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Are Jade Eggs Dangerous? Why I Agree With An Ob-Gyn To Use Caution

You’re excited.

You’ve discovered the Jade Egg and you’re intrigued by all it promises to deliver: pelvic health, vaginal awakening, healing, better orgasms, and much, much more.

According to Regina Hall on the Conan show and Gwyneth Paltrow with her GOOP site, the Jade Egg is the bomb, right?

Maybe.

Now there’s the sobering voice of a doctor clearly challenging its validity along with a follow-up news report clearly in support of debunking the use of Jade Egg.

What to do? What’s real? Who do we believe?

“I read the post on GOOP and all I can tell you is it is the biggest load of garbage I have read on your site since vaginal steaming…  So let me give you some free advice, don’t use vaginal jade eggs.” – Dr. Jen Gunter

Are We Being Deceived?

I received many distressed messages from clients insisting I read and comment on a recent article from Dr. Jen Gunter in reaction to Gwyneth Paltrow’s promotion of the Jade Egg via GOOP as well as to respond to the claims on The Young Turks debunking report.

As the founder of the Modern Jade Egg movement, I’ve been a strong spokesperson for the Jade Egg for nearly two decades and an advocate for women’s sexual sovereignty and erotic genius.

The recent rise of what I like to call the McEgg movement—hype-filled, glamorized, and possibly dangerous ideas and practices about the use of the Jade Egg (see Regina Hall on Conan’s late night show on the Yoni Egg)—has lead me to consistently speak out against this misreporting (see McEgg Movement Video & Clarifying The Myths About The Jade Egg video) in attempts to provide women with grounded and true information.

Although Dr. Jen Gunter clearly takes a stand against the use of a Jade Egg, I would have to agree with her wholeheartedly as I found some of her points quite valid.

In fact, it makes sense that sensible, mainstream people would react to the ‘woo-woo’ promises that are dished out by the McEgg movement since it equally offends me to hear such outrageous claims.

How The Modern Jade Egg Movement Began:

Before I go into why I agree, and add my two cents on this matter, it’s important to give you the inside scoop as to how all of this began:

The beginning, for me, happened in 1995 when I discovered the Egg practice through the writings of Mantak Chia in his book Healing Love Through The Tao – Cultivating Female Sexual Energy (note: back then it wasn’t Jade, but Obsidian that was being used and promoted). 

Being already professionally trained in somatic awareness, movement and alternative medicine assisted me in accepting the Taoist concepts that Chia presented. However, when I attempted to do the practice as described in this book, my body completely rejected it—imagine my egg flying across the room like a highspeed torpedo! (I found out later that his book was written predominantly by a company of male practitioners—go figure!)

Fast-forward: By 2002 I had developed & shared my own body of work and was invited by Mantak Chia to his Tao Garden retreat center in Thailand where he encouraged me to share my insights and innovations as well as to contribute to The Multi-Orgasmic Woman book co-written by Dr. Rachel Abrams & Mantak Chia. It was also during that same period that I authored a Jade Egg Exercise booklet that Chia still uses and sells to this day.

What I failed to realize at the time, was that my work had succeeded in influencing this lineage. Unfortunately, my methods were not properly understood and are still currently being mis-taught and mis-used. (This is why I was dumbfounded to discover that many ‘Jade Egg teachers’ appeared to be copying my work on YouTube & various online courses. They were, in reality, not copying me, but being trained in a degraded version of my method through Chia’s school—mystery solved!)

In 2006, I published my book, Emergence of the Sensual Woman, outlining my philosophy as well as sharing over 60 unique Jade Egg practices.

By 2008, I had succeeded in completing my dissertation on the impact of the Jade Egg practice and my Désilets Method on the psycho-sexual well-being of women.

It revealed the importance for any practitioner—doctor, psychologist, counselor, therapist, or teacher—to have practical knowledge of both the “Functional” and “Meaning” models of sexuality since both have implicit impact on the well-being of the women they are serving.

I also discovered a statistically significant result that was unexpected: Real, positive, lasting transformation would occur even when a woman didn’t do any of the techniques!

This showed me that clearly something other than the ‘practical techniques’ (the functional model) were having impact on women, therefore, I dedicated the rest of my life’s work to understanding and refining the delicate balance of our psycho-sexual nature (the meaning model).

Now it’s 2017 and the McEgg movement has reached new heights—and a doctor finally speaks up against it.

The Dangers of the McEgg Movement:

It’s her thoughts (in blue italics) I’d like to address:

But hey, you aren’t one to let facts get in the way of profiting from snake oil.

Agreed. I’ve been warning women for years about the snake oil aspects of the McEgg movement.

My issue begins with the very start of your post on jade eggs specifically that “queens and concubines used them to stay in shape for emperors.” Nothing says female empowerment more than the only reason to do this is for your man!

Agreed. This is not female empowerment. In fact, there’s no real evidence of the truth of this statement. I too was told the same story nearly 20 years ago and I’ve attempted for years to find accurate sources to these claims and haven’t found anything that was legitimate. But the real question is: why do we need the mystical history of concubines to make this a valid choice for ourselves?

And then the claim that they can balance hormones is, quite simply, biologically impossible.

Agreed. The Jade Egg cannot possibly do this. However, what Dr. Gunter doesn’t know, since it’s not available in the McEgg information, is that there are practices and meditations that assist our body to function much better, and possibly even slow down or reverse the aging process:

“Other studies find that taking a class that offers training in mindfulness or meditation is linked to improved telomere maintenance.” – Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD & Elissa Epel, PhD, The Telomeres Effect

Personally, I’ve had some incredible results with my own body and that of my clients, especially women suffering menopausal and post-menopausal symptoms that have been able to completely rejuvenate their sexual health.

Pelvic floor exercises can help with incontinence and even give stronger orgasms for some women, but they cannot change hormones.

Agreed. It is NOT the McEgg information and practices that can do this. In fact, the use of the Jade Egg alone will not do this. However, I currently work with an Ob-Gyn and we are tracking real, substantial changes in women’s genitals with proper use of my method.

“It’s much less effective for women to exercise their pelvic floors well without feedback from an object inside the vagina. The Jade Egg provides this, and much more. Women who in the past were reluctant to touch or view their genitals, push past those barriers and witness their bodies change as they tune into sensations and responses elicited by the Jade Egg Practice. With connection like this, healing follows—both physical and psychological. Intentional focus brings about physical change.” Debra Wickman, MD, FACOG

If the word for womb is yoni I hate to break it to you, but the uterus and vagina are different structures. If you are using the Sanskrit, while I admit I am no language scholar, it seems that yoni means the entire female reproductive tract and you should say that.

Agreed. It’s part of the mainstream to use the word VAGINA to mean the entire female reproductive organ, just as it’s part of the New-Age Goddess movement to use the word Yoni without a clear distinction of what is meant when using this word.

As a psychologist who specializes in the psycho-sexual well-being of women, I hold a different opinion on the use of alternative words to describe our genitals. How we define things does make an impact and if a woman has a trauma association with her genitals, it can be of incredible impact for her to claim, for herself, a new name that is not associated with trauma, but with her choice to love and heal herself.

Terminology aside, the vulva, vagina, cervix, and uterus are not intuition repositories and neither are they sources of “power” or “wisdom.” If fact, I find that assertion insulting. Do you really mean a woman who does not have a uterus is less effective? Is a woman without a vagina less intelligent?  Is a woman who had a vulvectomy due to cancer less creative?

Here is where Dr. Gunter reveals her wisdom and her limitation. It is true to say that her points are valid in terms of inclusivity of all women, no matter what their physical conditions may be.

However, to discard a woman’s body as the seat of her wisdom is also indicative of an industry that fails to make the link between the body and the psyche. Yet many ailments that affect women’s sexual health often have a psycho-somatic piece to them and this must be taken into consideration, not belittled.

I’ve seen too many incredible transformations when women stop seeing themselves as fragmented, but rather redefine themselves as whole: body/mind/heart/spirit.

As for the recommendation that women sleep with a jade egg in their vaginas I would like to point out that jade is porous which could allow bacteria to get inside and so the egg could act like a fomite. This is not good, in case you were wondering. It could be a risk factor for bacterial vaginosis or even the potentially deadly toxic shock syndrome.

This is a very serious issue and allegation. If we are to consider this TSS argument, then why do we still have a tampon industry? Women wear tampons 24/7, sometimes over a period of days or even a week once every month! This is a lot of internal wear, yet few people are taking a strong stand to end the use of Tampons world-wide. Tampon use, in this light, should then be eradicated completely to make sure that no woman suffer from TSS. But, the tampon industry is alive and well.

In this following FDA quote, please notice that TSS occurs 50% of the time in children, men and non-menstruating women:

TSS is a rare but potentially fatal disease caused by a bacterial toxin. Approximately half the cases of TSS reported today are associated with tampon use during menstruation, usually in young women. TSS also occurs in children, men, and non-menstruating women. Although scientists have recognized an association between TSS and tampon use, the exact connection remains unclear. Research conducted by the CDC suggested that use of some high absorbency tampons increased the risk of TSS in menstruating women. A few specific tampon designs and high absorbency tampon materials were also found to have some association with increased risk of TSS. These products and materials are no longer used in tampons sold in the U.S. Tampons made with rayon do not appear to have a higher risk of TSS than cotton tampons of similar absorbency.

FDA requires manufacturers to give information on the package labeling about the signs of TSS and how to minimize the risk. Women are encouraged to read this information before using tampons and to ask about TSS when getting a medical checkup. – FDA.gov

Perhaps, in light of Dr. Gunter’s argument, we can see that Jade has less absorbency than a tampon, minimizing the TSS risk. While proper use and hygiene would further reduce any threat.

For example, with all my students, I strongly advise not to use the Jade Egg during one’s menstrual cycle for both hygienic and pelvic health reasons. If going by the FDAs information, we can see that the dominant number of cases occurred with young women who were menstruating and using tampons (and probably leaving them in for too long).

Furthermore, using pure, untreated, unbleached, un-dyed Jade is important because of the potential toxicity of the dyes, bleaches and treatment methods (which is why I recommend only using a GIA certified source of real Nephrite Jade).

Over the past twenty years of both my personal practice and professionally working with women, I’ve never had any problems with Nephrite Jade. However, I do follow strict hygienic protocols and insist on making sure women know how to prepare the Jade Egg before use and what to do after each use.

I also teach a very unique method to this practice, one based on tried and tested methods (including writing my dissertation on it’s impact on women’s psycho-sexual well-being).

Personally, I have worn the Jade Egg all day long, every day for nearly two decades without a problem. In fact, it’s regular use and proper protocols lead to the resolution of my chronic bladder and yeast problems. So I’m actually healthier after consistent Jade Egg use.

I have my pelvic floor and genitals regularly examined by my Ob-Gyn as well as other professionals such as Osteopaths and Pelvic Pain specialists. All have agreed that I have an extraordinarily healthy pelvis and perfect sexual health. In fact, I was recently asked by an Ob-Gyn if she could use me as a ‘specimen’ for optimal pelvic and sexual health in a medical presentation at the World Conference on Sexual Health.

“In all of my years of practice, I have never seen any poor outcomes from women using a jade egg vaginally.  Given the inert quality of the stone, I think that the risk of TSS or other infection is negligible.”– Rachel Carlton Abrams, MD, MHS

I’ve shared this practice world-wide with tens of thousands of women who follow hygienic and technical protocols to ensure their proper use. No adverse effects have been reported to me.

Therefore, I would agree with Dr. Gunter than improper hygiene with any internal device is not a safe. I would have to add that improper use of any internal device would also adverse affects.

Regarding the suggestion to wear the jade egg while walking around, well, I would like to point out that your pelvic floor muscles are not meant to contract continuously. In fact, it is quite difficult to isolate your pelvic floor while walking so many women could actually clench other muscles to keep the egg inside. 

Agree 100%. Women should not be constantly contracting their pelvic floor. However, when the Jade Egg is used properly, a woman does not need to clench or squeeze to keep the Jade Egg in all day. It’s NOT actually her muscles that keep the Jade Egg in. I intend to release a medical study demonstrating what actually is happening when a woman practices properly by 2018.

Overenthusiastic Kegel exercises or incorrectly done Kegel exercises are a cause of pelvic pain and pain with sex in my practice.

Yes!!! Absolutely! In fact, Dr. Kegel never intended the ‘mainstream ideas’ of his exercises to be used as they are being used. My colleague Isa Herrera, MSTP, CSCS, pelvic pain specialist shares, “Women are exercising themselves into pelvic pain and dysfunction.” Sad, but true.

And the last statement with regards to Dr. Gunter’s letter to Gwyneth (which really should have been written to the author of the article because I doubt Gwyneth knew any better):

Kegel exercises are not just about the contraction, the relaxation phase is just as important.

ABSOLUTELY!!! I’ve been teaching for nearly two decades the importance of softening and melting open. Thank you for saying such a vital piece of information, Dr. Gunter!

So Now What?

Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water.

Yes, we do have the escalating insanity of the McEgg movement where practitioners/yoni egg sellers are profiting from the genuine interest that modern women have in taking care of their pleasure and sexual well-being.

And, we are (thankfully) having it debunked.

Dr. Gunter makes very valid points, so pay attention to them!

And Gwyneth Paltrow probably didn’t know any better when she or her team approved of this article; most likely there was good intention behind the desire to publish (and sell) information on the Jade Egg.

Yet the way this incident was handled speaks volumes to the state of sexual sovereignty in this country (and around the world).

We must never override a woman’s sexual sovereignty. This means treating women as intelligent, whole beings and giving them sound information.

It’s time for us, as a whole, to upgrade the conversation about sexuality, women, and empowerment without either making it into a joke or a freak show.

It’s time for any one who considers themselves an influencer in the Women’s Empowerment movement to join the conversation and contribute this upgrading without having to be condescending to one another, in other words, leading by example.

What Are Our Next Steps?

Be open to the idea that each human being is sexually sovereign, despite being socially conditioned out of knowing this for themselves and discouraged from taking personal responsibility for their sexual well-being.

Set industry standards: I’m glad that articles, like Dr. Gunter’s, are being written as a reflection of the complete lack of standards in the current field of Jade Egg training, pointing to the rising need for exceptionally grounded and high standards of education if we are to provide true, lasting, positive transformation for all women.

Currently I’m qualifying my first 8 Ambassadors in my Désilets Method. It’s a rigorous year-long training (not just reading a book or doing a few weekend workshops) designed to have embodied practitioners provide high quality education for women of all ages.

Do leading-edge medical research: I’ve teamed up with a leading Ob-Gyn to conduct quantitative as well as qualitative research to demonstrate the medical impact the Jade Egg when used properly (stay tuned!).

Respect yourself: I would applaud your desire to empower yourself and celebrate your curiosity and willingness to explore and discover for yourself new ideas and tools for your well-being.

Please leave me your comments below so we can, together, take this conversation deeper. If you liked this article, please share it so we can transform the misunderstandings into true empowerment.

Want to challenge yourself daily?  Join The Daring Project, it’s free for 30-days! Click here to join.

Can Yoni Egg Cause Pelvic Pain?

Yoni eggs are on the rise in popularity, so much so that they’ve made late night TV. Yet along with this amazing evidence that more and more women desire to claim their pleasure and sexual vitality comes the sad fact that this profound practice is being diluted into “drive-thru Jade Egg practice” aka the McEgg […]

Jade Egg Mastery – It’s Not Just About How Much Weight You Can Lift

Are you curious about the Jade Egg practice?

Have you wondered what it’s all about or how to actually, step-by-step learn how to masterfully use a Jade Egg?

Maybe you’ve heard that the Jade Egg can transform all of your emotional wounds and sexual inhibitions, leaving you with lasting sexual confidence?

Or perhaps you’ve been seduced into believing that having a ‘super-pussy’ through lifting weights with your vagina will ensure better orgasms and keep your lover loyal?

Or believe that through the power of your vagina alone you’ll able to control your man’s ejaculation?

If any of these apply to you, then you are part of the emerging mass interest in the Jade Egg practice.

This means you’ve also been absorbing the wide-spread, inappropriate instruction about the jade Egg along with many other false promises and potentially harmful practices.

But don’t worry, this isn’t your fault.

In fact, it’s rather a common phenomena when a deep ancient practice is introduced to our give-me-a-quick-solution modern society: there will always be a loss of integrity and depth.

Over the past 20 years of personal and professional practice, I’ve experienced a profound evolution in my own understanding of the Jade Egg practice and it’s impact on women.

In fact, not only did I learn what worked and didn’t work through receiving direct feedback of from tens of thousands of women world-wide, but I also did a pilot study examining and measuring the effects of the Jade Egg practice on the psycho-sexual health of women for my PhD dissertation.

The results of my study in combination with considering the latest, cutting-edge scientific research on sexuality resulted in a major overhaul of the original teachings so that they could better suit the true needs of modern women and lead to lasting, life-long results.

A key insight that emerged, one that lies at the foundation of my method, is that we are psycho-sexual beings and deserve to ignite the totality of our sensual/sexual nature, not just be obsessed with ‘vagina power’ alone.

We are not just our genitals, our sexuality and sensuality includes the totality of who we are.

Your sexuality and sensuality not a currency or commodity meant to be used in exchange of whatever it is you desire more of in your life.

It is your birthright. A natural, powerful, life-giving part of who you innately are as woman.

To attempt to squeeze the vastness of your femininity into the tiny box of ‘goal-oriented’ techniques and ideals is to impoverish your experience of your own pleasure.

To limit your sexuality to how much weight you can lift with your vagina or how many vaginal tricks you can do is like saying that to drive a car all you need to do is push or turn all the buttons and dials on your dashboard.

It’s sensationalist and immature.

The good news is, more and more of women are waking up and coming back home to themselves, discerning the gold from the hype, and claiming for themselves the living wisdom of their beautiful body.

If you’d love to learn more about how to master the Jade Egg practice, ignite your own unique erotic intelligence and to cultivate wholeness and profound sexual vitality and pleasure, you may want to check out my current invitation to do a LIVE intensive with me: CLICK TO DISCOVER MORE ABOUT JADE EGG MASTERY

 

 

Conscious Hedonism

What is your relationship with pleasure as a daily practice?

Do you hold your pleasure in a great state of reverence?

Or is it something you are still sometimes feeling guilty or shame about?

Hedonism tends to have a bad rap, but it’s roots are quite astonishing!

In this new delicious tip video, I explore what Conscious Hedonism really is, where it comes from and what the true meaning behind enjoying pleasure.

Your opinion matters to me. Be sure to leave me your thoughts below so we can continue to explore the true meaning of hedonism in our lives.

In reverence to your pleasure,

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Delicious Tip: Profound Self-Intimacy

Cultivating our self-intimacy is essential for living a succulent life and for ensuring a life-time of expressed pleasure.

Thankfully, recalibrating our erotic nature can happen through simple, conscious acts that are as ingrained and natural as breathing.

What are they? Here’s a hint: Have you ever noticed how children sleep, sometimes holding their sweet little bodies?

This month’s delicious tip reveals a simple practice that is natural for all of us to do, in fact, some of us may be doing it without even understanding the alchemical magic of it!

If you ever yearn for deeper intimacy in your life, this one tip is crucial to help you nurture intimacy, whether or not you have a partner.

In fact, I feel strongly that this little practice is at the very foundation of reconnection our emotional self with our instinctual/erotic self.

If you enjoyed this video, be sure to like it, share it and to leave me a little note below about how this practice effects you.

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The Phenomenon Of The Jade Egg – Part 2

A Tiny Tool Of Transformation – Part 2

“I’m addicted to food, I have been most of my life, and I want to share that after using the Jade Egg, I no longer have an addictive relationship with food.”

“I’m 73 years old and I’ve lived without much libido, however, since introducing the Jade Egg into my life, I appreciate the necessity of living a turned-on life.”

“I’m a compulsive buyer, but when I wear my Jade Egg shopping, I notice that I don’t buy as much or anything at all.”

“When I fight with my partner about money, my Jade Egg immediately falls out. I’ve learned where in my life I give away my power.”

“Using the Jade Egg helped me clear decades of suppressed sexual trauma, I never knew I could feel this safe and sexually alive.”

This is only a small sample of the profound feedback I receive from women​,​ reveal​ing​ that there’s much more to the Jade Egg practice than pelvic tone and delicious orgasms.

Psycho-Sexual Beings

We are fundamentally psycho-sexual beings—our psyche/mind/emotions is deeply intertwined with our sexuality—one cannot exist without the other, no matter how much we may try and keep them separate from one another.

Our sexuality is more than the act of ‘doing’ something about it, it’s essentially a deep part of ‘who’ we are—To be fully expressed in our own sensual/sexual nature, we must equally have access to and be expressed in our emotional nature and vice-versa.

Consider this an inborn relationship between our earthly body and our sweet, mammalian inheritance, one that has the potential to birth our own unique genius into the world.

The 3 Unspoken Gifts Of Using A Jade Egg

We predominantly focus on the functional aspect of sexuality, looking at how ‘this or that’ technique can create ‘such & such’ results.

Yet the real gifts of using the Jade Egg silently await our notice, reflecting the ‘deeper meaning’ of our sexuality:

​1. Reconnection to self
​2. Healing of the psycho-sexual
3. Emotional & sexual evolution

Reconnection To Self

My personal practice, academic research, and teaching tens of thousands of women world-wide, has shown me the inseparable nature of our sensual/sexual self with our deep hearts and intelligent minds.

Time and time again, I’ve witnessed how soft, alive, and glowing a woman becomes when she comes home to herself along with how much more effective and creative she is in the World.

Our womb is our inner sanctum, a place to access our wisdom, our power, our inborn genius.

We all come from this magical, profound place, yet we rarely treat her with the respect she deserves.

In fact, most of us use our wombs as psychic garbage cans, stuffing her with the emotions that we’re unwilling to feel or face.

It’s for this reason that it’s crucial to enter the Jade Egg practice with reverence, knowing that we are fundamentally engaging in both re-patterning our personal relationship with our sexual core and re-patterning the actual cellular memory of this area of our body.

This re-patterning cannot happen purely through talk therapy or visualizations, we must be willing to touch our beautiful body with love and openness.

It is through this quiet act of reconnection with our own inner guidance that we suddenly feel the love and acceptance we’ve always sought for externally and recognize that we belong to ourselves.

Through this shift in perception, we become part of a world-wide sisterhood that communicates not through words, but though the silent, pulsing aliveness that is transmitted & received by all wombs.

This is no small feat and it is the seed of birthing our greatness into the World.

Healing The Psycho-Sexual Self

Because sexual healing or the need for it is so prevalent in our modern world, it is clear that for most of us, it is a part of becoming an initiated woman.

Using the Jade Egg has profound impact on healing, both physically and psychologically, but it is not the actual Jade Egg that is doing the healing.

It is the symbolism that we assign to the Jade Egg (along with our conscious practice) that acts as an anchor for our choice to reconnect with ourselves, to honor ourselves, and to celebrate ourselves as sensual/sexual being.

Therefore, every time we think of the Jade Egg or consciously use it, we are activating this choice and giving ourselves the opportunity to unveil the true intelligence of our Erotic Genius™.

Our traumas hold within them a doorway into our most potent gifts. When we love ourselves back into wholeness and allow the slowest part of us to set the pace of our lives, true healing unfolds naturally.

I’ve witnessed women transform themselves over and over again through taking the time to engage in this conscious practice of activating their sensual/sexual self while softening open their heart and mind.

Emotional Sexual Evolution

Evolution is now in our hands, we cannot afford to wait another 100,000 years for humans to understand their intimate relationship with life, hence the necessity for the third hidden gift of using the Jade Egg: An acceleration of our maturity process.

We all are where we are meant to be on our journey of life, and as each of us wakes up to our own genius, we naturally become curious about harnessing this inborn resource.

The practice of the Jade Egg can be empty, deceptive, and lead to nowhere when it’s done purely as a physical practice and/or one that is meant to “awaken you spiritually” as an end result.

The key to using the Jade Egg for evolutionary acceleration is to come to it understanding that we are the ones creating the change within us. A change the demands our immediate attention, our willingness to die to how we believe things should be, as well as our willingness to reveal the depth of our own magnificence.

Our journey is not meant to be depicted by others, it is meant to be informed by the living, breathing Erotic Genius™ we all innately possess.

It is through the conscious and correct use of the Jade Egg that we are able to benefit not only physically with more radiant sexual health and pleasure, but equally psychologically with renewed emotional resilience and transparency ​, all of which are key to offering our genius to the World.​​​

If you’d love to deepen your journey through the Art of Succulent Living and using a Jade Egg, I recommend starting with my book: Emergence of the Sensual Woman.

If you enjoyed this article, please like, share it, join the Succulence Revolution, & leave me your thoughts below in the comment section.

If you missed part 1 of this series, Click here

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