qigong gorilla's overview of optimal health

Basic model of the components of your body and good health

The purpose of this article is not to give an accurate and up to date understanding of science, but to illustrate how the fundamental workings of good health is actually pretty simple and intuitive.

The numbers cited are rough estimates, science is always changing.

There are 37 trillion cells.
There about 100 trillion good bacteria living symbiotiacally, most living within your gut, and they manufacture essential things your cells can't produce on their own. You'd die without these outsider friendly bacteria helping out.
Each cell is like a miniature version of you.

1. it needs to eat food, air, oxygen, 
2. it needs to crap, eliminate waste
3. it needs garbage pick up,
4. it needs food delivery,
5. it needs heating and air conditioning.
6. it needs repair service at times from the immune system, infracture, roads and highways for delivery and pickup of cargo.

Blood circulation by the heart reaches less than 30% of the cells.
How do the other 70% of cells get their services met?

Lymph fluid, which does not get circulated by the heart pumping.
Lymph requires muscular contraction and movement from sufficient physical exercise.
And also the workings of the jhana battery, which gets charged by noble silence, celibacy, sufficient food, sleep and rest.
A fully charged jhana battery acts like a powerful network of water towers and pressure tanks, and a high power electrical system that can service all 37 trillion cells.

If you drain your jhana battery by indulging in sensuality, too much thinking, not enough meditation and rest, then your community of cells and good bacteria, many of them are going to get starved, not get enough oxygen, get ill from their garbage not getting picked up and being too cold because their heater is broken from not enough electrial power, and not enough power and working infrastructure for the immune system to send out it's doctors and maintenance workers.

If you lead a sedentary life, 70% of your 37 trillion cells are going to get shortchanged on necessary services.
Each cell is like a mini you.
You need to eat, crap, get garbage picked up, etc. (same list of services stated earlier).
You wouldn't eat one week's worth of food and crap that out in one sitting once per week would you?
You can't, you're not designed to do that.
Every cell is like a mini you, it's not designed to do that either.
You need to eat and get necessary services not only once a day, but throughout the day.
So does each mini you.
So how do they get the goods they need?
Sufficient daily exercise.
Again, remember that blood only circulates to a small percentage of your body, the other 70% of the 37 trillion mini you's need physical exercise pumping that lymph fluid and circulating qi in invisible networks of qi channels to keep the whole system humming and working properly.

What is optimal exercise?

Normally you breathe shallow, using less than 20% of your lung capacity.
If you over exercise, too intensely and/or too long, you incur injuries, you deplete your jhana battery which you need for more important spiritual pursuits.
If you under exercise, the 70% of the 37 trillion mini you's get starved and intoxicated with un-removed garbage, and cumulative damage from that compounds, making it harder to repair and rejuvenate your collective body.

optimal exercise is going to involve a full range of expression 

(of motion, breathing, relaxation,  muscle contraction, stretching, etc.)

Daily quota for optimal health is going to look something like this:
1. minimum of 30-60 minutes of elevated aerobic cardiovascular: such as slow jogging, rope-less jump roping, enough to get full deep breathing, elevated heart rate, full body light mist of sweat, not exhausted sweat pouring, heart pounding.
1b. minimum of another 60 min. of easy walking, taiji, qigong,  walking in the garden, hiking, standing and walking meditation.

2. stretching: Always do #1, at least 5 min. or however long needed to get the body warm and soft. This is to prevent injury, but also to make the strecthing effective and make long lasting impact. At least 30-60min a day total, better to have many small sessions throughout the day. Better to do dynamic forms of stretching that naturally keep the body warm, soft, elastic. People with cold body types doing yoga, and holding poses too long, body will get cold making the stretching far less effective and impactful, and risking injury.

3. getting full range of muscular movement: again, start with #1, get warm and soft. You don't need a gym membership. At least 30min a day of some combination of pushups, pull ups, light dumbell work (one dumbell between 5 to 10% of your body weight is good).

4. self accupressure, self massage, tapping and slapping, probing to sense what's going on in your body. Parts where blood, qi don't circulate well, that part will feel tender, painful, weird. Parts that are in excellent health, massaging won't feel good, it will feel neutral like you could take it or leave it and you wouldn't care. If you massage or work on a spot of the body and it feels really good, it's your body trying to tell you to keep going. Foam rollers are good.

How do you know you're doing each of the 4 categories correctly?

For optimal health, if you're doing it right, you should feel endorphins, pleasure chemicals of the brain that feels the same as a mild or moderate form of first jhana. That comes from the 70% of those 37 trillion cells giving you positive feedback thanking you for meeting their service needs.

What's the secret to success?

1. You need at least a low quality first jhana level of samadhi. This is not hard. 99% of people can do this.
This gives you the sensitivity you need to do step 3 of 16aps breath meditation correctly, able to use the breath energy and tactile sensation of all 37 trillion cells of your body to probe what's going on, where it's healthy and where it has stagnant energy or blockages.

2. modulation: doing an efficient and necessary quantity of intensity of daily exercise that you need that day. Without #1, you won't know what's too little, too much, too intense, too lax, or just right.

3. if you're doing the whole daily routine right, it feels good, you look forward to it like a hungry person about to eat (that's the 70% of the 37 trillion cells talking to you, most people don't listen), you don't get tired physically or mentally while doing it. Over time you get stronger and your endurance increases, it becomes a habit as natural as breathing, eating, sleeping.  And once it's ingrained as a good habit you'll have it for life. If after many months, it feels like a dreadful chore,  then you're doing something wrong.