The origin theory of health preservation and fitness

Wudang Quan Gong emerged to meet the needs of Taoist health preservation and fitness. Generally speaking, martial arts originated from productive labor and developed the need to fight wild beasts and humans. The purpose of practicing martial arts is to be brave and valiant. Shaolin is renowned throughout the world for its martial arts prowess, yet it excels in fighting. However, the origin of Wudang Quan is closely related to the Taoist outlook on life, emerging from the Taoist need for health preservation, fitness and immortality. Taoism holds a persistent realistic attitude towards life, attaching great importance to one's present life, emphasizing immediate rewards and rewards in this life, and pursuing happiness, prosperity, longevity and joy, as well as immortality. Therefore, Taoism has dualized the world and constructed a world of immortals above the human world. Taoism holds that ordinary people can become immortals, and becoming an immortal does not occur after death but during one's lifetime, in this life. As long as one cultivates the spirit and the body in life, one can achieve the goal of immortality, longevity, enlightenment and ascension, and become an immortal. Taoism holds that to become an immortal through cultivation and achieve enlightenment and ascension, on the one hand, one must obtain golden elixirs for consumption, that is, to maintain health by relying on external objects (external elixirs), so as to make one's body and mind immortal. On the other hand, it is to guide the flow of qi and refine the inner elixir. "Qi" is the bridge between humans and immortals, which is the "inner elixir". Taoists, in order to achieve immortality and long-term vision, must practice qi. Practicing qi requires guiding and circulating qi, thus giving rise to the need to practice boxing. When practicing qi, martial arts movements were introduced. During the process of practicing boxing, the purpose of practicing qi was also incorporated. As a result, the combat values of boxing began to be impacted by the health preservation values of Qigong and gradually merged, thus forming the internal power movement mechanism of "internal power and external boxing" and "internal and external combination, internal as the main focus". Meanwhile, during the formation of this internal power movement mechanism, it continuously absorbed the theoretical essence of military strategy and the advantages of Shaolin's external martial arts, thus forming a complete Wudang boxing system. The combination of Taoist Qigong and martial arts dynamic gong is a milestone in the history of martial arts development and another major leap forward. Health preservation and fitness are the main tenets and social functions of Wudang martial arts. The Taoist way of thinking emphasizes intuition and perception, grasping the characteristics of things through visual perception. The purpose of grasping these characteristics is to deeply understand the essence of things. This is the basic feature of the thinking mode of Wudang martial arts culture. The Xingyi, Taiji, Bagua and various other styles of Wudang Boxing, including their moves, offense and defense, and advance and retreat, can be taught, observed and learned. However, the different artistic conception, charm, inner quality and vigor of each style of Wudang Boxing must first be understood through intuition, and then felt and deepened through repeated practice and contemplation. That is, there is a method - there is no way - there is infinite change, and throughout the entire process, there is hard study, in-depth research, deep thinking, and proficiency. Those who believe that "reaching the ultimate perfection" can only do so through long-term and meticulous experience accumulated over time. At the same time, entering the realm of imagery is the key to grasping the subtle and profound truth. This approach of emphasizing perceptive understanding and practice precisely reflects the profound influence of Wudang Quan on the human body, spirit, thought, and ethics and morality, while comprehensively demonstrating its functional effects and the social purpose of health preservation and moral cultivation. The formation of Wudang Quan Gong, as a unity of internal and dynamic skills, like other martial arts schools, contains the social function of self-defense and enemy defense through combat. What needs to be emphasized here is that the means and methods of various functions are creative and have made a qualitative leap compared with the functions of external martial arts. Throughout history, both at home and abroad, martial arts have always emphasized strength, speed, intensity, the victory of the strong over the weak, speed over slowness, and the strong over the weak. However, Wudang Quan Gong views the size, speed, and strength in confrontation from a dialectical perspective, advocating the ingenious fighting force of "moving a thousand pounds with four ounces", as well as the movement methods and means of changing the real and the weak in its principles and techniques, such as using softness to overcome hardness, using the weak to defeat the strong, using slowness to counteract, and using small force to overcome large force. It has greatly enriched and developed the theories and practices of martial arts in both the East and the West, making a significant contribution to world culture. The strategic characteristics of Wudang Quan, such as "attacking what is necessary to save", "attacking what is not defended", and "attacking what is not attacked", as well as the social effectiveness it demonstrates, are directly in line with its purpose of health preservation and fitness. This is also the fundamental difference between Wudang Quan and other martial arts schools, and the fundamental driving force for the expansion of its health preservation and fitness functions. In the Wudang martial arts theory, extreme emphasis is placed on the cultivation and interdependent relationship of the human body's essence, energy and spirit. It is believed that "essence" is the root and the fundamental substance that constitutes the human body and promotes growth and development. "Qi" is also the carrier of "essence", and "essence" spreads throughout the body in the form of "qi", constantly replenishing the energy for the body's physiological activities. "Shen" is the manifestation and result of the action of "qi". The continuous action of "qi" enables the generation and maintenance of a person's "shen" - thinking, consciousness and other activities. Wudang Quan Gong comprehensively summarized and generalized the theory of essence, energy and spirit in medicine, and proposed the principle of "cultivating both internal and external aspects" in practice. Under the guidance of this principle, it further gave rise to "externally practicing the hands, eyes, body, methods and steps, internally practicing the spirit, strength and energy exercises", "internally practicing the breath, externally practicing the muscles, bones and skin", "internal and external three combinations", "yin-yang transformation", "circular arc twisting", and "seeking stillness in movement". The practice requirements such as "seeking movement in stillness", "softness with firmness, firmness without stiffness", and "slender, deep and even, qi sinking to the dantian" have established an orderly procedure with the cultivation of dantian transformation and transportation as the core, the smooth flow of meridians, qi, blood and body fluids as the forerunner, and the improvement of the function of the gonadal system as the focus. This dynamic internal cultivation program, on the one hand, can tap into the human body's potential for self-defense and enemy defense, and on the other hand, it uses the body's offensive and defensive movements and enemy defense forms to harmonize qi and blood, unblock meridians, and organically combine martial arts offensive and defensive training with health preservation and fitness, achieving the goal of restoring essence and nourishing the brain, thereby enhancing vitality and achieving the purpose of prolonging life. It further develops and improves the theoretical system of health preservation and fitness. It becomes the product of the mutual "integration" of human beings' intense desires for survival and pleasure.