Body and daily life
The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic
Treat what is not yet ill
The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic (Warring States to Western Han · attributed to the Yellow Emperor) — Treat what is not yet ill.
What actually happened?
The Yellow Emperor sat down and put a question to Qi Bo. I have heard that people of high antiquity passed a hundred years and their movements did not fail; people now fail at fifty. Has the age changed, or have people let something slip? The question opens the first chapter of the Basic Questions; what Qi Bo says next is a whole chapter on routine and the spirit.
The first question asks about people, not about the age
The Emperor asks whether the age has changed or people have lost something. The first question of the whole book puts the weight on how people live, not on fate or luck.
Your body isn't what it was. Before you blame age, ask what these two years have left out of your days.
Digging the well when you are thirsty
The closing paragraph of 'Four Seasons' says medicine after illness is like digging a well once thirsty. Neither medicine nor repair is wrong. The sage acts before the illness, while it can still be adjusted.
Hollow by mid-afternoon is the time to act, not to wait a bit longer.
Make the careless a habit, keep no routine
Qi Bo's answer is not a great disaster but a way of living: wine for water, the random made the routine, no regular hours, so they fail at fifty. The people of antiquity kept measure and regular hours, and body and spirit stayed together.
Every Friday to three a.m. for three months: once was a break, now it is a routine.
A hundred ills come from qi
'On Pain' has the Emperor say that a hundred ills come from qi. Anger sends it up, joy slackens it, brooding ties it in a knot. Feeling does not stay in the heart; it travels the body, and joy is among the nine.
After the row your neck stayed stiff for three days, and then you noticed it hadn't left.
What part do we leave out?
We leave out pulse-taking, acupuncture and prescriptions, and the scheme that matches the five organs, flavours and colours to the five phases, and we do not offer it as a substitute for seeing a doctor: pairings such as anger harming the liver are ancient medical theory, not a diagnosis today. What we take are three passages from the Basic Questions about how to live: act before illness comes, the order of daily routine and mind, and how feeling travels through the body.
How do I use it today?
Today, do one small thing. Think about the last three weeks and ask whether anything has been wearing you down that you keep calling bearable. Pick one and deal with it today: that is acting before thirst. Keep a second for the night you can't sleep: before you try to train calm, find the one thing you do on purpose that keeps you up, and drop it. Keep a third for after a row: don't tell yourself to stop thinking, first find where in the body the sentence still sits. If you have real symptoms, see a doctor; these passages are not a diagnosis.
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Lines to keep
A hundred ills come from qi: feeling travels the body.