Traditional Chinese medicine theory believes that the grip strength of a person's hand is closely related to the liver meridian.
Let's start with an interesting phenomenon. No matter the rich or poor, the high or low, people in the world are born and die with a common gesture - clenched fists when born and open hands when died.
We all know the order of the twelve Earthly Branches, "Zi Chou Yin Mao...".
The Chinese character "Zi" represents the image of a child's big head, with a small body underneath. After a child is born, people observed a common gesture of the child's hand, which is to clench the thumb among the four fingers. This is the ancient pictographic representation of the Chinese character "Chou". Taoists call the grip method of clenching the thumb among the four fingers "Wogu Fa".
So why do all children clench their fists when they are born? According to the correspondence between the five viscera and five spirits in the "Huangdi Neijing", the liver corresponds to the spirit of the soul. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that when the liver qi is particularly abundant, the person's soul is also particularly strong. It is like an oil lamp, if the oil is abundant, the light will be bright. This brightness represents the spirit.
When a child is born, the fontanelle on the top of their head has not closed yet, and the fontanelle is considered as the place where the soul comes and goes. Therefore, the clenching of fists when a child is born is to hold the soul firmly. According to Taoist belief, the root of the little finger is the wind orifice of the liver, so the grip method is to pinch the thumb at the root of the little finger. When a child is just born, they clench their fists tightly because the liver qi is particularly abundant at that time, and they need to hold the soul firmly.
When a person dies, there is also a common gesture, which is to let go of their hands. This gesture implies an important truth - at the moment of death, the liver spirit disperses, and the hands can no longer hold on. With a release of the hands, both grip strength and liver qi disappear with the soul.
This implies that both birth and death are closely related to the generation of liver qi. In traditional Chinese medicine, the liver belongs to the nature of Jueyin, which has the ability to generate and the nature of being unimpeded, but this generation must also be able to converge. Therefore, when describing the wood nature of the liver, traditional Chinese medicine uses the words "curved" and "straight". "Curved" represents its converging nature, while "straight" represents its unimpeded nature. Thus, traditional Chinese culture has a very dialectical view of things.
If we want to live long, we should regularly exercise the grip strength of our hands.
Thumb Massage Method
In daily life, we should move our fingers more often. In the past, the elderly had a good exercise method - massaging walnuts. This method involves placing two walnuts in the palm and rubbing them back and forth. This method can effectively exercise each finger and the walnuts in the palm form a Tai Chi symbol, so it is also called Tai Chi ball.
Ten Fingers Knocking Method
The Ten Fingers Knocking method is a good exercise method in which the ten fingers of both hands knock against each other. This method exercises the acupoints on the fingers, enhances the flexibility of the hands, and also cultivates liver qi, which is beneficial for the health of our brain. Girls with cold hands and feet should often practice Ten Fingers Knocking, so that blood can flow to the extremities.
