Don’t use the bathroom directly after practice.
This prohibition – don’t use the bathroom directly after practice- is the one that most students ask me about, because logically it doesn’t make much sense – unless you already know how the body works energetically. If you don’t, or if this prohibition is not making much sense to you right now don’t worry- just keep reading and you will understand why it is not good to use the bathroom directly after practice.
Ok- so first things first- if you have to go to the bathroom with urgency- then it is best to go, but don’t make it a habit to go to the restroom directly after practice. What do we mean by directly? Directly means that you just stopped your practice and the next thing you do is use the bathroom. The big reason why you should not do this will be explained a little bit later in the article. Right now I want to point out that if you always do something it becomes a habit. Pathways are built up and the body is trained to respond to the cycle that has been set in motion. So if you need to use the bathroom after practice- it is OK but don’t make it a habit.
When we train we are doing more than throwing the limbs around. There are energetic things happening and training Kung Fu should be transforming the body inside and out the same way that Qigong and Meditation transforms the body. When we train we lift the tip of the tongue to touch the upper palate. Not only does this connect the Ren and Du Meridians, but it also helps to lift- it helps to lift the Qi and it also helps to lift the diaphragms of the body. This includes the pelvic diaphragm at the base of the torso. This lifting is subtle and happens by placing the tongue at the roof of the mouth. (Some Qigong systems and exercises use force to lift the pelvic diaphragm- this is not what we are talking about here.) This lifting is one of the reasons why you feel more energetic, “lighter”, and happier after practice. It is the internal lifting that takes place through correct training.
When you use the bathroom directly after practice it “breaks the seal” and stops the lifting from continuing to happen. Think about a can of soda- after you pop the top it breaks the seal and the container no longer holds the carbonation. In a similar manner using the bathroom directly after practice stops the internal changes and processes from continuing to happen. In western sports science they measured that you don’t stop burning calories when you stop exercising- the effects of the exercise continue to give you benefits for a period of time after you have stopped. It is the same with Kung Fu, Qigong, and Meditation practice. Just because you stopped the exercise, the internal processes are still continuing for a while. So don’t use the bathroom directly after practice- it stops these processes and you don’t get the full benefit of your practice.
Then the next question you will have is how long to wait after practice- the answer is that it is the same as with eating or taking a shower (45 minutes to an hour).
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