Colds/Flu and the Healing Tao

I concur with a lot of what singing ocean said.
Given my past, being a person who used to catch a lot
of colds/flu, I have a few things to add:

Colds/Flu are caused by three necessary ingredients:
1. your body being run down
+ 2. exposure
+ 3. weak immune system

If you only have two out of the three, you probably
won’t get sick.

Regarding #1 (your body being run down):
In general, doing qigong will reduce the likelihood of getting
a cold, but this is in large part because qigong relaxes you
and gives the body a rest. Therefore, you are less likely
to be a state of being run down. However, if you are practicing
intensely and doing a lot of physical exercise, you can
wear yourself down from practice; thereby counteracting the
health benefit. This doesn’t mean you can’t practice intensely,
but you need to know your limits and give your body a rest
from time to time.

Regarding #2 (exposure):
Number 1 rule here is to WASH YOUR HANDS REGULARLY and thoroughly.
There are plenty of things we touch that contain viruses, and
then we touch our eyes or scratch our cheek or stick a Q-tip
(we put viruses on) into our ears. Most of us are trained to
wash our hands after we use the restroom, but its a good idea
if you have a big bladder/colon to wash your hands periodically
even if you don’t need to use the bathroom. This is one of the
major reasons doctors don’t get sick a lot even though
they see tons of sick patients. They wash their hands after/before
each patient. Plenty of places to pick up germs you wouldn’t
think of. Doorknobs are obvious, but elevator buttons,
public computer keyboards/keypads, and retailer pens used to sign
store receipts are other places ripe to spread germs.
Of course, don’t be a germ-o-phobe/fanatic about contacting germs
as that creates a fear-based energy likely to increase your odds of
getting sick, but just be mindful of washing your hands regularly
and thoroughly.

Regarding #3 (weak immune system):
Some of this is genetic, but one of the most effective ways I’ve
found to strengthen the immune system is by taking
Probiotic capsules DAILY. Your gut’s flora is basically your
front line defense against germs. Prior antibiotic use, eating
a lot of sugar, and other miscellaneous things can destroy this
front line defense. I stumbled onto this after I noticed an
ex of mine almost never getting sick, yet she ate large quantities
of yogurt every day. I figured that due to my genetic makeup
I probably needed a stronger dose of probiotics, so even though
I eat yogurt now, I also daily take a strong dose of probiotic
capsules. Doing this created the most significant change
(that I noticed anyway) in how frequently I get colds/flu.
Just last semester I noticed how a lot of my students (same ones) got
sick with a cold THREE different times during the semester, and
many times the whole class was sick. I only caught a cold once
during my constant exposure and only lasted three days.
In the past, if someone got sick near me, I was guaranteed to get it.
Not now. Of all things I’ve done, this one created the most
significant change for me.

Of course, once you are unlucky enough to catch something, then
doing things like Deep Healing Qigong, taking ginger & garlic
(antiviral compounds), and good ol’ fashioned bed rest
can speed its departure.

Steven

I used to get lots of colds and flus. I was also surprised that they continued to occur despite practicing HT. For the last two years I have barely gotten sick. What happened? I got divorced, and got into a relationship with a wonderfully deep and loving woman.

Now, I am not suggesting that you get a divorce too! But, you might want to examine the outer forces in your life – environment, work, relationships etc. I do not believe that inner work (e.g. meditation, alchemy, qi gong, psychotherapy)can get us into balance with all outer forces in our life. Sometimes we need to practice external taoism, and move away from those stresses (in my case, my ex) and move towards conditions that are more healthy for us (in my case, Wonder Wendy).

best of luck!
Chris

Maybe you should go through your overall practice and see if you mess with your wai qi (outer, protective qi). Maybe you exhaust it with your gym or running (just an example)…

Watch your inhalation/exhalation rate! Exhalation longer than inhalation should build wai qi (and vice versa).

Iron Shirt III (i.e. Xi Sui – Bone marrow washing) draws your energy inside and shouldn’t be done too much over winter, but Iron Shirt II (i.e. Yi Jin – Muscle and tendon change) is suitable for cold days since it moves energy on the perifery of the body.
Al least, that’s what I’ve heard from Jang, Jwing Ming’s video (I am actually a beginner and do not do these practices yet.)

Best regards!

O

>>>Strange thing is relaxing, and ‘taking it easy’
>>>is not easy for me at all, it’s one of the hardest
>>>things for me to do. I want to strive and achieve
>>>as a wood type should. I want to be fitter, faster,
>>>stronger but my body is holding me back!

I tend to be the same way, so I understand this idea.
But you don’t want to have the idea that
“your body is holding you back”.

Creating negative “me against the body” attitudes,
not only harms the body, but makes it even more difficult
to get your wills in alignment, i.e. it will be more
difficult to get healthy if your body doesn’t feel like
it’s good enough or it doesn’t measure up.

Better to adopt the attitude of telling the body you want
to work with it and support and nurture it. Give it love.
Doing this will strengthen the body. Negative attitudes
will weaken it.

Just reframe your attitude . . .
Relaxing, destressing, etc. should not be viewed as “not
accomplishing something”. If you want to have an
achiever attitude you can view it as you are listening
to your body, supporting its growth, so that you can
better enjoy the present moment and life itself. It
becomes an act of self-love.

Love your body and it will love you back.

Smiles,
Steven

not caring and accepting
hello zoose,
i noticed you said “I think the healing tao is more useful for changing your thoughts so you don’t care so much about your health problems rather than actually fixing the problems”. there is a difference between not caring about your health problems and accepting them, which brings about healing. smile =)