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Ching Chun Bao — Antiaging tablets from China

Ching Chung Bao also spelled Qing Chun Bao is an interesting tonic I found while on my quest for Shark Oil.

Chin Chung Bao
Chin Chung Bao

It’s meant to be taken twice a day and over a long period of time. The bottle says, “Main functions: Postponing aging, maintaining youthful face, enhancing youthful vigour.” Sounds good to me!
These are the listed ingredients:

  • Ginseng
  • Rehmannia Root
  • Chinese Asparagus Root
  • Siberian Solomon Seal
  • Cistanches
  • Goji Berries
  • Astragalus root

All of the above are Tonic Herbs. As long as there aren’t any hidden ingredients, I think this is a superb formula to take over time. Everyone’s heard of goji berries and ginseng. Solomon Seal is a wonderful lesser known tonic that is said to help restore your body after stress and over indulgence. Cistanches is a great nitric oxide enhancer and probably a decent pde-5 inhibitor (must research that sometime). Astragalus is another great tonic and has a reputation for enhancing your immune system. You should be able to find it for about 8 usd a bottle.
Generally, and according to the traditional chinese medical system, all of these types of tonics that benefit the kidney and liver system are good for anti-aging because those are the systems that are mostly responsible for keeping us young. They govern the condition of your hair, teeth, bones, connective tissue, memory, sex drive and youthful vitality. Check out the jing post on this site for more info.
Although this one is interesting, I doubt I can commit to taking it religiously twice a day. Anyone interested in trying this one out?

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Relaxation-The Greatest Tonic

The greatest tonic is already inside us. Our bodies can produce a healing tonic of hormones, chemicals and other substances when we are happy and at peace. We can produce this state by relaxing. Most people don’t know how to relax or that there is even a technique to it. The best we can do is take a walk, listen to music or do some mindless activity and think we’re relaxed. However, there actually is a technique to relaxing. Although this may seem like an oxymoron, it takes practice to relax. Relaxation is a big part of chinese martial art training. It’s called ‘Sung’ in chinese. If you were to study a chinese internal martial art and certain other disciplines, you would most likely learn techniques to produce relaxation and exercises to test and develop this relaxation. One really good system that is accessible to westerners has been popularized by Koichi Tohei, who is a master of the Japanese martial art of Aikido. In this system, Tohei developed exercises that test the extent of relaxation in your body. He even developed a system to work at perfecting the level of relaxation. One of my favorite books ever is Tohei’s Book of Ki available in my amazon store. He teaches breathing techniques and other exercises called Ki Tests.
Here’s a simple way to relaxation. If you’d like more detailed instruction, please indicate so!
Find a posture that is easy to maintain and allows for the lowest part of your abdomen to freely expand and contract with your breath (don’t worry if you can’t feel that yet). Allow your body to settle and notice your inhale and exhale. Find what part of your abdomen or torso expands with your inhale and exhale without forcing anything. Just observe and make no judgements. Release any holding in your body starting from the top of your head down to your feet every time you exhale. Your elbows will feel like they are lengthening, your chest will release and top of your head will soar upwards. As your elbows lengthen, the top of your shoulders (where an important acupuncture point is and where many people feel sore upon touch) will release. (Some martial artists say ‘drop elbow, release/sink shoulder’.)The more you release, the lower in your torso you will feel your breath on inhale. It takes time and practice. You might fall asleep. Just keep at it and your body will produce the best tonic.
In traditional chinese medicine, you want to feel a warm abdomen and a cool head. When the feeling of heat rises to the head, it’s considered a bad thing. The aim of many chinese health systems is to reverse the heat to move downwards. It’s not uncommon to hear of analogies of a pot boiling in the lower abdomen. Like this:
example-ancient-stove
This is the true elixir!

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8 Pieces of Brocade for Health

Ba Dua Jin Exercise for Health and Healing

This is something you can’t eat, but have to do. The Eight Pieces of Brocade exercise has a long history and there are many many versions and interpretations of this exercise. I, of course, will give you the right one. All kidding aside, I did get some insight into the proper intent and result for each exercise. Over the years, I have also honed my own understanding and developed theories of my own regarding why this particular set of exercises are deemed effective and have managed to survive for hundreds of years.
One legend states that a wandering monk invented these exercises after witnessing the poor condition of fellow monks who spent their days sitting in meditation and not exercising. This set of exercises was meant to keep the physical body in good condition.
There isn’t alot recorded about these exercises. I was told there were some cave or tablet drawings with basic instructions or ‘songs’. These songs were devices to remember the main points. They are largely unhelpful if you haven’t been taught the exercises. Therein lies the problem with a lot of traditions, arts or practices that have been revived from ‘old manuscripts’. One simply can not learn effectively from old manuscripts.

These exercises are very old and steeped in traditional chinese medical theory. That means that each exercise focuses on the body from the traditional chinese medical view of the body. An exercise will focus on a meridian (energy channel) or organ or both. In chinese medicine organs are more than just body parts like we tend to understand from a Western viewpoint. In Chinese Medicine, organs are connected to each other ‘energetically’ and control other parts of the body and emotions. Some organs don’t really exist physically, like the Triple Burner. The triple burner is an organ that is the focus of the first exercise, Holding up the sky to regulate the triple burner.

Instructions

Stand with feet together or no more than shoulder width apart, arms at sides. While you start to inhale, synchronize your breath and the raising of your arms until they reach above your head, palms facing the sky. Again, from their position at the sides of your body, bring them together in front of you, turn them palm up and raise them up the front of your body. As you pass your chin, start to rotate them over so they face away from you. At the end you should be looking up and stretching your hands above you as if you were trying to push up or “hold up” the sky. Keep pushing and stretching and inhaling for a few moments and then exhale, bringing your arms back to their starting position. Relax.

Important points

  • Keep Inhaling to create pressure in your lower abdomen. Don’t hold the breath at the end, but keep inhaling
  • make sure the sides of your torso feel a stretch. Look on an acupuncture map for the triple burner meridian and make sure you feel it stretch.

Holding up the sky Brocade Exercise
Holding up the sky Brocade Exercise

THAT’S IT

Anything else is purely academic. These exercises were meant to be SIMPLE!! Don’t fall for complications or other “secrets”. These are not rocket science.
These were meant to be basic training exercises. I know a lot of people want to complicate these exercises with a lot of additional theories and points. Some of these additional points are very good, don’t get me wrong. However, they are probably additional points added from understanding and practices of deeper, more sophisticated internal arts or practices.
Keep this one simple.  Remember the main points and that’s it.

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Horny Goat Weed?

Despite it’s unfortunate name (who wants to bring this stuff to the counter), Horny Goat Weed or Epimedium, is an amazing chinese herb.  Bodybuilders take it for increased testosterone (weak anecdotal evidence) and for the ‘pump’ (very strong evidence).  It’s also thrown into herbal preparations for PDE-5 inhibition effects (very strong scientific evidence).

I like to check http://www.pubmed.com for scientific experiments related to the herbs and supplements I’ll be discussing here.

It’s very cheap as a raw herb you can purchase in any chinese herbal shop or over the net.  It’s basically dried leaves packed tightly into little bricks that resemble a pack of dollar bills.

Epimedium
Epimedium

Scientists have found that it has strong Estrogenic qualities.  What??  Yes, despite all the hype around male performance, it has been shown effective for woman going through menopause and for the prevention of Osteoporosis!  Check out pubmed for the studies.

One substance that has been isolated from epimedium is a chemical called icariin.  Again, check pubmed for this one.  It’s PDE-5 inhibition rivals viagra.  In fact, one study mentioned how they were working on derivatives of icariin to produce even more effective inhibition.  Do your research!  Check pubmed, don’t just believe me.

Despite all the clinical evidence pointing to epimedium being estrogenic, this herb has a strong reputation for being a testosterone booster.  I think it’s probably due to it’s PDE-5 inhibition that get misinterpreted as libido enhancing.  Another possibility is that the body absorbs these natural weaker estrogens instead of the dangerous estrogens purported to be in our drinking water, detergents and certain food additives.  So it could have a protective effect against those dangerous substances.  I haven’t studied the estrogen story in depth, but there seems to be strong suggestions that our environment is polluted with toxic estrogens.

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Eucommia Ulmoides

This herb always caught my eye in the herbal shops.  It has a really odd name too–Eucommia Ulmoides.

Rubbery Chinese Herb
Rubbery Chinese Herb

The chinese name is “Du Zhong“.

This is an herb that could be made into a tea without any additional herbs.  It can stand on it’s own.  Traditionally, it’s used to lower blood pressure (read Nitric Oxide).  Interestingly enough, it’s also used to treat back pain and weakness of the legs.  It’s recommended for muscle/tendon injuries and impotence.

Look at the picture closely. The white fibrous part is reputed to be the reason why it is good for our fibrous muscles and tendons.  The herb has a rubbery feel to it.

One traditional recipe is to boil it with Oxtail for a stew.  Don’t use too much.  I’ve ruined a few soups by putting too much Eucommia in it.  It doesn’t taste very good.  I found powdered Eucommia and a teaspoon mixed with tea is not too bad, you can barely taste it.

I haven’t really tested this one.  I do have an injury I can try it on. I’ll see how it goes.  If anyone else wants to committ to trying this one and report back please do!

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A Secret Revealed

I was thinking the other day about how much real information is really available in printed form and on the net.  I was involved for many years in studying martial arts, especially the mysterious internal martial arts mainly from China — Tai Chi Chuan, Xing Yi, Bagua etc.  What I like about these arts is that they tend to have associated health preserving practices often loosely labeled ‘Qigong/ChiGong/ChiKung‘ or ‘Nei Gung’.  These exercises are loosely translated as ‘breathing exercises’ or ‘Inner Work’.  There are some purists who will argue every statement made concerning these arts and practices.  I always found them fascinating, especially the idea of a practice that could guarantee youth and vitality well into advanced age.  One can find alot of books on these arts and introductory classes.

Chen Fake
Chen Fake

Unfortunately, the secret ingredient to make them work is not found in any of these books or on the net.  If you want to learn from books and from introductory classes, you will not learn the true practice.  I spent many many years and have yet to find the real secret.  I’ve had a lot of  secret stuff revealed to me, but it’s never the full story.  I have had enough secret information revealed to me to know every book and video out there is pretty much useless.  You will get hints from your teacher, but the only way is to stumble upon yourself.  And that’s why we practice and practice. 

But I will give you one secret a Chinese Herbalist revealed to me one day that I haven’t seen anywhere.  For the tonic herbs, mix a little red wine in the resulting tea to magnify the effects.  I thought this was a cool revelation, although minor, of the oral tradition only insiders get to witness.  I humbly pass it on to you.

Red Wine

Notice the swirl?  That’s a hint for another secret…..

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Gray Hair Experiment

One of my all time favorite tonics is something called ‘shou wu chih‘ and it’s found in any chinese herbal shop or asian grocery. It looks like this:

The main ingredient in Shou Wu Chih is an herb called polygonum multiflorum. There’s a raw version of this herb that is sold in many herbal tablets for hair loss and graying.. However, traditionally, the raw herb is specially prepared by boiling it in a broth made primarily of black soy beans and then carefully dried. Many people don’t know this, but if you’re interested in this herb for it’s reported hair benefits, you want the prepared herb, not the raw version.
This herb is also called FoTi and He Shou Wu. You’ll probably encounter just as many spellings and pronunciations as you can imagine. You’ll also find countless variations of the legend that states a person who was gray haired and really old, ate this herb and became young again with dark black hair. I’m told in chinese, he shou wu means something like ‘mr. he black hair’.
Many people familiar with Chinese Medicine take this tonic everyday in hopes it will either darken their hair or keep it from turning gray. There is another benefit–this is also a very good overall tonic that is supposed to benefit the ‘Jing‘ if you are depleting your energy from stress or other activities (read my post on Jing-Chi-Shen).  It’s purported to be a reliable youth tonic and powerful libido enhancer.  I really like the taste of this one.  There are two versions–one made with alcohol (it’s labeled ‘cooking wine’ in some stores) and one made with water.

I could go into all the other ingredients, but you could google it. There’s a wealth of information on it.

The Experiment

So, I’m not happy that I sprouted some gray hair on my temples and scattered throughout what used to be very black hair.  I’m going to take this everyday and report on results after a few months.  If I see some gray hair with dark roots coming in, I will claim this a success.

I’m thinking about picking this up as well:

Shou Wu Extract
Shou Wu Extract

Shou Wu Pian is a concentrated version of the single herb in a small black pill.  It’s supposed to be taken for a long period of time to see results.  I think I may add this to the regimen.

The products are in my amazon store on this page.  Your best bet if you live near a metropolitan area or asian community is to buy it yourself.  These products are inexpensive.  Try my links or search the web for a better deal.  In the future, I may setup a store.  Let’s see…

 

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Extracts vs Powders

I recently went to visit a local Chinese Herb shop to get an herbal ‘tune-up’.  Many years ago, I found a great chinese herb shop and whenever I felt rundown, I would get my pulse read by the old resident herbalist and he would write out a prescription for the pharamacist to combine together and grind up.  I would then boil the ground up herbs and drink a cup twice a day.  I always felt like a million bucks afterwards and I recommended them to all my friends and family.  Unfortunately, the place burned down one night and I never saw or heard from them since.  I haven’t been able to find a good herbalist since. 

Anyway, I tried out this new place and when I went to pick up my herbs, I got a bunch of packets of powder I was supposed to mix into a cup of hot water and drink.  The herbalist told me this was the new way to dispense herbal prescriptions.  I didn’t really like this, but decided it was worth a try.

Extracts have some merit.  Always make a note if you are dealing with a raw herb or with an extract.  Extracts are just that..alcohol or water or some other chemical extraction of the chemicals in the herb.  Extracts are very potent and come in varying strengths such as 5:1, 10:1, 100:1 etc.  Extracts are usually standardized to contain a certain percentage of the known active chemical, which I guess makes it more like a drug, but guarantees you are getting a standard and expected dose.  As an example, I don’t think 500 mg of powdered gingseng is going to have much effect on anyone, but 500 mg of a powerful ginseng extract certainly could.

The problem with extracts is that they could be missing important chemicals that are not understood or known that are vital.  I always felt a water extract would miss chemicals that were not water soluble or an alcohol extract could miss ingredients as well.  But I’m not a chemist, so I’m not really sure about that.  I’ve noticed really powerful effects from extracts (which I’ll go into detail in future posts) so I know they work.  At the same time, I’ve had great effects from boiling bulk herbs too.  I can’t really think of a good experience with a raw powdered herb off the top of my head, I think they are largely ineffective because the dosage is so small.

In either case, one is probably not always better than the other and each will have it’s place.  For now, just make sure you know what you’re dealing with and what you’re paying for.   Read those labels to see if you’re getting an extract or just a few milligrams of a powder.

Oh, and my experience with that new herbalist was terrible.  I don’t think mixing individual extracts of the herbs into hot water is the same as the raw herbs.  I didn’t feel better, in fact I felt worse and threw the rest out.  I’ll never go back there.

By the way, and this is a topic for another post, I don’t think the herbs we get now are anywhere near what they used to be in the ‘old days’.  But I digress…