Don’t get me wrong—I don’t oppose plastic surgery or other outside help to make anyone feel beautiful. Gravity does take over, however, and no matter how much you work to stop it, one day you will look and feel older. But why not use what we have discovered to feel and look your best at whatever age you are? And why not use it to feel and look your best as you recover from surgery? In fact, it will help you to recover!
May Yue’s Tao of Youth: Let Nature Heal You advocates a five-step process for cleansing the body of toxins and physically turning back time. It works for everyone. Based on hundreds of published studies in both Eastern and Western medicine plus ten years of research and discovery by my brother Sam Yue, M.D., the Tao of Youth works from the inside out—to reverse the effects of toxins and generate the feeling and appearance of youth. The steps are simple:
The Tao of Youth works with the body’s natural desires and tendencies, not against them. It’s easier than dieting—no deprivation or uncomfortable routine. It’s based on science and age-old, proven realities of graceful aging—an art perfected by my great-grandmother, who lived well to the age of 105.
Everybody’s heard you must retire at age 65, move south to a warmer climate, enjoy a life of leisure, behave in a certain way. The body aches, the mind fogs, and the spirit fades. That’s how it is. You must accept it. But must you really?
We set out to learn how some people, especially those living in Asian countries, have been able to lead vibrant lives to a ripe old age. We have met with hundreds of people in dozens of focus groups and medical workshops in several countries. My brother, Dr. Sam Yue, has treated thousands in his pain clinic, where many of our remedies came to light. Those who have heard about and used our suggestions clamor for more—for something in writing, something to take home, some way to share with others. Thus, this volume. Here’s how our approach differs from others:
Curiosity makes the difference. The curious physician continues to learn, to question conventional wisdom, to give the best of care. My brother is one of these. He asks many questions; so do I. Here are some questions prompting our research:
I began asking these questions in my forties; my brother has helped me to answer them. As a younger woman, I wondered, “What kind of older woman am I becoming?” Now the question I have asked for a long time is more important: “What are the fundamentals of aging well?” The answers I have found are contained here. We know there are many health-and-wellness books addressing the concept of aging well. But the Tao of Youth is unique in presenting concepts and findings that make common sense but may be controversial because, inexplicably, no popular books on health and wellness have presented them. Neither has the medical community recognized all of our ideas.
Not that all the concepts are new—though some are presented in new ways, asking questions that most experts have not. We don’t presume to know everything about any topic, so we have asked experts in healthcare and other fields for answers. As a result, we present findings old and new and provide a fresh way of looking at them both.
We often present information as a series of questions and answers, in which I represent the everyday aging person, asking questions of my brother Sam, a physician. He bypasses medical jargon and explains things in ways easy for the layperson to understand. We use simple words in offering the five keys to the Tao of Youth. We present here what we have learned in our own aging processes and during years of work with thousands of patients in Sam’s pain clinics. We see the need for additional research in some areas—our presentation might be thought of as a white paper in recognizing that need.
So I have written this volume with my brother Dr. Sam Yue’s help to provide healthy guidelines for aging to the ordinary reader. For the past ten years we have carried on research, interviewed experts, and used the suggested steps ourselves and with other members of our family. My brother’s observations of good results in patients and others attending our workshops have prompted us to share the Tao of Youth with a larger sphere.
We choose to empower our readers rather than tell them what to do. We want you to be the master of your own mind, body, and spirit. We do not mean for youoduction to become an expert but for you to become more aware of the right questions, so that you and your healthcare provider can make the best choices for you. We are not here to advise you in a health crisis. Instead, we focus on promoting health and redefining the process of aging so that you live actively, productively, and joyfully.
Furthermore, we present you with a set of new assumptions about aging, because we know that if you understand the fundamentals and ask the right questions, you will be able to make the best healthcare decisions.
For example on another front, I have been able to master the skill of cooking because as part of my major in college, I studied the principles of cooking—with an emphasis on biochemistry. Like the Iron Chef of cable television fame (I am not as good as that but good enough to perform in my own kitchen), I am able to come up with something to make from any ingredient, usually without a recipe. I know the rules, so I can mix and match. In the same way, I learned business principles and disciplines.
I used those principles in running a software company, and now I use them in managing a biotech and wellness firm. I don’t need different principles for each. With the same kind of thinking, I have come to see a need for new principles and assumptions regarding aging, beauty, and health. Enough to ask, in every instance, “What are the right and crucial questions?” Why new assumptions? Because we live in a time of new realities.
When members of my class asked my favorite marketing professor, Marty Marshall, for notes on how he arrived at a particular set of assumptions, he said, “I won’t hand out these notes because I want you to understand that reality is affected by economic, political, and historical change. My job is to give you the skills to figure it out, not to spoonfeed you.”
I have never forgotten Professor Marshall’s lecture. In the same way, I hope you will read for an understanding of mind and body so that you can comfortably make decisions to improve your health—before it is in crisis.
My brother and I set out to understand how we age and what we can do about it because we and other members of our family are going through middle life. In addition to our research and its application to ourselves, to Sam’s patients, and to those of his fellow physicians, Sam and I for seven years have worked as partners to formulate and market products based on his patents and inventions. In that work I have met many experts at conferences and consumers at workshops we have led.
Throughout this volume you will find the sets of assumptions leading to our conclusions: We know that in some areas more research is needed. Some findings may be controversial. We have done our best. We speak our truth. We share this information so that you can, if you choose, lead a better and healthier life.
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