Fri, 18 May 2012 16:12:03 -0800WeeblyThu, 17 May 2012 23:50:38 -0800http://www.navarofranco.com/3/post/2012/05/may-17th-2012.htmlMy body is not just made of Earth substance.  My body is also Earth consciousness.  My mind is not just a light of consciousness.  My mind is light.  My mind exchanges light with the Cosmos, with the Sun and with Stars.

Today I was doing one of my favorite things, since the weather has been warm: Sitting on my front lawn in the sun, enjoying the gprgeous flowers and plants I have grown.  This little 'piece' (our cultural view of portions) of Earth is home to me, and in it I have my first garden that I have ever grown.and truly nurtured.  The plants are thriving, and I feel their response to my love.  I sense their needs, I feel their awareness of me, and I am in communication with them. It's so delicious and joyful!  When I water my garden I stand barefoot on the lawn so as to release all the electrical and wave charge from my body.  The Earth grounds me, literally, in an electrical sense. This does not happen when you wear shoes.  The plastic soles block that.  Cement blocks it.  You can also release electric and wave charge in the shower, or if you bath, stand in the bathwater after you pull the plug.  The water goes down thru the pipes and 'Earths' / connects and grounds you. This is one of the reasons we feel so refreshed after bathing.

As I lay on the grass this morning, grounding and releasing electric charge, absorbing ight and warmth, and feeling the body of the Earth as a living breathing aware being that I am a part of, and feeling it feeling me...I had an epiphany.  I know my body is the Earth, but in that moment, I transferred the love and trust I've been feeling out on my lawn for the Earth - to my body and I FELT it. I felt my body as Earth, and I knew I can trust my body as I trust the Earth. I had a knowing that my body is good, like the Earth, and sweet, and beautiful.  And trustworthy.  And I knew that my body, just like the Earth, has an infinite and wise intelligence...and that I can trust THIS.

It's difficult to describe the revelation I felt.  Large and yet simple and sweet. It brought tears to my eyes.  And I knew that I had expanded in that moment outside my conditioned worldview, into true presence.  True experience.  it is sublime to feel my body in this way.  It is sublime to inhabit it with that amount of trust and respect.  Just as it is divine to be with, on, in, and of the Earth in this way! 

My body is good and sweet, like the Earth is good and sweet. I trust the Earth, and I can trust my body.

]]>Wed, 07 Mar 2012 12:54:52 -0800http://www.navarofranco.com/3/post/2012/03/exercise-muscle-memory.htmlThis morning's workout was a combination of skipping, dance, walking and jogging.  As I worked out in the house, ideas came of things I wish to share about maintaining balance in the body as one strengthens and exercises.

The first is paying attention to doing a wide range of movements.  Aerobic activity is great (skipping and jogging, for me today).  Dance allows you to tune into your body and let it move freely.  Dance, more than mechanized, repetitive motion, will show you where your body needs attention.  Go the the good feeling places as you dance, and enjoy moving them.  Also activate less fluid places.  Watch yourself in a large mirror as you dance, so you can see blockages and bring motion there.  Use circular, spiraling, figure 8 shapes.  They bring a large variety of motion and will activate your body in balanced ways.  Keep a strong rhythmic time with your motion and your feet.  As you move, do sets of movements - use 2s, 4s, 8,s  - whatever is comfortable.  This creates balance from one side of the body to another.

Skipping is great for raising metabolism to breathe hard and sweat.  Breaking a sweat is important.  It helps detoxify thru breath and pores.  It also raises your metabolism.  This is a strong message to the body saying, "I am alive!".  As the body feels demand and response from us, in terms of exercise and raised breath, heart rate, and awareness - it responds with more human growth hormone production, and more cellular and brain activity on every level.  Keep telling the body that it is alive and use it, and it will respond with aliveness and vibrancy. Aging sets in as we let parts of our body go to sleep, by not using them.  Use it or lose it!  Being physical is a joy, and will always elevate your mood and clarify your thought.  There are so many benefits!

Finish your workout with some deep, slow stretching.  Stay conscious of alignment and present in your body as you stretch.  Body will tell you things you need to know, and you can continue to respond to the messages with the stretches you choose.  Stay as fully focused as you can in your form.  Scan, move through all parts of yourself.  Try to catch unconsciousness of certain areas (they will often have numbness or pain) and bring awareness there.

Deep stretching after or intermittently in a workout is also a place that you can influence your muscle memory.  Strengthen and then stretch a muscle, and it will increase in flexibility and strength.  As we age, muscles and tendons shorten.  Keeping them long and flexible promotes aliveness and health, and will slow this process of aging.

We are nicer to be around when we engage our bodies regularly.  Exercise done with attention to enjoyment and balance makes us happier people. This is our primary residence!  Inhabit it fully.

]]>Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:36:24 -0800http://www.navarofranco.com/3/post/2012/01/protein-how-much-do-we-need-scientific-facts-personal-experience.htmlI often hear friends and family being concerned about getting enough protein.  Especially when the subject of the raw food diet comes up, or even being a vegetarian or vegan.  I frequently come across information with lots of juicy 'facts' about protein needs, of the type that we in Western society love, and need to hear.  This can be a good thing!  So I would like to share with you an article I found online today which echoes info I have come across in my research many many times.  My body, by applying the principles described in the research below, tells me it is true, by its satisfaction and state of health.

Quote from Dr. Doug Graham, Nutritionist, Raw Foodist & Athlete:  "Romaine lettuce, calory for calorie, has 2.1 times more protein than steak.."  Check out his work online at foodnsport.com. He is a renowned and well researched health expert and teacher.

I have been eating 70% raw and ominvorous for 7 years, and more recently 95% vegan and 70% raw.  For a long time I have not worried about 'getting enough protein'.  I eat mostly raw fruits, leafy greens, and vegies, and a small percentage of raw seeds and nuts, (seeds and nuts blended into water in 'mylk' form, or whole).  I never feel deprived or have protein 'cravings'.

I sometimes crave meat or heavy dishes that are a throwback from my Standard American Diet upbringing and first decade of my adult life, but this is a flavor and nostalgia thing, not a physical need.  Cravings like these are just as satisfied if I take the time to make myself a raw vegan dish that imitates a cooked food recipe.  I mostly eat very quick meals of whole fruits and vegetables now, though, and most of the time I don't even take the time to make them into any kind of 'dish'.  Making an actual recipe dish is a treat these days.  I love how fast food prep is now that I eat mostly raw vegan.

Here is the info.  Also check out the China Study, which is a famous research project that revealed to the world how traditional diets mostly based on plant foods have created health and strong bodies all over the world for thousands of years.

Please take note that the meat and dairy industry in North America are very powerful and work hand in hand with the Food and Drug Administration to control our food supplies, farming and land practices and legislation, young minds in schools through their programs, and everyone's minds thru advertising in the mainstream media.  These people make laws that make it extremely difficult for small farms and organic farms to survive.  Their interests not only undermine the health of our bodies thru their products, but are ruining our soil, our water, our environment, and threatening the very fabric of life on our beautiful planet.  Please also note that in North America Osteoporosis is rampant, unlike the rest of the world that eats diets that generally have very low protein ratios.  It is a medical fact that too much protein in the blood causes acidity.  The body balances this thru alkalizing by drawing calcium from your bones.  The valuable calcium is then peed out of the body when the alkalinity is restored.
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PROTEIN FACTS  
This info is from the Loving It Raw website. It echoes what I have come across thru countless sources in my food research over the years:

" Have you ever heard someone say 'there's no protein in fruits and vegetables'? I sure have, and these have been educated people, nutritionists included! You just have to wonder, what do nutritionists learn at university?

The fact is fruits - on average - have around 90% carbohydrate, 5% protein and 5% fat. Vegetables average 70% carbohydrate, 20% protein and 10% fat.

Did you know that calorie for calorie romaine lettuce contains more than double the protein in steak? Spinach is 49% protein folks!

Mother's milk contains 6% protein (and apparently tastes sweet, similar to canteloupe juice - see, we start off with a craving for something sweet!), and babies need more protein than ANYONE! They're growing at a tremendous rate, and mother's milk is more than ample for their needs.

Yet adults, who are already fully grown, somehow think they need so much more protein than babies?  Bizzarre!

So fruits provide the perfect ratio of proteins for our needs. Add in some leafy green vegetables and you have more than you even need. Plenty to cover even the most ambitious body builder."
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The China Study
Scientific facts that show the human body's very low need for protein

This is key medical research and is very well known in the mainstream world of medicine, food, and health.  Please read for info on the human body's very low need for 'protein', and the negative effects of eating a diet with too much protein.  You will also find out why the opposite information about our protein needs has been propagated by the meat and dairy industry.

http://www.thechinastudy.com/
]]>Sun, 15 Jan 2012 09:32:39 -0800http://www.navarofranco.com/3/post/2012/01/first-post.htmlI am doing a workout this morning, at home in front of my big mirror.  This consists of dancing 'shapes' to traditional African Rhythmic music and Glen Velez energy based rhythms.  As I dance, the forms I am working with are basic forms of creation - Circle, Spiral, Infinity Symbol aka figure 8.  I consider these forms foundations of physical matter, and sacred.  As well, the way I dance is informed by African Dance, in terms of how intrinsic rhythmic reps and structure are part of it.  Cycles, phases, changes.

As I dance, I always wish to share this, as it feels so good and adds to my health hugely.  For years, when I lived on Vancouver Island,  I taught groups Ecstatic Dance with these principles twice a week.  In the past 6 years in Vancouver I have focused more on Rhythm as my livelihood, and dance has moved to being my personal practice.  This is a practice that prevents what people call 'aging' - and releases tension and blockages that are physical, yes, but also become mental and emotional, since the 3 are always connected.  Clarity of perception and thought are supported by physical health and vitality.

My workouts also contain yoga, which I have studied all my life, and lots of intuitive, instinctive movement.  I let my body's feeling, sensation and need guide me, alongside my knowledge.  So, here is what I do.....

MY MORNING WORKOUT TODAY  (Join me!)

~ Put on some rhythmic music, tribal traditional indigenous music, if you have it.  If not, Trance music will work, of any kind.  Anything that feels good.

~ Begin to move in rhythm, listening closely to the music and letting it move you.

~ Activate all parts of your body.  Go through it step by step:  Start with the feet, move up thru legs, hips, belly, chest, spinal waves, shoulders, arms, head. Cover everything. You can work on specific areas that are tense or that just feel good to move. Now integrate the whole thing.  Stay conscious to your sensation, emotion, thought...this is a moving meditation.  The more you inhabit your body as you dance, the more benefit and knowledge of yourself you will receive.

~ Repetition & Cycle: If you can do so without being taken out of your body, use rhythmic reps, ie counts.  Repeat moves in reps of 4s, 8s, 2s, and create phrasing: Combinations of counts.  This helps engage attention and ground you in cyclical patterns.  Start as simply as you need.

~ Dance until you sweat, if possible.  Sweating helps the kidneys to flush, as well as cleansing your whole body.  Breath intensifies simultaneously and this is part of the detox.  Open a window for fresh air. 

~ Try to go thru a complete cycle.  You will know when it is complete by how you feel.  Here are some markers in a complete cycle:
1)  Connect, move slowly, bring your attention in
2)  Find your groove, enjoy the ride, move smoothly, freely
3)  Let go, abandon yourself to the dance, to its height
4)  Move more slowly, internal focus, stay with your movement and let it subside gradually
5)  Rest.  Lay, sit or stand and feel the effects, letting your breath and body systems quiet
     Stay present to energy, thought, emotion circulating...you will often receive insights and
     revelation here    
6)  If you have time, now is a good time to do some stretching, or meditation or journalling

~ Do What You Can:  Even if you have only 15m to devote to dancing, you will feel elements of a mini cycle. Just start! Once you start, it feels so good you won't want to stop.

~ Move intuitively:  This is a natural cycle that occurs everywhere in nature. We are nature. Put yourself in motion, in rhythm, and feel and trust your body.  The more you practice this, the more instinct will wake up and you will know exactly what you need to do, and how.  Not just in your dance, but in your life, too!

Intuitive Dance is a powerful health practice.  You can also heal yourself of many maladies with this.  To top it off, dancing like this awakens intuition. Strong inner knowing makes you a sovereign being, and helps you steer thru all aspects of your life.  Our bodies are our interface with all levels of reality, from physical to energetic.  When we are healthy in them, we can create powerfully in the world. 

My body is the strong friend who advises me.  My body is my guide. My body shows me what feels good and what feels bad...Where I want to go,  where I don't want - or need - to go.  My desire is good.  My body is my faithful dog, always with me, always looking out for me and protecting me.  My body is a fun place to be!  Full of delight, enjoyment.  My body brings me....to the Mystery.

Enjoy your journey, and trust yourself.  Your body is ancient and wise.  It is made up of elements of air, water, light, and minerals (earth) that circulate on our planet.  We are wearing a physical form that is made of borrowed material!  This material moves thru us and moves thru all forms on our planet...bodies of water, sky, clouds, rocks, plants, animals, sunlight, starlight.  This is a sacred relationship.

The more we connect with our bodies, the more we are connected to our guides of spirit and emotion....and the less we support things that harm our beloved Earth.
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Study these principles with me: 
My Dance Workshops:  For a guided journey through these principles, I teach occasional dance workshops called Earth Prayers Ecstatic Dance Journeys.  Check my dance page for more info, and contact me to join my email list for notice.  We also visit these essential principles musically in my Drum Classes.          

Contact me at navaro@tribal-bliss.com
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