Chapter 3. Overview of E-Tao Self-Healing Methods

“E-TAO self-healing methods” are derived from Classical Chinese Medicine (CCM) and they differ from therapies of modern Chinese medicine. For better comprehension, I’ll use plain language to explain the relationship between CCM and “E-Tao self-healing methods”, where the understanding of several specific terms is of utmost importance.

Forget the disease name.

This is the primary term we use to interpret “E-Tao self-healing methods”, and it is also one of the secrets to the success of self-healing we advocate.

Regardless of what disease one has, he/she must first forget its name. Please note that it is the name that should be forgotten, not the disease itself. A disease name is just the tip of an iceberg; there are likely other, more severe underlying diseases that even doctors and patients themselves are unaware of. 
Disease names are only labels affixed by doctors and drug producers based on known pathological indicators and statistics, yet these labels do not necessarily identify the actual diseases. A set of symptoms, or a disease with a particular name, may have different contributing causes. Dispensing prescriptions based solely on a disease name with no regard to its causes may worsen the condition.

Disease names can be very misleading. Here, I’ll use two very common ones — hypertension and diabetes — to exemplify my point.

To doctors and patients of hypertension, it is natural that anti-hypertensive drugs should be taken to control blood pressure. The relationship between blood pressure and the heart, liver, spleen and other organs are simply overlooked. As a result, the body’s internal organs are often damaged by drugs taken.

Almost all anti-hypertensive drugs are diuretics that could do damage to the functions of the kidney. This will firstly lead to lowered libido, declined sexual function, prostate disorders and a variety of urinary system disorders such as frequent or involuntary urination, etc.; Secondly, it will lead to insomnia, bone loss, Alzheimer’s disease, hair loss, tinnitus, hearing loss, and shortened lifespan; in addition, Western medicine is considered acidic from the perspective of Chinese medicine, and the acidity will destroy the tissues of blood vessel walls, causing blood vessel ruptures that could lead to stroke and heart diseases.

The cause and effect mentioned above could be hard to grasp with only knowledge of Western medicine; however, it is clearly stated in the theory of Chinese medicine that “the kidney governs the bones, its health is shown in the hair, it opens at the ears, and it controls memory, the urinary and defecating functions, and governs natural lifespan.” Hence, without intake of anti-hypertensive drugs, as long as the Kidney, Heart, Spleen and Liver Meridians (energy channels in the body that are connected to their respective organs) are cleansed, blood pressure will naturally return to normal.

In effect, there is no definitive standard for “normal” blood pressure; it relates to one’s age, physique, mood, and many other factors. It also changes from day to day, and fluctuates with one’s mood and activities. Doctors and drug producers set standards and label diseases to establish benchmarks for reference and to boost drug sales. Taking antihypertensive drugs inevitably induces more disorders, such as liver, kidney, stomach and eye problems, and even more drugs will be needed to treat those new diseases. Many hypertensive patients die after years of medication, yet it is found that their deaths are not caused by high blood pressure. In this sense, the name “hypertension” is quite misleading.

Another good example is diabetes, whose name is also misleading due to the use of blood sugar indicators. Your doctor tells you that you are diabetic and should take hypoglycemic drugs, and then tells you if your blood sugar is not under control, it will easily lead to heart problems, even glaucoma (an eye disease) in severe cases. This is the kind of knowledge taught in medical schools all along. Without knowing it, doctors are brainwashed by drug producers to act as salespersons for their drugs.

Unfortunately, this has turned the causality upside down. By practicing Paida and Lajin, we’ve learned that in all diabetics, Sha (toxic waste that comes out during Paida) will appear when the Pericardium and Heart Meridians on the inner elbows are slapped. This signals that they already have heart problems but are unaware. When these people practice Lajin, they will feel pain at the back of the knees and also the root of thighs, which indicates that the Urinary Bladder, Liver, Kidney, and Spleen Meridians are all blocked, i.e. these organs all have problems. Problems with these organs are the real cause of high blood sugar levels. Further investigation reveals that all diabetics suffer from emotional problems, to varying degrees, such as tension, anxiety, depression and other mental disorders; such emotional turmoil can lead to endocrine disorders. Let alone adults, most teenage students are stressed out before sitting a major exam, thus suffering endocrine disorders or abnormal blood sugar levels.

In short, diabetes is caused by endocrine disorders, which is related to the heart, i.e. a condition due to emotional problems. Some people are overly obsessed with money, power, social status or their children, and these obsessions make them tense and anxious all the time. Naturally, the endocrine system will not function properly. Some people find relaxation and pleasure solely in dining, and they end up eating and drinking too well, too much, burdening the endocrine system. If hypoglycemic drugs are taken without taking into account the causes, it will only further damage the functions of the heart, kidney, liver, spleen and pancreas.

As a matter of fact, doctors and patients themselves are aware of the negative effects of medication. Drug descriptions clearly state that they are damaging to the kidney, liver, spleen, heart and other internal organs. Once the internal organs are damaged, the sensory organs and limbs will also be damaged. In effect, the term “diabetes” implies that there is an underlying group of other diseases,and this phenomenon is referred to as “complex disease”. According to Chinese medicine, the liver opens at the eyes. Thus, as long as the liver is functioning normally, the eyes will be healthy as well. This has nothing to do with blood sugar levels. Taking drugs or injecting insulin will damage the liver and lead to such eye problems as glaucoma and retinal detachment. Many diabetics take medicine as prescribed and end up with internal organ and eye problems. When the condition worsens, their feet will ulcerate and they could even end up being amputated. Therefore, to cure diabetes, one must not be misled by its name, but should instead identify the actual causes. Diabetics should first be happy and self-assured, and learn to let go; and practice Paida and Lajin to cleanse the Heart, Liver, Kidney, Spleen and Urinary Bladder Meridians. When the internal organs are functioning properly, the blood sugar levels will naturally return to normal.

This is why in Classical Chinese Medicine, “regulating the heart” is the foremost, external treatment measures are used primarily, and medicine is taken as the last resort. “Forget the disease name” reminds us that there are many diseases behind one particularly labeled disease. “All diseases are complex diseases”, i.e. a complex of many diseases. Diseases indicate the blockage of many meridians, and their causes are also varied, hence, we should be cautious not to leave out any, or be misled by particular disease names or indicators; instead, we should focus on holistic health enhancement. We should try to cleanse all blocked meridians and not just one of them. Therefore, Paida and Lajin should be practiced on all parts of the body in a “carpet bombing” manner, so as to activate our internal “anti -virus software”, i.e. self-healing power, to clear away all diseases in the body.

In view of this, everyone should learn up some common sense knowledge of Chinese medicine. For instance, tinnitus, deafness, hair loss, backache, leg pain, declined sexual function, etc. are all associated with the kidney; failing vision, floaters, cataracts, Jin-Suo (contraction of tendons), etc. signal problems with the liver; in the same manner of deduction, if one gets too fat or too thin, the problem is related to the spleen which governs our muscles.

Complex diseases

This term relates to “forget-the-disease-name” concept. People seldom have only a single disease; there are always a number of other diseases behind a known one. Moreover, these diseases are interrelated; they are the causes and effects of other diseases, and are thus called “complex diseases”. In effect, all diseases are complex diseases.

All diseases with known names are so labelled according to identification and classification of modern medicine based on known standards, using known measures. However, no matter how accurate the diagnosis of Chinese medicine, Western medicine or medical appliances is, there are still realms of the complex human body where their diagnosis and treatments are yet to cover holistically. Thus, the key to curing a disease is not in knowing the name, but rather in locating the root causes. 

“Complex diseases” imply that there are still many unseen, undetected or undetectable pathological changes. That is to say, behind a known illness, there could be many more known and unknown ones, and the best way to tackle it is to have a thorough search, diagnosis and treatment in a manner similar to “carpet bombing” in military operations. This will trigger the body’s internal “precision bombing” to cleanse the meridians, similar to when an “anti-virus software” (i.e. the body’s self-healing power) is activated. Thus, “carpet bombing” and “precision bombing” work hand in hand to holistically cleanse meridians and expel toxic waste.

Out of the numerous practices of Chinese medicine, I have specially chosen Paida and Lajin to promote worldwide not only because they are simple to practice and produce quick effects, but also because they are universally applicable, i.e. when one practices Paida and Lajin, almost all “complex diseases” are targeted and treated. This is because from diagnosis to treatment, Paida and Lajin act holistically and not partially. People may find it quite a challenge to directly and accurately locate meridians and acupoints — that is why many tend to give up on self-healing. Paida and Lajin may appear simple, yet they are more effective on complex diseases compared to mainstream medical practices. Many diseases that doctors find hard to treat are cured by ordinary folks using these two unbelievably simple methods. Treating complex diseases with simple methods is as people always put it, “The truest way (Tao) is the simplest.” This is indeed an accurate and concrete interpretation of the “way (Tao)”.

On top of that, through self-diagnosis and treatment of complex diseases, people will gain fresh insights into health and life. They will naturally go on to explore the lasting truths of Classical Chinese Medicine (CCM), hence changing their lives through health improvement. They will move from physical healing to spiritual healing, and from health management to life management. Persistent Paida and Lajin makes people healthier, more joyous and at ease.

Unfortunately, some only pay attention to their health when they are seriously ill. They are very concerned with maintenance and care of their cars and pets, but do not care much about preservation of their own health. They are only interested in “overhauls” or treatment of critical illnesses. Maybe this is the so-called “fate”.

“Carpet bombing” and “anti-virus software”

Huang Di Nei Jing states that all diseases are caused by blocked meridians, thus cleansing meridians cures diseases.

However, when one gets sick, the primary concern could be to find out exactly which meridians are blocked. Here, I will let you in on a big secret: There are 12 standard meridians in the body, and together with the Ren and Du Meridians along the middle of the front and back torso, these 14 meridians, when blocked, become the root causes of all diseases. That is to say, from minute inflammations of mosquito bites to tumor growth, whether insomnia or constipation, all diseases occur due to one, often several, of these 14 meridians being blocked. Therefore, no matter what diseases one suffers from, cleansing these 14 meridians will invariably cure all of them. The four general parts (elbows, hands, knees and feet) are specially chosen for Paida to clear the 14 said meridians.

“Carpet bombing” is originally a military term, which means thorough bombing of each and every inch of land. Using Paida and Lajin in a “carpet bombing” manner cleanses the body’s 14 meridians from all directions. This eliminates all known and unknown diseases holistically, instead of treating them according to divisions of medicine. Paida and Lajin act as both diagnosis and treatment of diseases: Sha (toxic waste) appearing during Paida indicates that meridians corresponding to the slapped areas are blocked, and the appearance of Sha means detoxification has begun; in Lajin, the pain felt during stretching indicates body parts where Jin-Suo occurs, and restoring flexibility of the Jin through further stretching will cure the diseases.

To enable people of the modern age familiar with computers to grasp the concept of “self-healing power”, I’ll use the term “anti-virus software”. Our body has an innate “anti-virus software” as part of our self-healing power, and its wisdom, sensitivity and sophistication go beyond human comprehension and imagination. It runs in the body’s meridians in the form of invisible “Qi (vital life energy)”. Once this “anti-virus software” is activated through Paida and/or Lajin, it will start to scan the entire body. When Qi finds a blockage or a problem area, it will lock-in the target and clear it, diseases or pain are thus alleviated or thoroughly cured. This process is as if launching missiles in “precision bombing” and the “anti-virus software” is the devise that sets off this process.

The number of meridians cleansed through Paida and Lajin is not one but many; the effect is not only localized but in all known and unknown systems of the body. The activated Qi and blood flow will act as the “anti-virus software”; not only does it locate the “viruses”, it automatically stimulates the body to produce antibodies against them. More specifically, this refers to the automatic endocrine secretions of insulin, stem cells, enkephalin, adrenaline, etc., needed to fight different diseases. Practicing Paida and Lajin is like an all-round mobilization of software and hardware systems in the entire body, and that is why it is described as “carpet bombing” and “complete virus removal”.



Of all Lajin positions, stretching in “reclining position” (see picture above) delivers the most thorough effects: all the meridians are being cleared, though at varying degrees .



Paida works by radiating out from specific points: Paida the hands and elbows cleanses the six meridians along the arms and hands; Paida both knees and feet cleanses the six meridians along the legs and feet; the Ren and Du Meridians are also cleansed at relevant joints. Hands are holographic reflex zones of all the organs in the body ; hence, when the hands are used for Paida, they are being slapped as well. This creates a new round of “carpet bombing”. 

Human Body Energy Clock

“Why do I keep waking up at 3am?” I couldn’t figure it out. It was driving me crazy. I would go to bed exhausted, usually some time between 11:30pm and 1am, sleep a few hours, and then wake up with a mind full of stress, worries, anxiety, negativity, etc. When I looked over at the time, it would be around 3am. It was happening just about every night. It got to the point where any time I woke up, I was like “Oh, it must be 3am” and sure enough, when I looked at the time, it was 3:08 or 3:15 or some time right around 3am.

Of course, if you google “waking up at 3am”, you will come up with all kinds of different reasons including many that are supernatural or demonic (after all, it’s referred to as the witching hour). However, I decided to dig deeper. I had remembered reading somewhere that 3am is the time that the liver goes into its cleansing mode so I began digging around there. Soon I found myself learning all about the Chinese Body Clock.

The Chinese Body Clock is based on Chinese medicine and the body organ Qi(energy) cycle. It’s the idea that there is a cyclic flow of energy through the body that moves in two hour intervals through the various organ systems. See diagram above. Click on the diagram for a larger version.

So for each two hour window, there is an organ system operating a peak energy. As per – http://pathways4health.org/2010/03/04/the-chinese-body-clock-energy-patterns-through-24-hours/

“When one organ is at its peak energy, the organ at the opposite side of the clock, 12 hours away, is at its lowest ebb. For example, between 1-3 a.m., the liver reaches its peak, doing its work to cleanse the blood, while the small intestine, the organ responsible for the absorption and assimilation of many key nutrients, is at its ebb. What does this tell us? Principally, that it must be taxing to the system to deal with late night meals and snacking. The body is not programmed to accommodate the modern habit of late-night screen-based stimulation and the eating habits that go with it. When we eat late at night, food is not well absorbed by the small intestine and the liver has little opportunity to do its job of housekeeping.

The idea, then, is to try when you can to plan daily activity around an organ system’s peak energy, while avoiding actions that can tax a system when its energy is at its lowest ebb. Think of lifestyle habits you might modify in order to better synchronize your system’s energy ebbs and flows:

Lungs: With the lungs at their peak energy in the early morning, you might want to schedule aerobic exercise at this time rather than later in the day. And, if you must speak through the long work day, presentations given earlier in the day benefit from greater lung energy. Laryngitis can set in late afternoon when lung energy is depleted .

Large Intestine: To get the day off to a good start, give yourself enough time early in the morning to honor the normal elimination function of the large intestine.

Stomach/Pancreas/Small Intestine: Try to eat heavier meals early in the day—at breakfast when the stomach is at its peak, and at lunch, to catch Qi’s expanding/warming energy as it crests at midday. Eating larger meals of the day early delivers nourishment to the small intestine when it is strongest, which aids absorption and assimilation.

Kidneys: The kidneys are aligned with the adrenals, the glands that produce cortisol to help us spring out of bed in the morning. Early morning, from 5 a.m.-7 a.m., is when kidney energy is weakest—a reason that people with depleted kidney energy often have trouble waking up to a new day.

Liver: The liver stores and cleanses the blood, a fact that becomes more interesting as we consider personal experience. Have you ever partied too much in the evening, and awakened in the wee hours of the morning feeling “off” and unable to fall back to sleep? Chances are good that you were tossing and turning between the hours of 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. when your alcohol over-loaded liver was struggling to do its work. The timing of the liver’s peak activity also speaks to consuming the last meal of the day as early as possible. The liver’s daily programming assumes an early dinner and bedtime. Before electricity and the light bulb, people ate supper and retired early, allowing time for the last meal of the day to digest so that the liver could be most effective in its peak hours of activity. The “work shift” of the liver, then, reinforces the concept of making the last meal of the day a light one that is consumed on the early side. The more time that passes after food is eaten before peak activity of the liver, the better the liver will be able to carry out its myriad of functions.”

I found that very interesting because I had a very hard time getting out of bed in the morning, and I also tended to eat dinner very late, usually making it my biggest meal of the day. Maybe that was why I kept waking up at 3am? In fact, nothing in my daily routine corresponded with the organ energy cycle. I also thought it was very interesting because I’m always trying to maximize how much I can get done in a day and in order to do that, it requires sustaining a good level of energy throughout the day. There were some days when I just had no energy, and I felt like I just couldn’t get going.

Before rearranging my schedule and my life, I decided to become more conscious of my body in relation to this energy clock theory. So as I went about my day, I kept in mind the various organ cycles.

I noticed that if I ever got gas (the intestinal kind), it was usually in the early morning, before I really woke up. I made it a point to look at the time – 5:30am. Hmmm. Large intestine cycle. My stomach would start growling around 8am. I always figured it was because I hadn’t eaten since the night before and it wanted breakfast which I always put off for another hour or two. Maybe it was because my body was in the stomach cycle? I always liked to sit down and get work done in the morning around 10am or so because I felt clear-headed and efficient. That corresponded to the chart. And I’ll be damned if I wasn’t always peeing in the late afternoon. Bladder cycle. I thought “Maybe I should give this body clock thing a try and see what happens”.

It’s been over a week now and I feel great! I’ve made some adjustments to my schedule to correspond to the organ cycles and I’m kind of amazed by it. I go to sleep around or by 11pm with a 50 oz. bottle of water on the night table next to my bed. I set my alarm for 6am. I don’t wake up at 3am anymore but sleep straight through to 6am when my alarm goes off. I still hit snooze once or twice, but by 6:20 I’m usually sitting up and have started drinking the water. I drink about 24 to 32 ounces before even getting out of bed. I can literally feel it traveling through my system and hydrating my body. I have breakfast around 7:30 or 8am and make lunch at the same time. I get as much food related activities out of the way while I’m in the stomach cycle. Prepare snacks, clean the kitchen, plan dinner, etc. At 9am I’m at my computer working and being productive, getting stuff done. Once the heart cycle rolls around at 11am, I send and respond to emails, reach out to family and friends, head to my office, and have lunch. At 1pm, it’s back to work tackling problems, responding to emails and issues, and analyzing data. Between 3pm and 5pm, I love having a cup of tea and making more work progress, perhaps delving into some research and analysis. I now try to have dinner before 7pm and start winding down my daily activities by 9pm or 10pm the latest. With some quiet time to just relax and read before sleeping.

To help with staying on these cycles, I’ve been setting the alarm on my phone to go off at the start of each cycle from 7am until 9pm. Mostly just as a conscious reminder. Some days I’m truly amazed at how great I feel, how much energy I have, and how much I can accomplish. Other days, when it seems everyone in my world needs me to drop everything and solve their problems, it can be more of a challenge. Sometimes there’s no time for lunch before 1pm or no time for dinner until after 7pm, but I can adjust to live more in harmony with the cycles. The most amazing thing for me has just been the fact that I’ve been up, out of bed, awake and with good energy before 7am! And of course, not waking up at 3am anymore is an added bonus.

Here’s a link for more information – http://www.spiritualcoach.com/chinese-body-clock/

“Why do I keep waking up at 3am?” I couldn’t figure it out. It was driving me crazy. I would go to bed exhausted, usually some time between 11:30pm and 1am, sleep a few hours, and then wake up with a mind full of stress, worries, anxiety, negativity, etc. When I looked over at the time, it would be around 3am. It was happening just about every night. It got to the point where any time I woke up, I was like “Oh, it must be 3am” and sure enough, when I looked at the time, it was 3:08 or 3:15 or some time right around 3am.

Of course, if you google “waking up at 3am”, you will come up with all kinds of different reasons including many that are supernatural or demonic (after all, it’s referred to as the witching hour). However, I decided to dig deeper. I had remembered reading somewhere that 3am is the time that the liver goes into its cleansing mode so I began digging around there. Soon I found myself learning all about the Chinese Body Clock.

The Chinese Body Clock is based on Chinese medicine and the body organ Qi(energy) cycle. It’s the idea that there is a cyclic flow of energy through the body that moves in two hour intervals through the various organ systems. See diagram above. Click on the diagram for a larger version.

So for each two hour window, there is an organ system operating a peak energy. As per – http://pathways4health.org/2010/03/04/the-chinese-body-clock-energy-patterns-through-24-hours/

“When one organ is at its peak energy, the organ at the opposite side of the clock, 12 hours away, is at its lowest ebb. For example, between 1-3 a.m., the liver reaches its peak, doing its work to cleanse the blood, while the small intestine, the organ responsible for the absorption and assimilation of many key nutrients, is at its ebb. What does this tell us? Principally, that it must be taxing to the system to deal with late night meals and snacking. The body is not programmed to accommodate the modern habit of late-night screen-based stimulation and the eating habits that go with it. When we eat late at night, food is not well absorbed by the small intestine and the liver has little opportunity to do its job of housekeeping.

The idea, then, is to try when you can to plan daily activity around an organ system’s peak energy, while avoiding actions that can tax a system when its energy is at its lowest ebb. Think of lifestyle habits you might modify in order to better synchronize your system’s energy ebbs and flows:

Lungs: With the lungs at their peak energy in the early morning, you might want to schedule aerobic exercise at this time rather than later in the day. And, if you must speak through the long work day, presentations given earlier in the day benefit from greater lung energy. Laryngitis can set in late afternoon when lung energy is depleted .

Large Intestine: To get the day off to a good start, give yourself enough time early in the morning to honor the normal elimination function of the large intestine.

Stomach/Pancreas/Small Intestine: Try to eat heavier meals early in the day—at breakfast when the stomach is at its peak, and at lunch, to catch Qi’s expanding/warming energy as it crests at midday. Eating larger meals of the day early delivers nourishment to the small intestine when it is strongest, which aids absorption and assimilation.

Kidneys: The kidneys are aligned with the adrenals, the glands that produce cortisol to help us spring out of bed in the morning. Early morning, from 5 a.m.-7 a.m., is when kidney energy is weakest—a reason that people with depleted kidney energy often have trouble waking up to a new day.

Liver: The liver stores and cleanses the blood, a fact that becomes more interesting as we consider personal experience. Have you ever partied too much in the evening, and awakened in the wee hours of the morning feeling “off” and unable to fall back to sleep? Chances are good that you were tossing and turning between the hours of 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. when your alcohol over-loaded liver was struggling to do its work. The timing of the liver’s peak activity also speaks to consuming the last meal of the day as early as possible. The liver’s daily programming assumes an early dinner and bedtime. Before electricity and the light bulb, people ate supper and retired early, allowing time for the last meal of the day to digest so that the liver could be most effective in its peak hours of activity. The “work shift” of the liver, then, reinforces the concept of making the last meal of the day a light one that is consumed on the early side. The more time that passes after food is eaten before peak activity of the liver, the better the liver will be able to carry out its myriad of functions.”

I found that very interesting because I had a very hard time getting out of bed in the morning, and I also tended to eat dinner very late, usually making it my biggest meal of the day. Maybe that was why I kept waking up at 3am? In fact, nothing in my daily routine corresponded with the organ energy cycle. I also thought it was very interesting because I’m always trying to maximize how much I can get done in a day and in order to do that, it requires sustaining a good level of energy throughout the day. There were some days when I just had no energy, and I felt like I just couldn’t get going.

Before rearranging my schedule and my life, I decided to become more conscious of my body in relation to this energy clock theory. So as I went about my day, I kept in mind the various organ cycles.

I noticed that if I ever got gas (the intestinal kind), it was usually in the early morning, before I really woke up. I made it a point to look at the time – 5:30am. Hmmm. Large intestine cycle. My stomach would start growling around 8am. I always figured it was because I hadn’t eaten since the night before and it wanted breakfast which I always put off for another hour or two. Maybe it was because my body was in the stomach cycle? I always liked to sit down and get work done in the morning around 10am or so because I felt clear-headed and efficient. That corresponded to the chart. And I’ll be damned if I wasn’t always peeing in the late afternoon. Bladder cycle. I thought “Maybe I should give this body clock thing a try and see what happens”.

It’s been over a week now and I feel great! I’ve made some adjustments to my schedule to correspond to the organ cycles and I’m kind of amazed by it. I go to sleep around or by 11pm with a 50 oz. bottle of water on the night table next to my bed. I set my alarm for 6am. I don’t wake up at 3am anymore but sleep straight through to 6am when my alarm goes off. I still hit snooze once or twice, but by 6:20 I’m usually sitting up and have started drinking the water. I drink about 24 to 32 ounces before even getting out of bed. I can literally feel it traveling through my system and hydrating my body. I have breakfast around 7:30 or 8am and make lunch at the same time. I get as much food related activities out of the way while I’m in the stomach cycle. Prepare snacks, clean the kitchen, plan dinner, etc. At 9am I’m at my computer working and being productive, getting stuff done. Once the heart cycle rolls around at 11am, I send and respond to emails, reach out to family and friends, head to my office, and have lunch. At 1pm, it’s back to work tackling problems, responding to emails and issues, and analyzing data. Between 3pm and 5pm, I love having a cup of tea and making more work progress, perhaps delving into some research and analysis. I now try to have dinner before 7pm and start winding down my daily activities by 9pm or 10pm the latest. With some quiet time to just relax and read before sleeping.

To help with staying on these cycles, I’ve been setting the alarm on my phone to go off at the start of each cycle from 7am until 9pm. Mostly just as a conscious reminder. Some days I’m truly amazed at how great I feel, how much energy I have, and how much I can accomplish. Other days, when it seems everyone in my world needs me to drop everything and solve their problems, it can be more of a challenge. Sometimes there’s no time for lunch before 1pm or no time for dinner until after 7pm, but I can adjust to live more in harmony with the cycles. The most amazing thing for me has just been the fact that I’ve been up, out of bed, awake and with good energy before 7am! And of course, not waking up at 3am anymore is an added bonus.

Here’s a link for more information – http://www.spiritualcoach.com/chinese-body-clock/



The Chinese “Body Clock”


The Body-Energy Clock is built upon the concept of the cyclical ebb and flow of energy throughout the body. During a 24-hour period (see diagram that follows) Qi moves in two-hour intervals through the organ systems. During sleep, Qi draws inward to restore the body. This phase is completed between 1 and 3 a.m., when the liver cleanses the blood and performs a myriad of functions that set the stage for Qi moving outward again.

In the 12-hour period following the peak functioning of the liver—from 3 a.m. onward—energy cycles to the organs associated with daily activity, digestion and elimination: the lungs, large intestine, stomach/pancreas, heart, small intestine. By mid-afternoon, energy again moves inward to support internal organs associated with restoring and maintaining the system. The purpose is to move fluids and heat, as well as to filter and cleanse—by the pericardium, triple burner (coordinates water functions and temperature), bladder/kidneys and the liver.

Lessons Based on the Body Clock

When one organ is at its peak energy, the organ at the opposite side of the clock, 12 hours away, is at its lowest ebb. For example, between 1-3 a.m., the liver reaches its peak, doing its work to cleanse the blood, while the small intestine, the organ responsible for the absorption and assimilation of many key nutrients, is at its ebb. What does this tell us? Principally, that it must be taxing to the system to deal with late night meals and snacking. The body is not programmed to accommodate the modern habit of late-night screen-based stimulation and the eating habits that go with it. When we eat late at night, food is not well absorbed by the small intestine and the liver has little opportunity to do its job of housekeeping.

The idea, then, is to try when you can to plan daily activity around an organ system’s peak energy, while avoiding actions that can tax a system when its energy is at its lowest ebb. Think of lifestyle habits you might modify in order to better synchronize your system’s energy ebbs and flows:

Lungs: With the lungs at their peak energy in the early morning, you might want to schedule aerobic exercise at this time rather than later in the day. And, if you must speak through the long work day, presentations given earlier in the day benefit from greater lung energy. Laryngitis can set in late afternoon when lung energy is depleted .

Large Intestine: To get the day off to a good start, give yourself enough time early in the morning to honor the normal elimination function of the large intestine.

Stomach/Pancreas/Small Intestine: Try to eat heavier meals early in the day—at breakfast when the stomach is at its peak, and at lunch, to catch Qi’s expanding/warming energy as it crests at midday. Eating larger meals of the day early delivers nourishment to the small intestine when it is strongest, which aids absorption and assimilation.

Kidneys: The kidneys are aligned with the adrenals, the glands that produce cortisol to help us spring out of bed in the morning. Early morning, from 5 a.m.-7 a.m., is when kidney energy is weakest—a reason that people with depleted kidney energy often have trouble waking up to a new day.


Liver: The liver stores and cleanses the blood, a fact that becomes more interesting as we consider personal experience. Have you ever partied too much in the evening, and awakened in the wee hours of the morning feeling “off” and unable to fall back to sleep? Chances are good that you were tossing and turning between the hours of 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. when your alcohol over-loaded liver was struggling to do its work. The timing of the liver’s peak activity also speaks to consuming the last meal of the day as early as possible. The liver’s daily programming assumes an early dinner and bedtime. Before electricity and the light bulb, people ate supper and retired early, allowing time for the last meal of the day to digest so that the liver could be most effective in its peak hours of activity. The “work shift” of the liver, then, reinforces the concept of making the last meal of the day a light one that is consumed on the early side. The more time that passes after food is eaten before peak activity of the liver, the better the liver will be able to carry out its myriad of functions.