One Body, One Life Within Your Control: A Symbiotic Approach to Wellness

By Yueh-Ching Chung

By integrating the philosophy and science of the East and West, I have been able to develop the Purposeful Exercise System, which consists of three programs.
The three programs will help readers rebuild the fundamental focus in Anatomy and Kinesiology that may have been missed when they enthusiastically started practicing their chosen exercise or sports. With this new-found knowledge and awareness, readers will understand how to recruit the right muscle and improve proper alignment using the correct technique, which can be applied to any physical activity. Readers will now be able to enjoy and love their One Body, One Life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Sep 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9781982272753

Yueh-Ching Chung

Chung, Yueh-Ching has been involved in movement-based activities, sports, and arts since 1969 in Taiwan, Republic of China and 1976 upon moving to the United States. Prior to founding Height of Wellness and realizing her dream, Ching was the Dance Instructor & Choreographer for School of The Hartford Ballet; University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music Theater & Dance, Greater Hartford Performing Arts Academy from 1984-2001 and a former Dancer at Works Contemporary Dance Company. Following a diagnosis of breast cancer, Ching expanded her focus to include wellness modalities, by become a nationally certified and Connecticut licensed massage therapist (2001). She also became a Stott Pilates instructor, certified in all mat and apparatus levels. Central to her approach to wellness and movement is Ching’s work in Qi Gong and Tai Chi Chuan. Her goal is to educate and assist people to live healthy and productive lives by introducing them to, and leading them in, the best practices of movement and lifestyles so that they can adapt these practices to their life, adjust where needed, and make them their own. She is looking forward to working with you to provide health and wellness into your life.

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 Yueh-Ching Chung

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic,

or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system

without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical

articles and reviews.

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being

used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Illustrations © 2021 by Amanda Joy Porritt

Book Design © 2021 by Amanda Joy Porritt and Leda Chung

Photography and Videography © 2021 by Philip Fortune

Cover Photo and Additional Photography © 2021 by Pethrena Shirley

Stock Imagery from iStockphoto, Shutterstock, and 123RF

ISBN: 978-1-9822-6988-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-7275-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021915874

Balboa Press rev. date: 09/20/2022

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DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to the loving memory of my parents, who taught me the importance of self-care, discipline, and service to others. Both of my parents grew up during wartime. Stories of their resilience during that experience inspired me to go forward, creating my life by choosing wisely. It was not easy, and I want to tell them this: Mom and Dad, this book is for the love that you gave me. I miss you both, and I hope you forgive me for growing up so slowly.

And thanks to my three children, for turning me from my singular focus on Dance and opening me up to the challenging, beautiful, loving life of motherhood; and to my two fun, active and loving grandsons, for extending and completing (for now) our family tree.

GIVE THANKS

My heartfelt thanks to my teammates for making this book possible: Rose Matava for her patience, knowledge of exercise science, amazing listening skills, and our fun editing sessions. Sheila Jacobs for proofreading my book and making great suggestions, attention to fine details, and teaching.

Amanda Porritt for her beautiful illustrations and the fantastic layout of this book. The fabulous Phillip Fortune for his work in videography, photography, editing, and hours of uploading to YouTube to create the QR codes. Pethrena Shirley for her ability to capture the essence of movement and nature’s brilliance in the cover photo and selection of interior images taken in Torrey Pines, San Diego.

Thank you to my daughter Leda Chung for her willingness to step in and help during Amanda’s maternity leave. Leda provided skillful layout, editing of anatomy charts, colorful chart design, and helpful suggestions on our many Sunday marathon work sessions over Google Hangouts (she resides in London). Those hours working with such a gifted daughter were truly a mother’s happy hours.

Thanks also to my dear friends Doug Campbell and Susie Dee for encouraging me to let go of my fears and focus on gathering my experiences in wellness practice, and just start to write. What an undertaking! It’s a process that I’ve eventually learned to enjoy, and now I’m forever grateful to have taken on this journey and reached this final moment of completing this book.

Thanks to all my clients and students for allowing me to grow with them and for providing me with many learning opportunities. I’m so grateful for sharing our paths together.

Thanks to Chrissie Ripple for stepping in for one of the final proofreads. What a great writing teacher she is to support my continued learning even in this final stage. Chrissie’s suggestions and devotion to helping inspired me to think deeper.

And finally, thanks to Nancy Ritter for reviewing the proofs before the final submission.

BIO

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Chung, Yueh-Ching is the Founder-Director of Heights of Wellness (HOW), a state-of-the art movement and wellness studio established in 2005. HOW provides a comfortable environment for people to learn how to improve their health and quality of life, drawing from both Eastern and Western healing techniques. Ching teaches in a style that is simple, direct and thorough. She encourages clients of all ages and abilities to develop foundational skills and apply them at increasing levels of depth and difficulty. Mastering these skills is a gratifying growing process that produces confidence and improved health.

Educated in Taiwan and the United States, Ching has studied extensively with some of the finest master teachers of Qìgōng, Tàijíquán, Stott Pilates, Massage, and Dance. She began her movement career as a dancer and was a member of the dance faculties at the University of Hartford Hartt School of Music, Dance, and Theater, the Academy of Performing Arts High School, and the School of the Hartford Ballet.

Following a diagnosis of breast cancer, Ching expanded her focus to include wellness modalities and became a nationally certified and Connecticut licensed massage therapist, practicing deep tissue and orthopedic massage. She also became a Stott Pilates instructor, certified in all mat and apparatus levels, as well as a certified Active Isolated Stretching instructor.

Central to her approach to wellness and movement is Ching’s work in Qìgōng and Tàijíquán. She is a longtime student of world-renowned Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming, a master in martial and healing arts, and she is proficient in Tàijí pushing hands, Tàijí Ball and Tàijí Sword.

Ching continues to study and draw from these rich traditions that resonate with her philosophy of how to best support the mind and body on the path to wellness. Ching enthusiastically instills in her students a sense of strength and empowerment. It is her mission to encourage awareness of the mind and body connection inherent in a healthy lifestyle.

FOREWORD

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Since 2005, Ching has attended many years of weekend workshops offered at YMAA’s headquarters in Boston MA, as well as annual seminars at the YMAA California Retreat Center. I was pleasantly surprised and impressed that she followed through with her learning and practicing in all eight levels of Qìgōng as well as various Tàijíquán contents including: the Sequence, Tàijí Ball, Tàijí Sword, Tàijí Pushing Hands, and Tàijí Fighting sets. I found out later that she took Qìgōng Level One several times in order to develop a deeper understanding and to satisfy her inquisitive mind in Qìgōng theory and practice.

Ching carries a strong discipline in practice and furthering her learning. I’ve watched her practice on her own during group trips, at the retreat center, and at the Boston studio. She invited me to teach a workshop at her well-thought out and beautifully set up studio in Hartford Connecticut back in 2007. It was a well-organized weekend workshop on Qìgōng Level One that she carefully planned and which ran smoothly for all the participants, including myself.

Ching received her Qìgōng Assistant Instructor certificate from YMAA in 2009. She has passionately assisted all seminars and workshops that she has attended. As a Massage therapist and Wellness educator, she was never tired of offering her expertise in stretching, exercise techniques, knowledge of anatomy, and medical massage to participants that she met in the seminars.

As a wellness educator, Ching developed a well-balanced Purposeful Exercise System by using her 40 years of experience teaching Dance and Wellness. She integrated both East and West concepts in Wellness, which are based on Yīn/Yáng philosophy from the East and anatomy/physiology from the West. She focuses on the importance of knowing the structure of your ‘one body’ as presented and taught in Purposeful Movement, which is one of the three programs in the Purposeful Exercise System. Purposeful Movement’s nine focuses are like the ABC’s, they are the fundamentals you might have missed as you learn or jump into any sports or physical activities. From learning the Purposeful Movement, you can build a stronger awareness and sense of biofeedback as you move your body. A foundation in Purposeful Movement’s fundamentals prepares you to take on the Injury-Free Exercise program and adopt a more sustainable approach with the Ageless Exercise program.

Ching often reminds her students:

Learn it right, it will last for a lifetime!

Adopting these exercises and movements into your everyday life will inspire you to pay attention to nutrition, as you need energy to move properly and efficiently. Food can influence your mood swings, inflammation in your joints and gut, and also brain function.

This book brings you to the three fundamentals: Breath, Nutrition, and Exercise. These are the three important practices for your ‘One body, One life’ wellness, the ultimate goal. Ching breaks down the carriage of proper posture by teaching you the Five Checkpoints, since posture shows your age and spirit. We should all pay attention to this book, which is a precious guide to treasure and abide by to achieve your optimal health, which leads to ‘Self-care, not Medicare’!

Open your mind to learn or relearn by discovering how much power you have in your hands, and how much you want to have in your life in order to live as well as you should.

Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming

Director, YMAA CA Retreat Center

August 24th, 2020

Dr. Yáng has been involved in Chinese martial arts since 1961. He established Yang’s Martial Arts Association (YMAA) for the perpetuation of traditional Chinese martial arts, Qìgōng, health & wellness. He has maintained over 60 martial arts schools in 19 counties. A 1978 graduate of Purdue University, he was awarded a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. His extraordinary skills in and knowledge of both Eastern and Western approaches to education is a perfect example of the highest intellect using both sides of the brain.

CONTENTS

DEDICATION

BIO OF CHUNG, YUEH-CHENG 54594.png

FOREWORD BY DR. YANG

THE SYMBIOTIC WELLNESS MANUAL

DEVELOPMENT OF THIS BOOK

INTRODUCTION

Overview of Author’s Background

Wise self-care seeker story - Tony

PART 1: MY MISSION AND SERVING

Wishful Thinking Becomes Motivation

Chapter 1: Self-care vs. healthcare

How it started

Roadmap of The Three Foundations of Wellness Living

Self-care Not Medicare

Ideology Training vs. Skill Training

Wise self-care seeker story - Tom

Chapter 2: The Five

The Five Brainwaves

Five Steps in the Circle of Learning

Wise self-care seeker story - Cathy

Chapter 3: The Missing Qualities in Exercises

Internal Practice

Wise self-care seeker story - Sheila and Janet

PART 2: INTEGRATION

Chapter 4: Journey to

Reviews for One Body, One Life Within Your Control

[Tom · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Change my life to movement and being centered.
Thank to Ching's integration of many different arts of movement.