However, it is this same basic formula, disguised in the vocabulary of Western science, that is used in modern physiology.

Oxygen (O2) plus glucose (C6H12O6) through BMR yields energy in the form of high energy phosphate bonds (especially ATP) plus water (H2O) which dissolves carbon dioxide (CO2) and facilitates the hydrolysis of energy yielding phosphate bonds. It seems that the chinese knew, without a particularly refined scientific method, that only a portion of the air and food, the essence, was employed in the process: only 20% of air is oxygen and glucose is approximately 60% of food.(24)

The Chinese knew about circulation of the blood approximately 2000 years before William Harvey described it in 1616.(25,28,29) They knew about the energy generating relationship of food and air 2300 years before the elaboration of the Krebs cycle.(25,28,29) The simplicity of the Chinese formula encourages the use of the movement and breath as a health enhancing factor while the complexity of the Western scientific formula tends to mask the importance of the breath and makes the benefits of simple breath practice less accessable to the average health seeker?

Roger Jahnke has been in the health field since 1967 beginning with body therapies, herbal medicine, Tai Chi, Yoga and meditation. He turned his attention seriously to Oriental medicine in 1972 with study at the North......more