Gymnastics 141
the Eastern Han (25–220) when the renowned physician Hua Tuo (ca. 190–
265) created “five-animals” exercises, each intended for the relief of a differ-
ent set of symptoms:
Wu Pu of Guangling and Fa A of Pengcheng were both pupils of Hua
Tuo. Wu Pu followed exactly the arts of Hua so that his patients gener-
ally got well. Hua Tuo taught him that the body should be exercised in
every part but that this should not be overdone in any way. “Exercise,”
he said, “brings about good digestion, and a free flow of the blood. It is
like a door pivot never rotting. Therefore the ancient sages engaged in
daoyin exercises, [for example] by moving the head in the manner of a
bear, and looking back without turning the neck. By stretching at the
waist and moving the different joints to left and right one can make it
difficult for people [to grow] old. I have a method,” said Hua Tuo,
“known as the ‘play of the five animals,’ the tiger, the deer, the bear, the
ape and the bird. It can be used to get rid of diseases, and it is beneficial
for all stiffness of the joints or ankles. When the body feels ill, one
should do one of the exercises. After perspiring, one will sense the body
grow light and the stomach will manifest hunger.” Wu Pu followed this
advice himself and attained an age greater than ninety yet with excel-
lent hearing, vision, and teeth.^10Breathing techniques were an integral element of daoyin gymnastics. Since ex-
ternal air (qi) was considered vital for the body’s proper functioning, it was be-
lieved that the more a person obtained of it the better. Practitioners usually
inhaled through the nose and then shut their mouths, trying to hold the air in-
side their bodies for as long as possible. Various methods were devised for calcu-
lating the time a person should hold his breath. Sometimes it was measured
against a fellow practitioner’s normal breathing, it being recommended that it
be held for as many as twelve or more regular breathing cycles. The air was to be
exhaled slowly and gently through the mouth, the amount going out being
smaller than that which came in. In addition to these techniques of breathing air,
some practitioners apparently ate air. Medieval texts describe the immortals as
feeding on pure breaths rather than on coarse foodstuffs such as grains. As
Henri Maspero and Joseph Needham have shown, some adepts probably learned
to push air into their intestinal tract. This was perhaps one reason why swallow-
ing saliva figures in daoyin gymnastics—it made it easier to gulp down air.^11
Whether it was pumped into the respiratory canal or digested into the in-
testinal tract, the external air had to be circulated inside the body, nourishing
its various parts. The breath was guided therefore by meditation in prescribed
internal routes. One of its destinations was the so-called “lower cinnabar field”
(dantian) under the navel, which was chosen in part because of its Daoist signifi-
cance. Reversing the natural process of aging was the goal of Daoist adepts, who
attempted to regain their vitality by returning to their embryonic origins. By