Raw Spirit Festival

On our red rock hike

Hello all you beautiful Juicy Feasters!

We had an amazing weekend at Raw Spirit Fest, in Sedona, Arizona, and we hope to see you all there next year, it is well worth the journey you may have to take to get there! I have never experienced such a peaceful, graceful, loving, inspiring group of people all co-experiencing together. We were surrounded by the the awesome presence of classic Sedona Red Rocks, towering over us, while we visited and vibed amongst ponds, trees, pathways, and sunshine. And, we did it! We got www.JuiceFeasting.com up and running, to be ready for the Festival!

We drove up to Sedona on Thursday, with our friend Michaela and her two children Quinn and Levi. It is always so wonderful to spend time with these children, and they know how to ask for "banana in a blanket" (banana wrapped in kale or lettuce), and not for some less desirable, un-mentionable child food. Of course they would have good taste in food, as their mother is the author of Baby Greens, a lovely book on raising raw children. Both children were pleasant and wonderful for the whole five hour drive from Patagonia to Sedona.

Our friends David and Sarah had found an idyllic camping spot in the National Forest, surrounded by huge trees and right next to a running creek, where we slept in the red rock dust of Sedona. We arrived around 4 o'clock and the children, Micky, and I all took off our shoes and went straight to dip our toes in the creek. Toes turned to full body splashing and laughing for the children. We dried off, set up our tents, and lit a bon-fire once it got dark.

Friday morning, we went into the Festival fairly early, so that David and I could set up our booth. We were lucky enough to be next to the Raw Family booth, and got to bask in the presence of Victoria, Valya, and Sergei Boutenko. We didn't have much to set up, and so spent most of the rest of the day visiting. WOW, what an assortment of amazing people! If you had told me two years ago, when I first began to read and research how the raw food lifestyle worked, that I would be meeting all the people that so inspired me and guided me along my way to raw, I don't know that I would have believed you! But here they all were, and true to Raw Spirit, every one of them was there with an open heart, ready to love, share, and be truly present. We even got to talk to Angela Stokes, who was sadly absent, over Skype! We saw some amazing performances, ate some amazing food, and hugged amazing people. Dinner was late, but nobody minded. We ate with all our Tree of Life friends, and gathered up Micky, the children, and David and Sarah, and drove back out to our camp to sleep in the quiet of the woods, lulled to sleep by the running water in the creek.

On Saturday morning, we woke up even earlier, and bathed in the creek, a chilly but enlivening experience. Micky had found another mom to share a room with closer to the Festival, so she packed up her tent, and off we all went. David was scheduled to speak on stage with Cathy Silvers at 9 am, so with out so much as our quart of morning water, we headed into the Festival. We got there early enough to get breakfast, buckwheat cereal, raw cacao nibs, a green drink, and fruit, and I sat on the grass with Keith from the Tree, and listened to Cathy and Friends. David was one of the friends, so he talked about Juice Feasting, and the importance of Juicing with/around your children. Cathy is a SUPER MOM who is sharing her experience of going raw as a mother of five children with as many people as she can reach. You can find out more about Cathy at www.thehealthylivingshow.com . Most of the rest of the day was spent enjoying being surrounded by raw gurus, and also being surrounded by amazing raw food snacks, sprouts, wheatgrass, juicers, hemp clothing, E3Live (great on a Juice Feast), books, Vitamineral Green (also great on a Juice Feast), goji berries, and knowing that everyone was doing business with love and with a vision of health for all things living. Like a breath of fresh air!

NOTE: David and I are not Juice Feasting at this time, but our dear friend Deidra WAS, and she was a super star and drank her juice all weekend while also being surrounded by raw cacao, AND she volunteered in the kitchen!

4:30 PM and it was time for David to give his talk on Juice Feasting. He was introduced by Mike Adams of NewsTarget.com, and gave a stellar presentation to a jam packed room, people were sitting on the floor, and flowing out the door! Of course it was my favorite talk of the entire event, but perhaps I am a bit biased. After his talk, we did some more visiting with people, and drove home to camp at the end of the day feeling very happy and excited to be part of such a lovely family.

We slept well all night cradled by the red rock dust. Sunday morning found us sleeping in just a little bit, but still arriving in time to hear many amazing talks and musicians. We had decided that today we would walk around and listen to talks, rather that sit at our booth, so we left our booth to fend for itself with a pile of business cards and a sign up sheet. The day melted away in a dreamy kind of way. I had coconut water around noon that made me feel amazing and alive (I had been feeling a bit sunburned and tired). I felt energetic and happy for the rest of the day. Before raw, I could never spend much time in the sun, and got sun/heat stroke VERY easily. Now, I am much more happy in the sun, and the sun and I are on much more friendly terms than ever before.

There is something so powerful about living a life that is fully supported and up-held by those you spend time with. I have been living at/around the Tree of Life for almost a year now, and spending almost all of my time with people who are raw foodists, or who are becoming raw foodists. It has really been amazing for me in my raw path to have chosen this community of support, and I encourage everyone who is moving down the path towards raw, or towards any authentic choice for that matter, to choose a circle of support as well. Support is out there, you just have to claim it! I spent a year milling around, in and out of live foods, never able to stay 100% RAW the way my soul told me I could be, the way I so much wanted to be. Then, I chose to surround myself with support, and I have been raw and happy ever since (for 10 months now). So this event was a great source of support, it was magical really to be at a RAW event! It was like all the events we remember as children, but without all the propaganda, sugar, meat, alcohol, grumpy, festivaled-out over sugared people who got burnt out early because they ate wrong and so their blood sugar whacked out. No, nothing like that, it was a very CLEAN festival, yes, it was a RAW festival! HOORAY! Thank you Happy Oasis, we love you.

Sunday night found David and I cuddled up in our yellow blanket on the grass in front of the Main Outdoor Stage, and David was presented with the GOLDEN CHOPSTICKS! Angela Stokes was also a recipient of the Golden Chopsticks, and Happy Oasis, the presenter of the awards, had some very nice things to say about Juice Feasting, and the future of Juice Feasting. The Golden Chopsticks were awarded to "up-and coming in the raw food world", the Golden Spoon was presented to "up-and very powerful in the raw food world." Golden Spoonies of this year were Cherie Soria, Patricia Bragg, Victoria Boutenko, and Jameth Sheridan. David was very honored to be a Golden Chopstick recipient, and Juice Feasting is very excited to have such a bright and shining future! We sat with our chopsticks and watched an amazing talent show, and what talent! Then was Human and the Humans, who we had met at the Tree earlier in the year - yet even more talent. By now we were very cold, and it was time to head back to our sleeping bags next to the creek.

We had dreams of all our friends, new and long cherished, and woke up to a bright and sunny Monday. The weather had been perfect, the group had been lovely, the food had been tasty and nutrient dense, we were happy. After creek bathing and sun bathing, we went into town to check out Cafe Raw Bliss, were things were hopping, busy with Raw Spirit Fest folk. Even more time to visit. We had one of the best raw pizzas ever, and then went for the hike that everyone comes to Sedona hoping to have. Red rocks, setting sun, humming energy, and warm, clean, dry, Arizona air. We finished off the day with another bon-fire with David and Sarah and a long conversation about living off of Prana, making beautiful moments your meals, satiating yourself with the nutritional energy of our amazing planet and all of its life forms. Will this be the next step? Find out!

Tuesday morning we spent visiting with David and Sarah, and then headed back to Patagonia. We had with us a woman from New York who was heading to the Tree of Life for TOL experience days, and she got a five hour, live food nutrition consultation out of David to boot! We arrived home excited about next year, and about all our up-coming projects.

We hope to see you next year at Raw Spirit! Check it out at www.rawspiritfest.com

Thank you for Juicing, and for eating as an act of LOVE!!

Love Katrina and David.

For more on Raw Spirit Festival, check out Mike Adams' write up here