Holistic Life Navigation

Food helps us tolerate the intolerable. Processed foods can provoke a state change within us (such as joy, comfort, energized, numbed out), which produces an adrenaline response. If we eliminate processed foods, and experience food sobriety, we no longer have food manipulating our body chemistry. We become more awake to life. ⁠
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In our 6 month nutrition group we teach you how to titrate food changes, and we provide somatic practices to help hold the resulting sensations. We teach you not be perfect with food, because food metabolizes quicker than shame. Instead we learn how to relate to food.

[Ep. 236] Understanding How Your Diet Is Triggering Your Stress Response

You can read more about, and register for, the Navigating Weight & Body Image With Somatics webinar here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/weight-and-body-image-webinar

You can register for November's Community Somatics here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/community-somatics-november

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You can learn more on the website: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/

You can follow Luis on Instagram @holistic.life.navigation

Questions? You can email us at [email protected]

 Snack time at Holistic Life Navigation. Drop in for a quick podcast bite full of info and tasty treats. 

Do you ever experience anxiety or panic attacks? In these moments glucose fluctuates and the blood stream is flooded with adrenaline, resulting in an internal crisis. Once flooded with adrenaline we can experience hyper vigilance, muscle tension, increased heart rate, and anxiety. Balance happens when the body is not dominated by adrenaline. Wild spikes in adrenaline can be avoided with balanced glucose levels. Tune in for Luis' three favorite snacks to help achieve balanced glucose levels. Rest assured, chocolate can be part of the mix! 

You can read more about, and register for, the Navigating Weight & Body Image With Somatics webinar here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/weight-and-body-image-webinar

You can register for November's Community Somatics here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/community-somatics-november

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You can learn more on the website: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/

You can follow Luis on Instagram @holistic.life.navigation

Questions? You can email us at [email protected]

How does it feel to express yourself in front of others? Are you at ease? Excited? Tense? Frozen?  Is stress keeping you from having a voice and expressing yourself because being seen feels dangerous?

Luis uncoupled his own performing from a traumatic experience in childhood. This shift allowed him to move from burning out after performing to loving the gooeyness of performing, which he now feels ease around. He shares his two favorite practices for supporting the body through the process. 

Want more support in learning how to be an Embodied Performer? Join us August 15-17 in Brooklyn New York. Luis and co-host Weena Pauly-Tarr look forward to performing with you! https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-embodied-performer

You can read more about, and register for, the Navigating Weight & Body Image With Somatics webinar here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/weight-and-body-image-webinar

You can register for November's Community Somatics here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/community-somatics-november

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You can learn more on the website: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/

You can follow Luis on Instagram @holistic.life.navigation

Questions? You can email us at [email protected]

Do you think of yourself as an empath? Do you feel a flower blooming as deeply as you feel a war-torn country's pain? 

Empathy itself is a bridge of understanding, non-binary and fluid. This is flexible empathy that can pendulate between embodying others joy and their suffering. 

Often when someone is referred to as an empath it is someone who reflexively seeks and feels painful stories because that is what feels familiar. Their body and mind are practiced at accessing pain and bypassing joy and beauty, because joy, pleasure, and beauty, feels unsafe in their soft open vulnerability. 

As with all trauma responses, Luis reminds us that our trauma response is not our identity, it is just something our body is doing. He guides us through a practice to help gauge what our capacity is to hold beauty and pain. Remember, it's a practice! There is no right answer.  

You can read more about, and register for, the Navigating Weight & Body Image With Somatics webinar here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/weight-and-body-image-webinar

You can register for November's Community Somatics here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/community-somatics-november

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You can learn more on the website: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/

You can follow Luis on Instagram @holistic.life.navigation

Questions? You can email us at [email protected]

Remember when toll booths were replaced by EzPass? Did you wonder how you would find your way to the closest restaurant or gas station without the interpersonal connection of the toll booth worker? Likewise are you skeptical about A.I.? Join Luis and Holly as they chat about how A.I. can support your creativity, allowing you to do more of what you love. 

With the help of A.I. Holly Howard does private consulting and business growth training, as she writes her first book. We may be great at the service we offer, but if we are a solo/small business and not good at, or bogged down by, admin work, how do we tend that part of the business? Luis used A.I. to research for his upcoming book, Food Therapy, freeing up hours he could have spent researching on his own. 

Holly shares how she bounces work ideas off of A.I. She also has A.I. write transcripts and job descriptions for her, building her capacity for the part of her business that she loves doing. All this reduces her mental workload. The key to using A.I. is clearly communicating your needs to the program. If you use A.I. with unsatisfactory results, consider how you communicate. Luis and Holly also discuss dopamine and the difference between algorithms and the social engagement hits of Instagram versus the control you have over A.I. 

If we go in to the conversation around A.I. grounded, we can help integrate A.I. safely and ethically. 

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You can read more about Holly's work at https://www.askhollyhow.com/

You can join the waitlist for her upcoming book here: https://www.askhollyhow.com/the-book

You can read more about, and register for, the Navigating Weight & Body Image With Somatics webinar here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/weight-and-body-image-webinar

You can register for November's Community Somatics here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/community-somatics-november

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You can learn more on the website: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/

You can follow Luis on Instagram @holistic.life.navigation

Questions? You can email us at [email protected]

Two fringe misfits walk into a Zoom room and..... 

Join Grey Doolin and Luis for a joyful, lit up conversation about the spirituality of sex dysphoria. Grey shares how their trans identity is a gift not a destination, and how it's not about shutting parts of yourself off, it's about bringing all of yourself along for the ride. An important part of this realization dawned when their therapist asked if they wanted top surgery because society hates female bodies, or because top surgery was aligned for them?

Luis and Grey wonder, which part of a person thinks it will die without the hormones and surgical intervention? That is the part that needs tending. They question the standard procedural process of affirming care and envision the benefits of slowing it down to the speed of the body. This slowing down has led Grey to practicing belonging in a natural way, remembering their own belovedness and divinity, and learning to hold complexity.

In Grey's words, "Everything in your life is an invitation, EVERYTHING." Regardless of your gender, sex, or identity this invitation holds true. 

You can learn more about Grey, and work with them, at: https://greydoolin.com/

[Ep. 261] "Ayahuasca Told Me To De-Transition" Born Female, Living As Male, Then Back To Female w/ Maddie Durbin

You can read more about, and register for, the Navigating Weight & Body Image With Somatics webinar here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/weight-and-body-image-webinar

You can register for November's Community Somatics here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/community-somatics-november

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You can learn more on the website: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/

You can follow Luis on Instagram @holistic.life.navigation

Questions? You can email us at [email protected]

Maddie Durbin joins Luis for a tender exploration of her experience becoming Max, and de-transitioning back to Maddie. At 19 Maddie was looking for freedom from the pain of the human condition, she turned to transitioning as an escape. She went by Max for 6 years and took testosterone for 5 of those years, growing a full beard and undergoing a double mastectomy along the way. However, she was still unhappy, depressed and unfulfilled. In 2022 Max decided to begin a healing journey. In that journey Max found acceptance for herself that led her back to Maddie. 

Maddie was told she couldn't be herself, to the point where she thought she literally had to change who she was. She treated herself how others had treated her, banishing herself to a metaphorical closet for 7 years. Maddie came out of the closet when she felt safe enough to come out as her true self. 

Children need support through the dysphoric process of puberty. A beginning solution for each of us to dismantle the labels, find acceptance for who we are, and make decisions rooted in authenticity.

You can learn more about Maddie on her website: https://maddiedurbin.com/

You can listen to her podcast, "The Bridge", here:  https://maddiedurbin.com/the-bridge-podcast/

You can read more about, and register for, the Navigating Weight & Body Image With Somatics webinar here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/weight-and-body-image-webinar

You can register for November's Community Somatics here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/community-somatics-november

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You can learn more on the website: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/

You can follow Luis on Instagram @holistic.life.navigation

Questions? You can email us at [email protected]

Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, is a farmer, systems developer, agronomist, and business manager who runs an ecosystem. He joins Luis for a fascinating conversation ranging from the Indigenous intellect to hazelnuts. 

We are a reflection of the earth, all yearning for connection. To understand the earth we need to look within and ask, do we dominate, or relate? Reginaldo tells the story of his chickens and his hazelnuts and the reciprocal ecosystem he has developed and tends. It is a system of economic transaction seen from a holistic regenerative framework, rather than an extractive linear mentality.  

How can we harvest in a way that stewards, regenerates and serves?

You can read more about Reginaldo's work here:

https://treerangefarms.com/

https://www.regenagalliance.org/

https://www.regenpoultry.com/

https://www.salvatierrafarms.com/

https://www.salvatierrafarms.com/store-2/p/book

You can read more about, and register for, the Navigating Weight & Body Image With Somatics webinar here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/weight-and-body-image-webinar

You can register for November's Community Somatics here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/community-somatics-november

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You can learn more on the website: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/

You can follow Luis on Instagram @holistic.life.navigation

Questions? You can email us at [email protected]

Our favorite biochemist, Karen Hurd, joins us again to discuss the difference between adrenaline and cortisol. 

Adrenaline gives us strength to fight or run, while cortisol reduces inflammation. These hormones are released simultaneously. We are meant to experience short bursts of adrenaline and cortisol in emergency situations, not prolonged baths in them all day every day while we sit at a desk, immobile. 

Luis and Karen discuss estrogen production after menopause, exercise and chronic pain, high testosterone in female bodies, and estrogen in male bodies. 

Stress is an endocrine disorder. If your diet is nourishing and balanced, but you are still stressed, consider your lifestyle, purpose and perception. Something has to shift when the mentality isn't connecting to biology in a way that is balanced.

You can read more about Karen's work, and register for her courses, here: https://karen-r.mylearnworlds.com/pages/home

[Ep. 256] How Stress Affects Your Hormones, Digestion, & What To Eat About It w/ Karen Hurd

[Ep. 218] The Biology Of Your Emotions & How Food Helps w/ Karen Hurd

[Ep. 8] Healing Your Body With Beans | Karen Hurd

[Bonus Episode] The Sugar-To-Adrenaline Pipeline

You can read more about, and register for, the Navigating Weight & Body Image With Somatics webinar here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/weight-and-body-image-webinar

You can register for November's Community Somatics here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/community-somatics-november

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You can learn more on the website: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/

You can follow Luis on Instagram @holistic.life.navigation

Questions? You can email us at [email protected]

Luis and his friend Steve Rasovsky have an openhearted chat about Steve's recent trip to Ghana. The Ghanaian people shared their dance, joy, community and presence with Steve. In that environment he was able to melt into presence alongside them. Being referred to with familial pronouns, with all the physical contact, and living next door to the people who were part of the towns commerce, all allowed Steve to feel safe enough to access this presence. Feeling his heart expand, his spine loosening, and his laughter and smile shifting, gave Steve a taste for life, allowing tension to leave his body, and for him to feel held.  

Returning home to the Czech Republic he noticed a shift into a head to head connection between people that lacked eye contact. He also noted the urgency and scarcity of a winter climate. Urgency inevitably ends up leading to control. He ponders if he is celebrated or even safe there. 

They use Steve's experience to explore the question of what is privilege? In Ghana they have the privilege of connection, joy, community and time to just be. It is a relational privilege. Whereas privilege in the USA is about material consumption, choice and convenience.

You can read more about Steven's work, and connect, here: https://www.intimatelyhuman.com/

You can listen to the previous interview with Steven here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/278649/episodes/10218388

You can read more about, and register for, the Navigating Weight & Body Image With Somatics webinar here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/weight-and-body-image-webinar

You can register for November's Community Somatics here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/community-somatics-november

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You can learn more on the website: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/

You can follow Luis on Instagram @holistic.life.navigation

Questions? You can email us at [email protected]