Daoist self-cultivation practices
In religious Daoism[broken anchor] and traditional Chinese medicine, yangsheng, refers to various self-cultivation practices aimed at enhancing health and longevity. Yangsheng techniques include calisthenics, self-massage, breath exercises, meditation, internal and external Daoist alchemy, sexual activities, and dietetics.
Most yangsheng methods are intended to increase longevity, a few to achieve "immortality"— in the specialized Daoist sense of transforming into a xian ("transcendent", who typically dies after a few centuries, loosely translated as "immortal"). While common longevity practices (such as eating a healthy diet or exercising) can increase one's lifespan and well-being, some esoteric transcendence practices (such as "grain avoidance" diets where an adept eats only qi/breath instead of foodstuffs, or drinking frequently poisonous Daoist alchemical elixirs of life) can ironically be deadly.
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