Charles Luk - On Self-Healing

[Shi Da Dao]

Self Healing

I never enjoyed good health before I began meditation and could only obtain temporary relief from modern doctors and herbalists. My heart and stomach were weak and I often fainted, while I also suffered several times a year from bad rheumatism. ...When I was young I failed miserably in my practice of T'ien T'ai meditation. I continued, however, to concentrate on the lower belly even when I walked in the street and this probably enabled me to accumulate prana. I then practiced Hindu breathing exercises to store vital principle in the solar plexus. The practice of hua t'ou enabled me to forget all about my troubles including the unbearable heat which rose in my apartment to over ninety-five degrees during the summer months. After long hours at my desk translating Chinese texts, I sometimes felt very tired and nearly exhausted. But five minutes of these yogic breathing exercises (as found in the book entitled 'The Science of Breath' written by Yogi Ramacharaka) would renew my strength and enable me to get on with my work. It cured my rheumatism and gave me instant relief not only when I caught cold but when I contracted the dreaded Asian Flu many years ago.

When prana began to circulate in my body, I felt as if it permeated every organ, bone, nerve and muscle, hence the eight physical sensations dealt with earlier. One day, my heart, which was very weak, seemed to be pierced from all sides by what felt like invigorating needles and its weakness vanished like a dream. My appetite grew out of all proportion and each day, besides my three normal meals, I found it necessary to take three extra ones to cope with the involuntary movements which caused profuse perspiration while I was meditating.

A Substitute for Daily Walking

Since I lived more or less in isolation to control my mind and only went out once or twice a month for a haircut, lack of exercise became a serious problem. I solved it with another Taoist exercise which I describe below.

Two or three times a day, while standing up with the feet some eight inches apart and parallel to each other, I turned my belly and buttocks to the left and the right, one hundred times each way. This simple exercise was equivalent to a short walk in the street, for it worked the lower limbs and was also a necessary compliment to my involuntary movements.


(The Secrets of Chinese Meditation: By Charles Luk Pages 207-208)