From the author: Reflections on female beauty and sexual viability from the point of view of ancient Chinese health science Beauty is incompatible with health. Surprised? Let me clarify: the Western stereotype of female beauty does not in any way combine with the Eastern idea of ​​health, and therefore it turns out that slimness and sexuality are two polar values ​​that cannot be combined in one body. If you have any doubts, look at Indian and Arab beauties who are pot-bellied by European standards. Somehow it happened that in order to have an emotional impact on a man, an oriental lady must shake her. And shake it in the literal sense - with your stomach! I want to tell you about these amazing women. My great-grandmother, Alexandra Ivanovna Piterkina, called all slender women bad and fat women good, which, of course, caused my sincere childhood indignation. I myself was irreparably bad by my great-grandmother’s standards. My grandmother, who was luxuriously slender, and therefore found herself on the same side of the barricades with me, explained that before, well-fed people were called kind and good, and those who looked unhealthy were called bad and thin. However, both my grandmother and mother maintained a “disgusting” body shape, and I, following the “new testament”, became a regular at the gym. Even after giving birth, my stomach remained flat. Life turned out so bad that I stopped going to the gym: a prolonged illness made me first less pumped up, and then less thin. I planned to return to my previous lifestyle, but my health treacherously interfered with my plans. It trampled all my previous ideas about beauty - after three years of communication with the Master of Tao. Well, yes, I didn’t break for long... When I stated that I wanted to regain my previous shape, remove accumulated fat and return to a flat stomach, the silent answer could easily be read in the Master’s eyes. I realized that my mentor did not share my aesthetic preferences. “It's not fat, it's energy!” - this was the healer’s argument. It turned out that followers of the philosophy of Ancient China do not consider excessive fatness beautiful, which for them is a symptom of problems in the spleen, but the special shape of the female belly is recognized as a symbol of attractiveness and strength. To understand why the Chinese consider a neat round belly to be an extraordinary feminine luxury, I will tell you two Taoist secrets .The first Taoist secret: one of the energy channels is called Dai Mai, that is, encircling, and it runs just below the waist, like a precious belt. The treasure lies in the fact that this channel belongs to the “Eight Wonderful Vessels,” that is, reserve channels in which an additional volume of qi and vital energy accumulates. Taoists believe that a flat stomach makes this important area of ​​the body look like a flatbread, and the fullness of the Dai Mai channel is associated with the roundness of the shape. The “belt” lies evenly on the sides and front, “balancing” the roundness of the buttocks. If the shape of the eyes of the Russian nesting doll were changed, it could well become a symbol of Chinese perfection. A woman who is “round” from below signals to a man that she is filled with energy. Is this why the expression “a complete fool” arose? By the way, there is a rather interesting version of the origin of this word: “du” means “two”, and “ra” means a stream of light. Hence the word “ra-arc”. It turns out that the “fool” is the one who emits twice as much! Since the sexual attractiveness of both men and women is a consequence of the accumulated large amount of energy, the supply of qi in the Dai Mai area is a guarantee of seductiveness. Although, perhaps, this adds to the stupidity... The second Taoist secret: basic, natural breathing - breathing with the stomach, namely, first the diaphragm works, then the stomach fills and only then, if necessary, the lungs expand. A round, unrestricted belly that rises and falls rhythmically is evidence of healthy breathing, which means healthy circulation of energy. Loss of the skill of breathing with the stomach leads to a “freezing” of processes in the Nizhny Novgorod region.!