Classic Books

The foundational classic of Chinese medicine. Studied chapter by chapter across its two parts, Suwen and Lingshu (81 chapters each).

Zhang Zhongjing's Treatise on Cold Damage. Studied through its six-channel framework (六经辨证), section by section — plain-language framing and longevity applications (wellness-focused, no prescriptions).

The Classic of Eighty-One Difficult Issues — systematizing the Neijing on pulse diagnosis, channels, organs, and the 命门/原气 root of life. Studied in nine thematic modules — plain-language framing and longevity applications (wellness-focused, no prescriptions).

Sun Simiao's 'Nourishing Inner Nature' (from the Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold) — a classic devoted entirely to 养生. Studied section by section as practical daily longevity practice: self-massage/daoyin, breath regulation, diet, and lifestyle (wellness-focused, no prescriptions).

Kaibara Ekken's 'Instructions on Nourishing Life' (1713) — Japan's most celebrated wellness classic. Influenced by Chinese yangsheng philosophy yet adapted to Japanese culture and daily life. Ten chapters on diet, daily habits, clothing, emotion, sexual cultivation, seasonal living, moral cultivation, prevention, and true longevity — bilingual (Chinese lectures + English teaching), with Chinese MP3 narration.

The Hippocratic Regimen (Peri Diaitēs) and On Airs, Waters, and Places (5th–4th c. BCE) — the root of the Western tradition of health cultivation, six centuries upstream of Galen. Here medicine first taught that health is made, not given: the balance of nourishment and exercise, regimen through the seasons, the effect of air, water, and place, individual constitution, and the body's own healing power — bilingual (Chinese lectures + English teaching), with Chinese MP3 narration. (Wellness-focused; humoral theory and ancient remedies are historical, not health advice.)

Luigi Cornaro's Discourses on the Sober Life (1558) — the West's most famous practical longevity classic. A Venetian nobleman who collapsed in midlife from excess, recovered through strict dietary moderation, and lived to nearly 100, writing his four discourses between ages 83 and 95. An introduction plus the four discourses, in five modules — bilingual (Chinese lectures + English teaching), with Chinese MP3 narration. (Wellness-focused; his personal food quantities are historical, not a prescribed diet.)

Francis Bacon's History of Life and Death (1623) — the West's first attempt to study aging and longevity by empirical, experimental method. Bacon made the prolongation of life a goal of his new science, framed aging as the body's slow 'consumption and desiccation,' and proposed an operative program to slow decay, perfect repair, and renew worn matter. Nine modules — bilingual (Chinese lectures + English teaching), with Chinese MP3 narration. (Wellness-focused; his period remedies are historical, not health advice.)

Galen's On the Preservation of Health (De Sanitate Tuenda, c. 175 CE) — the founding Western text of preventive regimen. Building on Hippocratic humoral medicine, Galen set out the 'six non-naturals' — air, food & drink, motion & rest, sleep, evacuation, and the passions — the modifiable factors of health, all governed by moderation, favoring diet and gentle exercise over bloodletting and drugs. Nine modules: an intro, the six factors, moderation, and regimen by age — bilingual (Chinese lectures + English teaching), with Chinese MP3 narration. (Wellness-focused; his humoral theory and period remedies are historical, not health advice.)

Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland's The Art of Prolonging Life (Makrobiotik, 1796) — the most important Western longevity treatise between Bacon and modern science, and the book that coined 'macrobiotics.' Hufeland built longevity on the 'vital force': life is a finite energy that can be spent fast or conserved slowly — burned by excess and passion, preserved by calm and moderation. Eight modules: the vital force, intensity vs. duration, what shortens life, diet, air/light/movement, sleep and the passions, and moderation — bilingual (Chinese lectures + English teaching), with Chinese MP3 narration. (Wellness-focused; his vitalist theory and period remedies are historical, not health advice.)

The Rasāyana chapters of the Charaka Saṃhitā (~2nd c. BCE–2nd c. CE) — the rejuvenation branch of Ayurveda, India's foundational medical classic, where the therapeutics section opens by caring for the healthy. Four quarters cover the great fruit formulas, the quest for vitality, hand-plucked rasāyanas, and who is fit for rejuvenation — with the chapter's jewel, Āchāra Rasāyana: conduct itself as the elixir (truthfulness, calm, compassion, regular living). Eight modules, closing with a dialogue across the Chinese, Indian, and Western traditions — bilingual (Chinese lectures + English teaching), with Chinese MP3 narration. (Wellness-focused; the classical formulas are historical education, never dosed, not health advice.)

Gao Lian's Eight Treatises on Nurturing Life (Zunsheng Bajian, 1591) — the Ming Dynasty masterwork of Chinese health cultivation. Eight treatises covering spiritual quieting, seasonal harmony, daily life, Daoyin exercise, dietetics, refined leisure, and longevity principles — weaving art, nature, and bodily cultivation into a unified art of living. Eight modules — bilingual (Chinese lectures + English teaching), with Chinese MP3 narration. (Wellness-focused; period alchemy is historical education, not health advice.)

The Salerno Regimen of Health (Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum, 12th century) — the bridge between Classical Antiquity and the Renaissance, and the most famous medical poem of medieval Europe. Compressed into memorable rhyming verses, it presents the famous 'three physicians: quiet, cheerfulness, and moderate diet,' morning hygiene, seasonal living, and dietary wisdom. Five modules — bilingual (Chinese lectures + English teaching), with Chinese MP3 narration. (Wellness-focused; medieval remedies are historical, not health advice.)