How to stay Healthy and Pain Free

How to stay Healthy and Pain Free

As a Qi Therapist and Qigong Instructor, many people ask me about how to stay healthy and free of pain.  In my earlier article, Chi the Universal Energy, I  talked about the need to have our Qi (both Yin and Yang ) to be in equilibrium. This is to enable the organs in our body to function properly. Our body need sufficient amount of both Yin and Yang Qi.

There is difference in opinions in regard to what is healthy. To the Westerners and modern Asian, being healthy is like Bruce Lee -taking advices from the doctors/specialists and nutritionist. According to Linda Lee (Bruce's wife), Bruce was very particular about the right food, nutrition, supplements and proper physical training to give him a six pack perfect V shape body. His doctor even confirmed that he had the agility of an 18 years old at the age of 32. When he got a pain he just see his doctor who would supply him with pain killer. Soon he went into a coma and died. Many people are still speculating why he died at the prime of his health. For more on Bruce Lee please click here.


Many of my patients were also given pain killers to relieve pain for whatever illness that the doctors/specialists claim there is no cure. The pain is the body's messages/ warnings/ signals to alert us that we cannot go on the same way. These pain killers does not solve the problem. It just mask the pain as if it does not exist. It is just a temporary relief. If a person keep on ignoring the pain with pain killers, the body system might just shut down by going in to a coma and might possibly die. We must face reality.


What western minded people considered as healthy might actually be a death trap. Unfortunately, he died at that age when he was considered most beautiful and healthy by modern standards. 


The ancient Chinese like Grandmaster Zhang San Feng (the founding master of Wudang Pai) live well over a century and founded Tai Chi Chuan in his golden years. His posture was slightly hunched and pot bellied. He doesn't look half as impressive as Bruce Lee but Great Grandmaster Zhang was much healthier than any modern man. He was invincible with his Wudang's martial arts. 


Western ideas of beauty lies mainly in the building of muscles to obtain a V shape body like Bruce. The ancient Chinese were more concern with a physically healthy, long quality life (not bed ridden or pills popping). Most modern people find pills popping an aid to their health and fail to realize that it is a death trap.


The Traditional Chinese Medicine has gone through more than five thousands years of trials and errors. Traditional Chinese Medicine is based on  the Viscera a general term for the internal organs (zhang fu). There are five yin viscera (zhang) and six yang viscera (fu). The five yin viscera are heart, lung, liver, spleen and kidney. The six yang viscera are gallbladder, stomach, large intestine, small intestine, bladder and triple warmer. The viscera are linked by meridians with acupuncture points to help the body function. The Five Yin Viscera main characteristics are to generate and store chi. The Six Yang Viscera main characteristics are to receive and transport food and waste.

The Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a system of healing based on Viscera incorporating the Five Element theory, Yin and Yang theory and the concept of Qi/Chi.

In order to be healthy, one need to fulfill the following criteria  :

1) Proper Nutrition

2) Proper Rest

3) Proper Exercises

4) Proper Waste Management

5) Emotionally balanced

Proper Nutrition

1) Bruce Lee concluded that in order to achieve a high-performance body, one could not fuel it with a diet of junk food. If we use "the wrong fuel" for our body, it would not perform properly. Eat a balanced meal. If your body do not get enough nutrients how can your immune system be strong. All food should generally be less sugar,  less salt, less acidic (and more alkaline) and less animal fats. You cannot expect to be healthy when you eat excessively or unhealthily. Please eat slowly (bite the food thoroughly) and digest your food properly. If you eat too fast, your body might need to produce more acid to break down the food. In the event the food cannot be broken down, the body just discard them as waste. No junk food or untested/ unproven products. Eat plenty of vegetables.

Do not eat food that is too hot or spicy. When the food is boiling hot or too spicy, it can injure your tongue, mouth and stomach.

2) You need to drink lots of hot to warm water to help release the toxin either through your kidney (in the form of urine) or through your sweats. Do not drink the water or soup which is still boiling. You have to let it cool down a bit.

3) Do not eat too much or too little. Eat what you body require to stay healthy. You will notice that obese people tends to have legs problems due to the need to support the body weight. Slimmer people will have lesser problem. Being immobile, many elderly or overweight people choose to sit or lie down and there do very little exercises to stay healthy. If you do not eat enough food, there will not be enough nutrients for the body.

Proper Rest 

1) All of us need to sleep properly in order for us to become healthy. We should preferably be able to sleep for at least 8 hours per night. Sleeping well allows your immune system to take over the healing process. If you do not sleep well, you will be unhealthy. It was reported that Bruce Lee did not have enough rest due to his busy filming and training schedules. Popping pain killers will not help as your body's immune system will get weaker and weaker. Even Bruce Lee with his physical  trainings cannot survive without sufficient rest. I had a Qigong student who claim to be a nose cancer survival. A few years later I saw gray rings around his eyes, a sure sign of insufficient rest. He told me he was only sleeping 2-3 hours per night. I told him he would be in serious problem soon if he continue this way. Sure enough the cancer resurfaced and there was nothing anyone could do about it. If you do not take care of yourself, there is no hope for you.

2) Worries and stressful life style can make your health get worse. Look at the positive side. Read more motivational books or articles. Talk to the experts. You can click here for some motivations/ positive thoughts . Remember what is past is long gone and cannot be changed. What you can change is now and the future. Be logical. You got to rest to allow your body immune system to help you recover.

Proper Exercises

We all need to exercise at least 2 hours a day. It would be good to exercise for  at least one hour in the morning and another hour in the evening. The extend of the exercises will depend on your age and the condition of your body.  If you want to do jogging, make sure you get the right type of jogging shoes or you could injure your feet. Then you need to get a medical check up to see if your heart and body can withstand the jogging. Some people can just suddenly collapse and die while jogging.  Some people are too inactive or sick to do strenuous exercises. So it depends on each individual. Some elderly people are stronger than younger people. There are lots of young people who seldom venture out of the house and never exercise. Qigong with proper breathing exercises would be suitable for most people. The more you exercise, the more you will be able to exercise and vice versa. It is not a matter of age but will power and the ability to use qi that separate one from the other. Many young people are surprised at my mobility and strength. The secret is I always put in more efforts than others. When I started learning Tae Kwon Do, I practiced so hard that I was able to take on black belts when I was only a green belt. I was not a genius but just plain hardworking. There is a difference between one hour of training and 10 hours of trainings. Bruce Lee do not suddenly become an extraordinary fighting machine, he need to training like a machine. Only when you put in the amount of effort will you reap the benefits of the trainings.

For those who want to try out some useful and simple qigong exercises on Youtube, do click on the link as follows :

Free Useful Qigong Lesson 1 - Loosening Exercises.

Free Useful Qigong Lesson 2 - Shoulders Rolls

Free Useful Qigong Lesson 3 - Playing with Qi (magnetic flow)

Proper Waste Management

Daily visit to the toilet to remove the unwanted waste from the body is very vital to to the health of an individual. When the waste is new, it is softer and naturally easier to push out through the anus. However if you keep on delaying to go to the toilet, the waste will hardened and eventually be like the goat's waste (small and round). Since it is hardened, it would be harder to remove. Some people will do weekly detoxification with lots of recipes in the internet. As long as you eat properly as in 1 above, the waste should come out easily.

Emotionally balanced

Heart is the seat of emotions. Many people are ruled by emotions and their actions are not necessarily logical or correct. If a person believe he/she is sick (and the doctor could not find any sign of illness), many doctors will give the patients placebos (with no medicinal or nutritional value). If the doctor were to tell the patient he/she is not sick, the patient will not believe the doctor. Then again some doctors tell their patients that they are in  perfect health, a few months later one of the patients got diagnosed with 4th stage lung cancer. Bruce Lee was perfect and had the agility of an 18 years old. Yet  who could tell that he was on the brink of exhaustion mentally and physically. He just went into a coma and died.

If a person has given up hope and get into depression, there is nothing anyone can do about it. You see some people does not want to be healthy and does not want to be cured. It is illogical yet true. They have encountered some very bitter experiences and given up hope of living. They prefer death as a way out of their current predicaments. It is just like slowly committing suicide. You watch the person getting weaker and weaker. This person need to have lots of support from friends and family members. If we can get him/ her out of the depression, there might still be a chance. As long as he /she want to live on, there might be a chance he / she can survive. We must learn to cheer up ourselves to enable us to survive. One should read more motivational books and articles. Surround yourself with positive people. You can also click here for a dose of positive thoughts. As a matter of facts, there are some with 4th stage cancer where the doctor would tell him/her that there is less than 6 months to live. Of these people, those with a strong will to live on might just prove the doctors wrong. Some have lived more than 10 years.

This world is never really fair. Of the fingers you have, they cannot and will not be of equal length. If there are all the same, we will never be able to grip hold of a Tennis, badminton or squash racket. We might not be able to hold a pen in our hand. Each of us are born with  different abilities to enable us to serve different destinies. I would like to marry the prettiest lady and be the greatest leader in the world. However, it is not my destiny to be a world leader. The prettiest lady for one person might be the ugliest lady for another.

Those people who are impatient will try to hurry up things unnecessarily. They try to eat too fast and might end up with indigestion and a host of other health problems. Triffle matters irritate them and they get angry easily. Anger can cause them to have a heart attack beside the damages that they might cause on your loved ones and properties. Some let go of their anger on their family and friends. They have to learn to slow down and relax. Learning qigong, tai chi chuan and meditation might be able to help.

We must learn to be easily contented. For example being number 2000 in the world is very good as at least you are better than about 5 billion people. In most sport, you might not even qualify to play in the qualifying round but you are better than 5 billion people.  Many people try to be the champion and have to win all the time. Eventually, all champions will start losing when the usurper to the crown appear. If the champions were to look back at their achievement in whatever fields, they should be contented and proud of themselves for whatever they have done. Unfortunately, some of these famous people become emotionally unstable and get into a depression. He/she only lose to one or two persons. It is no big deal but some people try to be the best of the best and ended up bitter about life. Those former champions or celebrities live pampered lives adored by millions across the globe. Think of all those people and animals (without food and sanctuary) where they can live without fear and hunger.

Animals like tigers and sharks are hunted to extinction merely to satisfy man. The sharks are hunted for their fins to make shark fins soup. The rest of the shark is thrown back to the sea. The tigers (up to 860 lbs), being the migthiest and largest of the big cats, are now close to extinction. The whole tiger is worth lots of money as talisman, medicine, fur and etc. Very soon tigers can only be found in Zoos and Animal Sanctuaries (Tigers and wild animals reared as pets in American homes deserted by their owners). Elephants are hunted for their ivories.  

We have to learn to be contented with whatever little we have. Surely we are always better in one or more areas than others and vice versa. Even the great Confucius said " Of three person walking, surely there is a master for me".  What he meant was that if we are humble enough, we can always learn something from others. There must be something the other people might be better than him. Maybe someone might be good at martial art, maybe someone might be good at gardening or cooking and etc. As long as we  remain humble, easily contented and emotionally balanced we will be healthy.

In conclusion, there is no point in living a long life if one is constantly ill and unable to move. Similarly, it is pointless to be pronounced as healthy and beautiful yet dead within months. You must be healthy, mobile and able to do most of the things a person half your age can do to be considered healthy. It is your life. You need to feel alive and enjoy it. In order to do so you need to work out more than a younger person. If you do not exercise enough you are bound to become weaker and weaker.


If you need more advice do not hesitate to contact me at 012-6570647 or just email me at tiockfeng@hotmail.com.  Take care.