Featured Article 8th-1 of 9 Articles Series for Dajiyuan in Korea

Excerpts from the Article Translated to English:

修身——健康中的六大要素（上）

Body Cultivation(修身)-Six factors of Health(Part 1)

One of the topics of interest to most people is ‘health’. O’Donnell (1998) analyzed the four major health determinants affecting 10 major causes of death. Among them, lifestyle factors were the largest at 52%, followed by environmental and genetic factors at 20% separately, and health care factors at 8%. In other words, it concludes that individual habits have the greatest impact on health. This is the most sympathetic conclusion yet, regardless of whether it is a medical expert or a non-specialist.

In the “Barun Maek Research” based on Chinese ancient Yin and Yang  Five Elements thought system, Body Cultivation(修身) project, which is building a health body project, has been observed by more than 300 participants for as long as 20 years and as short as several months, and has written and shared the results of improving habits and restraining themselves.

At the beginning of the project conception, I first considered the factors for sustaining an individual’s life in order to get answers about factors that could affect his or her health. To put it in order according to its fatalities, the first thing you have to do is breathe. Second, it is necessary to keep warm to maintain body temperature. Third, you have to eat food that will maintain your metabolism. Fourth, you have to be able to move. In addition, they choose to die when they encounter an unfavorable environment or moral condition different from their preferences, so these two things were also included in the element for life support. As a result, Body Cultivation(修身) project puts these six as the ‘Six major factors in health’, and improves health problems by reforming health habits that reflect the Five Elements of Tree, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Sixth energy, and the balance of Yin and Yang energy for each factor.

The first is breathing. Inhale activates Yin energy and exhales Yang energy, so the similar amount of time given to each process makes the better balance of Yin and Yang in the body. There was an example of effects changing breathing habits. A project participant who had frequent headaches that she often regretted because she rushed things. She inhaled while filling her lungs with her nose was only one-third of the length of her breath that was pushed out with her mouth.  In the process of forming a habit of matching the proportion of breathing, her thoughts and actions became calm, headaches decreased, and the pulse was also restored to the Yin-Yang balance.

Second is heating up the body. Whether Eastern or Western, healers including Hippocrates emphasized the use of hot spring baths and heat to those who are sick, The human body must maintain a surface temperature of 36.5 degrees Celsius. It is natural that there is a problem of circulation when the temperature in the human body, where fat, protein, and water are co-existed, becomes cold. The project participants had cold meridians corresponding to the insufficient energy of the Five Elements and had related health problems. In the research process, they wore thin and long sleeves even in midsummer, and came home and sweated with a hot shower after being under the air conditioner . When it is cold, rather than keeping warm with a coat, the clothes of the traditional society, which were worn in layers to gradually adapt to the environment, were used to maintain body temperature. Participants achieved improvements of pain, itchiness, and atopic skin.