Hi Ben,

Well, books are no substitute for a real live well trained teacher, but they
are better than nothing.

Ben Odom wrote:

> Wow, this sounds interesting.  I'd love to hear some recommendations as to
> how I could become more familiar with Qi-gong, whether through books,
> videos, etc.

One book that is a nice introduction to qigong is  "Eight simple qigong
exercises for health:  the eight pieces of brocade" by Jwing-ming Yang .
Another book that introduces some qigong sitting meditations is "Awaken Healing
Energy through the Tao," by Mantak Chia.

> In a nutshell, Roberta, here are the main symptoms which still bother me:
>
> - low energy level
> - high toxicity (sometimes I can almost feel it in my blood, it's a very
> restless, nervous feeling)
> - muscles tend to be "tight" from time to time as result of above
> - weak kidneys, adrenals
> - considerable joint pain, muscle pain

If I had a patient with these problems, I'd recommend qigong, swimming, and
weight lifting (low weights, more repetitions) to try to combat the fatigue.
It's hard when recovering from something like what you describe because
excessive exercise will worse the fatigue.  But whatever amount you can do
without feeling worse should help resolve that.  If I had a patient like this
I'd review the food too.

> Here is mainly what I mainly consume:
>
> - raw flesh foods (beef mostly, but also fish and chicken)
> - raw dairy (milk, butter)
> - raw eggs
> - vegetable juices
> - unheated honey
> - a little fruit
> - a little cooked starch

Sounds like you have plenty of flesh foods.  I don't see a lot of raw
vegetarian fats, however, or vegetables (good for detoxing).  You are probably
not getting enough raw fats from nuts and seeds.  So you could include those in
your foods, or add the oils (discussed in a previous post) to your salad
dressings.  Fats are a wonderful nutrient, providing they are not cooked, and
vegetarian fats are very important, IMO, as they supply different fats than the
flesh foods.  Cold pressed sesame and  various other oils would be helpful.
How about including salads, like cole slaw and sea vegetable salads?  Sea
vegetables are good for detoxifying the body.  What kind of starches do you
eat?  I think breads and anything made from flour worsens toxicity symptoms.
Grains that are milled have lost many nutrients.  Are you vegetables juices
fresh made?

regards

roberta