04 Stomach maintenance using the tuina techniques
The tuina technique is similar to the massage technique, but it goes beyond the common massage. Read on and you will find out the difference. As a fellow-practitioner told us, he has been using the tuina technique for three years for stomach recuperation, but it is only a small success so far. The stool is basically formed every day, and it no longer sticks to the toilet.
We urge patience on everyone who is using the technique. Rome is not built in one day. Many years have passed before your stomach and spleen go bad, so it may take several years to rejuvenate their health.
The spleen and stomach are the foundation of human life, but it is influenced by how we treat them. The human body has a certain self-healing ability, but this self-healing ability has been greatly reduced with age and the influence of the environment including our lifestyle. So we have to take precautions and treat our stomach like a fine lady.
From the point of view of herbal medicine, there are a set of ways to enhance the function of the spleen and stomach using the tuina technique, especially if they are applied to certain meridians in certain ways as we will discuss here.
01 Kneading the dai meridian technique
The spleen governs movement and transformation of nutrients, and a weak spleen and stomach will lead to poor movement and transformation of nutrients, resulting in stagnant water and dampness in the body.
Kneading the dai meridian will (1) strengthen the yang-energy associated with the spleen, and (2) invigorate the yang-energy in the gallbladder meridian on both sides of the belly. This will quickly dispel the accumulated dampness in the lower abdomen.
Of course, if you feel that kneading the dai meridian is not forceful enough for the purpose, you can also use the knuckles of your fists to rub on the dai meridian. Once you feel the affected area warm up, you have achieved the purpose.
In case you forget where the dai meridian is located, use the following figure as a guide.
Basically, you locate the depression on your waist, towards the back. That is the dai meridian. Most of us find it easier to rub on it with our knuckles. If you find soreness around that location, you have found the right spots to rub on. You will feel very comfortable once you rub on it. This is one of the ways to get rid of soreness in your waist.
Use both hands to pinch, knead, and lift the acupoints from both sides. When kneading, the fingertips should be close to the skin, and the force should be even. If you feel soreness in the local area, you are doing the right thing. Brute force should not be used, so as not to cause damage.
Do it once a day in the morning and evening, for three to five minutes each time.
By the way, this method is also very effective in the treatment of constipation. The effect is immediate.
02 Pushing the belly technique
In short, the vast majority of chronic diseases are resolved through this technique. The three turbidities including wastewater, waste gas, and stool in the human body can be eliminated through this method, and these three turbidities are the main culprits that cause people to get sick.
Action. The technique of pushing the abdomen is very simple. Use the heels of both hands to press the heart socket, push down hard along the midline of the body, and push it all the way past the navel. Push down alternately with the left and right hands.
When the spleen and stomach is weak, a lot of food and other things will accumulate in the abdomen, such as stool or turbidity in the intestines. Applying this technique will help to activate them to increase intestinal movement and voluntarily expel turbidities.
03 Rubbing the stomach technique
Our experience proved that this technique is very effective.
There is a folk saying that rubbing the abdomen can cure all diseases.
If we often do the exercise of rubbing the abdomen, we will find that the motility of the stomach has improved.
Rubbing the abdomen is also very simple. Put one hand on the belly button and the other hand on the back of it. Rub the abdomen counterclockwise from left to top, right, and down. In the process of rubbing, the strength should not be too light, as the soft tissues of the abdomen should be moved as much as possible.
Generally, rub it for thirty or forty circles until the lower abdomen becomes warm.
After thirty to forty rounds of kneading counterclockwise, do it for thirty to forty rounds clockwise in the opposite direction. The function of the spleen and stomach can be better improved.
After rubbing the abdomen, you will feel really comfortable, because the abdomen is now warm, which is very important for stomach health.
There is another stretching exercise to nourish the spleen and stomach that we have learned under the Mustang Shenzhan Technique as the Mustang 8-brocade Technique. The style is called Tiao li pi wei xu dan ju. It involves lifting a single arm high above our head.
Read more: Mustang 8-brocade Technique.
It will help to maintain the spleen and stomach. In a short time, it will quickly eliminate abdominal distension and you will end up with a slim belly.
04 The tiptoe technique
Action. Stand on the ground without socks and shoes. Grip the ground with your toes and raise your heel. That is, the toes are on the ground and the heels are raised, as high as they can be raised.
What happens? Do you tend to lose your balance? If you do, try to correct your posture until you can stand on your toes. We touch on this when we discuss how to apply the stance technique for health preservation.
Read more: Mustang Shenzhan Technique
Health efficacy. The stomach meridian passes between the second and third toes of the foot, and the origination point of the stomach meridian is also at the joint of the toe. Thus, if you have weak gastrointestinal function, you should exercise your toes regularly. This exercise will activate your stomach.
There are several ways to exercise your toes. Standing on your toes is one way. Walking on your toes is another way. Rubbing your toes is yet another way.
People like to ask: how long should I do it? What time of the day should I do it?
To find the answer, go back and read other posts about it. Find out what time the stomach meridian is most active.
As to how long you should do it, we want to ask: how long can you do it?
In using this kind of technique for maintenance of any organ, including the stomach, there is no fixed length of time for doing the exercise, your body condition will decide it for you.
05 The kneel-move technique
This technique will induce energy and blood to flow downward, so that energy and blood flow into the stomach meridian. Therefore, it is very beneficial to improve the function of the stomach.
Put a soft mat on the floor and spend twenty minutes a day kneeling and moving forward on it, and you will see amazing results in two weeks.
At the beginning, the knees may be very painful. It takes a few days to get used to it. Kneel first and don’t move forward. Kneel first at the beginning and wait until you get used to it before moving forward.
If you are old or weak, and you have problem knees, you may be worried about applying this technique.
Then you can put sofa cushions or other soft things under your knees, kneel first and don’t move forward, wait for two or three days to get used to kneeling, and then take the cushions away. Go and kneel on the bed again, and kneel again after two days.
An eighty-year old man tried this technique. Originally he couldn’t squat down and go to the toilet normally. Then he tried the technique this way. He was fine after two weeks. Now he is almost ninety-year old, and his knees have never had any problems. If there is a little pain at times, he will go to the bed and kneel immediately. This method is very simple and effective.
Moving forward on your knees will help your stomach and spleen.
Moving on your knees can also help you to lose weight, especially the weight around your thigh.
Moving on your knees directs the energy and blood to the legs and then to the knees. Women always complain that the fat is on the thighs, indeed, this is a pile of waste, not muscle. At this time, we have to draw new energy and blood to let it absorb the garbage and expel it, so moving on knees can reduce thigh fat.
For men and young ladies who want to lose weight, the kneel-move technique is a secret way to lose weight, which is faster than using the knocking on the dai meridian technique.
This technique is the most obvious way to reduce the fat on the thighs. If you want to test whether this method is effective, you can measure your thigh with a tape measure at home, then kneel-move for twenty minutes every day, and then take the tape measure again after three weeks. It will definitely make you overjoyed. Many people have tried this method, and the effect is very obvious.
In addition to stomach conditioning and weight loss, the technique can be used in preventing knee pain, knee water, knee spurs, back pain, and hair loss.
Practicing kneel-move can also give you many additional benefits which we will not list here. However, the key point is for you to persistently practice it on a daily basis. If you do not start or if you do not persist, nothing will be gained.
06 The spine kneading technique
In short, it is to pinch the spine, from the tailbone to the neck. When kneading, you don’t have to stick to the acupoints, because the two sides of the spine are where the du meridian and the bladder meridian pass by.
Of course you cannot apply this technique to yourself. You cannot knead your own spine no matter how you try. You have to get a friend to do it for you. If your friend does not know how to, ask him to practice with you. The two of you do it on each other.
The technique can have a comprehensive health benefit on the body. It can (1) strengthen the spleen and stomach, (2) regulate the energy flow of the whole body, (3) regulate the internal organs, (4) dredge the meridians, and (5) uplifting the energy flow.
07 The saliva-swallow technique
The action is simple. Just swallow your own saliva for as long as you can. You may do it while you are sitting on a sofa watching your favorite shows.
As practitioners of health preservation, we usually integrate this technique with our tuna technique. That is, we swallow our saliva while we are practicing the deep-breathing technique.
How do we produce adequate saliva for health maintenance?
When we are not eating, we use the tongue to stir around inside the mouth, so that the water in the body rises to the mouth, turns into saliva through the salivary glands, and then we swallow it slowly.
Of course, you may simplify the process. Press your tongue against the palate for a few minutes, and the mouth will naturally be filled with saliva.
Read more: Mustang Tuna Technique.
According to traditional herbal medicine:
The five important organs are associated with five types of liquid in our body. The heart is related to sweat. The lungs are related to nose flowing. The liver is related to tears. The spleen is related to light saliva. The kidneys are related to thick saliva. They are the five liquids.
Basically, the saliva originates from the spleen and kidneys. The spleen is the acquired foundation of the human body and the kidneys are the innate foundation of the human body. Thus saliva contains many substances that are beneficial to human health and longevity, and have a special effect on health preservation of the body.
Ancient doctors believed that people with full saliva must have a balanced body constitution, and they judged the disease status according to the rise and fall of saliva.
Saliva is actually the best medicine for invigorating the spleen and stomach in the human body. Saliva can moisturize the facial features, tighten the skin, strengthen teeth, strengthen bones and muscles, ventilate energy and blood, and prolong life.
As the saying goes:
Although wonder drugs are good, it is not as important as one’s own body fluid.
According to books and newspapers, many old people in Rugao, the hometown of longevity, practice this exercise every day.
08 The lajin technique
The lajin technique is used to stretch out tendons. Stretching is an exercise that everyone can do. Before running, you stretch your legs to warm up. This is lajin, and you are stretching the tendons in your legs. When you are tired, you stretch your waist to let yourself relax. This is also lajin, to stretch your waist.
Lajin is very simple, everyone can do it, and it doesn’t cost much to do. But did you know that although stretching is simple, the benefits to the body are not simple? Stretching every day has more benefits than you think.
What are the benefits of stretching every day?
Many people now feel sore all over their bodies every day. When they bend over, they feel their backs are sore, and when they stretch their legs, they feel their legs are sore. This situation is called muscle contraction.
Stretch the tendons every day, which can promote blood circulation in the body, improve muscle flexibility, prevent muscle stiffness, and prevent tendon shrinkage. Middle-aged and elderly people and office workers are more prone to muscle soreness and muscle contraction. They should do more lajin every day, so that the body will not be sore often and the body will be more refreshed.
Lajin also has a lot of functions in dredging the meridians. Nowadays, due to sedentary and less movement, many people have blocked the meridians. If the meridians are blocked, the body will first feel pain everywhere, and there will be many problems such as poor complexion and facial spots, and the physical fitness will also deteriorate, and the body is prone to problems. Stretching the muscles every day can promote blood circulation in the body, promote the discharge of toxins and garbage in the meridians, and the flow of the meridians will become smooth.
As the saying goes, an inch longer the tendon, ten years longer the life. Although it is not that exaggerated, stretching the muscles is helpful for prolonging life.
Doing the lajin technique everyday can promote the body’s blood circulation, promote the discharge of garbage and toxins in the body, so that the blood vessels in the body can become cleaner, and the aging of the blood vessels will be slower.
When the blood vessels are not old, people will age more slowly, and their lifespan will gradually become longer.
The human liver, spleen, and kidney meridians all pass through the thigh, so the lajin technique is very effective in stretching and regulating these three meridians.
It is best to use the lajin technique in the lying down position. The effect is more significant.
09 The light hammering technique
Tap the dai meridian lightly with your hands, and knock thirty to fifty circles along the dai meridian horizontally. This method can restore the restraining ability of the dai meridian and reduce the fat in the waist and abdomen.
Alternatively, use a comb or scraping board to scrape the dai meridian, and often scrape several key acupoints on the dai meridian, such as the zhangmen acupoint and the wushu acupoint on the liver meridian and gallbladder meridian. This action can dredge the dai meridian, clear the liver and gallbladder, and help reduce belly fat.
Alternatively, pinch and lift the dai meridian. Use the middle finger, index finger and thumb to pinch the muscle at the dai meridian and lift it up. Repeat four to five times. This action will help soothe the liver, relieve depression and regulate blood pressure.
10 The dredging technique
This technique involves dredging the liver, spleen and kidneys, not just the stomach and spleen.
The vital-energy paths involved include one from the foot to the liver, one from the foot to the kidneys, one from the foot to the spleen, one from the eyes to the ankle, and one from the throat to the calf.
These five meridians all pass through the inner side of the lower limbs and the abdomen, so stretching the inner side of both lower limbs will unclog the five meridians simultaneously. Consequently, many abdominal problems can be solved by the recommended exercise.
Dr. Yu, a well-known herbal medicine doctor, wrote that most of the patients encountered clinically are women, among which gynecological diseases account for a large proportion. If andrology patients are counted, it is estimated that the proportion accounts for more than half.
For women, they suffer from gynecological irregular menstruation, dysmenorrhea, vaginal discharge, uterine fibroids, pelvic effusion, and so on.
For men, they suffer from male prostatic hypertrophy, frequent urination, impotence, premature ejaculation, and so on.
He said that many patients have one thing in common: the liver, spleen and kidneys all have problems. In his opinion, to cure andrology and gynecological diseases without taking care of the liver, spleen, and kidneys is a fool’s dream.
He therefore offers us a technique to do regular maintenance of our liver, spleen, and kidneys so that we will be away from the illnesses mentioned above. Practice hard and gain a lot.
Use a flat table or a bed for this exercise. If you do not have a big table or a firm bed, then use a clean floor. Lie on the table with your hips against the wall and your legs up, using gravity to spread your legs to the sides and stretch the insides of the thighs as far as possible.
It was a little painful at the beginning, but after a while, you will find that it becomes more and more comfortable. If you stick to it for fifteen minutes every day, you will find that a miracle will appear slowly.
If we practice this exercise everyday for fifteen minutes per session, it will reduce our chances of having the afore-mentioned body problems.
Why does such a simple action have such a good effect?
The explanation involves the vital-energy paths or meridians. Go to the appropriate section for a detailed explanation. Here we offer a brief explanation for the non-technical persons.
Foot Jueyin Liver Meridian, Foot Shaoyin Kidney Meridian, Foot Taiyin Spleen Meridian, Yinwei Vessel, Yinqiao Vessel.
These five meridians all pass through the inner side of the lower limbs.
Stretch the inner sides of the lower limbs to dredge the five yin meridians.
Many abdominal problems can be solved.
Through long-term exercise, you will find that the meaning is very profound.
If you can handle gynecology and andrology, you can do it yourself.
11 Press the zhongwan acupoint technique
The zhongwan acupoint is located on the front midline of the human body, four inches above the navel. It is the recruiting point of the stomach meridian, where the qi of the stomach meridian gathers. Pressing the zhongwan acupoint can promote the movement of the meridian qi and regulate the stomach function. Tap or knead the zhongwan acupoint with your fingers for two to three minutes each time until the local area feels warm.
12 Knead the heart technique
The heart refers to the area above the zhongwan acupoint and below the sternum, which is the corresponding area of the stomach on the body surface. Use the palm of your hand to rub clockwise for thirty-six times and counterclockwise for thirty-six times to make the local area feel warm and comfortable. This will regulate the energy flow of the mid section, including that of the stomach.
If you have obvious indigestion and bloating symptoms, you can start from the heart pit and repeat the technique of pushing from top to bottom until you feel comfortable. Be careful not to push from bottom to top.
13 Push and press the ribs technique
Put the palms of both hands on both sides of the body, and then push down from the lower edge of the breast to the side waist, until the local area feels warm. This massage action can dredge the liver and gallbladder meridian and regulate the flow of qi.
Regular practice of these techniques can effectively regulate the function of the stomach, achieve the effects of nourishing and warming the stomach, smoothing the qi movement in the middle section, and preventing stomach illnesses.
14 The mountain climbing technique
In mountain climbing, we exercise our muscles and bones. At the same time, it makes us sweat. Thus, it is also a good way to get rid of dampness in our body which will benefit our spleen.
Mountain climbing is not the only exercise we can do. If mountain climbing is not feasible, we can climb up and down stairs. Instead of competing for a space in the elevator, we can walk up the stairs.
If you have already paid for a gym membership in a fitness center, you can do the climbing on one of the equipment. You have already paid for it, you might as well use it.
15 The Other techniques
There are other tuina techniques that we can apply to improve our stomach and spleen performance. You may refer to the Mustang Tuina Technique for more information,
In the application of the tuina techniques, it is best to first warm our palms and hands and fingers so that when we massage, the warmth will speed up the blood circulation.
To be continued.