Wilbur Hot Springs ~ A Water Like No Other!!!
I am just back from a month on the road, touring and teaching across California! It is constantly amazing to me, being from the east coast, just how geologically active that part of the world is!
My trip began in Hollywood and ended at Mt Shasta, and this trip if done right is something like a spiritual pilgrimage! Along the way I made a point to visit as many HotSprings as I could find, and each one had its own unique qualities and properties. Not all Springs are created equal, and I must say, of all I visited while there one stands out in my mind.
Wilbur Hot Springs! Just 2.5 hours North East of the Bay, this is a great place to take a break from city living, or for anyone who loves to Spring Jump around the World! This Water is Raw, Alive, and untreated, and flows into the pools (the “fluminarium” as this style is called) just as they flow from the Earth. There is a bit of a cooling that is allowed before they enter the pools so as to prevent serious burns, but no chlorination, ozonation or any other denaturing technology is used!
This is a truly unique source, rich in both Sulfur and Sodium Chloride, as well as…. something unidentified. I am guessing it is a naturally occurring Petroleum Oil of some kind. It leaves a silky coat on your skin, and adds dramatically to the exotic experience of Wilbur’s enchanted grounds.
There is a 140 degree F hotspring geyser that erupts every 44 minutes, and over 1,800 acres of private nature preserve to explore. The valley is totally concealed from civilization, and its nestled into its Napa Valley-like hills are the solar panels that power this off grid facility.
There is a gigantic public commercial sized kitchen, and as a guest you are given your own cupboard and refrigerator shelf. This means that no matter what your diet you can take care of yourself in a very comfortable environment!
Also, unlike some of the other Hot Springs I visited in California, Wilbur has the feel of the Sacred without being the culty experience of some of the Hot Spring “churches” (legal spiritual communities) around the State.
The grounds have been decorated in a Zen theme that creates an ideal blank canvass for you to paint your own experience upon! In the gift shop they sell the dehydrated salts of the Waters there, which have now found their way into my kitchen at home!
Enjoy these videos, and visit these springs as soon as you can!
Be sure to check out the upcoming Eden Hot Springs retreat in Arizona April 28th through May 2nd, and if your ready join us in what is perhaps the most transformative environment on Earth!
Thanks as always for reading and for watching!
Bless!
~Daniel
Bodybuilding Wild Chaga Protein Elixir
Hey Everyone! This is Sarah Maria and I’m really excited to have the opportunity to create this blog post today!
Daniel and I didn’t want to leave you hanging for long without new information posted on the site but Daniel is unable to devote any time to his blog for a little while yet as he is on the road and busy spreading the word of Shamanic Nutrition in California! The tour is going great and there are several events left if your thinking you’d like to see Daniel do his thing live and in person!
These next 3 videos are the follow up from the last post entitled “Stalking the Wild Chaga”.
The first video covers proper drying and storage of the Chaga mushroom and preparing a decoction, with the 2nd & 3rd videos being a detailed, step by step instruction on creating an Elixir, using the wild-harvested Chaga tea as a base.
As per usual, Daniel’s delivery in these next 3 videos is flawless… Enjoy!
Daniel has a bit of an aversion to recipes….. preferring to teach the principles and process of ElixirCrafting and encouraging people to use their intuition and to create from their own unique palate, so it’s a special treat that he measured everything this time and I was able to put together the recipe for you!
I’ll let you watch the videos first though… the recipe is included at the bottom of the post.
The ElixirCraft Mastery Program is an excellent resource for understanding the concept and components of making liquid medicinal preparations and I recommend it to anyone who is embarking on the journey to Invincible Health!
Also, check out our friends at rawnatureboy.com to get an exclusive package deal on Sun Warrior Protein Powder, SurThrival Colostrum & Immortal Velvet Deer Antler!!!
For those of us living in areas where Chaga is not readily available we can substitute the Chaga tea base with any medicinal teas we are currently working with, keeping in mind that the flavor may vary slightly… but not enough to make that big of a difference.
Bodybuilding Wild Chaga Protein Elixir
6 cups wild chaga decoction (tea)
1/2 cup soaked chia seeds
1/4 cup mesquite powder
1 cup wild blueberries
3 raw eggs
1/2 cup Sun Warrior protein powder
1/2 cup SurThrival colostrum
1tblsp raw butter (or other fat source)
3 guarana seeds
1tsp vanilla powder
1/3 tsp whole leaf stevia powder (or sweetener of choice)
pinch of salt
Thanks for all your support here at DanielVitalis.com!!!!
We look forward to your comments and feedback….
Sarah Maria xo
Superfood SpeakEasy Promotions
You Can Harvest Wild Rice!
Ever wonder where Wild Rice comes from?
These are the final two videos from the series I shot with Arthur Haines, Botonist and Wild Foods Expert and Primitive Skills Master! When he wants to eat Wild Rice he doesn’t go to the market or health food store, he goes to into the Wilds!
For much of the year Wild Rice has formed a significant part of my diet and I recommend it to my friends and clients often as a commercially available source of Wild Food! For countless generations it served as a staple food crop to many indigenous peoples of North America.
Arthur and his crew harvest enough each season to last them through the year, and they process all of it by hand! This is more than interesting, it is an education in how you can get started too!
Special thanks to both Arthur and the Maine Primitive Skills School for introducing me to him! I will be taking part in a 3 day course this weekend with them on Winter Survival Skills, and I will be sure to get lots of great footage!
Also, there are just a few days left to grab your discounted tickets to Eden Hot Springs (seriously)! Don’t miss this chance to soak in these Wild Waters!
And, if you love Arthur let him know by leaving your comments! If all goes well we will offer a foraging class sometime this summer!
Thank You for reading this and for all your support! This is for you! ~Daniel
A special offer just for you!
Are you stuck in a rut? Ready for a change?
Want to feel connected again and re-member why you are here and what your purpose is? Are you ready to explore the Wildness within? Ready to meet people like you, people who share your visions, values, and goals?I feel confident when I say that this is the adventure that you have been longing for!
I am headed back to the Desert to visit the sacred healing springs of Geronimo, the Apache Warrior… Eden Hot Springs Arizona! The Epic Eden Hot Springs 2010 Spring Retreat is the place where you can truly express your Feral nature!
This is the spot where I fully express parts of myself that are hidden when I walk through the domesticated world! A place where you can take off the mask and explore who you really are!
Not only is this the Party of the year, but what makes Eden so unique is that the focus here is on tribe, holistic living and multi-dimensional healing… Complete with Organic whole food, Healing Hotspring Water, and the vitalizing rays of the desert Sun, there is nowhere I would rather be this Spring!
Come cleanse with us.. physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually in the height of the Spring bloom of the Sonoran desert! Reconnect to the Majesty of creation as the Milky Way fills the vast night sky high over head.
As a presenter at this epic event, I will be leading you across the land to teach the Secrets of Water at Eden’s various desert Spring Sources. We will explore the Mineral properties of the waters, and gather the natural salts that rise up out of the ground.
Not only will we explore the Element of Water, but also of Earth, Air, and Fire as well. This retreat will be an immersion into the Elemental. This is a place where each Element is so powerfully evident that it is almost like an alchemical laboratory…
The staff of this retreat are world class healer-practitioners who know the art of facilitating a most powerful, once in a lifetime journey! Joy Light and Rebecca Astara, without a doubt, both masterfully wield the art of facilitating a transformational life experience for everyone who attends.
Each presenter and staff member has been consciously and specifically chosen to weave together an experience that will add value to your life for the rest of your days!
This is a crew that I have worked with many times, and this is more than just a retreat for us. Eden Hot Springs is like our Temple, a place whose Hot Springs hold a sacred power. A power that burns away the layers of false self that can sometimes accumulate on and around us.
It leaves behind a glowing new You, in a deep state of wonder, with a renewed vision, purpose, and clarity and personal power. It is a place of renewal.
It is a place where I feel I can experience what it is like to live like a tribe on the land. I feel indigenous and married to the elements. There is no where else I feel more “connected”.
Those who join us will be a part of our Eden Family forever.
From now until Sunday the 31st we can offer you this exclusive opportunity for $50 off of your ticket. Trust me, you want to be at this one!
~Daniel
An official challenge to those who love Kombucha!
Thanks for checking back!
We are excited to bring yet another video with Wild Foods expert Arthur Haines!
This information, for me, was particularly fascinating, and I think the same is true for Arthur as well!
For centuries people have been enjoying the health benefits of the fermented beverage Kombucha, which is often mistakenly referred to a Chinese Mushroom Tea. In truth, Kombucha, which most likely hails not from China, but from Russia, is tea that has been fermented by a “SCOBY”. This is an acronym for a Symbiotic Colony Of Yeast and Bacteria, the strange pancake like colony of organisms that float on top of the ferment.
Typically the Kombucha begins with a steeped tea (literally the Tea plant “Camellia sinensis”) and white or “unrefined” cane sugar. The SCOBY, often called the “Mother” is placed into the tea where it (the yeast and bacteria) ferment the feed on the sugars and phytonutrients of the tea, fermenting it into the drink we call Kombucha.
For years I have been told that the Mother required the caffeine from the tea plant, as well as the Sucrose from the sugar. I have seen small Kombucha projects where honey, agave, and other alternative sugar sources have been used, but they ultimately are less functional than sucrose. The flavored and herbed Kombucha we see on the market is made first with tea, and then is infused with other plants after it is fermented.
Arthur has discovered a method that bypasses both the Tea plant as well as the Refined Sugar! What he shares here is a truly Wild food, fully medicinal, and even better tasting than what I was used to!
So, this is an official challenge to the Kombucha producers and communities to up their game!
Have a look and let us know what you think!!! ~Daniel
Oh, almost forgot! Special thanks to Lauren Kinsey, who posted a really valuable comment after seeing the last set of videos with Arthur. I had mentioned that wild plant harvesting by humans can actually benefit the ecosystem. In a portion of her response Lauren’s says “I don’t understand how harvesting wild food can “benefit the ecosystem”.
I really appreciated her stepping up to ask because I know that I (and much of my generation) was raised to believe that we are inherently, by our very nature, damaging to ecosystems. This way of seeing the world is very much in vogue today. Arthur shares a very eloquent response;
“It does at first seem like an odd statement that collecting wild plants can actually benefit the ecosystem. But Daniel’s statement is factual. It may be hard to perceive because we simply don’t interact with wild plants as traditional cultures did, which means we lack the knowledge base to understand our role in the ecology of these organisms. Further, we have been taught to “take only pictures, leave only footprints.” This well-intentioned phrase has created a populace that no longer uses and cherishes wild species. Consequently, many do not understand their true value.
There are so many examples of beneficial human interaction it is hard to know where to begin. Consider species such as evening-primrose, a colonizer of open, disturbed places that has an edible taproot. When we gather this root, we kill the plant. However, we also till the ground when we excavate the roots, disturbing the soil and maintaining an open area–which is absolutely necessary for this species. Without repeated disturbance, the area will eventually grow in with taller plants that will shade out the evening-primrose, leading to a loss of that species at that site. When we gather edible seeds and seed-like fruits, we unintentionally scatter or drop some of them, helping the plant to disperse further than it would have otherwise. Native American practices have been shown to increase the abundance of certain species even though lethal collection was being performed. They utilized many traditional practices to ensure plants were not eradicated. Simply gathering bulbs after the seeds had formed would allow the plant to germinate in freshly tilled earth.
We really do need a shift away from the current paradigm of a hands-off approach to nature. This “look but don’t touch” attitude toward nature has been applied too extensively, and many mistakenly believe that all wild beings are better off without any human interaction. However, there exist many examples showing that conscientious use of plants by people is beneficial for those species. Further, experientially learning the uses of wild plants teaches people to value those species while also helping them to become more self-sufficient.
The simultaneous use and conservation of nature requires far more knowledge and skill than simply leaving nature alone. What might appear on the surface to be a wanton act of collection actually represents a gathering system that includes numerous safeguards to protect plants from overharvest. Abstract learning about nature (i.e., learning that doesn’t involve interaction and use) doesn’t accurately portray the value of different species. Without this knowledge, the need to preserve species can’t be fully appreciated.
Best wishes,
Arthur Haines
Wild Elixirs of the Native Americans!
This is Wild Food expert Arthur Haines showing us his method of making the indigenous North American wild hickory nut mylk elixir!
I really love the devices he uses to process the foods he Wild Crafts.
Many are hand made and quite intentional in their design and function.
The Mortor and Pestle Arthur is using here is incredibly functional, and makes most kitchen Mortors look somewhat silly by comparison. This is the size that I think is most functional for actual use in any traditional setting. Years ago while traveling in South East Asia I noticed Mortors made from stone that were nearly this exact size, and they were used daily in the households of people there.
The ones that we keep in our kitchens today are usually just decorative, or at best are for small novelty jobs. Wild crafting medicinal herbs and wild foods on any significant scale means obtaining or creating some innovative tools for processing your produce!
One thing you can sense as Arthur talks is his deep grasp of the nutritional components of the wild foods he discusses. There is a vast difference between understanding the basic survival foods needed to stay alive while stranded in the woods, and fully understanding how the local indigenous peoples thrived on the foods of their eco-ranges for countless generations.
This awareness makes all “diets” look like unsustainable fads. If you remove the neurotic nutritionism disorders that are plaguing humanity, there would really only be two significant diets to choose from… Agrarian (domestic foods) or Gatherer/Hunter (wild foods). Or of course some composite of the two.
“Modern” man is almost, with little exception, exclusively Agrarian today. Unlike Agrarians of the past, he seems to be weakening and poisoning his food supply with a near total irreverence.
Today the world wide commercial mono-crop farming practices all around us are raising varieties of weak-gened domesticated food hybrids in conditions so toxic as to make them very unattractive as food options. These are most often processed into nutrient deficient edible caloric non-foods. This of course continues to weaken us just as it does our offspring and ultimately our species genetics.
Well grown Local Food is beginning to gain a foothold, though in much of the world it has become increasingly more interesting to find food from local organic growers. Real, well grown local heirloom food appears scarce here in society at this time in history.
And yet Wild Food remains as nutritious, as tonic, and as much a delicacy as ever!
Wild Foods offer a powerful source of nutrition that is not only free, but actually benefits the ecosystem while strengthening your awareness of your relationship to it. These foods are invariably more nutritious and therapeutic than their domesticated relatives. Bringing them back into our lives in any amount is one of the best investments we can make in our longevity, in our strength, in our Vibrancy and Vitality.
When we use local Wild Foods we re receiving the medicines and macro-nutrient (fat, carbohydrate, protein) profiles and ratios that are particular to that species in our own climate. Each meal is representative of the conditions of that place and to eat it places us in the interconnected web of life-forms of that ecosystem.
It is a critical time for us to remember that we are biotic too, and we are a part of a Living Organism Earth, not separate from it….
Foraging Wild Food teaches us this in a way that is experiential and far more life enhancing than merely learning about it intellectually.
It is why I share videos like these.
Thanks for making some time to read this.
Gratitude!
~Daniel
This Guy Really Eats Wild Food!
Arthur Haines is not your average botanist!
I first met him 2 years ago at the Maine Primitive Skills Gathering… He was dressed in buckskins and was winnowing wild rice in a pit he had dug in the ground… I knew at that moment I had found someone I wanted to study with!
Arthur is truly a renaissance man. He is a scientist, an author, a martial artist, a primitive skills master (He and his partner Nicole start all the fires for their wood-stove with a handrill!), and by far the greatest teacher that I have found for wild food foraging in my neck of the woods!
Every Year he leads seasonal foraging classes near his home in Maine. I took a 3 day course with him last summer and learned more in a few days than I had in years of study. When it comes to plants, it is clear that Arthur has found his calling!
What’s more is that he truly understands how to use the plants around him. Whether for food, fuel, fiber, or building material, his skill set never ceases to amaze me! What I appreciate most about his teaching style is the way he so effortlessly blends his modern western science background with his deep knowledge of the indigenous uses of the species around him.
It is an honor to present this video series to you!
These of course, are just the first of vids of the series so stay tuned to see the rest! And as always, leave some comments if you find this as inspiring as I do!Thanks Arthur, and thanks to all of you who take the time! ~Daniel
Is Cacao a Drug?
For several years now the Nutrition Community has been working with Cacao Beans as food and medicine. There has been so much debate about this in the health community…. some say Cacao is the ultimate Superfood, rich in antioxidants, others say it is a dangerous Stimulant Drug… So, is it a Medicine or a Poison?
The answer is obvious… It is all of the above!
Allow me to explain.
We have had our words and definitions a bit mixed up when it comes to substances that affect our consciousness… For instance we have in this country a “War on Drugs”. We also, simultaneously, have be-speckled our every street with “Drug Stores”. The Drugs on the street are considered Poisons. The Drugs in the Stores are considered Medicine. Many illegal street drugs were once or still are considered Medicines. Most of the world is waking up to the fact that Pharmaceutical Drugs are Poisons (just listen to the long list of toxic chemical side effects on the drug TV commercials).
What is the difference between all of these substances? How can we use the words “drug”, “medicine”, and “poison”, which seem to mean such incredibly different things, to describe the same substances?
Thats easy! Its because they are Synonyms!
The Alchemist, and “Father of Modern Chemical Medicine”, Paracelsus left us a phrase that has lit my path through the world of nutrition for years; “Everything is Poison, nothing is Poison, Dose is everything!”
Cacao Beans are a Mildly Psychoactive Cardiac Stimulant, no question. This means they are Medicine, a Drug, and yes with over-dose or over-use, a Poison as well…. Welcome to the world of Pharmacologically Active Indigenous Nutrition… here the lines can get a bit blurry.
The separation of “Foods” and “Drugs” is a relatively new concept that has very little to do with your health and safety. In fact, when it comes to Plant Foods most, as they are found in the wild, are very medicinal… In other words they are “drugs”. It is only with the extreme hybridization of our food supply that these medicinal substances have been bred out of our food.
Domesticated Humans don’t like the taste of medicine…. Bitter.
Remember Hippocrates admonition “Let Food be they Medicine, and Medicine be thy Food. Another way to say this is “Let your Foods be your Drugs, and your Drugs be your Foods”…. Interesting. This timeless (or maybe ‘timely’) piece of advice can be a bit challenging to follow when the foods in our marketplaces are devoid of the medicine they once contained… Take lettuce for example… in the Wild it is a Mild Narcotic!!! In fact, its sap is called Lettuce Opium! This lettuce is by nature quite bitter. While it is the source of all of our supermarket varieties, its use is radically different.
Its the difference between a Wolf and a Chihuahua…
Because of the down breeding of our staple plant foods, we now have to have our Foods and Medicines separately.
Enter the Cacao Bean… Still bitter… the taste of Medicine… still psychoactive… Still intact. And unlike so many other “Drugs” that have survived in our culture, tobacco as an example, Cacao Beans are a food! Food as Medicine!
Just remember, everything in Moderation (especially moderation)!
Now that we have put that to rest… How do we use them??!!!
Great Quest-I-on!
Here are some vids from my travels in Arizona. While in Sedona I gave a talk at the “ChocolaTree” Cafe’ where I recieved quite a Chocolate Education! From where they get their Beans, to how they Process and Temper them, this team has it down!
They are also running one of the countries most cutting-edge high-vibe nutrition cafe’s… They serve excellent Raw Food dishes, Soups, Juices, Elixirs, Tea’s and of course…. Chocolate!
Big Thanks to the whole team for hosting me for such a truly amazing event! Even bigger thanks for your total committment to excellence. From the ethics to the quality, to the standard of production… You are really a model for the future! ~Daniel
Santa Clause and Psychedelic Mushroom Shamanism?
Ahhh… Christmas.
I grew up attending Protestant schools. I was taught the Story of Jesus and his birth. This was of course complete with Three Wise Men, a Virgin, and Incense and Gold.
Simultaneously I was indoctrinated into the Strange Cult of Santa Clause. He lives at the North Pole with Elves… His Reindeer fly.
I was at once told that that the birth of the “Sun” of God was the reason for the holiday, and was to also Believe that this man was coming down my chimney (often we had no chimney). How did this Jolly Bearded character from the North Pole fit into the story and why was he standing in for the “Sun” of God?
After years of de~programming and Meta~Programming my mind, I am preparing to Celebrate the Yule Time, or Winter Solstice.
This year that will occur December 21st at 1747 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Yes I know, Green Witch… that is interesting.
That is the moment of course where the Sun (of God) is the lowest in the sky that it can go (that by the way is called the “Tropic of Capricorn, and is the first day of the Zodiacal Sign of Capricorn), and it will remain at the Latitude for 3 days. This of course ties into the 3 days of the “Sun of God” in “Hell” or the underworld, that is found in the Biblical Gospels.
We celebrate the birth of the “Sun of God” on the December 25th, because the Solstice (21st or 22nd, it changes year to year in our Calendric approximation of the Solar Year) + 3 days of the Sun at its low point in the sky equals December 25 or Christ~Mass, the day the Sun (of God) is “Born”.
This day has always been Sacred to Humans and in all cultures, as our species civilizations have eternally charted the Sun, Moon and Stars.
So… Wait!!! What does that have to do with is Santa Clause, and what does he have to do with Christmas?
Wow was I ever shocked when I found out…
Here is a little clip from the DVD “Invincible Health” that I created with Superfood Speakeasy. In the clip I am letting the audience in on The Secret! Santa Clause is about Getting High!
Hmmm….
Interesting! What Now?
Meta~Programming.
~Daniel
Would You Do This? Amazonian Warrior Initiation!
Wow, does our culture ever lack rights of passage!
Ever since I was young I have been drawn to tribal initiation ritual. As a young boy I would flip through pages of National Geographic looking at the tattoos and body piercings of indigenous peoples around the world.
For me the attraction has never really been about art as much as about ritual and initiation. It was a way of becoming what so many ancient cultures called a “warrior”. To them, a warrior is not just someone capable of waging war, but rather someone who is capable of confronting themselves.
The ritualistic initiation is usually designed to thrust you out of your comfort zone… often way out! Whether the pain and blood of tattoo or scarring, the mock death of the psychoactive brews, or the hunger and thirst of the vision quest, these rituals powerfully silence the voice of doubt and introduce a child into the world of adulthood.
Without this in our lives many of us seek to re-create it…
I think that many of us seek opportunities to create a “proving ground” experience for ourselves, whether this is a daring sport adventure like rock climbing or skydiving, something more ritualized like a Native American SweatLodge or Peruvian Ayahuasca Ceremony, or maybe even acts of nutritional resolve like lengthy juice or water fasts or rawfood diets, these things help us to prove to ourselves what we are really made of.
Is this simply ego, or is it something more fundamental to the needs of Fully Formed Humans? Though I understand (and have finally accepted) that we can not go back to the indigenous ways, I do feel that they offer us important insight into how we can move forward in the creation of a sustainable and functional culture here on Earth.
Enter the Bullet Ant…
A few nights back I was talking to the owner of a local wine bar about the native meads, wines, and beers of indigenous peoples. He asked if I had ever seen the “Bullet Ant Initiation” from the Amazon.
When I told him I hadn’t he pulled this video up on his iPhone… I had to share it!
The video is intense, and at first perhaps a challenge to fully understand. As someone who has been through a few painful initiations I can appreciate why something like this has been built into their culture. Imagine really knowing what your allies are capable of, what they have been through, and how very committed they are to you, your family, your tribe, your culture.
Is it possible that the lack of such ritual actually hurts us more than the ritual itself?
I would love to hear your feedback in the comments below!
Gratitude!
Enjoy!
~Daniel
