Baduanjin bouncing…it does a body good!

One of the things that can make you feel stressed out these days is the buildup of toxins in your body, often from poor diet and poor exercise habits. One of the best things you can do to clear out your system is to bounce.

If you watched the "Qigong 8-piece Brocades" video below, at about the 2 minute mark, you saw Master Tsao rise onto his toes and then drop suddenly to stand flat on his feet. In baduanjin one name for this movement is "Shaking the Body Wards off All Illnesses." This movement may also be done by standing flat on your feet and just bouncing gently up and down from your knees. Warning: Pregnant women should Not Do This Exercise!

In the book The Way of Energy: A Gaia Original, several benefits of "Shaking the Body Wards off All Illnesses" are mentioned, but one of the most important benefits is not mentioned: bouncing activates your lymphatic system and helps to remove toxins from your body. Just like one of those watches that operate because you move it around, your lymph system depends on your movement to stimulate the pumping action of the glands so the lymph fluid can distribute fresh nutrients throughout your body and carry off waste products.

Lymph fluid surrounds most of the cells in your body. When you are at rest, it moves sluggishly, and cannot deliver nutrients or remove toxins as quickly as it should to keep you feeling energized and healthy. Leading a sedentary lifestyle amounts to surrounding your cells with old and stale lymph fluid, and would be like plunging yourself into a bathtub full of tepid, dirty water every day!

When you jump or bounce, your lymphatic system revs-up into high gear and gets the lymph fluid flowing at a rate that is ten to thirty times faster than when you are at rest. When not in this "overdrive" mode, your lymph system is stimulated to work through muscle tone, arterial pulsation, and even by self-massage.

There is good evidence for the beneficial practice of bouncing. Here is a quote from a website about a book called Natural Cures "They" Do Not Want You to Know About by Kevin Trudeau:

Cellular Exercise – There is only one type: Rebounding (i.e., jumping on a trampoline). This affects every cell in the body (simultaneously strengthens and stimulates), which causes an increased movement through the lymph system, stimulating every cell’s ability to eliminate toxins and increases the strength and vitality of every cell in the body. You only have to jump five minutes a day. This increases oxygen to your cells, which leads to a decrease in cancer cells (they can’t live in an oxygen-rich environment). Increased oxygen leads to increased alkalinity, where disease and illness cannot exist. Increased movement of the lymph causes an increase in the elimination of toxins. This cellular exercise also opens up the channels of energy, leading to an increase in life force and vitality of the cells, a decrease in acidity, and a decrease in the suppression of the immune system, which means there is less chance of disease.

Since Kevin seems to be a somewhat notorious figure, here is a review of Trudeau's Natural Cures book by Mike Adams of NewsTarget.com

There is also some interesting evidence from a study done by NASA (as reported on a website about Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

"Rebound exercise was studied by NASA in the 1970s in regard to astronauts returning to earth from low-earth orbit... If you remember these astronauts, when they took them out of the capsule they had to drag them out vertically because they would faint on standing... NASA figured out that the best way to bring back the autonomic nerve system was to bounce. So they put them in these bungee cord contraptions and they just bounced them - this up and down motion sets a sinusoidal input into the brain and essentially regulates autonomic tone and improves the, quote, autonomic nervous system."

Of course, this doesn't mean you have to be bouncing all the time. The popular suggestion is to bounce for about five minutes daily on a mini trampoline, but the baduanjin practice of "Shaking the Body Wards off All Illnesses" doesn't require special equipment and is equally effective.