What is “health”? Let us look at the composition of the Chinese characters for “health” (健康). The first character “jian” (健) means perfection in morality, intelligence and physique; the second character “kang “(康) means fullness that induces contentedness. Then, what about “recovery” (痊愈), what does it really mean? The first character “quan” (痊) is composed of two portions – the top portion of the character means “to rely on,” while the lower portion means “completeness.” The second character “yu” (愈) means with the help of other forces or tools, the body and the mind are able to reach a higher level. In the same way, when we look at the meaning of “illness” (疾病), we see that the first character “ji” (疾) refers to the disruption brought about by too much haste; it implies that the initial change creates acute discomfort. The second character “bing” (病) refers to the discomfort caused by long delay, which leads us to understand it to mean the more serious problems of the body and the spirit.

Modern day western medicine focuses mostly on treating the symptoms, but there is inadequate understanding of the root cause of illnesses. Oftentimes, before the first illness is cured, the patient is plagued by a second illness. The medical professional, by playing the role of the suppressor of symptoms, ends up disrupting the body’s self-healing functions. In some cases, it may even give rise to the mutation of illnesses.

Health and its preservation is an important issue for modern man. Many traditional Chinese health-giving practices, such as conduction exercises, qigong, martial arts, etc., are gaining popularity. Of these, the practice of using breathing training for the cultivation of vital energy (qi – 气) is typical of traditional Chinese health-giving arts. It is a set of exercises for the limbs which is complemented by breathing exercises. It focuses on strengthening the body and the mind. It is mainly used for the direction of vital energy and blood and the treatment of illnesses.

Conduction training is a form of traditional Chinese health-giving exercise. It is unlike some modern forms of competitive physical exercise that are intended to show the limits of human physical ability. Physical competition requires one give one’s best and, in the course, may easily lead to injury. For this reason, physical competition is different from health-giving exercises. The principles of traditional Chinese health-giving training pay great attention to “an unburdened mind” (i.e. a leisurely mood), and “putting the body to work” (i.e. exercising the body). Conduction training were developed precisely for “the unburdened mind” and “putting the body to work.” As far as “putting the body to work,” the guideline is “to exercise adequately, and not to cause fatigue.” This points to an appropriate amount of exercise without causing undue tiredness. This is the intention of conduction training – that relaxation of the mind is achieved through a moderate amount of exercises so that the body and the mind are in harmony. On this particular point, Chinese conduction training and Indian yoga exercises – the traditional training of the two oldest civilizations in the world – coincide.

In addition, theory-wise, conduction training are based on the principles of treatment and healthy-living in traditional Chinese medicine; at the same time, the theories of healthy-living are entwined with the various schools of traditional Chinese thought (e.g. Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism). This shows that theories of conduction have much deeper roots than just physical exercise. In terms of substance, conduction focuses on disciplining the internal whereas physical exercise focuses on the training of the muscles and tendons. In practice, conduction training have multiple formats, e.g. sitting exercise, lying exercise, standing exercise, internal exercise, external exercise, tranquility training and movement training. Physical exercises comprise only the training of the limbs.