Do you trust Daniel Reid health advice ?

[marcus2013]

Hey Tao Bumers,

 

I am reading a book by Daniel Reid and I am not completely sure he got it right regarding the health advice he gives. I can also see that he is not a MD, TCM doctor, naturopath or anything related to a health profession. Not that this is strictly necessary to give good advice, but it's a plus.

 

I don't have ANYTHING against or in favour of him. I was just kind of shocked when checking his website and seeing his pictures. He doesn't look very healthy for being a 66 year old man. I've checked it on the pictures around internet or in a video like this :

 

Does he look healthy to you ?

 

When choosing someone to trust his/her advice, wether it's a martial arts teacher, spiritual guide, TCM doctor, or whatever, do you trust someone that doesn't look healthy to you ?

 

Best,

Marcus

 

[ChiDragon]

I have his book: A complete guide to Chi Kung. IMO This book has good information and he did an excellent job in translating the Chinese terms. He may look old but his voice sound pretty healthy to me. I wouldn't judge the book by its jacket. I would use his book as a good reference. So far, I think he is the most knowledgeable person about Chi Kung as a westerner. He knows what he is talking about.

In the back of the book, it says he studied and practiced Chinese medicine for over twenty years.

Edited March 7, 2014 by ChiDragon

[adept]

He does have a strong voice, probably good eyesight and I bet he doesn't suffer from infections and diseases.

Qigong works from the inside so if he's been practicing for many years his internal health will be excellent.

[NotVoid]

I would say there is no need to trust anything anyone says regarding this sort of thing unless you satisfy yourself that it is valid through direct experience. Even then you still don't need to trust everything they say. Some things people say may be valid, some things may be partially valid, and other things they say may not be valid at all. Use what proves useful and discard that which does not.

[Uroboros]

If the internal systems are healthy, strong and coordinated, the external will show signs. Same if there is disease.

 

Does he look healthy? Not to me, no. Do I know enough to say, clinically, whether his body is showing signs of health or disease? No, I do not.

 

Another thing to consider is that he may have the knowledge and not apply it. Also, the things he knows may not be enough to counter-balance the toxicity of our environment/ there are missing pieces to the puzzle of health that he does not know.

 

Peace

[Harmonious Emptiness]

Personally, I think all of that detoxing would be very stressful on the body. Fasting regularly means long and regular periods of malnourishment. I can't see how that would be the best option for health, though it may keep away certain diseases.

 

I haven't read his book on detox, but I am a big fan of "Tao of Health....." and look forward to one day reading "The Art and Alchemy of Chinese Tea." "Tao of Health...." has a lot of herbal stuff which I'm not sure about, but the rest of it is pretty sound. Some of these things are not for everybody, while excellent for others. Many factors would determine their effects, good or bad, including the temperament of the person.

[marcus2013]

Harmonious,

 

He gives all the medical and physiological reasons for fasting on his "Tao of Health..." to me the fasting thing sounds quite reasonable. Except maybe doing it so often. Well it looked reasonable until I saw him.

[Clarity]

He also has a lot of spiritual experiences of starvation, of not getting enough to eat, and of fasting.

 

It's easy to fast when there's nothing to eat, lol.

 

I'm not suggesting there's anything wrong with fasting either.

[marcus2013]

Clarity I don't understand what you are saying. Could you please elaborate on that??

[Clarity]

I'm saying he has energetic weaknesses to starvation from his spiritual experiences. This is not just based on how he looks either.

We are body, mind, and spirit. When I tuned into him I felt the weaknesses. This partially explains why he's so into fasting and emphasizing food and diet.

 

Again, not saying there's anything wrong with that or his advice (I haven't read the book so what the heck do I know about it, right?!)

 

When I want to know if something is true or not, I use my 'feeling' of strong and weak (not emotions). It's kind of like a built-in truth or BS detector. Everyone has this it's just mostly numbed out or covered up with thinking and emotions.

[dawei]

I'm saying he has energetic weaknesses to starvation from his spiritual experiences. This is not just based on how he looks either.

 

In a relative way; this is his weakness but he is strong to engage in it relative to 10,000 others who don't care about their body... but the observation is right: he has become more than fixated; it is taken him over.

 

 

We are body, mind, and spirit. When I tuned into him I felt the weaknesses. This partially explains why he's so into fasting and emphasizing food and diet.

 

Again, not saying there's anything wrong with that or his advice (I haven't read the book so what the heck do I know about it, right?!)

 

I think his advise is generally good and one should explore issues he raises... and then find if it is beneficial or not.

 

When I want to know if something is true or not, I use my 'feeling' of strong and weak (not emotions). It's kind of like a built-in truth or BS detector. Everyone has this it's just mostly numbed out or covered up with thinking and emotions.

 

B-I-N-G-O

[Clarity]

Also, he has a past illness weakness to consumption (TB), also from the spirit (deleted).

[Gerard]

His health advice is good for most people. I recommend his books.

 

Once you reach an advanced stage then you need to look at other factors as well: seclusion, fasting for extended periods of time and of course following Buddha's rule of one meal a day before noon. Why this last rule? Health reasons: stomach qi becomes basically inactive after 9am and spleen qi after 11am, if you eat past midday that food will basically rot in your digestive tract and hinder not only your meditation and energetic practices but also your health, and you eventually get fat and promote phlegm formation which is a disaster from a Taoist health perspective.

Edited March 8, 2014 by Gerard

[idquest]

Does he look healthy to you ?

 

When choosing someone to trust his/her advice, wether it's a martial arts teacher, spiritual guide, TCM doctor, or whatever, do you trust someone that doesn't look healthy to you ?

 

Best,

Marcus

Yes he looks healthy to me and full of energy.

 

He has less body fat than most people have these days which may contribute to the unhealthiness perception. Whether it is better or not - hard to tell. Sometimes body fat is needed to store toxins and for possible emergency situations in future. I'd also like to see how he moves around because flexibility in old age is important to the quality of life.

 

He also has internal energy with not a bad level for a 66 yo.

[YuLong]

...

Edited January 28, 2016 by YuLong

[doc benway]

I agree that he has the look of opiate addiction. If he does use opiates, he would certainly need to put a lot of emphasis on cleansing the lower intestine.

[thelerner]

I like much of what he said in his early books but on some subjects modern findings are against him.  As I recall he was into mega doses of some vitamins, and that hasn't proved out.  His writing on milk based on cat study was based on bad science. 

 

Still, I like the detox regiment he had in an early book.  I like his writing on daoism in general.  Still the things he was wrong about were stated so confidently that.. I'd always listen to him,  he wise and experienced but I'd also double check some of his facts. 

[growant]

If memory serves he was extremely ill when younger so when you judge someone's health maybe its best done relative to where they started out-