Holistic Life Navigation

Kounthea (Koon-tear) Richards is a coach, mother, and wise woman who was propelled into a major transformation in the midst of overwhelming illness & trauma.A lupus diagnosis changed her life when she was in her early thirties. She was slowly becoming crippled, was hospitalized on several occasions, and suffered a miscarriage. She was beginning to realize that, despite her holistic way of living, her thinking and her feeling needed more work.Unprocessed childhood trauma and 30 years of repressing her emotions are what Kounthea began to identify as the root of her deadly auto-immune disease. So she began feeling, began crying, and began working with her thinking.And then something miraculous happened: she went into remission and has been ever since. I spoke with Kounthea about how her trauma and suffering led her to know and experience herself much more deeply.To work with Kounthea, please visit: https://www.kounthearichards.com or follow her on Instagram @kounthea_richards.Join Luis for a three-day in-person workshop connecting whole foods nutrition, somatic wisdom, and stress recovery at Kripalu. You can read more about, and register, here. You can register for the FREE Food Therapy session here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/food-therapy-supporting-adhd-with-nutrition Sign up for our 6-month Embodied Relationships group, beginning in October: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/relationship-groupUse the discount code QJSVR73G to save 10% if you register before August 31st.----You can learn more on the website: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/ Learn more about the self-led course here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/self-led-new Join the waitlist to pre-order Luis' book here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book You can follow Luis on Instagram @holistic.life.navigationQuestions? You can email us at info@holisticlifenavigation.com

Grief is the somatic experience of overwhelming love & overwhelming loss hitting the body at once. This episode explores Loren Michelle's story of grief. A story that is radical, unusual, yet deeply moving & inspiring.Her story is about the death of her son & acclaimed professional skateboarder Pablo Ramirez on April 23rd 2019. Loren was a client of mine at the time. Our work, which was originally about balancing her work/life identity, was quickly propelled into something much deeper: giving herself permission to do whatever the fuck she wanted to do.To her surprise, it was adopting a lot of what her son did: skateboarding, graffiti, chopping off her hair and bleaching it, and selling her company. From the outside, some might think Loren was having a breakdown or regressing. However, she was and is more alive than ever before.She went on to create the Pablo Ramirez Foundation which, as the website states, "promotes a positive lifestyle through skateboarding, music and art for kids and young adults. We are devoted to helping youth grow positively and with confidence, to create, to respect and to express themselves."For more information, and to donate, please visit www.pabloramirez.org. You can also follow Loren on Instagram @mammasplifff.Join Luis for a three-day in-person workshop connecting whole foods nutrition, somatic wisdom, and stress recovery at Kripalu. You can read more about, and register, here. You can register for the FREE Food Therapy session here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/food-therapy-supporting-adhd-with-nutrition Sign up for our 6-month Embodied Relationships group, beginning in October: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/relationship-groupUse the discount code QJSVR73G to save 10% if you register before August 31st.----You can learn more on the website: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/ Learn more about the self-led course here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/self-led-new Join the waitlist to pre-order Luis' book here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book You can follow Luis on Instagram @holistic.life.navigationQuestions? You can email us at info@holisticlifenavigation.com

Narcissism, at its root, means to numb. April Harter is redefining this term from being someone who is self-obsessed & arrogant to something much more complex and nuanced. April Harter is a therapist that works with people to heal their racism and other narcissistic tendencies. She specializes in narcissism and has come to understand it as a result of childhood trauma, particularly involving attachment securities. Secure attachment is a fancy way of saying that one could rely on their guardians to feel safe, seen, and loved while growing up. Narcissism, as April understands it, is a direct result of someone with relational trauma who didn't get to develop safety and self-regulation within themselves while growing up.This is why she sees narcissistic behavior as something that can be healed if the person is willing to do the work at processing and healing stuck trauma, because once you are safe and comfortable to feel your discomfort, then you simply do not need numbing behaviors anymore.For more information on April's work, visit her at https://www.narcissismrecoverycenter.com/ or on IG @narcissismrecoverycenter.Join Luis for a three-day in-person workshop connecting whole foods nutrition, somatic wisdom, and stress recovery at Kripalu. You can read more about, and register, here. You can register for the FREE Food Therapy session here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/food-therapy-supporting-adhd-with-nutrition Sign up for our 6-month Embodied Relationships group, beginning in October: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/relationship-groupUse the discount code QJSVR73G to save 10% if you register before August 31st.----You can learn more on the website: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/ Learn more about the self-led course here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/self-led-new Join the waitlist to pre-order Luis' book here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book You can follow Luis on Instagram @holistic.life.navigationQuestions? You can email us at info@holisticlifenavigation.com

Gail Morrison, aka Gaiamore, is an artist, eco-therapist and teacher of earth-based spiritual practices. I had her on to share her personal journey with us, how her journey to listen to her body when it was full of cancer led her to the Earth-based practices.In this episode we discuss paganism, co-regulating in nature, and she leads me in a short but powerful divination session with a tree in NYC's Greenwich Village.For more information on the Earth Deck, consultations, & readings please visit www.naturedivination.com.Visit Gaiamore on Facebook: www.facebook.com/naturedivination.Email Gaiamore at: gaiamoore00@gmail.comJoin Luis for a three-day in-person workshop connecting whole foods nutrition, somatic wisdom, and stress recovery at Kripalu. You can read more about, and register, here. You can register for the FREE Food Therapy session here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/food-therapy-supporting-adhd-with-nutrition Sign up for our 6-month Embodied Relationships group, beginning in October: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/relationship-groupUse the discount code QJSVR73G to save 10% if you register before August 31st.----You can learn more on the website: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/ Learn more about the self-led course here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/self-led-new Join the waitlist to pre-order Luis' book here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book You can follow Luis on Instagram @holistic.life.navigationQuestions? You can email us at info@holisticlifenavigation.com

Dr. Amber McZeal is a gift to the world. A writer, vocalist, sacred scholar, and activist she utilizes sound therapy and guided somatic imagery to engage the knowledge of the body. She is a pioneer, and inventor, of the process that she calls "Decolonizing The Psyche". In this episode, we speak about how our psyches became colonized and how we can begin to decolonize them, returning to a sacred center of self that respects the "other" as different in expression, but same in Spirit. We speak about race as a construct for division, a myth. Something to understand so we can unlearn it and redevelop our brains and bodies so that we can show up to our world with greater compassion and respect for our fellow human beings.To quote Amber: "We humans have the same desires & needs, but different cultural manifestations".Amber's work: https://decolonizingthepsyche.com/Join Amber's Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/817992224926466Read about Resmaa and his book: https://www.resmaa.com/Join Karine Bell's "Somatic Abolitionism":  https://www.rootedandembodied.com/Join Luis for a three-day in-person workshop connecting whole foods nutrition, somatic wisdom, and stress recovery at Kripalu. You can read more about, and register, here. You can register for the FREE Food Therapy session here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/food-therapy-supporting-adhd-with-nutrition Sign up for our 6-month Embodied Relationships group, beginning in October: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/relationship-groupUse the discount code QJSVR73G to save 10% if you register before August 31st.----You can learn more on the website: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/ Learn more about the self-led course here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/self-led-new Join the waitlist to pre-order Luis' book here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book You can follow Luis on Instagram @holistic.life.navigationQuestions? You can email us at info@holisticlifenavigation.com

Today's episode features Dr. Carolyn Elliott, creator & author of the transformative work that she calls "Existential Kink". It is a radical practice of shifting your energy of disgust into pure turn on.Turn on, in this case, being quite expansive: genital turn on, happiness, full body light-up - essentially transforming a negative charge into a positive one. Transforming how the body experiences situations so that everything can actually work for you, not against you.Carolyn discovered this work out of her own suffering. Addicted to heroin, poor, and in an abusive relationship she noticed how, unconsciously, her body and mind were loving the very things that she consciously claimed to hate or not want in her life anymore.As a Somatic Therapist, I love her work. It is the essence of how I work with the body. Noticing where we hold and constrict around energy and, slowly, learning how to expand and move the energy to transform stress & trauma into vitality. I find Carolyn's work to be a compliment to trauma healing. It may not be for everyone, but those courageous enough to try it will have lots of fun and, possibly, faster results than just straight up talk therapy.To take one of Carolyn's courses, visit: www.carolyngraceelliott.com.To get her new book Existential Kink, visit: www.existentialkink.comJoin Luis for a three-day in-person workshop connecting whole foods nutrition, somatic wisdom, and stress recovery at Kripalu. You can read more about, and register, here. You can register for the FREE Food Therapy session here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/food-therapy-supporting-adhd-with-nutrition Sign up for our 6-month Embodied Relationships group, beginning in October: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/relationship-groupUse the discount code QJSVR73G to save 10% if you register before August 31st.----You can learn more on the website: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/ Learn more about the self-led course here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/self-led-new Join the waitlist to pre-order Luis' book here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book You can follow Luis on Instagram @holistic.life.navigationQuestions? You can email us at info@holisticlifenavigation.com

Today's episode is a discussion with Natalie Ross. She is the co-founder of the collective Earth Speak, which offers a beautiful virtual community that includes monthly meetings, videos, and podcasts that all serve as resources for connecting to yourself more holistically and with the Earth in mind.I interviewed her after a quote I read of hers that said "Judgement is the death of intuition". Have a listen.For more information on Natalie's collective, visit www.earthspeak.love.Join Luis for a three-day in-person workshop connecting whole foods nutrition, somatic wisdom, and stress recovery at Kripalu. You can read more about, and register, here. You can register for the FREE Food Therapy session here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/food-therapy-supporting-adhd-with-nutrition Sign up for our 6-month Embodied Relationships group, beginning in October: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/relationship-groupUse the discount code QJSVR73G to save 10% if you register before August 31st.----You can learn more on the website: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/ Learn more about the self-led course here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/self-led-new Join the waitlist to pre-order Luis' book here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book You can follow Luis on Instagram @holistic.life.navigationQuestions? You can email us at info@holisticlifenavigation.com

We hear about how important it is to "have boundaries", but what does that even mean? We have to be able to feel our boundaries before we can ever express them. Can we have too many boundaries? What do boundaries have to do with racism? We explore it all in this episode where I am joined by 4 of my colleagues for a round table discussion about boundaries through the holistic lens of somatic therapy. If you feel inclined to reach out to anyone at the "table", feel free to contact them below.Linda Dukess: http://www.lindabernsteintherapy.com/Alexis Katz: https://www.alexiskatzlcsw.com/Laurie Robbins: http://www.robbinscounseling.com/Daniel Schidlowsky: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/daniel-schidlowsky-kingston-ny/342788Join Luis for a three-day in-person workshop connecting whole foods nutrition, somatic wisdom, and stress recovery at Kripalu. You can read more about, and register, here. You can register for the FREE Food Therapy session here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/food-therapy-supporting-adhd-with-nutrition Sign up for our 6-month Embodied Relationships group, beginning in October: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/relationship-groupUse the discount code QJSVR73G to save 10% if you register before August 31st.----You can learn more on the website: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/ Learn more about the self-led course here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/self-led-new Join the waitlist to pre-order Luis' book here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book You can follow Luis on Instagram @holistic.life.navigationQuestions? You can email us at info@holisticlifenavigation.com

In this episode, I discuss the somatic exercise of finding safety in the body. Safety is the opposite of threat, and threat is the root cause of all trauma.Our bodies speak in sensations. Trauma & stress express themselves through constriction of the body. Where peace & safety express themselves through openness and relief in the body.This episode walks explains how we can find the safety in ourselves & create a practice of building upon it. At about 14 minutes in, I begin an embodiment meditation. Around 28 minutes in, I feature an 8 minute sound healing that was composed by Evan Glenn Adams (Emerald Light Sound Healing) to help you deepen into your state of safety and regulation even further.This work is the foundational practice of creating a regulated nervous system.To hear more of Emerald Light Sound Healing's work, visit: http://www.emeraldlightsoundhealing.com/Join Luis for a three-day in-person workshop connecting whole foods nutrition, somatic wisdom, and stress recovery at Kripalu. You can read more about, and register, here. You can register for the FREE Food Therapy session here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/food-therapy-supporting-adhd-with-nutrition Sign up for our 6-month Embodied Relationships group, beginning in October: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/relationship-groupUse the discount code QJSVR73G to save 10% if you register before August 31st.----You can learn more on the website: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/ Learn more about the self-led course here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/self-led-new Join the waitlist to pre-order Luis' book here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book You can follow Luis on Instagram @holistic.life.navigationQuestions? You can email us at info@holisticlifenavigation.com

In this episode, I interview Dave Berger. He is one of my teachers and his work is deeply rooted in the physiology of trauma: how trauma shows up in the body. We speak about chronic pain, the need to relax around the constriction for healing, and how to become embodied so we can listen to our bodies before reacting to things and people.For more information on Dave's work, visit https://www.daveberger.net/.Join Luis for a three-day in-person workshop connecting whole foods nutrition, somatic wisdom, and stress recovery at Kripalu. You can read more about, and register, here. You can register for the FREE Food Therapy session here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/food-therapy-supporting-adhd-with-nutrition Sign up for our 6-month Embodied Relationships group, beginning in October: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/relationship-groupUse the discount code QJSVR73G to save 10% if you register before August 31st.----You can learn more on the website: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/ Learn more about the self-led course here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/self-led-new Join the waitlist to pre-order Luis' book here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book You can follow Luis on Instagram @holistic.life.navigationQuestions? You can email us at info@holisticlifenavigation.com