Chapter 3 - The “pain medicine”

The “pain medicine” 

Nobody likes pain, but it is actually a super-medicine. Like diseases, it is a gift from nature. The “pain” here does not refer to the kind caused in accidents or fights, but the sensation felt when proactively practicing Paida and/or Lajin. Of the various recovery responses, pain is the most commonly experienced. Some may refuse to do Paida and Lajin because of the pain. Actually, it is precisely the reason that they should be practiced.

Pain is the secret weapon of their miraculous healing effects. The reasons are as follows:

Firstly, pain is a tool of precise diagnosis, just as an old saying goes, “where there are no blockages in the meridians, no pain will be felt.” Pain indicates the part of the body where an illness lies; and the intensity of pain indicates the severity of a disease. Patients with heart diseases or emotional problems are more afraid of pain than the average person. Heart diseases refer to disorders in the physical organ, the heart; whereas emotional problems refer to disorders of the intangible psyche, spirit, or mind. Heart diseases and emotional problems are interrelated and mutually influential; they are both manifestations of blockages in the Heart and Pericardium Meridians. If a part of the body where a meridian runs through is hurting, it signals that the corresponding organ is having problems.

“Pain” directly stimulates and opens up the heart, triggers willpower, and mobilizes yang-qi (right qi); it is a “medicine for the heart”. The heart, as sovereign of bodily organs, governs the spirit. It stimulates secretion of bio-chemicals that the body needs, i.e. “endogenous medicine”. Without pain, our self-healing power will not be activated, thus the endogenous medicine will not be produced. Our self-healing ability acts like a compound medicine, and pain is the catalyst that triggers generation of this endogenous medicine. Hence, pain is part of the process of producing endogenous medicine; it may even be an integral part of the medicine itself, i.e. the “pain medicine”. Moreover, pain is also the process of pinpointing the location of diseases so that further treatment can be carried out; it reveals its targets very clearly, i.e. at the area where the pain is felt. Hence, the “pain medicine” is a “precision medicine”; persistent pain means continuous treatment with precision medicine. Moreover, this pain is bearable; it can be self-regulated according to one’s condition and tolerance.

As the “pain medicine” is an “endogenous medicine” manifested as self-healing power, it is more accurate, symptomatic, eco-friendly and direct compared to medication. In Chinese medicine, self-healing power is referred to as yang-qi, or “right qi”; in Western medicine, it is referred to as immunity, repairing ability, hormones, insulin, stem cells, adrenaline, or enkephalin. With the advancement of medical science, new terms will be continually added to the list.

The degree of “pain” is proportionate to the efficacy of this “medicine”, i.e. the more hurting it is, the better the self-healing efficacy. During Paida and Lajin, when more pain is felt, yang-qi rises faster and the entire body immediately warms up and even starts to sweat. The time when most pain is felt is the time when yang-qi is conjured up the fastest; hence the best efficacy is gained. The Qi of diseases is yin-qi (evil qi); when it accumulates, more diseases will break out and life is shortened; on the contrary, when yang-qi is abundant, fewer diseases will break out and life is prolonged. When yang rises, yin will decline. Yang-qi is zheng-qi (or “right qi”), as described in Huang Di Nei Jing, “when zheng-qi is kept in, evils shall not enter”. This sentence sums up the true essence of Chinese medicine.

In case the pain becomes almost unbearable at the early stage of Paida and Lajin, the intensity can be reduced and the duration lengthened.

“Pain” makes us focused. We can experience the state of the body and soul becoming one, the state where giving and receiving is occurring in ourselves. Thus, pain is also a meditation method. During meditation, one may find it hard to concentrate. When you feel pain during Paida and/or Lajin, your mind is unprecedentedly focused; it is impossible at that moment to think about your children, the stock market or other matters. Your thoughts will focus on the part that hurts most, and that is almost invariably where the problems are. The ability to endure pain varies with changing state of mind, and it will be enhanced through continued Paida and Lajin. The ability to endure greater pain is a sign of better health.

“Pain” is our natural protection system that enables us to avoid danger; as such, the “pain medicine” is safer than medication. When the pain exceeds one’s endurance, one will instinctively stop using the “pain medicine”. Beginners, the seriously ill, and the elderly need not start Paida and/or Lajin with high intensity, they also should not anxiously try to gain significant efficacy at one go, but should instead take it one step at a time.

Our ability to endure pain will gradually improve with the increase in intensity and duration of Paida and Lajin. When the tolerance levels for the “pain medicine” and medication are compared, it is found that their effects on the human body are exactly opposite. Greater tolerance of the “pain medicine” indicates alleviation or curing of diseases, whereas greater tolerance of medication implies that the drug has become ineffective, or has even caused side effects.

The “pain medicine” is essentially a “medicine for the mind”; it is the result of interaction between the mind and the body. A person’s attitude towards pain is constantly changing; once you change your mindset and start to view pain as a proactive and positive therapy, you can instantly endure greater pain. Then, pain will no longer be an enemy or a devil, but instead a friend or an angel.

As smooth flowing meridians are considered a nourishing tonic to the body, and pain is the process of clearing meridians, thus the “pain medicine” is considered a tonic as well. 

Chapter 3 - Three stages of a healing crisis

Three stages of a healing crisis 

Generally, a healing crisis has the following three stages :

Looking for (potential) illnesses.
When Qi flow is hindered by greater resistance of blockages in the body and cannot go through a problem area, it will automatically find an alternative route to go around it. Such a process will repeatedly kick in when the Qi encounters other blockages at the alternative routes.

These continuous attempts can help the body clear up the less serious problems, while revealing more serious ones which the body has yet to gather enough strength to expel.

Revealing illnesses.
In the first stage, most of the meridians would have been cleansed. The Paida and Lajin self-healing process will enhance Qi flow in either parts of the body or the whole. This will enable the recharged body to focus on and clear the remaining identified problems. As a result, symptoms of various health problems will worsen, after which follows the revelation of all sorts of sicknesses.

This is the stage when the body is fighting against sicknesses, and it is also the most critical one. During this process, the body will get lousy, and the symptoms will aggravate. If you were to do a medical check-up then, the test results would most likely indicate a temporary state of abnormalities. That is why this stage is always dubbed as the “dà sǐ dà huó” (大死大活, death and revival) stage — indeed, to some extent, this is the darkness before dawn breaks. Unfortunately, many fail to understand this healing cycle and give up on Paida and Lajin half way through. One must understand that without going through this dire state of suffering, it is impossible to embrace new lease of life, let alone the effects of “body overhaul” and “rejuvenation”.

Beating illnesses
After Qi’s repeated attempts to go through the problem areas and with greater intensity of Paida and Lajin, the body’s energy gets continually boosted. Under the constant pressure of stronger Qi flow, the problems (appearing in the form of Sha) will gradually recede and eventually disappear. At the same time, patients will feel their various sicknesses subsiding and eventually going away.

Clearing clouds about the healing crisis
The Qi flow follows a law of its own. And the process does not change course according to an individual’s perception or will. As a result, Paida and Lajin may cause anxiety in those who do not understand how they work. Some may even mistakenly think that the newfound illnesses/symptoms are caused by Paida and Lajin. In actual fact, such revelations are the desired effects of Paida and Lajin, which facilitate the Qi flow to detect known sicknesses as well as unknown ones in the body. And one cannot just tackle where the problems are, but need to have the body go through a comprehensive healing process. Only then can such a process be considered complete overhaul of the body. 

This process will tackle the following three types of sicknesses:

1. Past sicknesses
This refers to past illnesses of which some may have been cured long ago. However, the injuries caused by such illnesses may have not been healed properly as a result of subsequent changes to the body’s organic structure (for instance, joints of an operated injury) which are left unnoticed. As a result, the meridian blockages at these specific spots may not allow the Qi to pass through easily and this normally leads to soreness at the old injuries and other complications related to the past sicknesses.

2. Existing sicknesses
This refers to illnesses that you are aware of. When the Qi hits right at the problem areas, one has to suffer more severe symptoms.

3. Future sicknesses
Future sicknesses fall into three types :
Existing illnesses that are left undetected due to lack of obvious symptoms;
Illnesses that do not manifest many symptoms at the early stage (e.g. weakening kidney, pancreas, etc.);
Potential illnesses that might break out in future.
Despite the fact that we might not know of the existence of these sicknesses in the body or that they even cannot be traced, one gets to feel their presence when healing crises occur.

To conclude, for those who want to achieve their personal health goal through Paida and Lajin, experiencing healing crises is an important step towards regaining health. Only when this stage is gone through, can one get healed from all past and existing sicknesses and be more assured of his/her future health.