These four Taoist lying exercises for health are highly targeted; practiced diligently, they are sure to bring some results. Practitioners of daoyin (guiding and pulling exercises), whatever their sex, age, or constitution, can choose the exercises that suit their own physical condition.
First Posture: The Sacral Exercise
This lying exercise developed out of the original “Following the Six Harmonies” exercise. The sacrum lies at the lower part of the spine and bears the most pressure. Practicing this exercise can stimulate the pelvic nerve plexus and helps restore the function of the organs it serves.
Method: Preparatory posture: Lie comfortably on your back with a slight smile, hands resting naturally flat at the sides and feet 1 cm apart. Place a rolled towel (1.5 to 2 cm thick) crosswise under the kidney area of the lower back. Then take three natural deep breaths and relax the whole body.
Starting posture: Keep the arms still and do not bend the knees. Driving from the hips, with the heels assisting, push the left and right legs downward alternately by 2–3 cm: when pushing the left leg down, pull the right leg up; when pushing the right leg down, pull the left leg up. Go slowly, so that the sacrum is fully engaged. Each push-and-pull should take no less than three seconds. When starting out, guard against excessive tension so as not to strain the muscles. If your strength gives out, you may rest in between. At first you may do 50–60 repetitions, gradually building up to 200–300.
Notes:
(1) The best times to practice are before getting up in the morning and before going to sleep at night.
(2) It is only effective on a hard bed; if you have no hard bed, do it on the floor. The pillow should be fairly low.
(3) After practice, some people may have more frequent bowel movements. This is not an illness; reducing the repetitions somewhat will restore normality.
(4) People with the following conditions must not do this exercise: nervous colitis, enuresis (that is, inability to hold urine, incontinence, most common among older women), and women during menstruation or with continuous uterine bleeding from other causes.
Second Posture: The Lumbar Exercise
This lying exercise has exactly the opposite effect of the preceding sacral exercise, and the two must not be done at the same time. It acts mainly on the lumbar spine, stimulating the sympathetic nerves that emerge from the intervertebral foramina of the first, second, and third lumbar vertebrae, regulating the functions of the organs and thereby treating related illnesses.
Preparatory posture: The same as the previous posture, but without the rolled towel under the lower back.
Starting posture: Lie on your back with the arms still. Bend the legs with the knees together and the feet placed behind the buttocks, unmoving. Then pull the right knee up and the left knee down. Alternate the knees up and down like this, making the buttocks swing left and right, so that the lower back is stimulated and the sympathetic nerve fibers connected to it are activated (a slower pace is better). Repetitions: 100–200.
Third Posture: The Abdominal-Organ Exercise
This exercise is paired with the first and second postures. The first two address autonomic nerve disorders from different areas; this posture not only regulates the nerves but also exercises the abdominal muscles and massages the abdominal organs.
Method: Preparatory posture: The same as the first posture, with the rolled towel under the lower back.
Starting posture: Relax the whole body. As in the breathing exercises of the standing practice, slowly raise both shoulders forward and upward, lifting the external intercostal muscles, and inhale slowly, at the same time lifting the anus and lifting the kidneys (women tighten the external genitals). Then rotate the shoulders backward and downward while tightening the buttocks and drawing in the abdomen. Using the force of the shoulders rotating down, but relying mainly on the contraction of the abdominal muscles, and with the buttocks as the center, slowly raise the upper body (30 cm) and the lower limbs about 20 cm, then slowly lower them flat. The hands stay still and must not help.
There are three ways of breathing out. The first is to hold the breath while raising, which increases the pressure of the diaphragm on the abdominal cavity and helps massage it, but also raises blood pressure; those with high blood pressure and beginners should use it with caution. The second is to exhale while raising by forcefully contracting the diaphragm, which does not affect blood pressure in the brain. The third is to contract the sphincter muscles of the throat while exhaling, using the outgoing airflow to exercise the throat and trachea, which benefits the health of the respiratory tract.
At first you may do 8–16 repetitions, gradually increasing. You may rest in between; do not overtire yourself (pregnant women must not practice this).
Fourth Posture: The Supine Shaking Exercise
This posture is designed specifically to improve blood circulation, and in particular to strengthen microcirculation in the capillaries.
Method: Preparatory posture: Lie on your back on a hard bed, take three deep breaths to even out the breathing, smile slightly, and relax the whole body.
Starting posture: Keep the arms still. Bend the right leg with the foot planted, raise the left foot to 70–90 degrees, and shake it vigorously for 2–3 minutes; then gradually lower it and switch to raising and shaking the right foot. The duration depends on your own strength, generally about ten minutes. If possible, you may also raise both feet and both hands at once and shake them for 2–3 minutes. It is best to put a towel 3–4 cm thick under the buttocks, which makes raising the legs easier.
Function and principle: The ancient Chinese arts of health and longevity draw on the theory of yin and yang and the Five Phases and the view of the unity of heaven and humanity. The whole set follows the principles of slow, round, soft, and continuous, adjusting the body's important systems and organs with different kinds of movement. It works on the sex glands with the movements of swinging, squeezing, rubbing, covering, and cupping, promoting the secretion of sex hormones to meet the needs of a healthy body. It also moves the spine by wriggling, vibrating, rotating, swaying, and twisting, exercising and strengthening the spinal nerves and skillfully and appropriately adjusting the autonomic nervous system, ensuring the health and best function of the internal organs. By working directly on the internal organs and endocrine glands through stretching, trembling, squeezing, pressing, and kneading, it regulates the functions of the organs and glands, improves blood circulation, and keeps the body's physiological activity in balance.
Cautions: During menstruation, women may choose movements that place less pressure on the abdomen, according to their situation.