Holistic Life Navigation

Today's podcast is an audio version of today's email.⁠ ⁠ Not a part of the HLN newsletter? You can join here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/join-my-newsletter 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 Commu...

Today's podcast is an audio version of today's email.⁠ ⁠ Not a part of the HLN newsletter? You can join here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/join-my-newsletter 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 Commu...

One of the biggest losses of the modern era is the loss of the village. Without the village we parent in isolation and use screens with our child(ren) to give us a break. But this plunges our kid(s) into their own isolation: isolation breeding isolation, and parental burnout.  You can register for the 6 month Embodied Parenting  program here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/parenting-group...

What does wanting our kids to like us have to do with a kid’s sense of being too much to handle?  Drop in to find out in this tiny taste of the upcoming 6-month Embodied Parenting Slow Group, starting October 6th: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/parenting-group The live webinar has passed, but you can watch the replay here: https://hln.thinkific.com/courses/embodied-parenting-webinar Do you...

Screen addiction in kids, and the isolation it fosters, is the most insidious parenting issue today. Kids and adults disassociate both lose themselves in the screen — the big difference is that many of us developed without the prevalence of screens, while our kids don't have that privilege.  Kids now retreat to their rooms, alone, orienting to TikTok and influencers, not their family or elder...

Luis and Psychologist Mackenzie Steiner dive deep into their own truths about minors surgically transitioning, who *actually* is trans, de-transition rates, how gender dysphoria shows up in the brain, and gender affirming care options for children.  They share wisdom and stories from their own individual experiences with gender dysphoria, and how they navigated the experience. Each opted for surge...

Neurodivergent kids or teenagers often come home overwhelmed just from spending the day masking, or surviving the hormonal shifts. Directly engaging them often results in frustration. They need to rebuild their capacity from the day before they are resourced enough to engage with us. Let them disconnect and resource before initiating Parallel Co-Regulation. The goal of Parallel Co-Regulation is at...

Stimulating foods loaded in sugar and carbs are everywhere, and especially advertised to our children. These foods cause spikes and dips in glucose which result in an adrenal response. This transforms nervous systems and brain chemistry, negatively impacting dopamine levels. Sometimes we call the result a tantrum, shutting down, or an inability to concentrate.  We can change so much about a kid’s,...

Luis gives us question-and-answer style examples of his upcoming six month Embodied Parenting Slow Group, starting October 6th.  https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/parenting-group Parents ask how to single parent, or co-parent with a sick partner, how to parent while sleep deprived without doing the "cry it out" method, and how to parent rebellious teens and siblings. And a big one:...

Today's podcast is an audio version of today's email.⁠ ⁠ Not a part of the HLN newsletter? You can join here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/join-my-newsletter You can register for the Embodied Parenting webinar here: https://hln.thinkific.com/courses/embodied-parenting-webinar You can also read more about, and register for, the 6 month program here: https://www.holisticlifenavig...

Parenthood is brutal and brilliant, like drinking Ayahuasca for over a decade. Our upcoming six-month Embodied Parenting program starts October 6th, but it won't provide you with answers, nor a guide book. Instead, we'll dive deep into accessing and learning our bodies instincts and intuition to discover our own unique truth. Click here to sign up for our newsletter, and for Embodied Par...

Today's podcast is an audio version of today's email.⁠ ⁠ Not a part of the HLN newsletter? You can join here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/join-my-newsletter ⁠ You can also read more about, and register for, the 6 month program here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/parenting-group You can get instant access to the webinar replay for only $10 here: https://hln.thinkific.c...

We, or our children, can be gender non-conforming, or have body dysphoria and not be trans. There is nothing wrong with bodies in puberty (which is an inherently dysphoric experience): the problem is with our culture, families and society not having rites of passage, and not knowing how to support and hold space for teenage bodies as they mature.  Dive into this podcast, and for a more in-depth ex...

Marika, Evan, Camille and Luis talk about their experiences as parents on today’s podcast. Marika came to embodiment and studied somatics after her son became an adult, while Evan trained in somatics before becoming a parent to his one year old. So the team discusses embodied parenting from a full spectrum of perspectives and experiences.  They discuss how embodiment has changed their parenting. A...

Luis drops a brief announcement about his upcoming visit to the U.K.! You can read more about the upcoming events below: 8/29: Alternatives Workshop 09/06 - 09/02: Broughton Sanctuary Retreat or send us an email at info@holisticlifenavigation.com You can register for the Embodied Parenting webinar here: https://hln.thinkific.com/courses/embodied-parenting-webinar You can also read more about, and...

Today's podcast is an audio version of the mid-month newsletter. Not a part of the HLN newsletter? You can join here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/join-my-newsletter You can also read more about, and register for, the 6 month program here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/parenting-group You can get instant access to the webinar replay for only $10 here: https://hln.thinkific....

Marika, Camille, Evan and Luis reminisce about the 7 week course, how it started, and what their individual entry points were: Marika’s was admin in the very early days, Camille’s was the famous ant crawling on Luis as he taught, and Evan, as a long time musician friend, started in podcast production. Each recounts their experience of the 7 week course.  The course was the first offering HLN ever...

Luis and Camille riff on GLP-1s. They are not a silver bullet, nor do they teach you how to relate to food, but they can be a great temporary auto regulator and bridge while a new food relationship is built.  In an era of overfed and undernourished people, Luis and Camille talk about how to get nutritional needs met. Resmaa Menakem speaks about culture vs strategy. Diet culture is a strategy. Our...

Stress is a short term experience that results in elevated adrenaline that often manifests with higher blood pressure, increased heart rate, muscle tension and anxiety. Certain foods can increase our fight-or-flight stress hormones, putting our body on a hormonal rollercoaster, while other foods can increase our capacity for peace.  Luis’ book, Food Therapy , has more of the philosophy and practic...

Luis and Nicole Sachs dig into the depths of pain. She believes pain is caused by fear, and the meaning we assign to the pain, keeping the nervous system in fight or freeze. If we think something is wrong with us, a stress response results, because we become our own threat.  Nicole lived in her own cage of pain, fear and shame until she found Dr. Sarno’s work. He believes back pain is due to bottl...

Feeling anxious? Your body might need to down-regulate.  Feeling depressed? Your body might need to up-regulate.  This modulation of finding balance can be achieved in two ways, through a simple supportive practice Luis offers, and through food. Food affects our biology 24 hours a day. What we eat can activate us into a fight-or-flight response, effectively inducing stress. Or, we can consciously...

PSA: psychiatry does not have any case reports of diseases that are validated! This shortcoming of the DSM is why Luis dropped out of psychology and instead chose holistic psychology. As Luis sees it, behavior is not a fixed identity.  There is no biochemical data proving “mental disease”. What we can track is neurotransmitters, like seratonin. 50-90% of these are made in the gut. Cue nutrition. F...

He lost 10 pounds in a month. She lost 125 pounds in 4.5 years.  Why? Because they didn’t focus on the weight. Camille and Luis focused on tending to their nervous systems so that their bodies could shift from fat storage mode to fat burning mode.  Camille credits her shift to focusing on ease, energy, and flow. She also focused on reducing her adrenaline overload, then she worked on reducing her...

Michaeleen Doucleff joins Luis for an effervescent meeting of minds in this joyful podcast. A reporter and an author with a Ph. D. in biochemistry, Michaeleen’s knowledge base is vast and fascinating. In 2021 she published Hunt Gather Parent , and in March 2026 she published Dopamine Kids . Luis credits her work as changing his family’s life because of fundamental parenting shifts she shares that...

Camille Leak, Grey Doolin, and Luis chat about protecting their peace amidst dysregulated political times. With the privilege of their safety, they are attuning to what is true for them and where their agency lies.  So many are glued to screens, attuning to someone else’s story and suffering, bypassing the okay-ness of their own reality. This attunement to suffering doesn’t always resource them to...