Did Castaneda exercise?

He practiced tensegrity, obviously, which is definitely an exercise regime (that affects more than just the physical body). The body is where all of the maneuvers of sorcerey play-out, hence the importance of conditioning and fortifying it.

Shaolin monks, under the initial influence of Bodhidharma, developed Kung-Fu so their bodies could withstand the rigors of their meditation regime.

Someone who knew him would have to tell you if he also played racketball or something 🤨

Whats most important is how does your body react and feel to exercise and diet, nobody can tell you that beside you.

He was a member of the National T'ai Chi Association, and practiced with them at least a bit, likely along with the witches. He also practiced Choi Lai Fut with Howard Lee.

In class I used to compare his mobility to that of my father, who was also an anthropologist in the UC System, and of similiar age.

Carlos was spry and flexible by comparison, for being in his 70s. In his 60s he was still climbing the roof of his compound in Westwood, to pick pears. Even my brothers in their early 50s and 60s won't do that.

He expressed admiration for Jack La Lane planning to pull a tugboat with his teeth, in his 80s.

He was rumoured to be ravenous in bed. I don't know for sure who held the orgies (I heard it was the chacmools perhaps), but Carlos was absolutely after young women in some manner. We used to watch him get a little too intimate with them in class.

I'm only 62, and even one woman would be too much for me.

Carlos had multiple girlfriends and did things with them that mostly only men in their 20s think of. I feel ashamed of some of my doings in my 20s.

Diet: He liked cuban food, in particular Versailles in Santa Monica. He occasionally did a shot of something, maybe tequila. We used to go up on the roof to smoke a cigarette, and he didn't object. But he did joke about being a former smoker, who instinctively grabbed his shirt pocket when he leaned over.

There's a group out there who complain about him getting liver cancer, from too many drugs.

That's such nonsense, it's not even worth debating. As far as drugs, he gave some to apprentices a very long time ago, but not after that as far as I know. Drugs are just to give you a flashy and hard to explain experience, but you can't make any progress that way. There's no way Carlos was using drugs to do things that aren't really all that difficult to do, if you just put in some work.

Edited to promote cigarette and tequila sales.

Don't forget that some of the members of don Juan's benefactor's party were extremely obese, and had rotten teeth. And Julian himself was fatally ill.

Zuleica and her housemate were insane a fair portion of the time.

I just hope that 100 years from now, there isn't a picture of Carlos hanging over weird altars in small retail food businesses, with a halo around his head.

Gotta remember all of the stories are around Castaneda and Don Juan walking for days through the desert. You have to be fit to do that to begin with.

Original title of this [deleted] post "Did Castaneda exercise?"

And the original content of the post:

"So I just wondered for some reasons, if he exercised for his health? and how was his diet?"