Cham Bumo Gyeong: Episode 391

Cham Bumo Gyeong
Book 13: The Completion of Restoration and the Settlement of Cheon Il Guk
Chapter 3: True Parents' Philosophy of Life and Their Public Life
Section 3. Section 3: A Healthy Lifestyle, True Father's health
Section 3. Section 3: A Healthy Lifestyle, Paragraph 13

Section 3. Section 3. A Healthy Lifestyle

True Father's health

All life follows natural law. True Parents maintained their health by active living and exercise following natural law. Thus, True Father controlled the amount of water he consumed in relation to his salt intake. He ate very few snacks and dined sparingly. He taught us that if we maintain the lifestyle God intended for us at the creation, we will be free of illness. Even when True Father felt unwell, he recovered his health through the protection of heavenly fortune by devoting himself to God's Will and immersing himself in God's heart. True Mother is also taking care of her health by managing her diet. She exercises by taking walks.

1  I know myself. I know my physical condition as well. For whom do I eat, sleep and live? I believe that if I live for the sake of others, any sickness will pack its bags and leave. Why is this? It is because heavenly fortune will seek me out. That is how I think, and that is how I have lived my whole life until now.

2  I need only seven minutes of exercise in the morning. Other people exercise for three or four hours, but I need only seven minutes. I have done the same exercises every day for decades. I never missed my exercise, even when I was in prison or when I was a student. This is the reason I am maintaining my health now. I exercise from my eyes to my shoulders to every part of my body. You need to take care of your body.

The Principle is great. Because I know the Principle, even when I had very little to eat in prison I could maintain my health with my breathing technique. Oxygen is a precious life element. My technique involves inhaling fresh air, absorbing sunshine and drinking water. Even in the labor camp, when the sun rose I would go to the toilet and gaze at the sunlight. Again, we need to drink fresh water, breathe fresh air and absorb the sunshine. These are the three life elements: sunlight, water and air.

3  As much as possible, I try not to eat snacks. Eating snacks is not good for your health for several reasons. First, it makes you eat more than you need. Second, it prevents you from enjoying your food to the maximum at mealtimes.

The food you eat should taste sweet to you. If you chew food for a long time, it starts to taste sweet. In prison, people ate everything quickly, all at once, because they were so hungry. But when you do that, the food is digested almost instantly and about one-third of the nutrition is excreted in the feces. This is why I am telling you to chew as long as you can. Then you will find that your food tastes sweet like baby food that little infants like. Again, do not eat your food in a rush, but chew it slowly until you can taste sweetness in it. Sweet food is delicious, and you can get more nutrition out of it. Also, if you chew for a long time you liquefy the food, and this also will improve the body's absorption of nutrition.

4  I do not let my thoughts dwell on my fatigue. Because I do not think of myself as being tired, I am not tired. I can remain standing for 12 or even 24 hours. I do not flinch at standing for 20 hours. This is not only because I am healthy physically; it is because I have strong willpower. If you think you are old, then that's the end. Such thinking will really make you old. I always have the mindset that, even as I age, I must keep busy so my mind does not wither. Since my mentality is strong and robust, I can overcome any difficulty while maintaining my health. It is great to have strength of mind.

5  I engaged in every conceivable type of sports before my twenties. Since I was always involved in sports, when I hurt some part of my body, I learned how to treat it. With that knowledge I have the confidence to maintain good health today. Next is mental conviction. When I go to a high mountain, I do not think of it as high. And when I go to a deep valley, I do not think of it as low. I create that state of calmness in my mind.

6  When I am tired, I release the tension in my shoulder muscles. If I find a railing nearby, I go there and massage my shoulder against lit to release the tension. When I feel sleepy, if I go to the bathroom and do this massage for just five minutes, my sleepiness disappears. I invest energy that is stronger than my sleepiness. It is like the wind driving the clouds away. I use my willpower to maintain balance. I do not eat snacks, because they interrupt my metabolism. I also do not drink water or eat fruit thoughtlessly, even when they are served to me. You need to enjoy your meal, whatever food you are eating. You do not need many side dishes, not more than three.

When people get older, they have a problem of feeling heaviness in their lower legs. They find it especially difficult to stand up after sitting down. That's why you need to do this exercise: Stand up straight, bend your legs and squat down as low as you can while keeping your torso straight, and then stand up again.

7  I have many ways to exercise. I vary them according to the season of the year. The exercises I do in the spring are different than the exercises I do in the other seasons. I vary them because of the changes in weather and humidity.

If germs have infiltrated your body, they will die off if you exercise on a regular basis. I survived prison by doing the exercises I developed. I do them even now. My exercises do not take very long. Even though some people exercise three or four hours a day, they cannot compete with me in maintaining their health.

My exercises start from the top of the medulla at the back of my head. They are based on a mental approach. Suppose you have eye pain. If you give out energy that is many times greater than the eye pain, the pain will leave, even be cured. That works for me even today. It is because I use mental energy that no one can beat me in the challenge of staying awake for 24 hours. I do my exercises even while riding in a car. I do them no matter how sick I am.

Insights about health

True Father went through many grueling periods of physical suffering, including six incarcerations, yet he overcame them with the help of his special exercises. Notably, while in prison, he developed various techniques such as breathing and certain exercises based on give and receive action. He was born with a robust physical body. Moreover, his unique health management approach helped him thrive despite an often herculean workload.

8  When you inhale, you need to take a deep breath. When you exhale, do it slowly and deeply—”phe-eu-w”—until you totally empty yourself. By breathing this way you can stay healthy. Some people really enjoy walking as a way to stay healthy, but I know another way to strengthen my health even without walking. I do a breathing exercise that is the equivalent of pouring into a 10-mile walk all the energy that one would use to walk 1,000 miles. It involves taking in a lot when you inhale, and exhaling completely. If you do this, your lungs will filter your blood better so that the freshest blood can enter your heart. If your breathing is shallow, then the freshest blood will not have a chance to reach your heart. I do this special breathing exercise; it is something I did even when I was in prison.

Focusing all your energy, hold your breath tightly and then release it slowly—”phe-e-u-w.” Doing this over and over will benefit you many more times than other exercises. There is no exercise better than this. Just 7 to 13 minutes is enough. When you do this, you must hold your breath. Hold it as long as you can. This exercise is for the lungs.

9  If you hold your nose, close your mouth tightly and breathe out strongly, the air will go out through your eyes, mouth and ears. It is a way to clean out blockages and prevent your hearing and eyesight from weakening as you grow old. This will keep you healthy as long as you live. The exercise naturally includes exercising your neck, making those muscles strong. In this way you will not get a stuffy nose and you will be able to breathe smoothly. Try this exercise in the morning, holding your nose. Those who do it will avoid colds. I owe my own good health to knowing how to do this exercise.

10  Once you breathe in, how long can you hold your breath? Go into the water, hold your breath as long as you can underwater and then come up for air. Repeat this again and again, and you will increase your lung capacity. Or you can run 100 meters, morning and night, keeping a balanced pace. These exercises that increase your lung capacity can maintain your health. This is a secret to improving your health. If your lung capacity is great, you can take in more oxygen, and you will naturally be able to hold your breath for a long time. This is all scientific.

When you walk, do you habitually look down or far ahead? When you walk, stick out your chest. The most important part of your face is the nose. The nose is the center. Whatever exercise you do, you have to align it with your nose.

11  Do the belly button exercise. Every vital point in your body is hidden. They are set in deep. If you press those points, you can connect to your body's original and strong qi energy. The navel is the most deeply set point on your body. That's why all the important nerves are connected there. When you wake up in the morning, before you do other exercises, first flex your abdomen strongly. Push your navel outward so your deeply set abdomen protrudes. When you do so, you can revitalize all the cells that are blocked by germs.

12  You need to exercise not only for good breathing but also for the peripheral nerves. As people age, they do not breathe properly, and this dulls the peripheral nervous system. When this occurs, you may start to lose your balance. To maintain good balance, you need to exercise to keep your body stable. Dancing, singing and martial arts are all forms of exercise that help with balance. Practice any one of them to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and for mental and emotional well-being. Do not exclude martial arts techniques, because they are absolutely necessary for self-defense in many situations.

13  When I wash my face, I begin with my eyes. I wash my hands first and then my eyes. After washing my eyes I exercise them by gently pressing around them. Then I am more refreshed than I was when I first woke up. This exercise also clears my mind. After doing this exercise for my eyes, if I look here and there, I feel the difference. My eyes are more focused. Next I do an exercise for my nose. After washing my eyes I wash my nose. Then I hold my nose like this and blow air through it.

Next, I exercise my throat. I need to do so, because I have spoken so much during my lifetime. The eyes, nose and throat are connected. So I need to clean them with these exercises. I need to do the throat exercise while breathing. Even by this simple exercise, like this, I can relieve the hoarseness in my voice.

Next I exercise my shoulders. Where plus and minus energy come together from side to side, high pressure will go down and low pressure will go up. It is an exercise that is based on natural law. You have to do this exercise.

Why do we exercise? When you breathe properly, the body's metabolism runs smoothly, in cycles, your fatigue disappears and your health improves. I have an exercise where I flex the various parts of my body; it maintains my body's balance centered on the peripheral nervous system. If you stand like this, you can support your body well.