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Gradually the body not only becomes supple and flexible but health improves and longevity is attained. Gymnastics for
many centuries have been described as a valuable tool to prevent old age and cure diseases. They nourish the qi, refresh
the body after hard work, help fasting and other spiritual practices, and open the body for a long and joyful life. How,
then, did daoyin relate to Daoism in the course of Chinese history? To begin, let us look at the early documentation and
role of the daoyin tradition.
The Dao-Yin T radition
The earliest documents on daoyin are found in medical literature on healing and health maintenance. Following the
dictum of the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic that the best physician preventing diseases and never having to treat a
patient, gymnastic and breathing exercises formed a part of traditional Chinese medicine that specialized in preventative
practice and was known as yang-sheng or nourishing life. Practices used are commonly called longevity techniques and
include diets, breathing exercises, gymnastics, massages, sexual practices, the absorption of solar and lunar energies, as
well as various forms of meditation. Used both for healing and enhancing health, these methods ensured not only the
realization of the natural life expectancy but were found to often result in increased old age and vigor.
Our earliest sources on these methods, and thus also on gymnastics and breathing, are a set of manuscripts
unearthed at Mawangdui and Zhangjia shan in southern China. Written on silk, bamboo and strips of wood, they date
from the second century B.C.E. and present practical advice on how to nourish life with the help of gymnastics, breathing,
dietetics, and drugs. Works include: Conjoining Yin and Yang (He yinyang), Discussion of the Perfect Way in All Under
Heaven (Tianxia zhidao tan), and Recipes for Nourishing Life (Yangsheng fang).
A text called The Rejection of Grains and Absorption of Qi (Quegu shiqi), furthermore deals with techniques of
eliminating grains and ordinary foodstuffs from the diet and replacing them with medicinal herbs and qi through special
breathing exercises. The text repeatedly contrasts “those who eat qi” with “those who eat grain” and explains this in
cosmological terms, saying: “Those who eat grain eat what is square; those who eat qi eat what is round. Round is
heaven; square is earth (Harper 1998, 130). The most famous and relevant to our topic among the Mawangdui
manuscripts is the Gymnastics Chart (Daoyin tu). It contains color illustrations of human figures performing therapeutic
gymnastics. Some of the recognizable captions refer to the names of exercises already mentioned in the Zhuangzi, such
as “bear-hanging” and “bird-stretching.” The text, although fragmentary, shows the importance of gymnastic exercises,
used in conjunction with self-massages to dissolve blockages, help circulation, and increase the harmony of qi in the
body. It also documents the early use of animal models for physical exercises, a practice that has been linked with
ancient shamanic dances (Despeux 1989, 237-38).
Another manuscript on gymnastics is the Book on Stretching (Yinshu), found among several medical texts in
Zhangjia shan, Hubei, about 150 miles north of Mawangdui, Dated to 186 B.C.E., it begins with the description of a daily
and seasonal health regimen, including hygiene, dietetics, regulation of sleep and movement, as well as adequate times
for sexual intercourse. After that, the text details fifty-seven gymnastic exercises, including massages. Some exercises
are preventative, others more curative. The third and last part of the Book on Stretching deals with etiology and the
prevention of diseases. The most important factors that cause diseases, according to this work, are climatic excesses such
as the heat of summer, moisture, wind, cold, rain, and dew. An unstable diet, excessive emotions and a lifestyle
inappropriate to the season are also named as possible causes of an imbalance of qi. The text recommends various
therapies, such as breathing exercises, bodily stretches and the careful treatment of the interior qi. It says: “If you can
pattern your qi properly and maintain your yin energy in fullness, then the whole person will benefit” (Wenwu 1990, 86).
It is interesting to note that the text makes a distinction between “upper class people,” who fall ill because of
uncontrolled emotions such as rage and excessive joy, and lower ones whose conditions tend to be caused by excessive
labor, hunger and thirst. It further notes that the latter have no opportunity to learn the necessary breathing exercises and
therefore contract numerous diseases and die an early death. Obviously longevity techniques were very much the domain
of the aristocracy and upper classes who could afford quality medical care and the instruction by specialists of
prevention (Engelhardt 2000).
Following these manuscripts, records on gymnastics include mention in dynastic histories, such as the biography of
18 Yang-Sheng (Nurturing Life) Volume 1, Issue No. 10