quadrant6

Thank you, Much appreciated. I will look into the recommend titles and links above. I agree re: consultation. Best done in person I guess. Nevertheless, FYI: • 28yrs old. work in front of a computer, 9-6pm. • Eat mostly rice/veges/pasta/meat/eggs/nuts/grains, very little refined food, sugar, or pre-made products. No dairy, caffeine. tobacco & minimal alcohol. • Outside of work I swim and work out with bodyweight exercises a few times a week. • I'm tall, lanky body type. I've seen 3 chinese doctors but only one in China. Aside from the internal heat, they also mentioned a lack of stomach enzymes which might help explain my poor digestion/absorption. One of them actually said my long term prescription was to exercise for 40mins every single day - specifically swimming, running failing that. After a while, I could reduce to 4x, 3x a week. I haven't done this recently. I should. I am however continuing to drink honeysuckle tea, chrysanthemum tea and mung bean juice regularly and avoid spicy food. I always had an interest in spiritual practices, eastern philosophies. There was a period before I got this job where I was meditating a lot and also trying astral projection (no interest in this now). During that time I was the healthiest I remember. I don't know if it was the exercises for astral projection (robert bruce) which maybe raised/balanced my energy, the meditation or something else. But I guess that's how I came to post here. I do have a problem with following complex programs of any sort though. So the simplest (not necessarily the easiest) always appeal to me!

If I have roughly 15-20 minutes each morning before work, what's the best thing I can do for overall health/energy. I've been doing the silk brocade based on a book which i got from the library. i know that's probably not ideal but i don't know of any teachers in my area. before doing this, i tried yoga and also just seated meditation. when i get time in the evening i do seated meditation - just zazen/mindfulness, no mantras or anything. I'd like to be mindful all day but find it pretty difficult. i went to china last year and a traditional doctor said i have too much internal heat - he was shocked when he saw my tongue (very red). So I've taken the prescribed herbs, i eat cooling foods and teas etc but the red tongue and other symptoms come back. I think I just need to counter/handle stress from work a bit better.

Thanks for the replies everybody. I should mention that I don't have any family depending on me but it's still a consideration as that could change in future. What especially prompted the move is that I visited a natural health specialist and she confirmed what I already felt. That if I stay on the current path I'm on, I could eventually end up with auto-immune problems. She believes that I can get the stress under control, everything will fall into place but if I don't, it won't matter what special diet/supplements I'm on. My sister and a few other family members have many similar such disorders (may digestion related) and none of us handle stress well. I have attempted to practice mindfulness at work on/off during my 6 years at the current job. I can never sustain it for very long. A large project comes up, my mind is taken over and I tend to take it home with me and analyze and worry. I guess I won't 100% know until I try, whether the new job would be any better for my practice and health. But if it is then I believe it's quite possibly worth the large drop in pay. (less than half! but I can live)

Greetings from New Zealand I've been directed to this forum through google a few times so thought I'd join now that I have a few questions of my own to ask.