“Bending the Body to Brush the Shoes (Gong Shen Dan Xue)” is the fifth routine of Health Qigong Dao Yin Yang Sheng Gong Shi Er Fa. “Gong Shen”means bending the body as if you are bowing(Gong). “Dan Xue” means brushing off the snow, dust and other harmful things on your shoes.

Most of the Chinese idioms have their origins or allusions. The name of “Bending the Body to Brush the Shoes” of Dao Yin Yang Sheng Gong Shi Er Fa originated from a segment of The Romance of The Three Kingdoms: Liu Bei, together with his foster brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, went to Longzhong to invite Zhuge Liang to join his troops and help him assist the house of Han and save the people.  They did not meet Zhuge Liang on the first and second visit. After several days on a windy and snowy midwinter day, Liu Bei was informed that Zhuge Liang had returned to his house. So, the three foster brothers went to Longzhong to visit Zhuge Liang for the third time in the bitter snow. A houseboy opened the door for them: “My master is at home today, but he was sleeping in his cottage and hasn’t waked up for a long time.” “Then don’t wake him up.”said Liu Bei. He asked Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to wait for him at the gate, bent his body to brush the snow off his shoes and walked into the cottage. This is the origin of “Bending the Body to Brush the Shoes”in ancient classics.

Coincidentally, there was also a story called “Waiting at the door of Cheng Yi’s house in the snow” which happened in the Song dynasty. According to The Biography of Yang Shi in The History of Song, Yang Shi (1053-1135), whose courtesy name is Zhongli, was a scholar living in the Northern Song dynasty. When he was forty, he and another scholar You Cu went to Luo Yang to visit Cheng Yi, a famous philosopher and educator. Cheng was doing meditation, so Yang and You waited until Cheng opened his eyes and found the two visitors’ legs were buried in a chi of deep snow. Cheng was deeply moved by Yang and You, and warmly invited them. Yang and You bent their bodies to brush away the snow on their legs and went into Cheng’s house.

Judging from the movement structure of “Bending the Body to Brush the Shoes” of Dao Yin Yang Sheng Gong Shi Er Fa, it mainly achieves the effect of maintaining essence, growing marrows, nourishing yin and the kidneys, and strengthen the body by bending the body.

Then why can bending the body achieves all these effects?

Due to the principle of “analyze things from its origin, seize the gist and describe it in detail”, let’s start with the story of “Four Old Men Discussing Longevity”.

It is said that during ancient times, there were four old men living in four different places in a country. They are called: Bei Di (the north land), Nan Chuan (the south river), Dong Hai (the east sea) and Xi Yue (the west mountain). The emperor got heard of their longevity and asked his subordinate to invite them to his palace to talk about their secrets of longevity.

Bei Di touched his white hair and answered first: “I have lived for ninety-nine years because I walk a hundred steps every day.”

Nan Chuan followed, stroking his beard: “I have lived for ninety-nine years because I never make my stomach too full when having dinner.”

Dong Hai said: “I have lived for ninety-nine years because I like happiness and refuse to be sad.”

At last, it was Xi Hai's turn, but he was too embarrassed to say anything until the emperor and his three peers finally persuaded him. He said in a faint voice: “I live for ninety-nine years because my wife is ugly.”

It is obvious that Xi Yue's story tells people that preserving essence (in Chinese, the character “精” can be used to refer to both the essence and the sperm) is an important part in gaining longevity. Because the essence is the fundamental substance which builds up all the tissues and viscera in the human body and stores a great amount of vitality. It is also the foundation of the original qi in the body, and can help reproduction, growth, development and prevent diseases by defending the stimulation from undesirable substances. Just as Suwen Jinguizhenyanlun wrote: “The essence is the foundation of the human body. If the human body has enough essence, its immunity can be strengthened, and it is hard to get sick. If the body's essence is consumed excessively, the body will be less protected because of the loss of the yang qi. The immunity will be reduced, and the body will become easy to be attacked by outer evil substances and become sick.

Also, as Zhang Jingyue, a medical scientist living in the Ming dynasty said: “People should not misuse venery because this can lead to the loss of essence. If the body runs out of essence, the genuine qi will perish...So those who are good at life nourishing always manage their essence well. Affluent essence brings enough qi, enough qi makes a bright mind, a bright mind builds a strong body, and a strong body can defend many diseases.”

There is an ancient rhyme named “The song of body caring” which is worth referring to. It wrote: “The three treasures of heaven are the sun, the moon and the stars. The three treasures of the earth are water, fire and wind. The three treasures of human are essence, qi and mind. Making good use of them can help you know the world better.”

（By Zhang Guangde and Si Chaoquan）