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What Everyone Should Know About Pain

While I wouldn’t wish pain on anyone, I don’t always think it’s best to make it go away as fast as possible. Sometimes the need to manage pain takes us… Read More

The Gift of Knowing How to Manage Your Own Pain

For the holidays we gave our eight-year-old daughter a set of indoor monkey bars. That meant I spent a day with my arms above my head, screwing eye bolts into… Read More

Mind (Breath) Over Pain

If you’re interested in health and breathing, you’ve probably heard of Wim Hof, AKA the Iceman. He’s best known as that crazy Dutch guy who has broken all sorts of… Read More

The Power of AND

I saw a woman being interviewed about her opinion of Trump and Obama. She felt quite strongly that one was the devil and the other a saint. The interviewer asked… Read More

True Stories of Miraculous Natural Pain Relief

The other night at dinner, my older daughter was complaining that she had injured her wrist at her aerial silks class and it hurt to hold a fork. I leaned… Read More

5 Ways to Relieve Back Pain

Almost everyone will experience at least one episode of back pain in their life, and many of us will have several bouts or even chronic back pain. While acupuncture, massage,… Read More

Getting Smarter about Pain

A couple weeks ago, I introduced some concepts on the workings of pain that I think are useful for everyone to know. They’re derived from my explorations into Traditional Chinese… Read More

The Basic Mechanism of Pain and Suffering that Every Human Should Know

Early in my career, I found it gratifying to treat pain and I was pretty good at it. The art of choosing the right acupuncture points is fascinating, creative, and… Read More

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He had studied under a Chinese doctor named John H. F. Shen who was something of a legend. Dr. Shen was known to treat 200 people in a day. He was a master of reading pulses and faces, and he had an uncanny ability to diagnose the cause of people’s illness – right down to the year it started. Of the countless impressive stories, my teacher recounted the time Shen was feeling an old man’s pulse and told him his problems stemmed from the guilt he felt about killing someone around 1940. The man admitted that during World War II he was part of the French Resistance and had shot a good friend upon discovering that the friend was a Nazi spy. While I was learning useful pulse diagnosis techniques, I was eager to hear more about Dr. Shen (who had died a few years earlier). I asked my teacher if he’d ever been treated by him. “Yes,” he replied, “and it changed my life forever.” I was expecting to hear a story like the one above, so it was a little disappointing when my teacher said, “He felt my pulses and told me, ‘I won’t treat you. You need to rest. You are working too much.’ That was it.” What? That was it? “Well, a year later,” he continued, “I tried again. I asked him to feel my pulses and write me an herbal formula. And he told me the same thing. ‘Go home and rest,’ he said. ‘I can’t do anything for you. You need to take a year off.’” “To take a year off – it seemed unthinkable. But my health had been declining for a long time, so I decided to do it. I made plans to turn my practice over to someone else, I saved money, and I took a year off to rest. It had a more profound impact on me than anything else I’ve ever done. I think I wouldn’t be alive today if I hadn’t listened to him. From then on I have approached life differently.” Even though it was nothing like the almost-magic readings Dr. Shen was famous for, this story hit me hard. I had spent years studying texts of Chinese medicine that explain the process a healer must understand – the earliest roots of imbalance, how this imbalance progresses into illness, discerning the patterns involved in the illness, and finally, treating the illness and attempting to restore balance. Like almost all my fellow students and practitioners, I had gradually come to focus almost entirely on the last steps – diagnosing and treating the consequences of longstanding imbalance. Meanwhile the early stages had become almost irrelevant. Who cares how it started 50 years ago when the person in front of you needs help now? Then I remembered, as these ancient books state: “the superior physician” cares – and focuses on correcting imbalance before it becomes disease. Though it’s often impossible to cure advanced disease, in a way it’s a greater challenge to address oneself to the origins, because few people take seriously the early imbalances that aren’t yet causing much suffering. These early forms of imbalance, by the way, are pretty simple and exceedingly common. They include the unhealthy expression of emotion (suppressing or resisting the experience of an emotion and/or harboring it for a prolonged time), improper eating (too much, too fast, while stressed, low quality food, etc.), and overwork. It was this last issue – overwork – that Dr. Shen was pointing to. It’s often difficult for people to make the connection between overwork and degradation of health, especially because we’ve all known of a few remarkable and robust individuals who seem able to work tirelessly, sleep minimally, and live for a century. But they are the outliers. Most of us can’t do this. There is simply no substitute for rest. You can eat well, do yoga, take vitamins, and drink wheatgrass juice, but none of these will allow you to deprive yourself of rest without paying for it. The simplest advice I could give on rest is this: every day, use less than your total daily allotment of energy. Each day we have a certain amount of energy to work with. This is replenished through good sleep, high quality food digested well, ample clean water, fresh air, our nourishing connections with the world (love and affection, inspiring and affirming conversation, etc.). When we go to bed without having used it all up, we’re investing in ourselves and prolonging our lives. When we use it all up each day, we’re neither serving ourselves nor particularly harming ourselves (as long as our replenishing factors are in good shape). When we use it all up and keep going, we draw on our reserve energy – a reservoir we should rarely need to tap. This reservoir can be thought of as our store of “life force.” It is what Ayurvedic medicine calls ojas, what Chinese medicine calls jing (“essence”), and what biomedicine understands largely as a function of the endocrine system (especially the adrenal glands). When we deplete our reserve energy, we speed up the aging process and reduce our resistance to disease. Lack of rest also makes us more prone to weight gain. Physiologically this toll may involve depletion of our adrenal glands (a first responder to stress), low thyroid function (a decline in metabolism), low stomach acid and digestive enzyme production, diminished sex hormone production, low immune function, and chronic inflammation. Everyone can learn to feel when they are running on “good” energy versus tapping into their reserves. When using our “good” energy (the daily allotment discussed above) we have enough fuel to get through our tasks for the day without the need of stimulants, and we feel grounded and solid. When tapping our reserves, we tend to feel a bit jittery, edgy, ungrounded, foggy, weak, or faint. We may feel like we could fall asleep in an instant if we put our head down. If you habitually rely on stimulants (coffee, tea, sugar, chocolate, media, etc.) to get through the day, chances are, you’re tapping into reserve energy on the daily. If you’ve been out of whack for a while, first stop exceeding your limits. You may also need a period of dedicated rehabilitation like my teacher. This rehabilitation period should include: plenty of clean, fresh air, time in nature, an optimal amount of pure water, a diet of fresh, healthy foods appropriate for your condition, all the sleep you need, a peaceful and positive atmosphere, a personalized health care plan, and you must never use more than your daily allotment of energy. During this period (and always) it’s beneficial to abstain from engaging your energy on anything that doesn’t serve some higher purpose. For instance, if watching vampire movies activates your stress responses (you can tell if you’re on the edge of your seat or feeling tense), this is an energy sink that yields no positive return. Winter is naturally the ideal time for rest. Just look at how many plants and animals out there have gone dormant for the season. If your mind protests, “But I need to be productive” remind it that this is productive – it’s just a long game. As difficult as it may be to go to bed early, to leave an exercise class before it’s over, or to decline a night out with friends, listening to and honoring your system is a form of growing up. Notice what happens to your mental clarity, mood, self-trust, and quality of life when you prioritize yourself and get the rest you need. Be well, Peter [post_title] => Permission Granted to Get the Rest You Need [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => permission-granted-to-get-the-rest-you-need [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2022-01-21 22:28:29 [post_modified_gmt] => 2022-01-21 22:28:29 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://thedragontree.com/?p=8454 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 10 [filter] => raw [webinar_id] => 0 ) [1] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 8864 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2022-11-25 21:46:31 [post_date_gmt] => 2022-11-25 21:46:31 [post_content] => No matter where you are on your journey, the Dragontree candle collection offers an inspiring tool to help light the way. Our new candles are thoughtfully designed and hand-crafted with intention and quality ingredients. We. Love. Candles. As owners of spas and teachers of ritual, we go through a LOT of candles. Think of a big number and multiply it by a zillion – that’s how many candles we burn. A day. There are plenty of things we love about candles, but the central reason we use them is to bring the Fire Element into our space. From the beginning of recorded time, fire has been a powerful symbol and a central part of our lives. Our relationship to it is embedded deep in our collective consciousness. Fire’s light and warmth has long been a source of comfort and safety, and has been used to initiate rituals, to carry prayers, to promote transformation, to celebrate our connection with each other, and to remember and honor the light of awareness that unites us and transcends the mundane. For millennia we tended fires and gazed into flames on a daily basis, which facilitated a gentle meditative state in which we readily let go of our troubles and became realigned. Deprived of that routine, we find ourselves habitually staring at glowing screens instead . . . an inferior replacement that tends to have the opposite effect on us. The moment we light a candle, it shifts our consciousness. It takes us out of the whirlwind and brings us back into the present moment. Every detail of our Dragontree candles was painstakingly considered to ensure they’d be inspiring, supportive, and simply the best candles we’ve ever used. Why they’re so great:

Made with 100% beeswax
Higher melting point so they emit the cleanest, brightest flame
Cleanest burning wax produces no soot or toxic chemicals
Releases negative ions into the air, helps purify and elevate sacred spaces
The dense composition of beeswax burns slower and lasts longer than other candles
Individually hand poured by craftspeople in Cape Cod.
Presented in a luxurious box with gold foil lettering – perfect for gifting
Made with natural essential oils for an aromatherapeutic – but never overpowering or perfumy – experience
Poured in beautiful glass vessels imprinted with an affirmation
Vessels can be reused as an elegant pen holder, vase, or a hundred other uses
Ethically and sustainably created
No dyes, additives, or parabens
3"D x 3.5"H
8 oz.
Up to 50 hours burn time
Made in the USA

Why not paraffin, soy, or palm wax? Paraffin is a byproduct of the petroleum industry, and burning paraffin candles releases toxic compounds into your living space, including known carcinogens. Soy wax comes from soybeans, 96% of which are genetically modified to tolerate application of the pesticide Roundup. We don’t want to contribute to the soy industry and its ecological impacts. Palm wax comes from palm plantations which require massive-scale deforestation, endangering orangutans and other species, and contributing to climate change. Beeswax, in contrast, requires raising millions of healthy bees, which pollinate our crops and are a vital link in the ecosystem. You Are Sacred This elegant and soulful candle comes in a glossy black tumbler that is imprinted with a simple but powerful reminder: You Are Sacred. We know how easy it is for this crazy human ride to make you forget, to make you feel small and powerless. But that’s not who you really are. Remember? You Are Sacred. You are an expression of your Highest Self. You are a conscious creator. You can choose in every moment how to embody this sacredness. Light it daily before meditation, journaling, setting an intention, starting your day, or anytime you need some sacred space to get through a negative experience. The spicy, earthy notes of Cardamon, Vetiver, and Cedarwood mix with the bright, clear scent of Cypress and Pine, and the addition of Amyris highlights the soft woodsy aroma with the slightest hint of sweetness. This custom scent was blended to foster a calm sense of wellbeing and connect you to the sacred spaces found in nature . Our You Are Sacred candle makes a thoughtful gift for loved ones to show them you recognize their scaredness and want to be a part of their challenges, healing, and growth. Be The Light This bright and joyful candle is hand poured into a reflective white glass vessel and speaks to a powerful choice that is always available: “Be The Light” in noble gold lettering. This simple, yet life-changing statement reminds you there is a light within and your job is to let it shine into the world. Just as one candle can be used to light another, your light – pouring through your heart, your smile, your hands, giving purpose to your every task – sparks the light in others. Be The Light means not just shining outward, but also inward. In order to be effective beacons in the world, we must not withhold light from any part of ourselves. Being the light means accepting and integrating all that we are. In a world with plenty of darkness, there is no service greater than being an embodiment of light, uplifting those around you and affirming that lightness is their true nature. The fresh, cleansing fragrance of Sage and Pine blends artfully with soothing notes of Lavender and Vanilla and creates a sensory experience that supports emotional balance, blocks negative energies, and purifies your sacred space. Brighten someone’s day by gifting them this lovely affirmation. It serves as a daily prompt and lets them know that you recognize their light and are warmed and inspired by knowing them. Click here to check out our new candles! [post_title] => We. Love. Candles. [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => we-love-candles [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2022-11-25 22:13:55 [post_modified_gmt] => 2022-11-25 22:13:55 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://thedragontree.com/?p=8864 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw [webinar_id] => 0 ) [2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 8544 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2022-02-23 23:17:17 [post_date_gmt] => 2022-02-23 23:17:17 [post_content] => Once I went to see a spiritual teacher who planned to write a mantra on my tongue using a leaf dipped in honey. But she ran out of leaves. Or honey. I can’t remember which. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. She told me the mantra and we repeated it together. She also told the same mantra to the other hundred or so people who came to see her. I’ve used that mantra off and on for the past 20 years. Another spiritual teacher gave me a mantra, but it was just for me. He told it to me privately in a closed room, and he instructed me to never repeat it to anyone. He said that keeping it a secret was part of the power of the mantra. I wasn’t sure whether I believed that, but I have kept it a secret for several years. You probably know what a mantra is, but I’d like to tell you about a woman who found a magic lamp in her backyard. Well, she rubbed it of course, because that’s what you do, and a genie came out. “Tell me what to do,” he said. “Is this one of those three wish deals?” the woman responded. “Not at all,” said the genie. “I’m at your service forever.” The woman had the genie clean the house, do the laundry, and cook dinner. “What next?” asked the genie. “Oh, neuter the cat, I guess.” “Done!” the genie reported. “What next?” “Umm, shear the hamster?” the woman offered. “Done! What next?” asked the genie. “That’s it!” exclaimed the woman, “why don’t you take a break.” “It doesn’t work that way,” the genie said, now beginning to appear more oppressive than helpful. “Give me something to do or I’ll eat you!” The startled woman was quick on her feet and answered, “Ok, I’ve got it. Climb up that flagpole. When you get to the top, slide down. Then climb up again, slide down again, and just keep doing that until I think of something else for you to do.” It worked, and the woman didn’t get eaten. The genie is like the mind. The flagpole routine is the primary role of a mantra. Not only does the genie/mind demand constant attention, it gets in the way of our accessing the spiritual dimension and experiencing spaciousness in our consciousness. It tends to take up the whole frame. A mantra gives the mind something to focus on, which, over time (meaning both over the course of each meditative session and over the course of using it day after day), greatly diminishes the degree to which the mind dominates our awareness. Often, what starts out as a mechanical recitation of a word or phrase (usually silently) becomes something more like a self-replicating wave that occupies the mind while our consciousness expands and transcends it. Of course, every time we sit to recite a mantra doesn’t produce a transcendent or mystical experience, but it’s quite common to feel peaceful and expansive. Besides simply occupying the mind to facilitate meditation, mantras sometimes have other purposes. Some believe that mantras, through their sonic quality and/or meaning, produce a spiritual or therapeutic effect. Certain mantras are meant to be spoken aloud; others can be “spoken” mentally. Some are meant to open a particular part of the body or aspect of consciousness, to express devotion, to invoke or “install” a certain deity, or to elicit a change of fortune. Using a mantra with a meaning you understand may have the additional benefit of aligning your intention around a positive idea. On the other hand, using a mantra in a language you don’t know or one without any meaning frees you from getting analytical about it. There are short mantras and long mantras. I recommend a shorter one for silent meditation, since it’s easier to remember. The shortest one syllable mantras are sometimes called bija or “seed” mantras, such as Om, Aim (“aeem”), Shrim (“shreem”), Hrim (“hreem”), Krim (“cream”), Hum, Hu (“hue”), Ram (“rahm”), Vam (“vahm”), Ham (“hahm”), Ong, God, and Love. Two-syllable mantras go well with the breath, since you can say/think the first syllable on the inhale and the second on the exhale. Some common ones include Shanti (peace), So-Ham (I am that [Divine]), Ham-sa (swan, also an inversion of So-Ham), Sat Nam (I am Truth), and one of my favorites, Open. Common longer mantras include Om Namah Shivaya, Om Mani Padme Hum (or Om Mani Peme Hung), and Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. There are thousands more. Read about these if you're interested. You may wish to find one that seems suited to your spiritual sensibilities, or one that just feels good to say. There are lots of great books and sites on mantras to explore. As for the notion that a mantra should be kept secret, some teachers will say that a mantra loses its power if it’s shared. At best this is superstition. At worst, it’s a pretentious attempt to control students, maintain hierarchy, generate mystique, and keep people coming back to pay for increasingly “higher level” mantras. And now I’m going to tell you the “secret” mantra I received: it’s hring. Try it out if you feel like it. Though I have some disdain for secrecy around mantras, I do believe there’s sometimes value in being selective about sharing the details of your spiritual experiences. Attempts to explain these experiences in words often fall short, and if you share with someone who isn’t receptive, doesn’t understand, or criticizes the experience, this may diminish its significance for you or cause you to doubt yourself. It’s also worth asking yourself why you’re sharing these experiences. Sometimes we do so to better understand them or to be instructive or inspiring to others. Other times it’s because the ego has co-opted our spiritual experiences and is using them to get approval. So it’s a good idea to make sure you’re sharing for the right reasons, you can withstand judgment without losing conviction in your practice, or otherwise to share only with those who can hear you in a non-critical way. This week I recommend that you try meditating with a mantra. Choose one from above or find one you like online or from a book. Sit comfortably and repeat your chosen mantra silently, at a speed that feels comfortable to you. If your mind wanders, just bring it back to the mantra. See if, compared to simply watching the breath, this makes it easier to enter a relaxed or expansive state. Be well, Peter [post_title] => The Power of Mantras [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => the-power-of-mantras [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2022-02-23 23:17:17 [post_modified_gmt] => 2022-02-23 23:17:17 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://thedragontree.com/?p=8544 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 7 [filter] => raw [webinar_id] => 0 ) ) [post_count] => 3 [current_post] => -1 [before_loop] => 1 [in_the_loop] => [post] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 8454 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2022-01-21 22:28:29 [post_date_gmt] => 2022-01-21 22:28:29 [post_content] => In the early years of my practice, I studied with an expert in Chinese pulse diagnosis. He had studied under a Chinese doctor named John H. F. Shen who was something of a legend. Dr. Shen was known to treat 200 people in a day. He was a master of reading pulses and faces, and he had an uncanny ability to diagnose the cause of people’s illness – right down to the year it started. Of the countless impressive stories, my teacher recounted the time Shen was feeling an old man’s pulse and told him his problems stemmed from the guilt he felt about killing someone around 1940. The man admitted that during World War II he was part of the French Resistance and had shot a good friend upon discovering that the friend was a Nazi spy. While I was learning useful pulse diagnosis techniques, I was eager to hear more about Dr. Shen (who had died a few years earlier). I asked my teacher if he’d ever been treated by him. “Yes,” he replied, “and it changed my life forever.” I was expecting to hear a story like the one above, so it was a little disappointing when my teacher said, “He felt my pulses and told me, ‘I won’t treat you. You need to rest. You are working too much.’ That was it.” What? That was it? “Well, a year later,” he continued, “I tried again. I asked him to feel my pulses and write me an herbal formula. And he told me the same thing. ‘Go home and rest,’ he said. ‘I can’t do anything for you. You need to take a year off.’” “To take a year off – it seemed unthinkable. But my health had been declining for a long time, so I decided to do it. I made plans to turn my practice over to someone else, I saved money, and I took a year off to rest. It had a more profound impact on me than anything else I’ve ever done. I think I wouldn’t be alive today if I hadn’t listened to him. From then on I have approached life differently.” Even though it was nothing like the almost-magic readings Dr. Shen was famous for, this story hit me hard. I had spent years studying texts of Chinese medicine that explain the process a healer must understand – the earliest roots of imbalance, how this imbalance progresses into illness, discerning the patterns involved in the illness, and finally, treating the illness and attempting to restore balance. Like almost all my fellow students and practitioners, I had gradually come to focus almost entirely on the last steps – diagnosing and treating the consequences of longstanding imbalance. Meanwhile the early stages had become almost irrelevant. Who cares how it started 50 years ago when the person in front of you needs help now? Then I remembered, as these ancient books state: “the superior physician” cares – and focuses on correcting imbalance before it becomes disease. Though it’s often impossible to cure advanced disease, in a way it’s a greater challenge to address oneself to the origins, because few people take seriously the early imbalances that aren’t yet causing much suffering. These early forms of imbalance, by the way, are pretty simple and exceedingly common. They include the unhealthy expression of emotion (suppressing or resisting the experience of an emotion and/or harboring it for a prolonged time), improper eating (too much, too fast, while stressed, low quality food, etc.), and overwork. It was this last issue – overwork – that Dr. Shen was pointing to. It’s often difficult for people to make the connection between overwork and degradation of health, especially because we’ve all known of a few remarkable and robust individuals who seem able to work tirelessly, sleep minimally, and live for a century. But they are the outliers. Most of us can’t do this. There is simply no substitute for rest. You can eat well, do yoga, take vitamins, and drink wheatgrass juice, but none of these will allow you to deprive yourself of rest without paying for it. The simplest advice I could give on rest is this: every day, use less than your total daily allotment of energy. Each day we have a certain amount of energy to work with. This is replenished through good sleep, high quality food digested well, ample clean water, fresh air, our nourishing connections with the world (love and affection, inspiring and affirming conversation, etc.). When we go to bed without having used it all up, we’re investing in ourselves and prolonging our lives. When we use it all up each day, we’re neither serving ourselves nor particularly harming ourselves (as long as our replenishing factors are in good shape). When we use it all up and keep going, we draw on our reserve energy – a reservoir we should rarely need to tap. This reservoir can be thought of as our store of “life force.” It is what Ayurvedic medicine calls ojas, what Chinese medicine calls jing (“essence”), and what biomedicine understands largely as a function of the endocrine system (especially the adrenal glands). When we deplete our reserve energy, we speed up the aging process and reduce our resistance to disease. Lack of rest also makes us more prone to weight gain. Physiologically this toll may involve depletion of our adrenal glands (a first responder to stress), low thyroid function (a decline in metabolism), low stomach acid and digestive enzyme production, diminished sex hormone production, low immune function, and chronic inflammation. Everyone can learn to feel when they are running on “good” energy versus tapping into their reserves. When using our “good” energy (the daily allotment discussed above) we have enough fuel to get through our tasks for the day without the need of stimulants, and we feel grounded and solid. When tapping our reserves, we tend to feel a bit jittery, edgy, ungrounded, foggy, weak, or faint. We may feel like we could fall asleep in an instant if we put our head down. If you habitually rely on stimulants (coffee, tea, sugar, chocolate, media, etc.) to get through the day, chances are, you’re tapping into reserve energy on the daily. If you’ve been out of whack for a while, first stop exceeding your limits. You may also need a period of dedicated rehabilitation like my teacher. This rehabilitation period should include: plenty of clean, fresh air, time in nature, an optimal amount of pure water, a diet of fresh, healthy foods appropriate for your condition, all the sleep you need, a peaceful and positive atmosphere, a personalized health care plan, and you must never use more than your daily allotment of energy. During this period (and always) it’s beneficial to abstain from engaging your energy on anything that doesn’t serve some higher purpose. For instance, if watching vampire movies activates your stress responses (you can tell if you’re on the edge of your seat or feeling tense), this is an energy sink that yields no positive return. Winter is naturally the ideal time for rest. Just look at how many plants and animals out there have gone dormant for the season. If your mind protests, “But I need to be productive” remind it that this is productive – it’s just a long game. As difficult as it may be to go to bed early, to leave an exercise class before it’s over, or to decline a night out with friends, listening to and honoring your system is a form of growing up. Notice what happens to your mental clarity, mood, self-trust, and quality of life when you prioritize yourself and get the rest you need. 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