Chapter 26 - Physical Discipline
The sage continued his journey; each day he would get up well before the sun rose, practice his martial arts, which he had never used, and meditate before allowing his inner spirit to guide him on where he would go for the day. Each day was filled with new adventures and new people to meet.
After a couple of months on the road he felt fitter than he had in all his life. The walking up and down mountains, through forests and around lakes had been physically demanding and his body was the better for it. He had begun to feel muscles in places where he never thought he could get muscles. His diet was very spartan and apart from the odd egg, it was mainly vegetarian, which helped inform the lightness of being that he now expressed.
As well as diet, exercise and meditation the sage had received a copy of the 'The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic,' from a Taoist healer that he had met and treated along the way. Each day for about an hour before the sun would go down Huo would open the text and read along as the discourse occurred between the Yellow Emperor and his trusted ministers. He would read for the hour and then after dinner he would sit and contemplate on what he had just red. For the most part the information aligned to the teachings he had received from the old sage Chung Fu. He reveled in the beauty and simplicity within the text and he could see it was littered with Taoist principles.
It was only when he read about the five elements that he realized the classic must have been copied from an earlier document and changed to suit the writer. For in the beginning the Taoist monks of the Plum Red Robe spoke and taught of the four elements; elements which aligned to the seasons. The five element theory although brilliant was a misunderstanding of the mixtures of the four elements. What the writer saw as metal, Huo knew to be a combination of Fire over Earth and what was called wood was a combination of Air over Earth.
The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic was a great starting point but for any healer it was more important to practice the art of going within and allowing the higher self to come forward, to allow the healing to occur.
He no longer read the Inner Classic preferring to use that time in meditation and connecting with nature and his own higher self.
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