Steven Cardoza - Chinese Healing Exercises: A Personalized Practice for Health & Longevity

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

Chinese Healing Exercises: A Personalized Practice for Health & Longevity 2013 by Steven Cardoza.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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First e-book edition 2013

E-book ISBN: 9780738738895

Book design by Bob Gaul
Cover illustration by Katherine Asher/Illustration Ltd.
Cover design by Lisa Novak
Editing by Laura Graves
Interior illustrations by Mary Ann Zapalac

Disclaimer

This book is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any medical condition. The reader assumes all responsibility for practicing any exercise presented in this book. Consult your medical professional before beginning any new fitness regimen or if you have a medical condition.

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific reference will continue or be maintained. Please refer to the publishers website for links to current author websites.

Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

Contents

Toe Pinch, Stretch, and Twist

Toe Stretch, Forward and Backward

Toe Stretch, Side to Side

Rotational Toe Stretch

Rotational Foot and Ankle Stretch

Foot Wringing, Upward

Foot Wringing, Downward

Centerline of Sole Massage

Centerline Fold and Spread

Palm Rub, Laogong to Yongquan (Bubbling Well)

Pumping the Bubbling Well Point

Ankle Flexion and Extension

Ankle Pronation and Supination (Inward and Outward Foot Roll)

Ankle Rotations

Kneeling Toe Stretch

Tapping and Patting the Outter Legs (Yang surfaces)

Tapping and Patting the Inner Legs (Yin surfaces)

One-Leg Hamstring Stretch

Two-Leg Hamstring Stretch

Seated Split

Hip Rotator Stretch

Back Rock and Roll

Quadriceps Stretch

Standing Ankle Stretches

Back of Ankle/Achilles Tendon Stretch

Knee Rotations

Flex and Extend Fingers

Backward Finger Extension and Stretch

Shake Out Fingers, Hands, and Arms

Wrist Rolls

Shoulder Rolls

Shoulder Shrug and Drop

Shoulder Blade Protraction and Retraction with Arm Rotation

Hand Over Shoulder Stretch

Whole Arm Tap and Pat

Breast Stroke for the Shoulders

Shoulder/Arm Windmills

Full Arm Rotation for Elbow and Shoulderblades

Kneeling Forearm Stretch

Prayer Hands Behind Back

Interlocking Fingers behind BackA Shoulder Stretch

Nerve and Meridian Stretch/Release

Torso Twist with Arm Swing

Pelvic Tilt (Forward and Back)

> Hula Rolls

Yin-Yang Side Bend

Lateral Swimming Dragon

Standing Toe Touch, Legs Together

Opposite Leg Toe Touch, the Whole Body Windmill

Seated Torso Twist

Lying Du Meridian Back Extension

Flex and Extend

Turtle

Crane

Side to Side

Lateral Flexion

Chin to Chest Neck Rotation

Thumb Massage to Back of Neck

Resistance Exercises

-Forward Resistance

-Rearward Resistance

-Lateral/Sideways Resistance

-Rotational Resistance

Scalp Rake

Temple Massage

Ten Point Eye Acupressure Massage

Four Directions Eye Exercise

4A. Eye Focus Exercise

Eye Cupping

Beating the Heavenly Drum

Ear Pop

Friction Massage to Sides of the Nose

Seven Point Nasal Acupressure Massage

Teeth Clicking and Tapping

Tongue Circles the Teeth/Red Dragon Dances

Saliva Swish and Swallow

Face Wash and Wipe Down

Pineal Tap

Pituitary and Hypothalamus Tap

Thyroid Massage

Thymus Tap

Kidney/Adrenal Tap

Kidney Massage

For Men OnlyProstate Massage

For Women OnlyBreast Massage

The Physical Practice

The Energetic Practice

Beginning a Practice Session: Whole Body Vibration

Waking the Qi: Dragon Playing with a Pearl

Ending a Practice Session: Running the Meridians

Qi Storage at the Dantian

Follow Your Breath Meditation

Standing Practice

A special thank-you to Michael Shear for his generosity of time

and expertise in providing all the photographs that were used as the basis

for the illustrations found throughout the book.

Authors Note

The Chinese understanding of the organs within the body contains, for the most part, the Western understanding of those organs. For example, they of course know that a pair of lungs are located in the chest, that they open to the nose and mouth, and their function is to bring air into the body, extract atmospheric oxygen for use within the body, and expel carbon dioxide as a waste product, exchanging those gasses with the blood circulatory system through tiny blood vessels surrounding the alveolar membrane deep within the lungs. Since the Chinese medical view also contains the concept of qi, a tangible if very subtle manifestation of vital life energy, there is necessarily an expanded view of the function of each organ beyond what Western medical science currently acknowledges, and other concomitants such as related meridian pathways for the transport of the qi of each organ through well-defined trajectories which also have their unique characteristics and special affinities between an organ and a specific body tissue. The Lungs have a special affinity for the skin. It is very common for someone with childhood asthma to develop eczema or psoriasis a little later in life, an observation that is one clear demonstration of that connection when viewed through the lens of Chinese medicine.

As the observant reader will see in the preceding paragraph, when I first mentioned the lungs, I used a lowercase l . Later, when referring to the Chinese concept of Lungs, I used a capital L . This is a typical convention used in many English language books about Chinese medicine, and one I will attempt to faithfully follow in this book. When the common Western understanding of an organ is being referred to, I will use lower case, but when referring to the expanded Chinese medical understanding, I will use an upper case designation. My intention here is to alert the reader to the distinction, especially for readers who may only be familiar with the Western perspective and may otherwise become confused when reading, as in the previous example, that the lungs have a special relationship with the skin.