Women's health, women wisdom

[kitten_growingup]

Is there anything you can recommend as a useful resource for women's health, from a woman's point of view ?

I mean books, websites, anything. Something that is written especially for women, suited for the way we are (for the physical, emotional, and spiritual side too).

 

I'm looking for anything that can teach me first what are my female body needs. And I mean not something with diets for weight and so on.

Mantak Chia, Saida Desilets, Dr. Northrup are some names I gathered from here and there. Though Dr. Northrup seemed to be a good place to start, but I'm not convinced. Mantak Chia and other male teachers have useful daoist practices for the emotional side (I've tried them, they do work). But for women sexual practices Saida Desilets seems more appropriate.

 

How do you, girls, take care of your bodies' health?

Edited September 13, 2010 by kitten_growingup

[Birch]

Listen to it. Avoid things that stress it out (nod to avoiding high-heels for lower back issues )

 

Stretch it, take it for walks, feed it good food, water, take it vacations, show it sunlight, show it new things, appreciate it (or have someone else appreciate it )

 

 

I'd just add that IMO (current) it's not "yours" as in a possession it's "you" - which put a whole big t'other spin on everything that goes with...

[FT88]

The tao comes naturally more to the female than the male. Because they embrace the yin and are naturally passive, opposed to the male yang that wants to compete/argue/fight.

[goonis38]

Listen to it. Avoid things that stress it out (nod to avoiding high-heels for lower back issues )

 

Stretch it, take it for walks, feed it good food, water, take it vacations, show it sunlight, show it new things, appreciate it (or have someone else appreciate it )

 

 

I'd just add that IMO (current) it's not "yours" as in a possession it's "you" - which put a whole big t'other spin on everything that goes with...

 

Hi Kate...

That is great... I love the way you put all that, so true and right... Amen sister!! Mel

[gendao]

The tao comes naturally more to the female than the male. Because they embrace the yin and are naturally passive, opposed to the male yang that wants to compete/argue/fight.

Women do tend to open up and work with energy easier because they are naturally yin and more in touch with their feelings. And also, they are not constantly ejaculating their jing out...lol.

To attain Channel SHO, women are easier than men, youngsters are are easier than the elderly.

 

7 students were female, 6 of them were successful. The last one only joined the group in the last 5 days. 19 students were men, only 8 succeeded. The average age of those who were successful was 47, lower than the average group age by 5 years.

They tend to have more difficulty focusing from multitasking and attaining mental emptiness due to more A.D.D., though. Edited September 13, 2010 by vortex

[Birch]

"They tend to have more difficulty focusing from multitasking and attaining mental emptiness due to more A.D.D., though"

 

Who does?

 

Nah, I get it.

 

Just like by default I wouldn't be able to grow a 6-pack or deadweight (is that even the term?) more than half my weight. Or something (insert Monroe eye-lid turn down here)

 

Mr Vortex, do you subscribe to an "all of them" school when it comes to women or do you allow for nuance?

 

I've been reading you for a while and I get that males are being stepped on and shat on and generally gotten rid of (if not physically then at least socially - which amounts in many cases to same) in our current setup. What do you think is the origin of this?

 

Maybe I should ask /open another thread about this - but don't "male and female support each other?" or something.

 

IMO Having "women's wisdom" necessarily involves men.

[Mal]

This thread may be of interest http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/11567-female-orgasms-and-energy-cultivation/

[Gerard]

.

Edited September 21, 2010 by durkhrod chogori

[kitten_growingup]

You might be interested in reading this book (from the anecdotal point of view):

 

http://www.amazon.com/Women-Daoism-Catherine-Despeux/dp/1931483019

 

Women in Daoism, Catherine Despeux & Livia Kohn (2003)

 

 

Yes, sounds interesting.

 

In fact, I'm glad you mentioned abound "point of view". Thanks to my husband's vision in life, I managed to see myself more in a "spatial" or "globular" vision, instead in a "sequential" or "3D" one. Now I am able to identify (through intuition, inner feelings and so on) what info suits me and is useful for me and pick it up and use it like a missing piece of the "multi-dimensional puzzle" - of myself, that is.

 

From Castaneda's and Daoist teachings I've found out that a woman, with her womb, has a different and extraordinary ability to work with energy, comparing to a man.

I was told that the first thing a woman needs to work with, regarding the 3 Dantian, is the Heart center. And looking back in the last 2 months I can say that it's right. It's very fascinating for me to see what happens when I take care of this center. And at the beginning I didn't do a certain practice. I mainly solved big emotional issues - things left unspoken, things that hurt deeply etc - by being aware of them. Then by figuring out a middle way to solve those problems so to find inner peace and finally get over them and move on with my life.

I've tried to practice certain techniques, but it was very hard to be natural. So I've started to see what practice is good for the present moment, what is the one I needed most and I benefit most from. And it works !

 

You see, for me, the change of attitude towards me, my life, God, my family, etc. was the "trigger". That's how I've managed to forget about what I did or didn't do in the past and I've re-grouped myself for my sake. This is the way I got back to that "woman wisdom" thing. And that's why I'm continuously looking for things that go along with this kind of thinking - a female approach to daoist practice, to life. The more feminine I am, the more I'm closer to the real me. The more I'm me, the more I become peaceful, happy, healthy and even charismatic. Without realizing, until a while ago, I've tried to follow the male way of thinking, but it didn't and in fact it couldn't have worked out for me.

 

I've had the chance to hear or read what some men (my husband, different masters and teachers etc.) say about the practices for women. Their insights and teachings are very interesting and useful. Sometimes, as it proved in my case, a man is the best help in a woman's life when it comes to awakening the feminine side of her being. I say that because I was brought up more in a manly way (I have a wonderful father, and a mother that could be in my life only for a little while...), and didn't have much chance to meet and learn from a "woman model".

Edited September 17, 2010 by kitten_growingup

[gendao]

Just like by default I wouldn't be able to grow a 6-pack or deadweight (is that even the term?) more than half my weight. Or something (insert Monroe eye-lid turn down here)

 

Mr Vortex, do you subscribe to an "all of them" school when it comes to women or do you allow for nuance?

 

I've been reading you for a while and I get that males are being stepped on and shat on and generally gotten rid of (if not physically then at least socially - which amounts in many cases to same) in our current setup. What do you think is the origin of this?

 

Maybe I should ask /open another thread about this - but don't "male and female support each other?" or something.

 

IMO Having "women's wisdom" necessarily involves men.

Of course I am no absolutist. Hence, I specifically spoke only of gender tendencies in direct response to the OP. I mean, if she felt we had no discernible differences...then why would she be asking for material suited especially for women?

 

And I think people here have brought up a few variations for practicing women to focus greater attention on the heart, cervix, blood, etc. So, I believe it was a valid and helpful question. I know feminism idealizes that we are all androgynous unisex clones - but that is frankly neither ideal nor real.

 

Anyways, I am certainly all for males & females supporting each other too. Would make life a lot easier, lol...

 

You also raise some other good societal questions too - but which are probably better addressed in another thread.

[immortal_sister]

just a few websites & books that i really enjoy and that have really helped me on my path to improving my health (physical, emotional and spiritual) and my cultivation...

 

http://www.amazon.com/Jade-Woman-Qigong-Healing-Medicine/dp/1425181414

http://www.thedesiletsmethod.com

http://www.gardenoffertility.com/

http://www.ashtreepublishing.com/Book_Luna_Yoga_Blood_Mysteries2.htm

http://www.ashtreepublishing.com/Book_Healing_Wise_Blood_Mystery.htm

[gendao]

Women do tend to open up and work with energy easier because they are naturally yin and more in touch with their feelings. And also, they are not constantly ejaculating their jing out...lol.

 

They tend to have more difficulty focusing from multitasking and attaining mental emptiness due to more A.D.D., though.

Here is another fascinating post by Ken on the gender differences in neidan:

3. On female practitioners.

 

The readers have probably realized from reading this blog and also from my previous post that most of the inner alchemy phenomenons described are experiences from female cultivators and in fact most of the advanced level students of Shen laoshi are female. The reason is simply that female practitioners progress much faster than male in inner alchemy. Readers who have experience in other forms of qigong might also notice a similar phenomenon. But why do women progress so much faster than men? I have seen this question being discussed on various Internet forums but none of the rationals given that I have seen really got to the heart of the question (in my opinion anyway). So let me reveal here the real reason behind it. The main reason that women progress faster in inner alchemy (in Longmen Pai tradition anyway) is that women has a lower field already! Where? Their uterus! It's not surprising uterus is also known as the "Big Cauldron" in certain doaist classic texts. Let me explain further...

 

In our neigong practice, after various internal exercises and qi movements, we then proceed to bring all the qi back to the lower field. Unfortunately for men, before they carve out their own little void in the lower abdomen, there is no place to deposit the qi. So basically, most of the qi that have been gathered from all the hard work just dissipate away in the lower abdomen area. Whereas for women, they can just bring all their qi to their uterus and retain almost all of them. In inner alchemy, one always talk about creating an immortal fetus and Shen laoshi always joked that "For men, there is no place to put their baby!".

 

Another advantage of women practitioner is that they don't need full lotus to complete the training. For men, if they ever got to the final stage, they must use full lotus for their training. Women does not have this requirement.

 

Generally speaking, men needs to put in 3 times as much effort than women in the beginning stage of inner alchemy in order to get the same result. That's unfortunately the reason why most male practitioner never really get past the foundation stage without proper instruction and help from capable teachers. On the other hand, women has a much harder time at later stage of the training than men. As an example, out of all the female students that were taught by Shen laoshi, about 10 of them had progressed into Nu Dan Gong (female alchemy) proper. From their personal practice journal, one can see that they are experiencing exactly the same thing as Master Wang as described in Opening the Dragongate when doing the Method of Intelligence, e.g, they are seeing their life playing backward in front of them during deep meditation, some has even progressed (perhaps) to their previous life. However, out of these 10 practitioner, only 1 has ever completed the training. The other all got stuck at similar stage of the training.

 

Shen laoshi once said that (I am paraphrasing), "In the beginning, female students should lead the male student to move along the practice. At later stage, male students can in return lead the female students to complete the training." As an example of how this work, let me give another example. In January of this year, Shen laoshi taught a special female inner alchemy class to about 9 female students but 2 male students (both past middle age and not in great health) also tag along to meditate in the same qi-field. Within the first 2 days, 3 female students opened their SHO. By the 6th day, the rest of the group, male and female all opened their SHO! Normally, male students cannot possibly open their SHO in such a short time (the two males students weren't beginner but they were far from ready for SHO just 1 week prior to the Nu Dan class in another seminar of Shen laoshi), but thanks to the strong qi field of the mostly female student class, they both "tag along for the ride".

In short, it appears that female cultivators tend to excel 3X faster than men in opening their SHO, due primarily to the fact that their uterus basically functions as their lower dantian. Whereas men have to create one first.

 

I also noticed this was true in Kunlun, as well. Women opened much easier and faster than men.

 

However, men then gain the advantage in the latter stages AFTER the SHO has been opened (Ken does not elaborate on why here)..

 

 

Thanks for your fantastic blog, btw, Ken!