Teachers and Friends

As one of my last video projects before I depart Samudra, I made this video as a tribute to my incredible friends and teachers who have taught and inspired me so much and put so much love out into the world every day.

The Best Breakfast Ever? +Spicy!

Durian Adventures!

Bali!

Bali, day 1

The adventure started going through airport security in Perth- in my carry on, I had multiple miron glass bottles (block all light, including x rays) in my carry on.  Once they went through the scanner, security searched through all my bags and opened up all my superfoods... fortunately they let me keep them.  So the miron glass definitely works to protect food from being fried by x rays!  Alys and I arrived in Bali at midnight only to find that the driver that had been arranged to take us to Ubud, one hour away, was nowhere to be found.  We waited 45 minutes before giving up and going to ask taxi drivers how much it would cost.  The only problem was, we only knew the name of the villa we were going to, but not the address or location and none of the taxi drivers had any idea where it was.  We found one guy who agreed to drive around Ubud looking for it for as long as it took to find it for $50.  We decided this was our best option, so he drove us out to Ubud and we drove up one skinny street and down another and another and another.  On the outskirts, the taxi driver decided to turn around and head back into the center of town and just then on a little wooden sign above a doorway, he saw the words "Villa Gaia"- that was it, we found it, totally by accident and miraculously!

It was now 2 AM, and knowing I only had a few hours to sleep before 6 AM yoga practice, I slept grounded and inverted and woke up feeling fully energized.  After yoga practice, we started arranging the retreat space, met the chef Sayuri, went through the Ubud markets (hectic!).  Then I rented a scooter ($20 for the week)- driving around on the roads here is so gnarly!  People everywhere on bikes, on foot, on motorbikes, in cars!  Later in the afternoon we drove through a monkey forest, with little monkeys all over the place! It was wild!  Then we got to see a very interesting ashtanga ashram and next to it a massive three story ultra elegant bamboo house that was like nothing I've ever seen before.  From there, we went out for dinner.  I had to stop to buy a razor, having forgotten to pack mine, on the way back from dinner.  Bali is wild with so many streets and I had just been following other people around all day to get wherever I needed to go.  But Sheridan told me just to follow this same road and it would take me back to the villa... I was a little apprehensive, but I said okay.  After buying the razor, I followed the road for many kilometers... and finally it came to a fork- the first sign that something was wrong.  I picked left, and drove for 15 minutes... nothing looked familiar.  I went back to the fork, now getting cold being out in the open air in the evening.  I went right at the fork... nothing looked familiar for a long way.  I went back into Ubud, drove all around... trying to ask for directions, but everyone either didn't speak English, or had no idea where to find the street I was looking for.  This went on for 3 hours!  I was really missing my GPS!  (It turns out the directions I was given left out several key turns!)  At one point, going up a hill, I ran out of gas!  I had to push my bike half a kilometer to the nearest gas station to fill back up and I was still no closer to figuring out where I was or where I was going.  I stopped at an internet cafe to try to figure out where I needed to go on Google maps... but the "show my location" function wasn't working.  Finally, some guy walked into the cafe and he knew where I needed to go!  Ten minutes later I was back at the villa... what a crazy adventure.  My first day in a new country and I spend 3 hours driving all around these little wild streets completely lost!  It was intense, but I think I enjoyed the adventure!  This afternoon we start the yoga retreat, I'll be teaching superfood, superherb, and longevity lifestyle classes.  Check out my morning view...

The Moon's Bathing Place

After a wild concert last and two farmers' markets this morning (where I bought 4 kilos of bee pollen, all that they would sell me due to limited supplies- I'm stocking up for winter!), I needed to get back out and explore nature.  I love having meaningful experiences in nature- to me, that's what its all about... all the raw foods, all the superfoods, all the superherbs, everything else I do to cultivate vibrant health and longevity is all really designed to enhance my ability to have meaningful experiences in nature.  Sometimes I get the profound pleasure to share these experiences with others, sometimes I have the equally profound pleasure of experiencing these moments in solitude.  This occasion happened to be one of the solo adventures.  I knew I wanted to go somewhere interesting, but I didn't really know where.  I knew it would take some driving to get there, but I wasn't really ready to spend half my day driving.  I looked through a local tourism book that was given to me for Christmas by the amazing family that I stayed with in Mandurah when I first arrived in Australia.  I wasn't finding much, but then read a small section about Meekadarabee Falls in Ellensbrook.  I knew the word Meekadarabee was obviously aboriginal, but I had no idea what it meant.  It didn't really say that much about it, but waterfalls are always nice and Ellensbrook wasn't far from Margaret River, the second farmers' market I went to this morning.  I knew almost nothing about this place, but decided to go for it.  I drove out there, parked, and started following the trail out into the forest.  The nature around me was exquisite- large, majestic, wild looking trees everywhere and several small creeks flowing within view of the trail.  I arrived at a viewing point in front of a pond, which sat just below a 10 foot tall shallow cave.
    
Rewind to March- I went on an aboriginal bushwalk with David Wolfe and the retreat group and at the end of the bushwalk, David and a few others were asking the aboriginal guide about cold water springs in the area.  The lady mentioned two places.  One nearby was dried up and the other she didn't really give us enough details to know how to find it.  All she said was that it was called "The Bathing Place of the Moon."

Fast forward to today- there was a large illustrated book at the lookout in front of the pond, which told the short story of Meekadarabee, which it explains means "The Bathing Place of the Moon!" I found it!  (The story of Meekadarabee is a story of forbidden love, resulting in the death of both lovers.)

This pond clearly wasn't the source of the spring, so I kept walking, soon coming to the most incredible set of waterfalls, covered by lush greenery with water cascading in all directions.  I was so mystified by it, I stood there for the better part of an hour, just watching it in contemplation.  Then I went around the back of the falls, walking a little further to where the spring comes right out of the rocks.  I had no plans (maybe subconsciously) to find a spring today, so I didn't have a TDS meter or bottles, so I just knelt down and drank until I was full.  Definitely going back tomorrow to collect!

Then I went and watched Truth Calkins presentation on Jing City from the last longevity conference... what an inspiring presentation!  All of the super powerful aspects of herbalism that I'm furthering my knowledge of and bringing into my life are getting me really excited!  How's this for an affirmation? I am a God in a four layer biobody suit.  I have neuroplasticity and I'm ready to create reality!"

Mangosteen!

Ever since I found out I'd be going to Bali later this month, the main thing I've been looking forward to is experiencing fresh mangosteen, the queen of fruits (the Jewish relative of the mango).  I've used mangosteen in juice and powder form not for the inner fruit, which I've heard is sweet and delicious, but for the bitter rind, which contains very high levels of xanthones, the most powerful natural anti-inflammatory compounds known to man.  Little did I know, my chance would come sooner than I expected.  Today Ben told me in passing that the local supermarket (of all places!) had great mangosteen.  I didn't think you could get mangosteen in this area, not having seen it after being here over 6 months.  "No way, mangosteen?! Here!?"  I rushed over and bought the 12 that they had left and split them between Ben and I.  I cut one open and enjoyed the decadent sweet juicy fruit inside.  I once read an account by someone who tried biting right into the mangosteen peel or pericarp that it was so intensely bitter, he felt like he died!  Hoping to take a slightly easier route, I ordered a fresh glass of cucumber juice in the cafe and blended the rind up with the juice in the Vitamix.  The mangosteen has similar gelling properties to chia seeds, noni, aloe, and irish moss, so the drink had a great red color and thick smooth consistency.  Margot, who blended it up for me, tasted a little and instantly said "AH! YUCK!"  Two more people got little tastes before it got to me- one instantly ran for water and the other nearly threw up.  Finally I got my hands on it and started taking it down... my throat instantly started going dry.  Sixty seconds later, it was all down and I was going for water.  But no matter how much I drank, my mouth and throat felt completely parched!  A few minutes later it started really hitting my stomach... I left my office and headed for the toilets.  I passed Ben on the way "I don't know mate," I told him, half laughing at my own predicament "I might not be able to keep this one down."  I was feeling really quite sick.  I went and sat next to the toilet for a few minutes and started having a massive craving for chia... it made sense because the chia gel would slow the mangosteen absorption and make it more bearable.  I rushed back out to the cafe and got a cup of chia pudding and practically inhaled it.  Slowly but surely the revolutions in my stomach turned to small protests, and then peace.  I got some serious medicine out of that one!

The most exciting recent raw superfood creation- raw sweet potato chips- a raw superfood that tastes and feels just like regular potato chips and makes you feel incredible!

Tonight I had a great talk with a few wonderful friends that has me reinspired- the fire has been rekindled, I can't wait to make it all happen tomorrow!

HAVING FUN!

After a 2 month hiatus from blogging, I've come back to share a supremely simple, yet powerful realization that came to me yesterday evening.  The past five months in Australia have been great (of course with the occasional challenges), but yesterday afternoon at the end of a roller coaster of a work week, I was asking myself "Why am I here (in Australia, in Dunsborough, at Samudra)?  For 90 minutes, I could not find an answer to the question, no matter how hard I tried.  I started thinking that if I couldn't find an answer for why I was here, it was time to move on to a new adventure.  Then, thinking back to the state of mind I was in before I had ever been to Australia and coming here was only a dream, I realized that I came to Australia to have fun!  This seems such a simple and obvious answer, but I had forgotten it.  Being in a daily work environment where everyone takes everything so seriously had contagiously led me to do the same and I had been suffering for it for quite some time.  I had stopped having fun.  Now, how to solve this problem?  I resolutely decided to start having fun every second of the day at all costs.  If I appear unproductive and lose my job?  No problem.  If losing my job means having to leave Dunsborough or Australia and lose the possibility of future residency here?  I'm not too worried about it.  I'm going to have fun no matter what.  If being here prohibits me from having fun, I'll move on, but I'm going to give it my best to have fun here before abandoning this place. 

So today I started putting my new resolution into action.  I slept in until 8 o'clock (this is a major thing when I'm used to getting up at 5 AM every day for yoga) and then made my favorite warm chocolate herbal elixir packed with ridiculous amounts of superfoods and superherbs.  I stood out in the sun in the garden and drank half of it and bottled up the other half, which I drank in the car as I drove 45 minutes south to Margaret River, where my friends Kylie and Cat were having their debut at the farmers' market selling their homemade raw chocolates and dehydrated treats.  The drive down to Margaret River takes you through some incredibly majestic forests.  As I searched out their booth, I stopped at the bee keeper's booth to buy the last few kilos of bee pollen that he would have for the season.  The Western Australia bee pollen is the most nutritious and best tasting bee pollen in the world.  At home in California, I would use bee pollen in my smoothies, but would never consider it tasty enough to eat on its own.  Here, its not uncommon to see me eating the bee pollen by the spoonful, sometimes up to ten tablespoons a day!  It is so delicious!  I then found Kylie and Cat and jumped behind the booth with them for a few hours to help them sell and had so much fun doing it!  At 12 o'clock when the market finished, I helped them pack up and drove 20 minutes to one of my favorite beaches, sipping spring water that I had collected a few days earlier as I went. (The place where I get this spring water is amazing, just below the mouth of a huge cave with wild celery growing right where the spring water comes out of the rocks!)

The waves were head high and perfect- totally ripable rights with barely any wind and the water was a perfect light blue that most people only ever see in exotic photographs.  (I'd love to show you pictures, but I accidentally drowned both my video and still cameras in a broken bottle of pau d'arco tea a few weeks ago.  Check out some of my older posts to see the phenomenal water color here.)  There were only two people in the water and they both got out as a frantically put on my wetsuit, saying that they were both exhausted, having caught about 50 waves each over the past few hours.  I paddled out on a board that I hadn't ridden in a few months and had an epic session!  I was having so much fun getting one wave after another.  I kept looking around, seeing nothing but wild nature around me without a soul in sight and saying "This is unbelievable!"  30 waves and 90 minutes later, the waves died out and I went in content and stoked.  I took off my wetsuit and let the sun feed my body for a few minutes before driving off.

Its now after 4 PM and I haven't eaten anything (only drinking spring water) since the smoothie I had 8 hours ago and I'm not remotely hungry.  This is something interesting that's started happening the past few days.  I've reached what feels like such a supreme level of nutrification (attributed to two of my three daily meals for some time now being almost entirely comprised of superfoods with lots of mineral packed kelp) that I don't really need to be eating much.  The past few days I've observed the lack of hunger, but still eaten regular meals out of habit, but today I'm taking a different route and waiting to see where it takes me.  For the moment, spring water is so amazing, my energy is high, my mind is clear, and I'm having fun!  I'm feeling like I probably won't need to eat tonight.  I'm not setting a planned amount of time not to eat, I'll eat when I get hungry, but not just out of habit.  I'm thinking that maybe when hunger does come, I'll be able to thrive on just one superfood packed smoothie per day and not need to burden my body with three daily meals.  This feels really good.  Let the fun continue!

Yoga, waves, and superfood parties!

Yet again, what an adventure the past few days have been!  On Sunday I did a promotion for Samudra at a environmental awareness event called the Great Green Move.  I did a chocolate making demo for 40 people, which was so much fun.  It was my first chocolate demo in Australia for a public audience and I made the mistake of pointing out the differences several times between my chocolate and Hershey's... only to be informed after that they don't have Hershey's in Australia!  But I think I still got my point across.  Then I got pulled in at the last moment to take part in a live yoga demo... definitely wasn't expecting that one, but I did my best... couldn't compare with the girls who had been practicing for years, but managed to keep up more or less and had fun doing it. 

Since arriving in Australia, I still haven't been able to find a good spring water source, as spring locations aren't as publicly shared here as back in California.  Finally on Tuesday I found some good maps showing water source locations.  I located 10 different springs on the map, though it wasn't possible to see what the surroundings were or if they were on private property.  After work Ben and I went to look for waves, but couldn't find any, so we decided to check out the first of the springs I had mapped out.  With a little searching, we found the first one, but it was contaminated due to the fact that it was in the middle of a cow field abundant with dung.  We went to look for the second spring I had mapped, but in Ben's 4WD we soon found ourselves bogged in the sand and the wheels just kept spinning deeper and deeper.  We left his truck in the sand for the night and I went to a meditation class.  It was nice to meditate, but the teacher lived too much in another world for me.  I think its great when meditation teachers can exist successfully in other realms as well as successfully interact with people and the world around them, which this lady just couldn't.  The funniest part though was that I had to come straight there from having tried to dig Ben's truck out of the sand and my hands and feet were covered in black dirt and sand... I was a sight to behold walking into this class! :)

Having worked on Sunday, I was entitled to take a morning off of work this week, so three friends and I decided to go surf yesterday morning after yoga at Guillotines, which can only be accessed by a boulder ridden 4WD track.  We scored perfect head high left and right waves all to ourselves on a beautiful clear sunny day for 3 hours.  The spot was a bit intense, there was only about three feet of water over the sharp rock reef at any time and if you didn't kick out of the wave in time, it went right into a rock ledge that stuck completely out of the water!  Luckily I escaped unscathed, but with a few close calls!  On the way back, we went back to Ben's truck and towed it out of the sand.  I was feeling great and had a super productive afternoon at work.  Last night we had an all time party at my house with an international crew, 1 American, 1 Frenchman, 1 Venezuelan, 1 Colombian, 1 Israeli, 1 Canadian, 1 Australian, and 2 Germans ;).  I made chocolate and some ridiculously powerful herbal cacao concoctions and we all got blissed out! (and did a bit of cacao butter painting) That is my kind of party!  Today I squeezed in an hour long surf at Goanna's between yoga and work and had another wicked (local for awesome) session!  I can really feel my surfing improving and I am so stoked on surfing at the moment!

Shark Sighting

After a week of minimal surf and several days of nursing a strained neck from a yoga mishap (diving headfirst into the ground, not my greatest moment) today the waves finally came up in a big way!  Today being Saturday meant no work and no yoga, so I slept in (until 7:30... this is sleeping in when you are used to getting up at 5:00 daily or earlier for yoga), then made an elixir and went for a surf.  Afterwards, I went to Samudra to participate in a fundraising event for child trafficking in India... basically anyone could come do 27, 54, or 108 sun salutations and make an offering.  With my neck still not yet back to 100%, I played it safe and went for the 27 option.  After a delicious salad and a piece of raw strawberry cheesecake, I went for another surf.  Still hungry for more waves, I went to meet Ben, who was just finishing work, to go to Injidup Point.  We drove out there and walked 20 minutes out to the point with our boards only to arrive and here that a 10 foot shark had been seen there only one hour before.  We debated laughing for a while whether the shark would have moved on by now or not... in the end I decided that the waves weren't really that good and that paddling out would be too much of a threat to my longevity.  We hung around for the sunset and had a great inverted sun gazing session that really charged me up.  (When you sun gaze inverted, it is much easier to do, so you can do it for longer and get a more profound effect.)

Australianism of the day- Sometimes (especially on the east coast) instead of saying "thank you," they just say "ta."  This one really annoys me!  The first few times I heard it, I had no idea what people were saying and still it just doesn't make sense to me- "thanks" is not that long that it merits abbreviation to "ta."  I'll add this to the short list of colloquialisms I won't be adopting, which includes pronouncing the "h" at the start of "herbs."

Back to Dunsborough

Its been more than a few days since my last post, this last week has been so hectic (in the best way ever) that I haven't had a single second to type anything out.  After flying back to Perth, I was super stressed after having had some issues with the rental car agency and having to make a mad dash not to miss the plane, but this residual stress turned out to be the effects of the radiation you get exposed to when flying, because as soon as I went down to the beach and immersed myself completely in the water, the radiation was discharged into the earth along with all of the stress and worries.  My friend Shane and I picked up some awesome raw food treats (raw açaí ice cream, almond coconut cake, spicy kale chips, and glass-bottled spring water) from Manna in Perth and spent the afternoon cruising the beaches talking to lovely Perthians about superfoods (a few of them were into it, but most weren't ready for it... yet... but we planted the seed).  The next morning we made the 3 hour drive down to Dunsborough... how amazing it was to come home back into nature... not trees planted in the sidewalk or next to houses, but wild untamed raw nature.  It was also great to get back to Samudra and see everyone's amazing smiling faces that I hadn't seen in three weeks

The next day the day was the start of the David Wolfe retreat at Samudra.  As a part of the retreat, we went on a bushwalk with a member of the local Wardandi tribe who showed us a variety of wild foods and medicines used by her people.  

The next night we had a chocolate making class with David, making a special chocolate that hadn't been made since my last retreat with him in Costa Rica.  It is called "Sin Azucar," which is Spanish for without sugar and is also a play on the word sin because you are indulging in chocolate, which some might say is a sin, but it is sugarless, so its all good!  This is more than just a sugarless chocolate, it is loaded with 20+ powerful superherbs. which not only heal you, but also get you significantly high.  It was so good, I made 22 kilos (48 pounds) of it for the one night David Wolfe talk and chocolate party on Saturday night, which almost 300 people attended.  One night, David, myself, and eight other wild superfoodists had a super elixir blend-off... so much fun!  This is how superheros live!  We concocted every extreme superfood/superherb drink imaginable and then the cacao butter came out....  I'll let you decipher that one on your own.

The whole week was absolutely phenomenal and I'm super stoked to be back in Dunsborough and to have gotten to hang with David out here and make incredible chocolate and elixirs with him.  Today David and his crew left to Bali... they tried to get me to come with them, but alas I have to work... and its pretty amazing where I am.  Bali is definitely in the future plans for me though.  In addition to my daily astanga yoga practice, I've now also started an advanced yoga studies course, which is bound to take me to new levels.  Signing off for now... below is a photo of some of the David Wolfe retreat group.  Look at the view in the second photo to see whats making us smile so much!

Melbourne

Tonight is my last night in Melbourne and its been a very interesting couple of days... I flew in and rented an SUV to carry the 26 boxes being shipped here for Samudra.  Melbourne is sort of a European style city.  Normally I don't mind driving, but driving in a city is one of the few things that is super stressful for me and one of my least favorite tasks.  Melbourne people have a very different psychology than Australians that I have met throughout the rest of the country and they definitely hold themselves in very high regard.  However, I made some wonderful friends here and really connected with some great people.  But the reality is that being in a city and being away from surf is not a reality that I can exist in very well.  Driving in Melbourne is intense!   There are trams running right through the streets (San Francisco style from what I am told) and sometimes when you're driving, you're going right on top of the tracks, parallel to where a tram would be going.  I still don't know what you're supposed to do if a tram shows up on the tracks while you're driving along in the other direction!  Also, they have a unique driving maneuver here call "hook turns"  I'll explain this one from the perspective of American driving (driving on the right hand side) because the maneuver is so confusing on its own that for American readers trying to picture it from the left hand side might melt your brain.  Imagine you come to a light and are planning to turn left across oncoming traffic, BUT instead of pulling into the left hand turning lane, you have to pull into the far right hand lane, wait until all the cars going straight from both directions have gone through, then make the left turn!  But wait, that's not the best part!  I've been here four days now spending large parts of my days driving all around the city and I just found out about the hook turns today!  I've been doing it completely wrong for four days and had no idea!  I can't believe I didn't have a major crash (or a smash as its called here).  Alas, that didn't last long.  Finally today I was backing out of a narrow alleyway and there was a 1 meter high pole that was below my view out the rear window and I smashed right into it!  Then I realized that I had forgotten to lock my car earlier and that my iPod had evaporated... oh well, today was a major lesson in non-attachment.  Can't wait to get back to Dunsborough, nature and waves!  So excited to get on that plane tomorrow!

Good news from today- Vitamix has agreed to let me keep the vitamix they have let me use for the demos on the tour... this is awesome, especially as vitamixes cost over $1000 in Australia!  Stoked!

Cacao Dance Party

Wow, what a night last night!  Rocked up to the cacao party in Sydney with David Wolfe and 300 other wild people, downed 5 cacao drinks, 1 brownie, 1 piece of cacao cake, cacao mousse, and 2 cacao coconut cayenne ice creams and spent the next few hours dancing with every other chocolate charged person there.  I definitely found my cacao limit and had a great time doing it!  Today was the last David Wolfe day in Sydney, then Tuesday we are off down to Melbourne.

On and On

Another great David Wolfe event tonight in Sydney with 300+ people, but starting to feel the wear and tear of the tour life... went all out on 5 hours sleep from 530 AM, just getting back now at 1230 AM and a huge day awaits me tomorrow.  Good thing I am in line with my purpose and loving every moment! :)

East Coast Tour Update

I've been on the east coast for 8 days now and what an 8 days it has been!  Zane and I had incredible success selling the Samudra superfood line, receiving orders of $1000 or more from every single store we set foot in!  Then we had a booth at a David Wolfe evening event in Brisbane followed by a whole day workshop the next day.  We picked up a Vitamix in Brisbane which we're traveling with, so I've been able to have absurdly pleasing blended drinksThen we drove two hours south to Byron Bay, where we scored fun waves in the most crystal clear light blue amazing water with baby dolphins cruising through the line up before going to that day's David Wolfe talk in Byron.  Byron is amazing!  The people are beautiful, all super-fit and the average level of consciousness there is very high.  The weather is warm and tropical and reminded me a lot of Costa Rica.  I can definitely see myself returning there in the future for an extended stay.  Then it was time to move on- an 11 hour drive down through torrential rain which rivaled the craziest Costa Rican rains I have ever experienced back down to Sydney.  The tour continues!

Massive Awakening

Sitting here at the David Wolfe event in Brisbane, just having bought his new Hawaiian Superfood Formula, Blue Green Algae coconut crisps and Amazonian Chocolate and having received a Quinton Sea Plasma Nectar shot from David earlier this afternoon, I have had a massive realization that is making me ecstatic- Superfoods make me SO HAPPY, they are the only thing I ever want to spend money on!  I am in a state of Bliss!

East Coast Tour Update

Monday morning I landed in Sydney at 6 AM, fresh off a red-eye flight and a whopping 1.5 hours sleep.  We picked up 10 massive boxes of Samudra product and promo gear in Zane's (Samudra East coast contact who will hopefully be moving out to Dunsborough soon) Land Rover.  We spent the day in Manly (Sydney suburb) with Zane's family and then Zane left at 6 AM the next morning to make the 10 hour drive north to Byron Bay, a mini Hawaii.  Sydney was interesting- it was a major shock to go from super-rural coastal Dunsborough into a major city... I definitely know which I prefer and its not the concrete jungle.  Today we worked our way north from Byron, eventually finishing off on the Gold Coast in Surfer's Paridise, which is very Miami-esque, with massive high rise buildings along the shorline.  We saw several new accounts today and all of them are frothing (stoked) on the Samudra products, which is awesome!  In one of the shops, I happened upon a book co-written by my amazing Auntie Evelyn- You are world famous! :) This is going to be an incredibly successful trip.  Tomorrow we're hoping to score some waves early right out in front of the hotel before heading north to Kirra and on to Brisbane, where the first David Wolfe event will take place on Friday.  Big action is happening!

PER to SYD

I'm in Sydney now, about to make a 12 hour drive up to Byron Bay to begin the David Wolfe Australia tour...

Green Smoothies

Here's my newest video I've made at Samudra- Green Smoothies are for Everyone!

Yesterday's Waves

What an amazing day of surf yesterday!  Long time locals today were saying they haven't seen it that good here in 30 years!  And I just so happened to be here at this time.... wow!  Check out the photos...

 

Right now I'm enjoying some amazing home made sauerkraut prepared with LOVE (by far the most important ingredient in anything) and some delicious home grown tomatoes while tomorrow's coconut yogurt is culturing... life is pretty good :)

Non-cyclone

As it turns out, the cyclone turned and didn't hit here directly, so we were left with beautiful weather for most of the day (a few moments of drizzle, but nothing severe) and big perfect waves measuring significantly overhead.  Normally the swell here comes from the southwest, but the cyclone descending from the north sent swell from the opposite direction, causing waves to break in places where there are usually no waves at all.  This morning, everyone was running around like crazy trying to figure out where the best waves were to be found.  I lucked out and scored flawless surf (pics and video to come) not once, but twice today with only a handful of other people out in the water!

Raw Strawberry Coconut Cheesecake

Cyclone on the way!

Today is super hot and humid (even more intense than Costa Rica, which is extremely humid during the wet season)  with a category one cyclone headed right towards Dunsborough, expected to hit early tomorrow morning with 70+ mph winds and "heaps" of rain!  On the bright side (not that I'm looking at the cyclone as having any dark side, I'm super excited for this gnarly weather!) the cyclone is also supposed to bring epic surf!

It has also been a great day in the kitchen- I've been working with Samudra head chef Brendon to perfect my Superhero Chocolate Chia Mousse recipe and after several attempts and adjustments, he gave his stamp of approval!  Also, today is my friend Claire's birthday, so Nikki, Zephyr, Cat, and I made her an amazing strawberry coconut cheesecake... its in the freezer getting hard right now, but I snuck a little taste before we put it in and it was incredible!  Time to run across the street for a swim in the ocean, then its birthday party time!  (Stay tuned for what could potentially be some epic storm video footage!)

I haven’t recently had any events that would merit a blog entry of their own, but so much has been happening that I’ve decided to write this entry as a stream of consciousness flow of everything that I’ve been experiencing.

I've been making quite a few promotional videos for Samudra... have a look at http://www.youtube.com/samudrayoga  The other night the sky was so clear and the stars were so bright.  It was the first time that I could clearly distinguish the Milky Way stripe of stars across the sky.  Australian slang is very interesting.

Here nobody says they want to do something- like you would never say "I want to surf", its always "keen" I'm keen to surf, I'm keen to go to bed, I'm keen to eat
Also, "awesome" is never used... if something is really good, its "bullshit" which can be really confusing for me sometimes, as I am accustomed to bullshit being something bad. If the waves were really good, you say the surf was bullshit! If it was bad, its "shit house."  They never say afternoon- they call it the arvo, pronounced avo like avocado. As in "i'm gonna go surf in the arvo" or have a good arvo.

Yesterday was Australia Day, but with the knowledge I have gained about the history of the treatment of aboriginals, I joined a few friends in not celebrating the settlement of Australia by the English.  I went to work as usual, which included a few hours on the ice cream bike… with everyone on the beaches, I set the all time world record for raw ice cream bike sales in one day!  I’m becoming a regular character in town now as the raw ice cream bike man… as soon as I take it out on the streets everyone that drives by honks their horns and waves… Even though I don’t always sell “heaps” of ice cream, it is an incredible marketing vehicle.  I’ve learned to ride the ice cream bike on two wheels, with one of the front two wheels up in the air- if people weren’t already tripping out on the ice cream bike, they definitely are now!  I’ve had some fun waves this past week, including some fun barrels.  In the process of trying to expand raw/superfood consciousness in Australia, I’ve run into some interesting cultural barriers that I hadn’t experienced before.  Just yesterday, one person asked me “Why do people feel the need to be healthy?” and another said “There’s no way I want to live until I’m 120.”  On February 6^th, I’ll be leaving to work with David Wolfe and promote Samudra on David’s tour along the east coast of Australia, going through Brisbane (still very flooded), Byron Bay, Sydney, and Melbourne, before flying back for one week with David at Samudra.  This will be a great opportunity for me to experience the east coast to help me figure out what I want to do in my future in Australia.  I really miss having a Vitamix blender… the Magic Bullet is nice, but there’s just nothing like a 240 mph blade for making the best superfood elixirs ever!

Cave Music

Last night after a long and exciting day at work, I had an experience that could only ever happen in Western Australia.  After watching an amazing sunset over the ocean from atop a mountain, I had the great pleasure of attending a concert of a brilliant band from San Francisco inside a 40 foot tall cave!  Alas, I managed to forget my video camera on this occasion, so words will have to suffice to describe this incredible experience.  The band played one great song after another, the sound vibrating throughout the lit cave, creating quite a surreal experience.  They played on for hours and hours and it just got better and better.  Today is another big work day for me, I'm working on lots of really exciting projects and staying directly in line with my purpose, which is such a great feeling.  Wishing everyone the best day ever from down under!

Everything you need is right there

"Everything you need is right there!" 
This is a great quote I'm borrowing from David Wolfe that has been a recurring theme for me ever since arriving in Australia.  Nearly every time I think of something that I need, it shows up right around me as soon as I take a few seconds to observe my surroundings a little more closely.  This has literally been happening to me every day.  Yesterday, I was driving to go surf when the director of Samudra called me and told me to meet him on a street that I had never heard of so he could take me surfing to a spot that required 4WD to get to.  (Getting to most beaches around here requires an automobile with significant ground clearance capable of serious rock crawling and driving through deep loose sand.)  Before I could even say that I didn't have any idea where that road was, I spotted the street sign of the intersection I was approaching, and, low and behold, it was the exact street that I needed!  At home I have several aloe plants that I'm always using on my skin and in my superfood elixirs and today I was thinking how nice it would be to have an aloe plant here, but how hard it would be to find a nursery that had one. As I thought this, I walked around a side of the building where I'm living that I hadn't walked around before, and growing right there were two aloe plants!  I couldn't believe my eyes!  So next time you think you need to go somewhere to get what you need, consider the possibility- better yet, the probability, or even best, consider the certainty that everything that you need is right there, its just a matter of opening your senses and becoming more conscious of what is around you.

Getting into the flow

My first few surf sessions in Australia  were a other than spectacular as I tried to adapt my surfing to suit the waves here which are very different than those at home, as the waves here break over reefs instead of the sandy beachbreaks and rocky pointbreaks I am accustomed to.  Thankfully, two days ago I had one of those sessions where it all comes together.  I finished work at 5 PM and was just planning to have a relaxing afternoon because I thought the swell was supposed to have dropped off.  I got a text from Samudra's marketing manager, Gus, telling me I should get to Gallows (located in between Hangmans and Guillotines) as soon as possible because he had just had an incredible surf there.  At first I was dismayed because the drive to Gallows requires 4WD to make it through sand and over really rough rocky roads, but I rang my the Samudra cafe manager, Ben to see if he wanted to go and fortunately, he was "keen"!  We jumped in his truck and made the drive out to Gallows to find 4-5 foot surf very reminiscent of Seaside reef in San Diego.  It wasn't too crowded and I started getting lots of really fun, ripable waves right from the start.  From the water we watched the sun glow red as it set through a haze of smoke from nearby fires and as darkness approached, it was time to catch one more wave.  A good looking right came my way and I turned around and started paddling.  The offshore breeze made it a little harder to drop into the wave, so I squeezed in two more paddles before popping up.  I put extra weight into my front foot to keep from being blown off the wave by the wind and as the wave hit the reef it jacked up and through the crystal clear water I could see the rock reef looming no more than a foot below the surface.  I quickly shifted my weight to my back foot to keep the nose of my board above the water as I made the steep drop.  I bottom turned right into the pocket of the wave as the lip folded over me, enclosing me in a perfect round barrel.  Seconds later I came flying out of the barrel onto the shoulder of the wave with a feeling that I have never experienced outside of surfing.  Pure elation, excitement, adrenaline, and joy.  I got my first Australian barrel, hopefully the first of many to come.

Back to work!

All is sunny and beautiful here in WA!  Waves have been big, but with less than ideal conditions, but last night's session definitely got my adrenaline pumping!  Three days ago I started working at Samudra (http://www.samudra.com.au), an oasis of raw foods, yoga, and surfing- the exact 3 things that I live for!  I've really been doing a bit of everything there since I started there, from selling superfoods, to working in the Kombi (Australian name for a VW bus) Cafe, to doing promotion, filming and editing promotional videos (see the first one here to get a look at the Kombi Cafe http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samudra-Yoga-Surfing-food-4-life/133581510019256?ref=sgm#!/video/video.php?v=1558532609263&comments )  and selling raw ice cream around town on the beach on the ice cream bike! 

  The people I work with at Samudra are the coolest people ever, by far and I am having a non-stop incredible time working there.
The fly population here in Western Australia is nothing short of gnarly.  As soon as you go outside, you instantly get a fleet of 10-15 flies assigned to your head, attempting to enter eyes, ears, mouth and nose.  And when you go to the beach, the minimum assigned fleet is 40-60 flies- its unbelievable!  It was driving me absolutely insane.  I am reading a book written by an American woman about her experience on a walkabout with Australian aboriginals.  No sooner had I become completely fed up with the flies then I reached a chapter in the book written entirely on the subject of the menacing Australian flies.  She had apparently experienced similar frustration with them until the tribe leader explained to her that aboriginals do not see the flies as a pest, simply as something completely natural and appreciate that the flies are actually grooming and cleaning the people they land on.  Reading this chapter brought about a radical change in my interaction with the flies.  I now accept their presence and try to embrace them as much as possible and do not swat them away unless they attempt to enter my mouth, in which case I am doing so for the fly's own good.  I highly recommend this book to everyone, it is called Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan.  Happy New Years to everyone and check back soon for more adventure updates!