest two-hour point on the
bioenergetic cycle.
The energies in our bodies, in other words, behave much like tides on a beach. Every 24-
hour period a particular organ experiences a high tide of life force and a low.
For this reason there is a best and worst time of day or night for any major activity.
37
There is a favorable and unfavorable time for mental concentration, say, or creative
thinking; for sleep, elimination, eating, making love, holding meetings, making decisions,
playing cards, building a house.
Taoists doctors organize these activities into ten major categories, officially referring to
them as Ten Chief Actions:
1. Wellness enhancement: Health empowerment, fitness training, exercise, sports, games,
physical activity of all kinds
2. Food and nourishment: Eating, digesting, eliminating, maximizing nourishment
3. Work: Solving problems, making decisions, dealing with co-workers
4. Creativity: Artistic endeavors, original and creative thinking, active imagination
5. Appearance and personal hygiene: Skin, hair, and nail care, preserving a youthful look,
enhancing cosmetic appearance
6. Socializing: Friendships, family time, celebration, entertaining, party planning
7. Sex: Romance, love, sexual play, fertility concerns
8. Gaining knowledge: Cognitive learning, study, concentration, gaining wisdom
9. Spiritual practice: Meditation, intuition, self-attunement
10. Rest: Relaxation, reducing tension, lowering stress, sleep, dreams
Lets take several examples.
If you suffer from palpitations, fibrillations, or heart problems, avoid intense exercise
working out at the gym, hiking, playing tennis -- between the hours of 11 A.M. to 1 P.M. This is
the peak hour for coronary activity, and the cardio-pulmonary system is now working at full
capacity. If you push an already stressed heart beyond its limits at this time of day shutdown can
occur. More heart attacks occur between the hours of 11 A.M. and 1 P.M. than at any other time
of day.
Likewise, avoid drinking alcohol at mid-day. According to the bodys 24-hour energy
cycle, blood circulation is now at its strongest, and alcohol reaches the brain at lightening
speeds. Even after having one beer with lunch you may end up returning to the office with a red
face and blurred speech.
It is also common knowledge in China that lobster is excessively yang, making it
inflammatory and over-stimulating for persons with circulatory problems. If you fall into this
category avoid lobster for lunch when your heart energy is at peaking. (Also note: if you suffer
from a cancerous tumor, do not eat lobster at any time. Its red, aggressive energy will seriously
aggravate your condition.)
The best time of day to eat breakfast on the 24-hour clock is between the hours of 7 and
9 in the morning when the chi is most active in the stomach, and when the flow of digestive
enzymes is at its height. On the other side of the stomach cycle, at 7 to 9 in the evening, the
movement of digestive juices is correspondingly lethargic; which is why fashionably late
dinners so easily trigger bloat and indigestion.
The Chinese therefore believe that breakfast should be the largest and most nourishing
meal of the day, while dinner is be best kept light and is the meal you can most easily skip (Eat
breakfast like a king, goes the Chinese aphorism, dinner like a pauper.)
When cooperating with the rhythms of the bodys inner clock it is also prudent to avoid
certain activities at certain hours of the day. Take for example a typical weekend scenario for a
hard working, fun loving individual.
Around 7:30 P.M. on Saturday night our friend eats a massive, salty dinner just when the
gastric enzymes in his stomach are at their lowest levels (see chart). Half-digested meals result,
possibly with gripping stomach cramps occurring later in the evening.
By 9 P.M. our friend is at a bar, downing cold beers or iced vodka tonics, all at a point
on the energy circle when his bodys inner thermostat (called by Chinese doctors, the triple
burner) has the strongest need to retain heat. Result: shivers, hot flashes, and other assorted
short-circuits to the bodys internal temperature gauge. As he clinks glasses with friends he also
ingests quantities of spicy bar foods. Trouble is it's 10 P.M. now and his spleen energy, so
necessary for processing hardto-digest foods, is at the weakest point on its cycle.
The evening progresses to 1 A.M., let us say, and our friends liver, now flooded with
alcohol, is at the bottom of its cycle, a time when the quiet that sleep brings is most needed to
build new blood and remove toxins. Returning home at 3 A.M., his body is seriously dehydrated
by alcohol and salt. He gulps down large quantities of water to compensate, just at the time of
day when bladder energy is at a 24-hour low. For the rest of the night he will probably be getting
up every hour or so to urinate.
39
Finally, feeling wretched from toxicity and lack of sleep, our friend slumbers through the
morning hours the very time on his bodys energy cycle when elimination and detoxification
are most effective.
Living this way every weekend, perhaps for years, perhaps for decades, our typical
individual then wonders why he or she feels so unwell so much of the time.
In short, by ignoring our bodys daily clock we are reducing our chances of enjoying a
long and healthy life. On the other hand, once we learn the simple knack of living in accord with
these cycles and remaining in harmony with their tempo. Our mental capacities sharpen, our
emotions move at a more even keel, our physical powers increase, and soon The Glow follows.
41
- Rotating the head and limbs for elasticity
- Shaolin Monastery eye exercises to stimulate the nervous system
- Pinching the eyebrows for blood flow to the forehead
- Hin li saliva swallowing exercise for improved digestion at breakfast
- Stimulating acupressure points on the scalp, face, and neck
- Rotating the arms, hands, hips, knees, and feet to improve joint flexibility
- Rubbing the lumbar regions and tapping the ming mun, life gate on the spine
- Drumming with the fists on the lower back to stimulate kidney energy
- And more
* Opening the energy gates acupressure Instructions are given for digital stimulation
of kidney and colon-related acupressure points. This two-minute exercise is designed to open
the gates of several important energy centers in the lower back and Dantien area of the
stomach.
* Sun Lu breathing exercises - The famous set of Sun Lu breathing exercises is
designed to improve morning circulation and to concentrate the mind.
* Colon health self-massage Placing both palms on the lower abdomen and making 36
rotating movements clock-wise and counter clock-wise, this classic Taoist exercise speeds up
transit time for the feces in the gut, expedites the bodys morning detoxification process, and as
a bonus strengthens sexual function as well.
* Full body dry brush One of the best ways to cleanse the lymphatic system is by
brushing the surface of the body each morning with a soft dry brush made of natural bristles.
Special stroke patterns used in monasteries by Taoist monks are illustrated here for brushing the
arms, the legs, back and trunk. With this method the pores are opened for better oxygenation,
and fluid elimination is improved. Dry skin brushing stimulates the lymph canals to drain toxic
mucoid matter into the colon, purifying the entire lymphatic system. Skin brushing is
stimulating to surface circulation of blood, and leaves you feeling invigorated for the entire day.
* Maximizing elimination - The colons principle job from five to seven A.M. is to
assimilate nutrients and move residues through the gut for elimination. You can help the process
along at the colons prime time by using the following techniques.
- Because peristalsis is especially active in this wake-up hours, now is the best
time of day to have a bowel movement. Nine out of ten people suffering from
constipation can cure their condition by training their bodies to use the bathroom
at this time.
- Readers are taught to stimulate specific acupressure points on the hands,
stomach, and feet to improve elimination and fight constipation.
43
- Iron stalk back strengthening breathing exercises (with emphasis on drawing Qi energy
directly up the spine)
- Burning moxa sticks over select acupuncture points for lower back healing. Moxa
sticks contain the herb mugwort in compacted form. See sources listed in the Appendix.
Chapter Three: Maximizing the Ten Chief Actions from 7 to 9 A.M. and P.M.
Chapter Four: Maximizing the Ten Chief Actions from 9 to 11 A.M. and P.M.
Chapter Five: Maximizing the Ten Chief Actions from 11 to 1 A.M. and P.M.
Chapter Six: Maximizing the Ten Chief Actions from 1 to 3 A.M. and P.M.
Chapter Seven: Maximizing the Ten Chief Actions from 3 to 5 A.M. and P.M.
45
In our busy lives we often forget that we live on a planet, and that we are constantly
influenced by our biospheres changing environmental conditions: the weather, the climate, and
most importantly, the cycles of the season. Within our biosphere today it also seems that
practically anything can make us sick -- the air, the water, the food. Some of these dangers
(smoking, greasy burgers, overindulgence in alcohol) can be avoided. Others cant. In Taoist
medicine these unavoidables are referred to as the Six External Pathogens that is, the six basic
seasonal conditions that undermine our health: Wind, Cold, Summer Heat, Damp, Dry, and Fire.
While over-exposure to one or more of these pathogens is considered the primary
environmental cause of disease, they can be helpful as well as harmful, depending on how our
body processes them. In the four chapters that follow Dr. Chan shows readers how to minimize
the negative effects of the Six Pathogens in each of the four seasons, and how to maximize their
health-bringing potential. He also provides a wide range of techniques that help maximize The
Glow in every season.
47
* Rest and relaxation Spring is a time of birth, renewed energy, new ventures, and
undertaking projects that seemed impossible in the dead of winter. At the same time, the
tendency now is to push the envelope, which in turn can injure the bodys vital spirit. The
rhythms of rest and activity for each season are explained. Dr. Chan provides tips for balancing
exertion and relaxation during seasonal energy highs and lows.
* The seasons and our changing emotions In Taoist medicine, different emotions are
connected to different seasons. Anger and kindness belong to the spring, for example, hysteria
and joy to the summer, courage and anxiety to the winter, and so forth. Using classic Taoist
exercises including The Five Healing Sounds, abdominal breathing, and color visualizations,
dark seasonal energy is kept in check and positive seasonal energy called forth.
* Healing smells In China a form of aromatherapy has been practiced for centuries.
Based on the so-called Five Smells -- bitter, sour, sweet, salty, and pungent (spicy) -- it was long
ago determined by Taoist doctors that inhaling certain essences at certain seasons bolsters the
immune system, improves mood, and helps mental concentration and meditation practice. Even
skin quality and eye sparkle can be improved by inhaling the right essences at the right time of
year. Dr. Chan shows readers how.
* Healing herbs for every season Dr. Chan guides us in the use of tonics and herb
mixtures for each season: herbs to clean the lymphatic system in spring, cool the blood in
summer, build immunity in autumn, maintain body heat and vitality in winter.
* Moxa Moxibustion is one of the best-kept secrets of the Chinese medical arts. Made
from the leaves of the common herb, mugwort (technical name, artemesia vulgaris), a burning
moxa roll is passed over particular acupuncture points to increase energy and prevent disease.
While burning, moxa smolders in a slow controlled way, producing a deep, concentrated heat,
and emitting the smell of a strong, strange incense (just the odor of moxa is said to be healing).
Studies show that when moxa is burned over selected acupoints at the beginning of a
new season immunity is provided for diseases common to that season. Moxa treatment increases
surface skin chi, beefs up red blood count, and prepares the body for the coming heat of summer
or cold of winter. Dr. Chan shows us how to use moxa in each season, and which points to burn
it over.
* Combating the Six Pathogens in each season Lets take spring as an example.
Weather-wise, and so health-wise, this is an especially treacherous season. There are late snows,
April showers, high winds, damp feet, and widely varying extremes of temperature. All create
ideal conditions for sickness. But there are ways to prepare ourselves: methods for off-setting
the negative effects of dampness with common fruits; methods to avoid catching cold after
spring rains by massaging the feet and pressing certain acupressure points; and much more.
* Special healing treatments for seasonal ailments Acute disorders are often seasonal:
summer bronchitis, rainy day arthritis, fall allergies, winter colds, spring fever, to name a few.
All are induced by climactic extremes. Dr. Chan provides readers with powerful but little
known remedies for a number of season-specific ailments.
49
* Secrets for improving appearance as the years pass - Wrinkles, blemishes, cracked
skin, thinning hair, and other classic signs of aging, according to Chinese thought, originate
inside the body, not out. They are the result of internal energy slow-downs: stagnant circulation,
poor lymph distribution, incomplete elimination, and most of all, sluggish chi flow.
Wrinkles, for instance. According to Chinese thinking the cracks in our faces are
metaphorically equivalent to cracks in the earth that appear during a drought. Moisture from rain
-- i.e. expensive external skin treatments -- brings life back to the parched land, yes; but only
temporarily. After a few days the rains stop, the water evaporates, and the drought returns.
It is better, Taoist beauty experts assure us, to irrigate the soil by replenishing water
springs beneath the earth - that is, by strengthening the energy channels that flow below the skin
surfaces on the face, neck, scalp, and torso. In this way the land is moistened and permanently
nourished, and the grass and flowers are brought to bloom. The older we get the more we need
the healing cosmetic tricks and techniques profiled in this section.
- Beauty methods of self-massage. Five unusual palm friction-rub facial exercises are
offered for bringing moisture and smoothness back to the face, neck, shoulders, and
arms. Stimulation of selected facial acupoints produces similar results. Self-applied
methods of percussion, kneading, digital stimulation, pounding, and rubbing.
- Facial exercises Facial calisthenics are offered for increasing facial blood and
lymph circulation. Wrinkling the nose, massaging the forehead, puffing out the cheeks,
clicking the teeth, protruding and wiggling the tongue, jutting the chin, stimulating
critical acupoints on the cheeks and around the eyes, tightening groups of facial muscles
*
in rotation, and lots more is offered to irrigate the skin from below and increase
health-giving chi flow.
- Over-the-counter Chinese medications Pearl Cream for complexion,* Li Po Tablets
for wrinkles,* Ren Li Shan* to feed hair follicles, and many more over-the-counter
Chinese beauty products are profiled. These products really work and are highly
affordable. Dr. Chan tells us about a number of remarkable beauty medicinals that treat
skin and hair on an energetic level. An Appendix tells how and where to purchase these
products.
*
See Appendix for sources in the United States
- The Heart Jingmai exercise - A special internal energy exercise for eliminating crows
feet and eye wrinkles, and stimulating the pineal gland to wake up nerves in the ears,
cheeks, eyes, mouth, and neck that regulate facial appearance.
- The Fourteen-Jingmai Visualization exercise - For increasing skin tone, banishing
fatigue lines, and strengthening the lungs, the organ in Taoist medicine that exerts a
constructive or destructive influence on skin and complexion.
- Tan Lu saliva swallowing exercises Saliva is a regenerative elixir if manufactured in
adequate amounts and swallowed in large quantities at the proper times such as after Chi
Gung exercises -- provided here -- and between partners during sex. Scientific analysis
of saliva shows it contains a number of enzymes that promote protein synthesis (skin),
reduce bleeding time (menstruation), and inhibit the growth of skin cancer cells. Saliva
also contains immunoglobulins and other compounds that have an antibacterial effect.
One study of chi gung practitioners shows after exercise their saliva contains twice the
usual level of immunoglobulins. Saliva swallowing exercises also have a nourishing
affect on physical appearance, brightening the eyes, increasing skin tone, and increasing
longevity. Tips are given for increasing the precious juice, as the Chinese call saliva, at
different ages.
- Herbal tonics - Especially for restoring youth and improving physical appearance.
Different formulas are offered for different ages.
- Dry skin brushing A little known miracle for purifying the lymph glands, detoxifying
the body, and restoring complexion radiance. Also explained are methods for stimulating
beauty centers by combing and stroking the scalp with a wooden comb.
* Appropriate energy-building exercises for different stages of life A selection of
internal Chi Gung energy for childhood, youth, middle age, and the later years.
* Diet Dietary requirements, the Chinese believe, change dramatically as the body
ages. Certain fruits and vegetables that nourish children should be carefully regulated as one
passes through various stages on the aging cycle. In this section we learn about:
*
- The best and worst foods for growing children.
- Feeding your teenager the Taoist way.
*
See Appendix for sources in the United States
51
- Eating for an active life from 20 to 45.
- Mid-life: changing foods for changing hormones.
- The later years: foods that keep us young and promote longevity
* Herbs - There are tonic elixirs for each age: to help build bones and muscle, boost
athletic performance, fight yeast infections, increase fertility, prevent PMS, reduce the rigors of
menopause, combat impotency, increase sex energy, turn graying hair dark again, elevate mood,
and promote longevity.
Some of the important herbs introduced in this chapter include Ho shou wu,* said to
return gray hair to its original color; the fabled rishi* mushroom, now commercially grown and
easily available, but at one time sold for more than $2,000 an ounce in Hong Kong to promote
longevity; Kou chi tza* and tsa tsao,* used together for centuries to increase sexual potency and
fertility; Pai shu,* a youth and energy preserver; Suk gok* to replenish sexual fluids in older
persons; Huang ChI,* for athletic endurance at all ages; Ti Huang,* to build blood and improve
circulation at middle age and beyond; Tang Kuei,* the ultimate young womans tonic, especially
good for taming PMS and improving fertility; Tang Shen,* to restore vigor in women during the
later years; Fu ling, to relieve anxiety and improve mood, especially for persons over sixty; Tien
men tong,* for total relaxation of body and mind at any age.
Dr. Chan tells us how to shop for the best commercial Chinese herbs and how to stock a
Chinese home medicine chest. This selection discusses loose herbs, Chinese patent medicines,
and emergency blood-coagulating preparations like Yunnan Paiyao, known during the Vietnam
War as the Vietcongs secret weapon.
CYCLE FOUR: KEEPING YOUR HOME PROSPEROUS AND
PROTECTED WITH FLYING STAR FENG SHUI
Chapter Eighteen: What is Flying Star Feng Shui?
The not-so-well-kept secret is that Fortune 500 companies regularly hire Feng Shui
experts to design their most important buildings. The architectural plans for Coca Colas World
Headquarters in Atlanta were overseen by Feng Shui masters. British Airways built their new
offices for 3000 people under the guidance of a Feng Shui consultant. Corporations like IBM,
Siemens, Donald Trump, the Hyatt Hotel Group, and many others build according to Feng Shui
principles. Especially keen on Feng Shui are gambling casinos. The architectural plans for the
Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut, for example, were drawn by a Feng Shui master in the
shape of a three-finned propeller, designed to create a subliminal sense of swirling energy inside
its game rooms. This over-stimulating vortex plays strange tricks on the mind, keeping gamblers
53
at cards and dice long past their bedtimes, and at the same time generating confusion,
misjudgment, and a throw-it-to-the-winds spending frenzy.
There are two basic schools of Feng Shui.
The first, the so-called form school, concerns itself with the way objects inside and
outside a house furniture, wall color, garden design - affect the occupants.
The second form of Feng Shui, the compass school, derives its calculations from the
direction a house faces, the orientation of its entrances, and the year the building was
constructed.
Used with great frequency today by masters in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia,
Flying Star Feng Shui belongs to the compass school -- but with a twist. The measure of its
uniqueness lies in its use of time along with direction time, in this case, referring to the
changes in energy patterns that occur in a given location over a 20-year period. Health, quality
of work, romantic success, financial fortune, creative powers, and spiritual life -- all are
influenced in subtle but very real ways by the passing months and years, and the shifts of energy
they bring. Mapping and analyzing these yearly shifts within home and office, then taking steps
to maximize positive potential and neutralize the negative is what Flying Star is all about.
Here it should be mentioned that according to many Feng Shui analysts the 20-year
period profiled in this chapter, Period 8 (see chart below), begins in the year 2004.
Using a more traditional form of Chinese computation based on the lo pan Feng Shui
compass and a full 180-year cycle of nine 20-year periods (all to be explained in the text), Dr.
Chan has determined that this date is incorrect. According to traditional Feng Shui, Period 8
begins in the year 1996, eight years earlier than modern convention tells us. Here is a corrected
table of periods based on Dr. Chans calculations.
As a result of this remarkable miscalculation, Feng Shui masters today often cause more
havoc than benefit. As a traditional Feng Shui master in Hong Kong confided in Dr. Chan, A
lot of modern-minded Feng Shui practitioners are hired in Hong Kong and Singapore,
sometimes for millions of dollars, to advise big companies. Using wrong dates and flawed
computations, they give clients piles of false data that end up causing wrong, sometimes
drastically wrong, results. There has been an epidemic of suicides among bankrupt CEOs and
industrialists in Hong Kong. Word in the Hong Kong Feng Shui community is that these
powerful men lost their fortunes, then took their lives, because of critical miscalculations made
by the Flying Star masters who advised them.
Chapter 20: Using Flying Star To Bring Good Fortune To Your Home
And Family
Flying stars in Flying Star Feng Shui are the numbers one
4 9 2
to nine. They are, as you can see, placed in boxes inside a grid.
3 5 7 This grid is known as the Lo Shu square, and the numbers in this
magic square reach a sum of 15 any way they are added along a
8 1 6 straight line.
Using Flying Star, the numbers in the square are made to
fly from box to box, assuming different positions depending on a few easy calculations. These
calculations are based on the year a given structure was built and several other variables.
Once the calculations are in place, the numbers then take on specific meanings in
relation to their position in the square. The numbers 5 and 2, for example, are the numbers of
sickness. The number 7 brings financial success. And so on. Numbers are also classified as
helpful or harmful. One, 2, 9 and 10 are unlucky, 3,4,7 are lucky. Five and 6 are more or less
55
neutral. The stars in Flying Star Feng Shui. In short, are basically energy patterns that move
from one part of a structure to another over time as the chi energy changes.
To put Flying Star to work the grid for the present year is superimposed north to south
over the floor plan of ones home.
If the auspicious numbers in the square fall, say, in the north and southeast part of the
residence, these rooms have positive energy for the present year. This makes them ideal areas
for sleeping, say, or mental work, depending on the actual configuration. If the sickness
numbers 5 and 2, fall in the north and south, however, anyone spending too much time in these
rooms -- and especially sleeping in them every night -- runs the risk of illness.
For readers eager to understand the mechanics of Flying Star, basic calculations are
explained. For those who wish to cut to the chase and quickly learn what parts of their home are
safe or risky in the coming year, a kit of pre-prepared charts is supplied that does all the work
for you, providing fingertip information on the safe and unsafe parts of a home for each coming
year up to 2017.
In this chapter readers learn:
* Where the ideal areas in the home are over this and coming years for romance, jobs
requiring creative or mental work, relaxation and rest, good health, attracting money, social
activity, and more.
* Where year-by-year harmful energies will locate themselves in the home, and how to
neutralize, divert, or avoid these forces.
* Where in the house or apartment to place good luck yin or yang objects (such as wind
chimes, fish tanks, bells, figurines). These objects multiply the beneficial aspects of positive
Flying Star numbers, and/or reduce the ill effects of unlucky numbers.
* How to avoid the so-called three killings -- sickness, financial loss, accidents. This
trio of misfortunes shifts from one part of a house to another every year. In 2002, for instance, it
was located in the north section of the house. Readers learn how to find each years three killing
direction, and what they can do to circumvent its harmful influence.
* What the quality of energy will be in important rooms and areas of a house or
apartment: the kitchen, the bedroom, the front door, etc. Methods are given for disarming the
bad Feng Shui in these sectors and enhancing the good.
* How to design a house or workplace that harmonizes with the environment rather than
clashes with it. With this harmonious design wealth, happiness, and good fortune naturally come
to the occupants.
Taoist practitioners believe that we are irrevocably connected to the terrestrial energy
currents that enliven our planet. Since we cannot escape the good and bad effects of these
cosmic winds, it is better to learn how they work and to cooperate with them in full. We can
never conquer nature, a Chinese saying goes. But we can learn to ride it.
57
the West. We introduce many of them for the first time. (moxa, acupressure, diet, exercises for
hormonal balance).
Menopause is also a time when much of a womans yang energy leaks out, leaving her
enervated and depressed. Several herbal tonics are presented here for strengthening female yang
in the post-menopausal period.
* Nutritional secrets for women - Some foods, especially yin foods, are more helpful
for women than men, and vice versa. Certain foods and food combinations stimulate age-
fighting hormones in females, but have no comparable affect on the opposite sex. Some foods
are healing to womens skin, replenishing nourishing oils that dry up with age. Others are
palpably harmful. In this section female readers are presented with information on yin and yang
foods that heighten mental clarity, improve appearance, prevent female ailments, and improve
mood and state of mind.
Also for women:
- Chinese aids for a sickness-free pregnancy and easy delivery.
- Stress-reduction techniques especially for women.
- Learning the relationship between healthy liver energy and an easy monthly menses.
- Lifestyle and wellness aids especially for women.
- Natural methods for preventing yeast infections.
- Time-honored techniques for slowing down female aging.
- Methods for preventing flagging desire and alleviating vaginal dryness.
- Building immunity to breast and ovarian cancer with herbs, meditation, and exercise.
59
Chapter 21: Last But Not Least Aids For Getting The Glow
The final chapter in The Glow provides useful and often surprising Taoist-inspired
advice on health and lifestyle concerns not covered in the Five Cycles above. These techniques
help readers survive, prosper, and even shine in our demanding modern world. Subjects include
* Protecting yourself from the electromagnetic assault Though the body contains its
own bio-electric field, it was not designed by nature to withstand the constant onslaught of
electromagnetism we are exposed from TVs, cell phones, microwave ovens, electric clocks, and
so many other everyday devices. Till the present century regular exposure to large amounts of
radiation and electromagnetism was not a problem. Today it clearly is.
Citing a number of scientific studies measuring the effect of radiation and electromagnetism
on health, Dr. Chan explains practical things we can do to reduce the risk we face from our own
high-tech conveniences. Mechanical devices that retard radiation from computers, types of
minerals that shield the body from electromagnetism, mushrooms and fungi that eliminate
radiation from the blood, best placements of electronic devices in the home and office, and
much more are described.
* Surviving your TV Digital TV, many laboratory studies show, causes cataracts, near-
sightedness, and other vision defects. Positioning a TV set at the foot of your bed is also bad
Feng Shui (the TV acts like a mirror, reflecting negative energy back at occupants of the room).
Finally, there are important acupuncture and reflexology points located on the soles of the feet.
The powerful electronic emissions streaming out of the TV interfere with the energetic balance
of these points, poisoning the bedroom environment and undermining the watchers health. Dr.
Chan tells us what we can do to prevent these and other TV induced perils.
* Which wrist for your wristwatch? - There are many critical acupuncture points located
on the wrist, several of which exert a measure of control over heartbeat. When a battery-
powered watch is strapped over one of these points and worn every day the electric charge
generated by the battery exerts a slow but inexorable destabilizing affect on the pulse, and
finally on the heart itself. Missed beats, tachycardia, and worse can result. Better to use a
mechanical wind-up or automatic watch, and if this is not possible, to wear a battery watch on
the right wrist rather than the left. There are other things you should know concerning cellular
batteries and their effects on the health of the heart and nervous system.
* Piercings There are over 360 acupuncture points, some of which are located on parts
of the body where piercings are frequently done: the upper ear, below the navel, the tongue, and
so forth.
In certain instances piercing acupuncture points can actually be helpful. In ancient Japan
Samurai soldiers embedded a needle just below the kneecap to provide a continual stream of
energy while on forced march. In other instances, however, pierced acupuncture points trigger
ailments such as back spasms, stomach pains, headaches, and more. Dr. Chan tells you which
points are okay to pierce and which can cause serious problems.
* Tattoos For reasons similar to those mentioned above, tattoos can be harmful to
health and overall energy level. On the other hand, when rightly placed on the body tattoos bring
good fortune and improve health. Dr. Chan explains.
* Proper toileting posture Squatting is the normal mode for making a bowel
movement. When practiced regularly Taoist doctors maintain that this posture prevents virtually
all colorectal disorders and disorders of the pelvic floor including constipation, Crohns diseae,
and colitis. According to laboratory studies, there is also rapid relief from constipation and
improvement in hemorrhoid conditions within seven days using this method. Men with
61
uncomplicated lower urinary tract symptoms, studies show, often improve after three months by
squatting. Normal function is usually regained after six months.
Dr. Chan tells us where to purchase special squat-seat toilets and shows us a simple
maneuver made with the legs while toileting that relieves the pressure on the stomach and
bowels induced by conventional toilets.
* Sitting the Chinese way for back and stomach health - The art of sitting properly for
long periods of time at a desk or table is a neglected part of our education. Dr. Chan describes
the Chinese art of sitting, and recommends several postures that relieve spinal pressure,
improve digestion, and reduce levels of fatigue.
* Beware of cold food and drink In Taoist medicine the stomach is considered the
furnace of the body. Would you pour water on a fire if you wished it to burn? asks a Taoist
medical classic. Why pour cold liquids onto the bodys furnace. It will put the fire out, causing
cold where there should be hot.
One of the many harmful eating conventions we have accustomed ourselves to is
drinking ice water and refrigerated liquids with meals. This practice is far more harmful than
people suppose. Cold water dilutes and neutralizes stomach acids in the bodys furnace, which
in turn triggers indigestion. The popular solution is to take an antacid. But the stomach is a
reactive organ, not a thinking one. When antacids reduce enzyme and acid levels the stomach
assumes it is time to produce more acid. And so the cycle continues.
The dangers of Viagra In 2000, researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los
Angeles did an analysis of 1,473 adverse medical events involving the use of Viagra. They
found that 522 deaths had taken place, most involving cardiovascular malfunctions that
developed four to five hours after taking a 50 mg dose of Viagra. The majority of these deaths
occurred in patients who were less than 65 years of age, and who had no reported cardiac risk
factors. Cedars-Sinai researchers concluded that there "appears to be a high number of deaths
and serious cardiovascular events associated with the use of Viagra." Other population studies of
Viagra have reached similar conclusions. Why?
Dr. Chan explains that this harmless erectile inducer is actually an extremely yang
potion that causes the arteries to dilate and blood pressure to drop significantly, a one-two
combination known to trigger heart attack and stroke, especially -- as per the bodys 24-hour
bio-energy clock -- during the hours of eleven A.M. to one P.M. mid-day when the heart is
already working overtime.
After explaining the dangers of Viagra, Dr. Chan tells readers about safe herbal potency
drugs used in China for centuries, showing how to make three male potency concoctions that are
effective and risk-free.
63
sanctity. They are depictions of the fiery physical magnetism that radiates from people who are
flushed with good health and spiritual attunement.
Some scientists believe that this phenomenon of human bioluminescence originates in the
pineal gland, the tiny endocrine gland located directly between the eyes, the one traditionally
referred to by mystics as the Third Eye. Composed of a grid-like molecular structure similar to
the matrix found in liquid crystal, studies show that under certain circumstances this mysterious
organ serves as a kind of sending and receiving station for electromagnetic energies. When
stimulated in the proper way -- meditation, tai chi, and acupuncture are three powerful methods --
the pineals crystalline structure literally vibrates like a tuning fork, receiving electrical impulses
from the surrounding world and converting them into light.
Scientific evidence notwithstanding, however, physical luminosity and the states of
heightened health it brings remain suspect to Western science, and play little or no role in
conventional medicine. The following is a recent quote from an ex-Surgeon General of the United
States. The condition of so-called super health, he maintains, is a hoax dreamed up by
members in good standing of the feel-good community. We are all sick in some way or other, or
we are all going to get sick soon.
Such attitudes are basic to conventional medicine that concentrates on curing disease
rather than preventing it. Yet for a healing art that gives priority to prevention and that is
engineered to thwart the influences that cause disease before they become disease, the idea of
glowing super health is an axiom. If our physical energies are nurtured in proper ways, Chinese
doctors maintain, we not only stay healthy, but become the energized, balanced, and shining
persons nature meant us to be. Good health, the Chinese believe, is every persons birthright.
Coming to America
My name is Dr. T. N. Chan, and I have worked as a doctor of the Chinese healing arts for
almost 30 years.
As a child I grew up in the Arcadian wilderness of the Hong Kong countryside.
Here I slept under the stars, made friends with wild animals, and observed the changing
moods of season, earth, and sky. During these early years my father taught me a great deal about
traditional Chinese knowledge. Like others in my village, he took it for granted that if a person
lives in accord with the cycles of nature and follows certain rules of living passed down in China
for centuries, a state of super health is not only possible but expected. Such knowledge was a
basic part of life in my home village. I assumed that everyone else in the world knew about it too.
One day when I was fourteen years old a friend of my fathers, a Taoist monk who was also
a famous physician, stopped at our house for several weeks on his way to a mountain monastery.
This remarkable man was known to be 100 years old and perhaps a good deal older. Not only did
he appear to be scarcely past middle age. He had a shimmering vigor that amazed everyone who
met him.
When I expressed my surprise at his great age and obvious good health, he told me matter-
of-factly that there was nothing remarkable about living so long, that it was quite natural.
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It may be natural, I replied in my teenage wisdom. But there dont seem to be many
people doing it these days.
Youre quite right, he chuckled, addressing me with a degree of respect unusual for a
Chinese boy to expect from his elders. But as your father knows, at one time in China it was taken
for granted that the life span of an ordinary person is 100 years. Thats about the number of years
our organs are engineered to last.
Then why do people die so much sooner? I asked, interested now.
The answer the old monk gave me that day was so intriguing that it became one of the
reasons I later became a doctor. I relate here the essence of what he told me, translated, of course,
through the memory of the years and from the monks somewhat old-fashioned and highly formal
Chinese.
We get sick for many reasons, he explained to me that day. Little reasons - or what
seem to us like little reasons. Little mistakes we make every day when we ignore the laws of right
living that our ancestors passed down to us, and that they considered to be sacred.
Western doctors, the old monk went on to say, believe that we die from disease.
Dont we? I asked, not getting his meaning.
The idea of disease does not provide a complete picture of how sickness and death really
work, he answered. Disease represents the final stage in a decline that takes place inside our
bodies for years. It is the result of a slow wearing down of our life force. This stems from the
major and minor insults we subject our bodies to every day. And from the lack of things we do to
offset their harmful effects.
These insults, the old doctor maintained, gradually reduce our energy reserves and weaken
the ability of our organs to function in the proper way. This decline is usually very slow, he
emphasized, like sands in an hourglass or a watch spring gradually coming unwound.
Can we do something to stop our bodies from running down like this? I wanted to know.
We can never stop it entirely, he replied. We all have to die eventually, after all. But we
can slow it down. Lets say, for example, that you get a certain disease. Lets say you come down
with diarrhea. Western science maintains that you are infected by microorganisms, probably from
something you ate. This may be true. But dont we eat millions of microorganisms every day at
every meal? Arent viruses always swarming around us, attacking us from all sides? Why do we
happen to get sick from this particular virus at this particular time?
He waited for a moment, I thought for me to answer, then went on before I could think of a
reply.
Traditional Chinese medicine looks at the problem in a different way. They believe a
human body can withstand the most ferocious viruses and bacteria when its energies are in proper
balance. If internal forces are flowing strongly in the body, if the vital force is at its peak, our
organisms will automatically fight off these invaders. Something must be weakened first, thrown
out of equilibrium by our lifestyle, in order to get sick. Once when this weakening takes place --
and only then -- do we become vulnerable to microorganisms that would normally not affect us.
Infection, in short, is not the root cause of the diarrhea. Its a secondary effect of neglectful living.
The old monk concluded with an ominous but what I now know to be imminently timely
warning.
When serious physical problems start, he said, you may not have seen any previous
signs of sickness. Physical symptoms come at the end of a disease, not at the beginning. By the
time they appear the sickness has been burrowing its way through your body for months and
maybe for years. All this time you may seem quite healthy to everyone you know. You feel good
and look good. Everything is fine. Until one day you suddenly get sick.
Your friends in the village are surprised. Shocked.
You seemed so fit and full of life just a short time ago, they all agree.
Now youre ailing. Maybe youll even die.
Not because your heart and your lungs are inherently weak. But because over the years
you did not live in tune with your bodys ironclad rules and demands. With natures rules. You die
too soon because you do not live the way you should - day by day by day.
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But as time went by, and as literally thousands of men and women passed through my doors,
it became clear to me that a majority of these people were suffering less from specific pathologies,
more from a sluggish energy flow.
This problem, in turn, was due to patients lack of information concerning how to fine-tune
their bodies in accord with their environment and with certain critical cycles of nature that were long
ago identified by Taoist physicians. Often they were victims of lifestyle habits they believed were
harmless, but which from a Chinese viewpoint are risky and over the long run, profoundly corrosive.
This list of lifestyle habits was, and remains, a long one. It features all the usual suspects, of
course: alcohol, tobacco, stress, poor diet, lack of exercise. But it does not stop here. It includes a
number of seemingly innocent practices that no one ever cautions people against in Western society,
and that are often standard and even encouraged behaviors.
Such as wearing a battery-powered watch on the left wrist (a quartz battery subtly interferes
with the rhythms of the heart). Such as having sexual intercourse at the wrong times of day (sex at
the right hours builds energy, at the wrong hours depletes it). Or having sex during a lightening
storm (electrostatic changes in the air can seriously interfere with sexual activity) Behaviors such as
sleeping in the wrong position at night (for certain heart ailments lying on the stomach or left side
night after night can be fatal). Such as drinking cold liquids after dinner (cold causes heat to rise in
the body, over-stimulates the mind, increases urination, and makes it difficult to fall asleep).
I tell my patients: If you drink a warm glass of sea salt water when you get up in the morning
it eliminates toxins from your system. But drink the same potion at night (or any salty drink) and
your body retains these toxins, sometimes producing toxemia. (The first sure sign that people are
suffering from too much salt in their diet is an unexplained laziness and lack of motivation.
Seemingly overnight a person suffers a total loss of fighting spirit without any known emotional
reasons. Cut back on salt and the spirit quickly returns.)
Many of my patients, I observe, expose themselves to powerful electronic devices, remaining
in unshielded contact with computers, microwave ovens, electric blankets, cellular phones, etc. for
long periods of time. They have not been told how powerfully these devices can impact on the
electric fields surrounding their bodies, and how to take simple precautions to protect themselves.
My patients, I also notice, rest at the hours they should be most active, and are active when
their body most requires rest. They assume that stimulants such as caffeine give them energy when,
in fact, these substances burn up critical energy stores that are already there. And so-called
recreational drugs like marijuana and cocaine deplete inner resources so quickly that a chronic
users life can be reduced by as much as ten years. The same is true for safe male sexual
stimulants like Viagra. Long-term use can strip years off a mans life.
My patients, by and large, are uninformed concerning the many critical ways in which
natural, planetary, and seasonal forces affect their lives. They have not been told that their sleep is
linked to the rotation of the earth, and that the direction they lie in bed affects the depth and quality
of their slumbers. They are unaware that their needs while eating, sleeping, and working change
dramatically with the seasons and at different stages of life. They have little awareness concerning
the effects that elemental forces such as wind, rain, temperature, sunlight, and the phases of the
moon have on their emotional disposition, their powers of concentration, their susceptibility to
disease, and even on their sexual performance. Most of my patients do not even know that their
immediate environment -- including the rug in their bedroom and the pictures on the walls of their
office -- affect the quality of their work, play, and moods. They do not know that the angle of a
mirror in the bathroom or the direction a desk faces at work can exert subtle influences on their
thinking and on the way they interact with co-workers -- influences that can tip the balance between
failure and success.
Perhaps most profoundly, no one has told many of my patients that the internal rhythms and
physical cycles of men and women are profoundly dissimilar, and that each sex requires
substantially different health agendas to achieve optimum fitness.
Still other problems my patients complain of are due to cultural fads.
Case in point: Many young patients visit my office today for the treatment of lower back
pain.
This is a curious request, first because these patients are so young. In the past, doctors
traditionally expected back patients to be mainly over forty. And second, because a majority of these
men and women have multiple piercing in their ears.
Note that according to the principles of auricular acupuncture, the acupuncture points that
govern the functioning of the lower spine are situated on the upper rims of the ear shell -- the same
areas that are frequently pierced. If my young patients, male or female, complain of lower back pain
and happen to be wearing earrings in these spots, I tell them to remove the rings, let the holes heal
for several weeks, then come back and see me again. Approximately a third of the people who return
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are pain free. Even more dangerous, for reasons that will be explained in the last chapter, are
piercings on the nipples and the tongue.
There are also, it should be added, acupressure points that respond positively to piecing, a
secret that pirates and sailors stumbled on centuries ago. Many an old salt wore his gold earring not
for appearances sake, but because he knew that if the earlobe is pierced in the right spot, and if this
hole is kept permanently open with a ring, the ability to see long distances at sea is dramatically
improved.
If you do plan to have a piercing on any part of your body, I tell my patients, first ask a
doctor of acupuncture which areas of the body are safe to puncture and which are not.
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The most effective remedies, we believe, are not chemicals and more high tech machines.
They are harmonious living practices that strengthen the bodys subtle forces and immune
response, protecting us from disease, and generating the essential energies that determine our
state of health.
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rejuvenate the vital functions that stress, anxiety, and destructive habits of living have weakened
in you over the years. These techniques are engineered to raise energy levels to such a degree
that you will literally feel as if transformed into a kind of body electric.
What is this system based on, they sometimes ask.
Generally speaking, on traditional concepts of Chinese medicine. But more specifically
on certain basic cycles of nature that control the way we think, feel, and act. These cycles were
known to ancient Taoist doctors many thousands of years ago. So I refer to them as the Cycles of
the Tao. I then explain how the most important of these cycles work as I will for you in the
next chapter and how knowledge of them helps people see themselves and the world around
them in an entirely different way. The Cycles of the Tao, I tell patients, is the royal road to The
Glow.
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This program is based on a combination of formal Taoist medicine, folk longevity secrets
I learned as a youth in China, and little-known Chinese lifestyle dos and donts. The exercises
connected with these five cycles form the basis for The Glow. They are simple to learn, easy to
apply, and take only a few minutes to put into practice. Most of them can be done during the
course of the day without much down time. All are related to simple activities we do as a matter
of course - eating, sleeping, working, playing, sex, exercise, and more.
While each cycle in this program is a healing system in itself, moreover, and is often used
in this capacity without benefit of adjunct therapies, when combined with methods in the other
cycles it creates a self-healing synergy that is more potent than the sum of its parts.
We are all programmed by nature to live decades longer than we suppose, and to enjoy a
greater degree of health than we ever imagined. Longevity and well-being are part of our natural
heritage. Whether we claim this heritage is up to us. This book will tell you how.
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COMPETITION
Among the books on Chinese medicine written for the layman, a majority are heavy on
theory and scanty on instruction and self-application.
Daniel Reid is one of the foremost writers of on Chinese healing. His book
The Complete Book of Chinese Health and Healing is medically useful but lacks many important
topics such as Feng Shui, moxibustion, acupressure, chi gung, life style techniques, and more.
The same can be said for Misha Ruth Cohens, The Chinese Way to Healing: Many Paths
to Wholeness. Her subject matter is far ranging, but her presentation is hurried and superficial;
and like so many books on the subject, her narrative is clinical, lacking many of the self-care
methods that Dr. Chan specializes in.
Two classics in the field, Ted Kaptchuks The Web that Has no Weaver and Harriet
Beinfield and Efrem Korngolds Between Heaven and Earth are immensely important and
ground-breaking volumes, but both are dedicated to explaining the basic medical theory behind
Chinese clinical practice.
Kenneth Cohens The Way of Qigong is well written and touches on important elements
of the Chinese healing arts but centers mainly on exercise. Interestingly, at publication the book
was featured by the Book of the Month Club and the Quality Paperback Club, showing how
mainstream Chinese healing arts have become.
A worthy volume too is The Complete Illustrated Guide to Chinese Medicine by Tom
Williams. As the title implies, this book is largely a visual presentation of Chinese medicine,
relying far more on handsome illustrations than in-depth narrative. It is lacking in much of the
substance and subject matter planned for our book
The Taoist practitioner, Mantak Chia has published a series of works over the past ten
years that deal with many aspects of Taoist practice including Taoist Secrets of Love, Awaken
Healing Energy Through the Tao, Fusion of the Five Elements, Taoist Way to Transform Stress
into Vitality, and several more. Fascinating and inclusive, these books tend to be a bit radical for
the average reading audience (weight lifting exercises for the genitals, and directions for striking
ones body with a sheath of metal rods), and are published by Chias own small publishing
company. They remain out of the mainstream and are rarely seen for sale outside of occult and
New Age bookstores.
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A book in a similar vain is Imperial Secrets of Health and Longevity by Bob Flaws.
This book comes closest to our in subject matter and spirit. But it is less than 100 pages long, and
is published by a small press. The same is true for Flaws other books.
Fundamentals of Chinese Medicine by Nigel Wiseman and Andres Ellis is a hefty
volume with clear, complete explanations of Chinese medicine. It rarely deals with practical,
lifestyle matters such as appearance, exercise, sleep, and so forth.
While many other works on the subject could be cited it should be emphasized again that
almost all books published on Chinese medicine concentrate on just this - the medical side. In
The Glow -- often for the first time -- Dr. Chan combines Taoist medicine, Chinese folk wisdom,
Western alternative medicine, and other natural modalities into a single self-applied self-care
program designed to both prevent disease and to maximize wellness and well-being. At the
present time there are no comparable books on the market.
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