ॐDominicusॐ Posted August 12, 2013 Been working on my own path for about a decade with regular practice, experiences, insights, blah blah blah all the usual insert here phenomenon, but this is new to me. My body is now having a had time with dairy, particularly eggs and even veggie pizza that has cheese on it. (I don't eat any meats though like poultry, beef, pork) On a similar note, when visiting friends or family I would occasionally have a few beers, perhaps once a month or every other month. The number of beers I could handle, without ill effects, is now down to one. Even having just one beer, the next day is just crap as far as functionality, clear headedness, energy-wise, and I end up super groggy, cranky, heavy feeling, headache, etc I'm cool with it and fine about acclimating to this new level of sensitivity, just curious if others have had anything similar 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
三江源 Posted August 12, 2013 (edited) . Edited April 20, 2015 by 三江源 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mike 134 Posted August 12, 2013 Alcohol is bad for you. You should be happy that you get bad effects when drinking it, because this is the best way to learn to avoid it. There's actually a medicine called disulfram which is sometimes prescribed to abusers because it makes them sensitive to the negative effects of alcohol, therefore discouraging alcohol use. Eggs are NOT diary products. Do cows lay eggs ??? You may be allergic. Sucks to be you, cause eggs and milk are delicious. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ॐDominicusॐ Posted August 12, 2013 if you think about it, alcohol is a natural by-product of fermentation. I do not rely on it nor do I care that I can't drink anymore, but yes it was something done socially w/ fam/friends/coworkers occasionally. There is no need here disulfram as I have no addictive tendencies. It was a question of extreme body sensitivity to certain substances Eggs are NOT diary products. Do cows lay eggs ??? good point. Learn something new everyday. Eggs have always been grouped into the "diary" category, but I guess they're not. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
doc benway Posted August 12, 2013 Been working on my own path for about a decade with regular practice, experiences, insights, blah blah blah all the usual insert here phenomenon, but this is new to me. My body is now having a had time with dairy, particularly eggs and even veggie pizza that has cheese on it. (I don't eat any meats though like poultry, beef, pork) On a similar note, when visiting friends or family I would occasionally have a few beers, perhaps once a month or every other month. The number of beers I could handle, without ill effects, is now down to one. Even having just one beer, the next day is just crap as far as functionality, clear headedness, energy-wise, and I end up super groggy, cranky, heavy feeling, headache, etc I'm cool with it and fine about acclimating to this new level of sensitivity, just curious if others have had anything similar Shortly after I began a serious practice of meditation (a Daoist system), I stopped drinking alcohol. I used to drink quite a bit, never to the point of pathology, but certainly to the point of frequent intoxication and significant weight gain. Skillful meditation made me so much more sensitive to many things that I made some significant changes. I stopped drinking for a long time. Now I drink on occasion but tend to quickly feel sluggish, dull, heavy, and I don't like the feeling much. I used to enjoy fly fishing, I stopped - I can no longer derive any pleasure from torturing living things. I stopped eating meat for a long time. Now I eat meat but it's much less frequent and I'm more sensitive to the source. Funny you mention the dairy sensitivity because I've also become sensitive to milk and cheese. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hagar Posted August 12, 2013 My gf has the same response. In her particular case I think the sensitivity has to do with how acidic or alkaline your body is, and to a lesser degree, how sensitive you are to this balance. Ironically, I drink alot more alcohol now, 15 years into my serious cultivation. I am probably less sensitive now than before. I have little adverse effects, yet feel that I feel sluggish when drinking wine with too much tannin in it. This confirms my suspicion that most adverse effects of alcohol is not the stuff itself, but subsidiary effects of acidity and other stuff like dehydration etc. Two glasses of wine a day is fine, and I endorse it. I think we cultivators tend to be overly puritan, probably because we are sensitive. Don´t misunderstand; I do not support binge drinking or being intoxicated, but from a purely Daoist perspective, many of the pivotal figures had a weak spot for raising of the wrist... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
doc benway Posted August 12, 2013 Had very long periods where alcohol is impossible and also totally undesirable. I think this is what is meant by " turning water into wine" - one has no need of alcohol under any circumstances. This is awesome! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
i am Posted August 12, 2013 (edited) It's situational for me. If I'm going about my usual routine, one beer can throw me way off balance and even effect the next day. But if I'm doing something like what I did this past weekend, camping with a bunch of people and playing music until 2am, with a beer around 1pm, and probably 5 more throughout the day (six beers between 1pm and 2am is well within the livers ability to process without getting very tipsy. Though its still not a good idea to drink that much..), I function just fine and wake up feeling fine. So...while I still shouldn't be drinking that much even though it's a very rare thing, my body somehow does fine with it... I'd say "go with it". Like others have mentioned, its partly because you're becoming more sensitive to what your body has probably been telling you all along, and it might be partly that because of your cultivation, your body is telling you its needs are changing, and its not going to tolerate some things right now. Edited August 12, 2013 by i am Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
三江源 Posted August 12, 2013 (edited) . Edited April 20, 2015 by 三江源 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hydrogen Posted August 12, 2013 The rumor says a good neigong master can turn the alcohol into energy without getting drunk. Does anyone have any idea how to do it? Thanks. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
三江源 Posted August 12, 2013 (edited) . Edited April 20, 2015 by 三江源 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RiverSnake Posted August 12, 2013 For me personally I have found that eggs are just not healthy, just eating 1 gives me chest pains. Also I'd recommend looking into how you combine your food so you can digest it better so it doesn't slow you down. Dairy products are quite difficult to digest and should be eaten by themselves, it's made a big difference for me. http://thetaobums.com/topic/25715-tcm-food-combining/ My 2 cents, Peace Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
松永道 Posted August 13, 2013 On paper there's a pretty fine difference between food reactions due to cultivation state and food reactions from pathology. So it might be helpful to think of food using this classical metaphor: Every food has a direction: north, south, east and west. It also has a speed ranging from slow to fast. Cooking spices move faster than food. Medical herbs move faster than cooking spices. And drugs move faster than all of them. Between the four directions is a middle point. Let's call this the capital. The character for Dao is a pictogram made of two parts, a road and the capital. So Dao is a road to the capital. You are somewhere outside the capital. Maybe on purpose, more likely by accident. You want to get to the capital. The capital is awesome. So first you need to figure out where you are in relation. North, south, east, or west. If you're located in the cold north, cold north-moving foods will make you feel worse. Hot south-moving foods will make you feel better. Now this metaphor is vastly simplified. In reality there are more than four directions. That's just looking at two dimensions. Add more dimensions to distinguish which part of your body is hot, which part is cold, why they aren't integrated, etc etc. Each dimension adds another axis to the equation. As far as I know, the theory can be extened up to six dimensions - the level of the Yi Jing Book of Changes - but most competant doctors and practicioners get by with three or four. But this is really wandering into another topic. Some cultivators will practice an extreme state on purpose. And during this period they will adapt an appropriately extreme diet to facilitate. But the majority of us haven't even spent enought time in balance to appreciate the benefits of purposed imbalance. I don't know you, I don't know your practice, so I can't know where you are or where you're going. That's why on paper it's hard to say food/alcohol sensitivity is a good sign or a bad sign. If you can find a decent Chinese doctor, one who cultivates and had some good training, they could pretty easily tell you if your sensitivity is due to pathology or cultivated physiology. But I'm guessing if you're honest without yourself - you probably already know the answer. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tibetan_Ice Posted August 13, 2013 (edited) Been working on my own path for about a decade with regular practice, experiences, insights, blah blah blah all the usual insert here phenomenon, but this is new to me. My body is now having a had time with dairy, particularly eggs and even veggie pizza that has cheese on it. (I don't eat any meats though like poultry, beef, pork) On a similar note, when visiting friends or family I would occasionally have a few beers, perhaps once a month or every other month. The number of beers I could handle, without ill effects, is now down to one. Even having just one beer, the next day is just crap as far as functionality, clear headedness, energy-wise, and I end up super groggy, cranky, heavy feeling, headache, etc I'm cool with it and fine about acclimating to this new level of sensitivity, just curious if others have had anything similar Hi Dominicus Alcohol is bad for you. It destroys brain cells, espescially in the frontal lobes where the morals, ethics and self-consciousness lie. It causes cancer, one glass of alcohol a day causes breast cancer in some women. Most of my family, who drank, have died from cancer. Some were less than 30 yrs old. I haven't had a drink (nor any recreational drugs) for over 35 years now. I don't miss it at all. I'm in life for the real thing and I'm giving it my best shot. TI Edited August 13, 2013 by Tibetan_Ice 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eye_of_the_storm Posted August 13, 2013 Heaps of rubbish/ artificial chems etc in many things today... alcohol included.I think natural fermentation/ clean organic alcohol may have different results?Or maybe something like vodka? having been purified many times? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
idiot_stimpy Posted August 13, 2013 You ask the best questions. What is it in alcohol that makes us drunk? The Spirits? 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tibetan_Ice Posted August 13, 2013 Heaps of rubbish/ artificial chems etc in many things today... alcohol included. I think natural fermentation/ clean organic alcohol may have different results? Or maybe something like vodka? having been purified many times? The purer the alcohol, the more deadly it is. It eats away at the cells' walls. This is what Samuel Sagan, a medical doctor, says about alcohol: from "Awakening the Third Eye" The combination of work on energy and alcohol consumption is a dangerous one – this applies to any form of alcoholic beverage. It opens the door to a whole range of nasty energies and can lead to disaster. Virtually no form of protection can work efficiently for someone who drinks alcohol (see section 17.6). ... 17.6 Alcohol and spiritual work – a dangerous mixture I would never advise anybody to smoke, but it is a fact that one can go quite a long way spiritually and still be addicted to cigarettes. Tobacco generates negative vibrations, but its action is not lethal to spiritual life. Alcohol, on the other hand, can very quickly lead to disaster if one is learning to explore non-physical worlds. Alcohol automatically connects you with areas of the lower astral that are full of noxious entities. Therefore alcohol should be avoided at any cost, as soon as one starts to work on the third eye. Tranquillisers, neuroleptics and other psychiatric drugs disconnect you from higher worlds and negate the action of the work of opening. Hard drugs, such as heroin, are totally incompatible with inner work, their effect being similar to alcohol but much worse. Trying to open perception while living in the same house as a heroin addict is like smoking cigars inside a petrol refinery: dangerous. What about other drugs? I could tell you the usual things: They are never necessary. They create scars and introduce toxins in the etheric and the astral – not only in the physical. If some can force an opening of perception, this opening is transient, uncontrolled, completely unprotected, and most often twisted. Even marijuana, when taken regularly, tends to make your astral body dull and unresponsive. And so on... All sorts of facts that you have probably heard before. However, it seems to me that the real answer to the question of drugs is that by developing your subtle bodies you will gain the capacity to be intoxicated without the need for any substance. A true seer is somebody who is permanently intoxicated with what he or she receives from the universe and beyond. You would be quite misled to believe that this is just an image and that it should not be taken too literally. Just wait till you drink your first drop of the nectar of immortality! It will leave you laughing and rolling on the floor for half an hour. Truly. And it is excellent for your health. Tune in above the head and you can be instantly stoned (but not dull). Open your heart, and you have ecstasy. The company of angels bestows secondary benefits much sweeter than chocolate. Reach the Spirit of Life, the glorious transformed etheric body, and you will have the absolute heroin... On a simple level, several techniques of this book when practised – not even mastered, just practised – generate an instant flow of endorphins. It is one of the dramas of the men and women of our civilisation to mistake drug ingestion for intoxication, and more generally to search outside for what is already waiting for them inside. TI 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eye_of_the_storm Posted August 13, 2013 mm cool stuff, thanks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hydrogen Posted August 13, 2013 The Chinese legend says that the alcohol is the drink of immortarls. The belief is so strong that the ability to handle large amount of liquor is much admired. There are many folklores about Chinese martial masters and alcohol. Once upon a time, in a remote moutain, three martial art schools claimed to be the superium. They decided to settle the dispute on a drinking contest. On the day of contest, three rows of eighteen big clay pot of the most fierce local liquor were in the center stage. The yogis stepped out first. He lifted the huge pot with both of his hands and poured the liquor down his throat, then smashed the clay pot on his head. In the same fashion he finished eighteen pot of hard liquor. At the end, he opened his mouth and did a lion roar. The whole foret was shaking. All the people in the path of his breath fell down to ground due to the alcohol in his breath. The monk said "well done" and began his drinking. He throwed the pot high up in the air. The liquor fell down from sky. The monk opened his mouth to catch every single drop. He caught the falling pot with his feet and put it back where it was with grace. At the end, he sat in full lotus. The steam came out from top of his head. All the birds in the sky fell down because the alcohol in his steam. The toaist said "impressive" and began his performance. He walked up to the clay pot. He opened his mouth standing up. The liquor was sucked into mouth. When the pot was empty. He kicked the pot into air and land on top of the other empty pot. At the end all the eighteen pots was stacked up sky high. He jumped on the top of the pot, made a sword finger, the liquid was shot out his finger into the the empty pot. The liquid dripped down and filled all eighteen pots. People tasted the liquid. It was pure water. That was a real internal chemist: alchemist. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
h.uriahr Posted August 13, 2013 Consider it a blessing that you are unable to drink. No good can come of it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
三江源 Posted August 13, 2013 Hydrogen , do you drink alcohol? How does it go for you? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Apech Posted August 13, 2013 Oh yeah, they say to learn to eat and drink things that others cannot. But not taking alcohol is a precept in Buddhism. It is said that not taking intoxicants makes sure a person does not go crazy in this life or in future lives. Depends what kind of Buddhist you are ... and if you are a monk. I know plenty of Buddhist who drink ... on the condition they don't get drunk which would harm their mind. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
i am Posted August 13, 2013 (edited) Yeah I guess this has turned I to more of a "is alcohol bad" thread. I agree with moderation. For me, I might need to completely stop for a while. All my friends drink, so if we're together, there's always drinking. It's a lot harder to just "cut back" in those situations...stopping completely would be easier. Then I could, in time, start having a drink every now and then, once people are used to me not drinking and don't expect me to drink and ask a bunch of questions if I'm not. But I see the birds getting drunk outside the window on fermented fruit. I have seen first hand the evils of alcohol (anyone who spent time at raging parties and bars late night in their youth has), so I know what it can do. I've also seen plenty of good times, of the sort that really only do happen when people get a bit drunk. But there's a time and place for that kind of silly fun, and it's better when it's a phase, not a way of life. Anyway, no need to be Puritan, for me. Alcohol is fine. My body has been telling me for last couple years that it can tolerate much much less than it used to, and I'm listening to it. I'm definitely not going to worry about it, or fight it! And for me, anyway, for what I want out of life, I think a complete break from it for a while, just to break old habits, expectations, and all that, is probably needed. Then we'll see how I feel in a year or so. Otherwise it's too hard for me, with the lifestyle and friends I have, to just cut back, and not fall in to old patterns. Which for me only means getting drunk-ish, more than a couple times a month. I've never had a problem, but at some point, if I'm drinking more than I want to, and keep drinking more than I want to, even if "more than I want to" means more than once a week, and more than one drink...that's still a "problem", I suppose... Edited August 13, 2013 by i am Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hydrogen Posted August 13, 2013 Hydrogen , do you drink alcohol? How does it go for you? I was "traumatized" by alcohol at age five. I promised that I'd never get drunk again. The only other time I got drunk ever was at my brother's engagement party in a Mongolian tent with roasted whole lamp and local liquor. I'm a social drinker, a beer or a glass of wine enough for me. I was interested in wine tasting for a few years and did some promotional tasting events at local liquore stores. In a period of high engery running inside me, I found that a glass of wine could boost my blood circulation which helped my meditation. I could easily convert the heat into something useful. It just happened natrually. Now, I can't do it consistently. I have too many things to work on. I don't have time to experiment with alcohol. I hope someone knows how gives us some pointers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
i am Posted August 13, 2013 (edited) Roasted whole lamp??! Yummy! I never thought of alcohol as something to work with, only as something that would inevitably need to fade away the more seriously I took cultivation. But that's an interesting idea. Edited August 13, 2013 by i am Share this post Link to post Share on other sites