What Taoism teaches about body and health

Modern Year’s resolutions often involve a renewed investment in making our bodies healthier. While many may jump on the latest diet plan or sign up for a gym membership, it’s worth taking the time to consider what truly constitutes a vigorous, joyful body.

Taoist visions of the body are a central part of my researchTaoism (also called Daoism) is an indigenous tradition of China that holds that humans are an integral part of the larger cosmos.

Rituals and body techniques serve to adapt the individual body to the surrounding social and natural environment. These body concepts can inform individuals about their relationship to our environment and what it means to be vigorous.

Taoism, the body and the cosmos

Descriptions of Taoism begin sometime in the 4th century BCE, beginning with the text “Tao Te Ching,” attributed to Lao Tzu. Although scholars do not believe there was an actual person named Lao Tzu, this figure, whose name means “venerable master” or “venerable child,” became a model for the body’s practice. Taoists later developed rituals designed to mirror their bodies in Lao Tzu’s. as a way to align with the Tao, or the source of all things.

Taoist texts described Lao Tzu’s body as a kind of map of the entire cosmos, visualizing one’s own individual body as a smaller version of the entire cosmos and comparing the entire cosmos to a larger mirror of one’s own body. Bringing one’s body into conformity with the cosmos was understood to grant Taoists the ability to transform their environment by transforming their own bodies.

It was believed that what happened in the body affected the entire universe, just as the environment affects the human body.

Exercise for longevity

Some of the earliest examples of Taoist practices describe a series of body movements and postures intended to lend a hand align the body with its environment.

Historian of Taoism, Isabella Robinetnotes that physical exercises, which were used as early as the 2nd century BC, were intended to lend a hand cultivate your qior breath to better achieve harmony with the patterns of nature, nourish one’s health, and raise longevity. Contemporary practices such as qigong are still inspired by these concepts today.

In addition to practicing physical techniques, early Taoists also sought connection with the environment through alchemy, the process of mixing uncommon natural elements to create a refined substance that they believed to be an elixir of health. According to a renowned scholar of Taoist alchemy Fabrizio Pregadiopractitioners sought uncommon and powerful elements from the earth, which they mixed and consumed to achieve longevity and even immortality.

Integration with the external landscape

In the 8th century CE, Taoists began to seek these alchemical benefits within themselves. Taoist masters developed meditation and body practices called “neidan,” or internal alchemy, to lend a hand recreate the landscape within their own bodies.

Instead of searching for uncommon elements in the earth, internal alchemy taught how to find the power to purify one’s vital essences within one’s own body.

Full-fledged ritual programs instructed Taoists to undertake an inward journey, along the way visualizing their venerable selves encountering temples hidden in lush mountain forests, discovering hidden caves, and even encountering divine figures mixing elixirs of immortality.

It was believed that this inner ascent would eventually bring the venerable self to the summit at the top of the head. From there, Taoists imagined a novel, immortal self emerging from the top of their skull.

Taoist Priests and Community

This concept of the body as fully integrated with the cosmos is the logic by which contemporary Taoist priests perform rituals to benefit the larger community.

According to Kristofer Schippera scholar of Taoist ritual, considers the body to be the primary medium that can to fulfil their duty to reconnect the local community with the primary source of the cosmos – the Dao itself.

Taoist priests will imagine a different kind of journey, this time through space but still within their own bodies. They seek an audience with Taoism’s highest gods, known as the Three Pure Ones, to whom they will recount the merits of the local community.

It is understood that in this way the Taoist priest helps to confirm the bond between people and the Tao itself. In this way the community becomes integrated into the “Taoist Body.”

Although only trained Taoist priests have access to the purest forms of the Tao, Taoist body concepts ultimately allow anyone to understand how to transform their body, both inside and out.

As we begin a novel year, we make novel resolutions to become healthier. This can give us a novel perspective on what changing our bodies can mean, not only for ourselves, but for those around us.