This is not a post, where I can show you flashy before and after pictures. Or I could but then the “before” pictures would be from ten years ago, when I DID take before pictures, and weighed 15 kilos lighter than today (those were “before” pictures!), and I would caption them with;
“With all do respect but what were you thinking, Lauren2010?”  
With your tiny hot pants jeans, good Lord, you look amazing woman.

Those before pictures, I could provide.

And I COULD use them to illustrate what a fabulous body you get from teaching 12 yoga classes a week, and very consistently skipping your home yoga practice.
“How do you know you didn’t do yoga at home, Lauren?” you might ask.
Well, I know so, because there ARE before pictures. Meaning I saw an opportunity to tone, shape, burn fat, otherwise I would not have done that.
And since I don’t do dieting, in fact I think losing weight while on a diet is “cheating”, or at least extremely unwise since the only truly desirable body is one with a digestive fire that could burn anything you could possible eat;
I know the aim of my challenge in 2010 could only have been to tone up using yoga.

I think diets are a sign something in your life went very wrong.
In the Netherlands, for a very long time, the word diet was reserved for people who were sick and weak.
I grew up in that time, and that definition not just stuck, but I’m convinced to this day, where the word diet is used by everyone even in the Netherlands, that the Dutch 80s way of seeing a diet, was actually the healthier one.
It certainly fits with my idea of what a strong healthy body looks and feels like;
It’s where you are physically very active, and eat anything you want. And in any amount you want.

That’s how I know Miss Hotpants 2010 was not planning on going on a diet, and saw a very easy and desirable way to shape up, and it was yoga.
As in self-practice yoga, not teaching yoga.
Practicing yoga is something every yoga teacher is basically taught to do, when taking his or her training, so it wasn’t something out of the ordinary.

Miss Hotpants 2010, who was 60 kilos by the looks of it, but from the fact she wanted to shape up it was probably 63 – was going to do so by doing her home yoga practice next to teaching 12 classes a week.
Classes she was going to on her bicycle, counting for about 14 twenty minute bicycle rides, per week.

My shape in those pictures was the result of physical exercise being an integral part to my life, by teaching yoga and commuting.
Not by diet, not by going to the gym, not by home yoga.

Fast forward ten years: I no longer teach yoga, at least not group classes. And the writing which I have been doing since 2006, has taken over my life.
Although I have many art forms (LS Harteveld, is a pen name and my writing-only acccount) and I make an effort to nurture speaking over writing, of teaching over writing, of live streaming over writing, of drawing over writing, of photographing over writing;
I am a writer.
I know that.
I also know that if I have ANY advice, like one step you should definitely not be taking if you want to become a White Tigress, or any other role model physique or lifestyle you might aspire to, it is this;
One step.
The single most important thing you can do for your health.
Even if you do not do any of the other 3 steps, if you manage to avoid the following, it will probably already save you from 10 extra kilos, clogged arteries and early death.

Do.

Not.

Write.

Gaming, digital crafting, social media on your phone or at your desk;
Any activity where you’re using a screen and are actively involved (but some say passive screen time like Netflix is equally bad for you) is piling up the pounds and swinging the door wide open for aging-effects.
“Please take me with you! Oh father time!” as you open another blog post. 

Every time I hear people have a writer’s block I want to yell:
“Keep it! Don’t change a thing! Go out and get some fresh air!”

So if that’s you, you can just stop reading, because stopping writing, or keeping yourself from writing, gaming, working online and so on, for the upcoming decade, will absolutely be the best thing you can do for your health.

Problem is of course:
Most of us can’t.

Some are called, like me, and they cannot stop writing. It would be like stopping breathing. 
And others are dependent on their work, their desk-time, to make them money. So they too, do not have the option of not being behind their screens and sitting on their butts.
This is our life.

I was a yoga teacher in 2010, but I am not that person anymore.
I do not teach yoga anymore.
And I AM called to write, so I can’t stop writing.

That’s when these 3 Steps come in.

One day I hope to write a guide, in English, about the sexual philosophy of the White Tigress as well.
But that is at least partially superfluous because the original book is already written, and fortunately still in print:
– book: original White Tigress by Hsi Lai –
(if you’re a man, Google for Hsi Lai and Jade Dragon)
But what I hope to one day do, is write a modern day lifestyle guide for single women in the Western world. 
I have written a little Dutch guide, Witte Tijgerin, in 2017, so maybe I’ll translate that.

But for now I’m focusing on the basics of getting in better health, and the specifics of a White Tigress sex life, will have to wait.
But I will include what I can, today, in step 4

Become a White Tigress:
3 Habits To Start Today

Habit 1 from 3: self-care & honor your sexuality

Honoring your sexuality means that you start owning it, and living into it. Regardless if there will be lovers, or partners in the future.
Groom yourself, love yourself, prepare yourself, as if every day is Lover’s Day, and you’re living in the land of plenty.
Next to that; masturbate.
Orgasms male and female have different effects, therefor it is only advised for women.
Masturbate daily, and don’t use anything inside of your vagina. Just the outside.

Habit 2 from 3: get daylight and exercise outside

Doesn’t really need an explanation.
I would say 40 minutes daily is minimum, but the more the merrier.

Habit 3 from 3: Do yoga 

I’m working on a yoga guide, which should be available before the end of the year. But any yoga will do.
If you’re new to yoga, you can check out Yoga With Adriene on YouTube, who has 20-30 minute videos.
YouTube Channel Yoga With Adriene
And if you’re an experienced yogi, just do it any way that feels good for you and you can practice longer if you like.
Whether with a yoga teacher, a schedule, or putting on some music (f.e. one album, or a 60 minute playlist) and letting your body move freely;
It is really about doing yoga in a way that feels good to you.

Bonus habit: raise your sexual energy

There is so much to say about how sexually being with a man, contributes to your health.
And for the physical aspects, you should be reading the guide I mentioned before:
– book: original White Tigress by Hsi Lai –
(and again, if you’re a man, Google for Hsi Lai and Jade Dragon)

But even without knowing the ins and outs, on an esotheric plane, the most important take-away, and difference between normal dating and a White Tigress style of being with men, is that you do it to get excited and feel more alive in the moment.
Dating or sex, is not something you do to one day lead you to the altar, or any future outcome: The only thing relevant is how it makes you feel right now.

Whether you’re corresponding, Whatsapping, seeing each other in real life, or sharing the bed, moment to moment elevate yourself, elevate the other;
Let the vibration of being together be one of lightness, fun and joy.

The sun is setting.
I did not go outside for a walk, and I wrote instead. 

Even though I will go outside for a night time walk in a moment, today will be the first day in weeks perhaps even months, when I didn’t see daylight. 

Which proves my point;
Whatever you do, don’t write.

~Lauren
An unexamined life is not worth living

.

the Book Club: Demons and Daemons

You just read part 1, my column.

Today’s chapter below, from Demons and Daemons, is so much fun!
And a great addition to what I wrote above.
It gives you an idea of how to implement the three habits, depending on what type of person you are.

This is what I wrote:
.

Chapter 11, Untitled Notes from Lauren #10

“The Pleasure Dome“

day 17, Wednesday July 29

I think I should know better by now, but still the thought that the answer to every question in my life, can be found in having some kind of daily routine in what I do,

keeps having a tremendous appeal on me.

.

I mean just think;

If I become a writer who writes every day,

shows up for her art,

and also creates her books – which is more a back office endeavor, and one that requires a tremendous amount of ass sitting hours while at the same time generating an infinite amount of self-doubt.

Also manages her finances like a grownup.

Goes out every once in a while, has a place in the real world too, I m mean you know-

to be more than “just” an online writer!

.

Be someone that people can talk to, and you know what to say back and they think you re a normal person instead of a purpose driven mad woman who gets up every day haunted by a story that needs to be written and trying to put it off as long as she can, because she figures The Grown Up Stuff needs to be done first.

.

So let’s imagine I would finally become such a person, and generate the results such a person has!

Grown-up, sensible writers have grown-up sensible results.

.

Would I then feel accomplished?

.

I think this was a rhetorical question, I think the real question would be:

Would I then still be able to look myself in the eye?

.

Is there even a micro chance that I would not feel like an entire fluke, an impostor, a woman who had a calling and who then threw it all away for financial security?

.

Of course not.

.

Because it’s not about being organized, or about embracing the chaos.

Success, purpose, a life well lived;

None of those things are related to doing this or that.

It is all only related to who YOU are.

.

If you thrive on chaos, so will your finances.

If you drive on order, so will your purpose.

(your purpose will probably tempt you to create a 12 step plan for it, if you are a person who loves order)

.

Your life will not be fully lived, and “results” (esp. the vague ones like feeling accomplished and one with God and everything) will never come,

unless what you do is 100% aligned with who you are.

.

Realizing this I have been wondering-

then who AM I?

.

What characteristic, if it’s not being grown-up, if it’s not being organized, if it’s not creating 12 step programs let alone following them, and if it is definitely not being some writer-block suffering author who hopes the muses will visit one day, but instead of that I m more like a demon possessed crazy creator-

But what is THE characteristic, that I AM?

.

And I decided that was pleasure.

.

If there is a characteristic that will get me “there”, something that will make me feel like the day, the month, the year and the life was lived well;

It’s knowing I always went for what I desired, probably at first sight.

My mouth watered.

My eyes sparkled.

My heart opened.

Damn, who knows, maybe even my loins set on fire.

.

But that I reached out, and connected with it.

.

In the series Lucifer there is a female demon Maze.

Just like Lucifer himself, she is blessed with a strong appetite for sex, in any way, shape or form but she prefers the leather type ones. 

Her unapologeticness about it is refreshing.

.

As is the thought to just – as an experiment maybe? – to fully be as you are, and do life as you are;

And see what happens.

———-

Chapter 13 of Demons and Daemons,
will be shared soon,
in a new episode of The Book Club

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About The Book Club

In The Book Club you can find:
– a post
– and one Chapter of my novella Demons and Daemons.

These Book Club posts will form a new book, “A Map Into Unknown”
Covering a journey of three weeks into darkness (Demons and Daemons)
and the rest of 2020, finding my way back to the light!