The Art of Self Cultivation
One key concept of Chinese Medicine is the idea that disease prevention is the superior form of medicine. The theories and practices of disease prevention are known as Yang Sheng, which literally means Nourishing Life. Yang Sheng is designed to help you slow down, connect with your inner self, make space for creativity and ultimately to nourish you. It is a holistic approach that incorporates various self-care rituals and philosophy for self-healing, positive mind and health preservation.
From a Chinese medicine perspective, health preservation is based on human beings living in unity with nature and cannot be separated from the ever-changing environment. As a result, how the body correlates with the environment and how it adjusts to it is crucial to understanding pathogenic influences on health.
In terms of health assessment, Yang Sheng is based on three abstract concepts:
Shen (spirit) represents mental activities, consciousness or thought. It governs every aspect of the physical body, and also serves as a general presentation of vitality
Jing (essence) is the constitutional and nutritious basis of the body
Qi (vital energy) is a vital life force, the source of body activity and movement as well as the functions of different organs. Qi makes the physical body and the mind integrated as a whole.
These three concepts are regarded as the "three treasures" of the body and they exist in a complementary and interactive way. They ensure a strong physical body with vigorous vitality. Abundance in these three aspects ensures good health while prolonged negative stimuli and physical depletion drains and weakens Qi, which according to Chinese Medicine eventually results in adverse conditions such as pain, low energy, stress, premature ageing, digestives issues and poor sleep. Therefore, replenishing the qi (vital energy), preserving the jing (essence) and cultivating the shen (spirit) are considered the main objectives in maintaining good health. Qigong, yoga, gua sha, healthy diet, meditation, pottery, painting etc. are all practices for self-cultivation.
Yang Sheng is a philosophy for life. It gives you the permission to honour yourself. It is the opportunity to discover how you truly feel and think in all aspects of your life. Yang Sheng helps to set your intention for personal health, wellbeing and success. Modern life can make it challenging to take time out for ourselves. However, small positive changes can affect not only our health but also everything we will ever do โ including our relationships, aspirations etc.
Recultivate hopes to create an online forum with the purpose of sharing and improving self-care rituals for people who are searching for health, happiness and harmony within. Inspired by Chinese medicine, Recultivate invites you to start the journey to feeling the new you and live a life that is vibrant, healthy and radiant - just as nature intended us to be.
By Cassandra