Text 4

    The explanation shows that life condition is becoming more and more uncondusive for good-quality life. Therefore, today more people than ever are looking for ways to improve their health, increase energy, reduce stress, restore or enhance functionality, relieve aches and pains, balance emotions, and sharpen mental focus. Because of the demands of modern life, most people want those ways to be relatively simple and not time consuming. If you still have not found something to fit your needs, you may want to consider Chinese healing exercises.

    Chinese healing exercises make up a branch of Chinese medicine. It is almost never taught as a separate system of healing. Rather, it is used in many practices you probably recognize. Some are part of the oldest of Chinese medical practices, including acupressure and tuina, a type of Chinese massage therapy. Others have their origins in ancient self-healing or spiritual practices, such as Chinese forms of yoga and meditation. They are routinely taught together with more detailed and complex practices, such as taiji (t'ai chi) qigong (chi gung), and other advanced medical, spiritual, or martial practices. They are intended to prepare a student for those more demanding disciplines. They are also conducted as adjunctive exercises that can make some aspects of the main practices easier to perform. Some sources are less well known in the west, like medical qigong and paidagong. They are tapping and patting techniques used to break up qi blockages.

    Qi is life force and is responsible for all healthy functionality, animation, vitality, emotional balance, and mental clarity. Chinese exercises have a unique positive impact on all those qualities. Chinese healing exercises can amplify the benefits from taiji or qigong if you already have such a practice. In that context, they will open targeted areas of physical or energetic restriction, deepen your sensitivity to qi sensations, and increase qi flow. They root you more securely, thereby improving your overall performance.

(Adapted from: http:(/www.llewellyn.com/journal/article/2408)

What topic does the paragraph preceding the passage most likely discuss?