Traditional Chinese medicine in the context of "Daoyin"

Wuxing (Chinese: 五行; pinyin: wǔxíng; Jyutping: Ng Hang), translated as Five Moving Ones, Five Circulations, Five Types of Energy, Five Elements, Five Transformations, Five Phases or Five Agents, is a fivefold conceptual scheme used in many traditional Chinese fields of study to explain a wide array of phenomena, including terrestrial and celestial relationships, influences, and cycles, that characterise the interactions and relationships within science, medicine, politics, religion and social relationships and education within Chinese culture.

The Five Moving Ones are traditionally associated with the classical planets: Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn as depicted in the etymological section below. In ancient Chinese astronomy and astrology, that spread throughout East Asia, was a reflection of the seven-day planetary order of Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, Earth. When in their "heavenly stems" generative cycle as represented in the below cycles section and depicted in the diagram above running consecutively clockwise (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). When in their overacting destructive arrangement of Wood, Earth, Water, Fire, Metal, natural disasters, calamity, illnesses and disease will ensue.

The Chinese classics or canonical texts are the works of Chinese literature authored prior to the establishment of the imperial Qin dynasty in 221 BC. Prominent examples include the Four Books and Five Classics in the Neo-Confucian tradition, themselves an abridgment of the Thirteen Classics. The Chinese classics used a form of written Chinese consciously imitated by later authors, now known as Classical Chinese. A common Chinese word for "classic" (經; 经; jīng) literally means 'warp thread', in reference to the techniques by which works of this period were bound into volumes.

Texts may include shi (史, 'histories') zi (子 'master texts'), philosophical treatises usually associated with an individual and later systematized into schools of thought but also including works on agriculture, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, divination, art criticism, and other miscellaneous writings) and ji (集 'literary works') as well as the cultivation of jing, 'essence' in Chinese medicine.

Taoist meditation (/ˈdaʊɪst/, /ˈtaʊ-/), also spelled Daoist (/ˈdaʊ-/), refers to the traditional meditative practices associated with the Chinese philosophy and religion of Taoism, including concentration, mindfulness, contemplation, and visualization. The earliest Chinese references to meditation date from the Warring States period (475–221 BCE).

Traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese martial arts have adapted certain Daoist meditative techniques. Some examples are Daoyin "guide and pull" breathing exercises, Neidan "internal alchemy" techniques, Neigong "internal skill" practices, Qigong breathing exercises, Zhan zhuang "standing like a post" techniques. The opposite direction of adoption has also taken place, when the martial art of Taijiquan, "great ultimate fist", became one of the practices of modern Daoist monks, while historically it was not among traditional techniques.

Neidan, or internal alchemy (traditional Chinese: 內丹術; simplified Chinese: 內丹术; pinyin: nèidān shù), is an array of esoteric doctrines and physical, mental, and spiritual practices that Taoist initiates use to prolong life and create an immortal spiritual body that would survive after death. Also known as Jindan (金丹 "golden elixir"), inner alchemy combines theories derived from external alchemy (waidan 外丹), correlative cosmology (including the Five Phases), the emblems of the Yijing, and medical theory, with techniques of Taoist meditation, daoyin gymnastics, and sexual hygiene.

In neidan, the human body becomes a cauldron (or "ding") in which the Three Treasures of Jing ("Essence"), Qi ("Breath") and Shen ("Spirit") are cultivated for the purpose of improving physical, emotional and mental health, and ultimately returning to the primordial unity of the Tao, i.e., attaining Taoist Immortality. It is believed the Xiuzhen Tu is such a cultivation map. In China, it is an important form of practice for most schools of Taoism.

Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) refers to the knowledge, skills, and practices rooted in the cultural beliefs of various societies, especially Indigenous groups, used with the intent of treating illness and maintaining health.

In some Asian and African countries, up to 80% of people rely on traditional medicine for primary health care. Traditional medicine includes systems like Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine, and Unani. The World Health Organization supports their integration, but warns of potential risks and calls for more research on their safety and effectiveness.

In Chinese philosophy, metal or gold (Chinese: 金; pinyin: jīn) is one of the five concepts that conform the wuxing. It is the return or the declining stage, and is associated with the west, dusk, autumn, loss, grief, and the White Tiger. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Metal is the young yin symbol of Yinyang philosophy, its motion is going inwards and its energy is contracting. It is related to the Zung solid organ the lungs, and the fu or hollow organ the large intestine, the noses, and the skin. The archetypal metals are silver or gold denoting something special or valuable.

In Chinese philosophy, earth or soil (Chinese: 土; pinyin: tǔ) is one of the five concepts that conform the wuxing. Earth is the Qi balance of both yin and yang in the Wuxing philosophy, as well as the changing or central point of physical matter or a subject. Its motion is centralising, and its energy is stabilizing and conserving.

Earth is associated with the colour yellow or ochre and the planet Saturn and it lies at the centre of the four directions of the compass in Chinese cosmology. It is associated with late summer and also the turning point of each of the four seasons, as Earth is prone to being over burdened or stuck Its climate is that of dampness causing the body-mind to be clouded through a deficiency of yang qi. In traditional Chinese medicine, earth governs the yin, Zang organ the spleen, and the yang, Fu organ stomach, mouth and muscles. Its Primal Spirit is the Yi, and emotion of happiness and is represented by the Yellow Dragon or Qilin, color yellow and golden.

Nelumbo /nɪˈlʌmboʊ/ is a genus of aquatic plants with large, showy flowers. Members are commonly called lotus, though the name is also applied to various other plants and plant groups, including the unrelated genus Lotus. Members outwardly resemble those in the family Nymphaeaceae ("water lilies"), but Nelumbo is actually very distant from that family.

Nelumbo is an ancient genus, with dozens of species known from fossil remains since the Early Cretaceous. However, there are only two known living species of lotus. One is the better-known Nelumbo nucifera, which is native to East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and probably Australia and is commonly cultivated for consumption and use in traditional Chinese medicine. The other lotus is Nelumbo lutea, which is native to North America and the Caribbean. Horticultural hybrids have been produced between these two allopatric species.

In the Sinosphere and Chinese philosophy, qi (/ˈtʃiː/ CHEE) is a vital force traditionally believed to be a part of all living entities. Literally meaning 'vapor', 'air', 'gas', or 'breath', the word qi is polysemous, often translated as 'vital energy', 'vital force', 'material energy', or simply 'energy'. Qi is also a concept in traditional Chinese medicine and in Chinese martial arts. The attempt to cultivate and balance qi is called qigong.

Believers in qi describe it as a vital force, with one's good health requiring its flow to be unimpeded. Originally prescientific, today it is a pseudoscientific concept, i.e. not corresponding to the concept of energy as used in the physical sciences.