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Holistic Living
Raw Spirit: Journey to Health and Peace
A Conversation with Happy Oasis
by Elyssa Paige
Food is energy. What kind of energy do you put into your body, mind, and spirit?
Raw Spirit Festival, a non-profit organization offering the “world’s leading healthy-living raw vegan-eco-peace celebrations” offers a spectacular solution to achieve optimal health for humans, animals and the Earth. The purest live nutrition available to nurture our bodies, a raw vegan diet is also kindest to the planet, devoid of harmful processes and byproducts.
Raw Spirit Festival is the place to see what the raw lifestyle is all about. With progressive speakers, scrumptious food, music, dancing, educational vendors, art, yoga, and meditation—all in a vibrant natural setting—Raw Spirit embodies healthy and joy-filled living, making it available to everyone.
Happy Oasis, the founder of Raw Spirit and author of Bliss Conscious Communication and Uncivilized Ecstasies, demonstrates that the raw lifestyle is not just about uncooked vegan food; it’s about the purity of our hearts and minds. The two are inevitably intertwined, firmly rooted in gratitude and respect for all life.
Recently I had the chance to connect with Oasis about upcoming festivals this year and the peace and inspiration they are sure to bring.
Vision Magazine: Describe your personal journey to a raw food diet.
Happy Oasis: It was nothing shy of miraculous. It’s due to the discovery of raw vegan foods high up in the Himalayas on my death bed that I am alive today. And thriving! An astounding array of childhood illnesses riddled my immune system. Ill with a hernia and influenzas in infancy, tonsillitis as a toddler, and perpetual bronchial disorders, I was considered a colicky child. Such a constant stream of diseases accompanied by antibiotics essentially destroys the microfloral defense system. Alas, by adopting a raw vegan diet, I overcame a host of “incurable” illnesses, including arthritis, diabetes, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, and several bouts of pneumonia while abiding amidst the snow-clad peaks of the Himalayas.
Other aids in healing included sleeping al fresco on the Earth for decades, climbing mountains, bathing in wild and holy places, fasting frequently, volunteering at ashrams and orphanages, meditating, praying, reading sacred texts and chanting daily.
VM: What inspires you most about the Raw Spirit Festival?
HO: The hundreds of testimonials we receive each year. Peoples’ lives have been saved, illnesses have been overcome, significant weight has been lost, pharmaceutical medications have been discontinued, and friendship-based raw-eco-peace businesses have been formed.
What inspires me most is that there are more than six billion brothers and sisters on the planet just like me who could benefit from the vital information shared at the festival so that they can choose health and kiss disease goodbye.
I also love the incredible music, the dancing, the world’s largest organic raw vegan restaurant court, the food demos and free tastings, the forest shopping mall with 150 amazing vendors, the creative children’s programs, interactive playshops, art gardens, gorgeous natural settings and fantastic friends.
VM: Why is a raw food diet the optimal choice to support the health of humans, animals and the earth?
HO: Optimally balanced local, organic raw vegan meals are extraordinarily satisfying, profoundly beautiful, nourishing, energizing, peace-enhancing, very easy to prepare, and generally most enjoyable to eat since such foods are the least violent and the least harmful to our closest relations, including the Earth—who happens to be Raw Spirit Festival’s largest sponsor.
VM: What are some easy ways to incorporate more raw food into our diets?
HO: One can make a fruit and vegetable juice, simple smoothies, dark leafy green salads, or soup in the blender in less than five minutes. I prefer to prepare quickly yet heartfully, then dance and sing out delightful appreciation before dining slowly with friends in a beautiful ambience.
VM: What other aspects of a healthy lifestyle can one learn about at the Raw Spirit Festival?
HO: Raw Spirit focuses on the full spectrum of healthy living. For example, there is sacred exercise such as yoga, Qigong, tai chi, meditation, peace prayers, breathwork, chanting, singing, dancing, and massage. One can listen to the latest findings from the greatest minds in healthy living, express oneself at inspirational open mics, share poetry, meet cutting-edge doctors, create ambience beautification through nature art playshops, deepen skills and communion with others at interactive bliss shops, help the community by volunteering, attend raw demos, hike exquisite trails, score a raw-eco-peace job at the job fair, start a business at the entrepreneurs-meet-investors table, meet the love of your life at the speed dating game—and much more!
VM: What is on the horizon for the Raw Spirit Festival?
HO: Exponential expansion. In 2009, there are nearly 100 Raw Spirit Potluck Celebrations across the nation, as well as speaking engagements at major festivals. Plus, since we outgrew the city of Sedona in 2008, for the first time, three huge Raw Spirit Festivals are on the horizon in 2009, starting with Raw Spirit Santa Barbara, June 5 - 7 at beautiful Live Oak Campground. Raw Spirit is also happening at a lovely park in Maryland August 29 - 30 and beside a lake in the gorgeous Granite Dells of Arizona September 26 - 27. Fabulous news! We just confirmed the first Raw Spirit Retreat on Maui for Dec 30 - Jan 2, plus a second magnificent retreat to follow. In 2010, we are planning Raw Spirit Festivals in India, Australia, Japan, and Europe with hopes to spread to Central and South America, as well as Africa in 2011. It seems that the work of Raw Spirit Festival has just begun.
VM: What is one thing we could all do every day to create a peaceful and harmonious world?
HO: Upon waking, we could give thanks for the many blessings that life offers, and then ask ourselves: What would the universe love for me to do today? We are such diverse petals of the blossom of humanity that we can each go within and look around to discover what that one thing is, which hopefully will differ with each of us because there is so much to do. And to be.
In summation, to quote Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali poet: “I slept and dreamed that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted, and behold, service was joy.”
Experience the next Raw Spirit Festival in Santa Barbara, CA at Live Oak Campground, June 5 - 7. Learn more and get tickets at www.RawSpirit.com or call 928.776.1497. Happy Oasis’ books, Bliss Conscious Communication and Uncivilized Ecstasies, are available at www.happyoasis.com.