Issue 31 | Face the Current

Issue 31

fAce the current TRAVEL

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CULTURE

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MUSIC

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SPORTS & FITNESS

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HEALTH

Olympian Emily Batty’s Beautifully Rugged B ikepacki ng Ex ped it ion A c ros s Ic e la n d

How four riders navigated their way across an entire country in nine days Mark Sisson’s Primal Health Approach

& Evolutionary Principles Optimize Our Modern Bodies

Energizing Music through Soundscapes

+ the Luxurious Voice of Chart Topping Songstress ROZES

Bringing Big Swells to the Small Screen with Ultimate Surfing Safaris in World of Waves

Fuel for an inspired life.

Recovering the Strength of Humanity’s Interconnectedness with Ubuntu Love Challenge

Editorial

MISSION DRIVEN BRANDS FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE

fAce the current Issue 31

Connect With Us... @facethecurrent www.facethecurrent.com ADVERTISEMENT AND SPONSOR INQUIRIES partnerships@facethecurrent.com www.facethecurrent.com/advertise/ Sasha Frate, Founder & Editor in Chief sasha@facethecurrent.com

All Rights Reserved DISCLAIMER The information provided in this magazine is intended for your general knowledge only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment for specific medical conditions. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified healthcare provider.

Cover Image Credits: • Front cover: Emily Batty Team • Back cover: Eric Bennett

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Opinions and other statements expressed by the kind souls sharing their viewpoint, users and third parties are theirs alone, not opinions of Face the Current. Content created by third parties is the sole responsibility of the third parties and its accuracy and completeness are not endorsed or guaranteed. Face the Current Website and third parties may provide links to web pages, web sites, and various resources or locations on the web. Face the Current has no control over the information you access via such links, does not endorse that information, and shall not be responsible for it or for the consequences of your use of that information.

All products and services featured are selected by our editors. Face the Current may receive compensation for some links to products and services in this magazine.

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JOIN THE MOVEMENT

FtC TEAM

Sasha Frate Founder & Editor-in-Chief Sasha is a perspective seeker, adventurer, and explorer. She received her Master’s Degree in Liberal Arts and continues to study a variety of subjects within and outside of the academic setting. Sasha brings her personal moonshot approach to life to FtC, aiming to provide an experience for our global community where we inspire one another to stay curious, never stop exploring, and to live with purpose and to our potential.

sasha@facethecurrent.com Face the Current is an award-winning aspirational and inspirational magazine and fast-growing digital destination for all those seeking purposeful, conscious, and connected living. With a double meaning, Face the Current is about living in the now (in the current moment) while also facing life and all it brings as we aspire to be our potential and live with purpose.

Launched with a simple yet powerful mission, Face the Current strives to be more than just a magazine as we work to create a ripple-effect of positive change. Why? Face the Current believes that media can be purpose-driven and inspiring, so we committed to fostering a sense of interconnectedness in the world. We showcase the very best in people while building connections between family, friends, ourselves, the environment, food, places and to life itself.

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Ainsley Schoppel Co-Editor-in-Chief

Ainsley is a classical pianist, former figure skater, and loves summers at the lake in northern Ontario. She holds an honors BA in Psychology and Arts & Business, and also earned a graduate degree in Hospitality and Business Management while working at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. After working in Toronto on published women-focused research, she moved outside the city to raise her family. While home with her son, she indulges her love of the written word with freelance editing.

ainsley@facethecurrent.com

Sema Garay Executive Designer Sema is the graphic designer behind the development of the image and magazine of Face the Current. He has developed a multitude of projects, including his previous job leading the Creative Department of BG Life Magazine, in Marbella, Spain.

Sema graduated with a Masters Degree in Architecture at ETSA of Sevilla and is proficient in a wide range of design software. He is passionate about all kinds of artistic expressions, and when not active behind the scenes of Face the Current design, you’re likely to find him playing music for Beach Grooves Global Radio or local venues along the Costa del Sol.

sema@facethecurrent.com

Issue 31 CONTRIBUTORS We are a growing team of Up-Standers whose intention is to create positive change in the world through networking, connecting, supporting, and developing our global thought-community at both an individual and a collective level. We are passionate about building our crew of experts and industry leaders to deliver cutting-edge information that is created “by our global community, for our global community.”

This issue’s FtC team and contributing crew are based in the U.S, Spain, and Canada.

Anthony Reese Schneider

is an award-winning creative professional, spending nearly a decade in the commercial film and television industry.

In 2019 he founded the NVRLND Tribe, a media group and community organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life of curious and openminded people by providing access to inspiring knowledge, content, and experiences. Anthony exists to be a bridge between mainstream culture and alternative lifestyles, and he has been dubbed the Transformational Scene’s “greatest cheerleader”. An avid musician himself, Anthony is truly passionate about celebrating artists that champion values that help people have better relationships with themselves, their communities, and the planet. www.nvrlndtribe.com @nvrlndtribe

Molly Hurford

is a journalist in love with all things cycling, running, nutrition and movementrelated. When not spending time outside, she’s writing about being outside and healthy habits of athletes for The Consummate Athlete website and podcast. She also coaches running and cycling, as well as yoga, and she and her husband Peter host camps and clinics around the world. She also writes regularly for several outdoor and fitness publications, and her most recent project, Shred Girls, is a young adult fiction series focused on getting girls excited about bikes. www.ConsummateAthlete.com www.Instagram.com/mollyjhurford

Chris Almida

is one of four co-founders of surfing. com who came together with a passion for surfing and connecting people who love waves and travel with great places and great people to help you on your journey. Chris is a serial entrepreneur with a long history in startups and technology with experience ranging from intellectual property licensing, program management at Microsoft and C level executive management at both nonprofit and for profit companies engaged in emerging energy technologies. Drawing on this background, Chris is driving the digital customer experience for surfing. com and is an Executive Producer of the World of Waves television show along with his co-founders Jason Charles, Ian Cairns and Kevin Griffith. www.surfing.com

Dr. Jim Bentz, D.PSc. DC

is a Chiropractor, Speaker, Health Coach & Educator, Trainer & the US Leading Practitioner in Neurological Integration System (NIS), a method of restoring communication between the brain and body based on the principle that the brain monitors every cell in the body. He has been in clinical Chiropractic practice since 1985, and has been using NIS as his primary modality since 1997. NIS is a system that incorporates ancient eastern medicine practices with current neuroscience and promotes self- healing through detection and correction of signaling disruption in the nervous system. https://nisusaseminars.com www.facebook.com/drjimbentz

Kai Karrel

is writer, a poet, a mystic, and a practicing medium. In the last few years, Kai has dedicated his attention and focus to the Afro-Brazilian Shamanic teachings and the wisdom of the forest. He is a mystical traveler devoted to the exploration of the unknowable. He travels among native traditions and ancient cultures. In a way he considers himself a traditional light warrior, using the lighter side of his teaching to inspire spiritual growth and self-love.

In recent years Kai has been devoting his time to the study of plant medicine and the shamanic modalities of healing and awakening, studying with master teachers in Brazil and honing his skill as a medium and healer. www.kaikarrel.com

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issue 31 CONTENT

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A Trip of a Lifetime: Olympian Emily Batty’s Beautifully Rugged Bikepacking Expedition Across Iceland

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Recovering the Strength of Humanity’s Interconnectedness with Ubuntu Love Challenge

travel 08.Toad&Co’s Must-Visit Guide to Under-Explored and Spectacular National Parks 16.Golden Dawn: A Whole New Focus with Eric Bennett

culture

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Luxurious Voice of chart Topping Songstress ROZES 6

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26.Recovering the Strength of Humanity’s Interconnectedness with the Ubuntu Love Challenge: A Galvanizing Discussion with Founders Bodour Al Qasimi and Mamadou Toure 36.Attachment to Detachment How to Avoid this Common Self-Preservation Mistake and Live a Life of Grateful Love 40.You Are Not Broken: Making Connections and Coming Home to Yourself with Expert Mentor Dr. Scott Mills

music 52.ROZES: The Luxurious Voice of Electronic Pop’s ChartTopping Songstress

FtC Issue 31

90 World of Waves

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Mark Sisson’s Primal Health Approach & Evolutionary Principles Optimize Our Modern Bodies

58.A Wanderlust Heart with an Ear for Nature’s Serene Soundtrack: How Musician, Composer, and Sound Engineer Omar Raafat Uses Soundscapes to Energize His Music 68.Following The North Star: Chris Assaad

sports & fitness 76.The Invigorating and Immersive Reality of Hydrow’s Innovative At-Home Rowing Experience 82.A Trip of a Lifetime: Olympian Emily Batty’s Beautifully Rugged Bikepacking Expedition Across Iceland 90.Bringing Big Swells to the Small Screen with the Ultimate Surfing Safaris in World of Waves

health 96.Naturally Loving the Skin You’re In The Wildcrafted and Organic Philosophy of Annmarie Skin Care 102. Using Evolutionary Health Principles to Optimize Our Modern Bodies: The Primal Health Approach of Best-Selling Author, Mark Sisson

58 Energizing

Music through Soundscapes 7 www.facethecurrent.com

FtC travel

Toad&Co’s Must-Visit Guide

to Under-Explored and Spectacular National Parks More than ever, we find ourselves inspired by the little (and big) things in life that spark joy. But that’s no surprise, it’s that same optimism that drives our business forward each and every day - it’s why we champion human rights, source the most sustainable ingredients, partner with the cleanest factories, and look for new ways to do more with less. So cheers to wearing clothes that make you feel as good as you look.

On August twenty-fifth, 2020, the National Park Service (NPS) celebrated one hundred and four years as “America’s best idea”, and we couldn’t agree more. September twenty-sixth was National Public Lands Day, and November eleventh is Veteran’s Day, and as a way to commemorate these important dates, the NPS is opening all of their national parks and monuments free of charge. So, load up your pandemic pod, grab your masks, and get out there!

If you’re looking for an adventure that is off the beaten path with fewer crowds, grand vistas, and ne’er a selfie in sight, check out our list of some of our favorite, lesser-known National Parks and forests. Give the popular spots a rest and try these national treasures on for size:

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BANDELIER NATIONAL MONUMENT, NEW MEXICO Just across the Colorado border from the popular Mesa Verde National Park is Bandelier National Monument—an equally intriguing example of Ancestral Pueblo culture. This park monument is 33,000 acres of canyons and mesa country with gorgeous hiking trails (some easy, some difficult) and views of ancient ruins and petroglyphs.

Archaeology and history buffs are sure to love this one.

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GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK, TEXAS Deep in the heart of Texas is another “El Capitan” that’s equally as impressive as the more popular face in Yosemite.

You can find this larger-than-life Captain in Guadalupe Mountains National Park halfway between El Paso and Carlsbad New Mexico (also the home of an epic National Park). The Guadalupe Mountains were formed millions of years ago when a vast tropical sea covered the region. Today, fossilized reefs stand as tall as the mountains, and El Capitan is the chief. There are more than eighty miles of trails, and the best (and only) way to view these natural specimens is on foot. Bring a lot of water and binoculars—the park is also home to more than 300 bird species.

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CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL MONUMENT, OHIO Love waterfalls and lush, verdant valleys?

Cuyahoga is the place for you. In between Cleveland and Akron, Cuyahoga is a quieter version of Great Smokey Mountains National Park (easily the mostvisited national park). The park is filled with forests, hills, creeks, the namesake Cuyahoga River, and historical canals that played a key role in the American settlement of the1800’s. Another bonus: The historical Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad that winds through the park. Hike in, train out.

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BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON NATIONAL PARK, COLORADO Ok, the Grand Canyon is obviously mind blowing ( “grand” is right there in the name, after all), but what Black Canyon lacks in width, it makes up for in depth. The great cliffs of Black Canyon plunge into the Gunnison River, in some places more than 2,700 feet down. This results in some stellar echoes and even more stellar rock-climbing opportunities. Deep in the canyons there are some radical Class V rapids if you are a skilled paddler (NOT recommended for beginners!) as well as some rewarding but complicated hikes (also recommended for a more intermediate or advanced hiker). For the beginners, there are ample scenic hikes along the south and north rims as well as world-class trout fishing in the Gunnison River.

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CONGAREE NATIONAL PARK, SOUTH CAROLINA One of the newest parks in the system, Congaree National Park is like Texas’ Big Bend but without the crowds and coolers of Lone Star.

Tucked along the mystical Congaree River near Columbia, South Carolina, this national park boasts 27,000 acres of old growth floodplain forests dripping with biodiversity. The park has more than twenty-five miles of hiking trails and offers gorgeous boardwalks for great accessibility.You can also explore via kayak or canoe (yours or rented) or camp along hiking or canoe trails (permits are required but free).

Bring a harmonica, a dram of whiskey, and harmonize with the bullfrogs.

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MUIR WOODS NATIONAL MONUMENT, CALIFORNIA Just across San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge is Muir Woods National Park—a big-time redwood experience nestled along the coastline of northern California.

President Teddy Roosevelt declared the land a National Monument in 1908 to preserve the redwood forests, so lose yourself amongst these giants and marvel at the fantastic views along the way.

Breathe in the expanse of the wide pacific and gaze across the bay at the sparkling city. Make a weekend of it and explore adjacent Marin County for more hikes, beach walks, and oyster dinners.

NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL PARK, WASHINGTON Glaciers around the globe are quickly melting, so Montana’s Glacier National Park is certainly worthy of your “Must Visit” list (especially since some scientists think the GNP glaciers will be gone by 2030)! In the meantime, travel three hours north of Seattle and get yourself to North Cascades National Park. It’s home to more than 300 glaciers and impressive mountain peaks and cascading waterfalls, and you can hike and camp in the park and even explore by boat via numerous lakes and rivers. Just be sure to bring some warm socks!

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ISLE ROYALE NATIONAL PARK, MICHIGAN In the middle of Lake Superior (the largest freshwater lake in the world!), Isle Royale National Park is just about the dreamiest island escape we can think of. This park is a series of over 450 islands (most very small) that make up an archipelago of 132,000 acres of crystal blue waters and dramatic, craggy cliffs. What it lacks in transportation (there are no cars on the islands) it makes up for in adventure.

When you get there (by boat or sea plane), explore the many lakes and trails by foot, paddle board, or kayak (you can rent one there). If you are a scuba diver, look into some of the organized trips that you can take. It’s well worth the trek to this remote slice of paradise.

With more than 400 national parks, forests, and monuments, there are plenty of places to explore and even more memories to be made. Check out www. toadandco.com to find the perfect outfit for your adventures, and visit www. nationalparks.org for more park information.

ymore info: www.toadandco.com www.nationalparks.org www.facethecurrent.com

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FtC travel

Golden Dawn: A Whole New Focus with Eric Bennett

By Sasha Frate A southern California native, landscape photographer Eric Bennett’s earliest childhood memories featured a camera.

He began casually photographing and filming his friends at the local skatepark, and this eventually parlayed into a career of filming professional skateboarders. Even though he found success in the high-energy and fast-paced skateboarding environment, Eric yearned for a more peaceful and natural artistic outlet.

Now Eric uses his lens to explore the alluring deserts near his Utah home, and he has thus far searched for new experiences and landscapes in over thirty countries ranging from Australia’s glistening coastlines to the Arctic’s pristine glaciers. With an unmistakably unique style, Eric uncovers unseen places and perspectives and amplifies his creative vision with advanced post-processing techniques. For Eric, landscape photography encapsulates nature’s power and allows its viewers to fall in love with the remarkable and natural beauty of our planet. He also uses his imagery to spark a desire in others to protect and conserve our precious wilderness.

Face the Current had the wonderful opportunity to chat with Eric and learn more about his artistic approach, the critical importance of responsible nature photography, and the hope he carries for our planet’s future.

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Golden Dawn

Spectrum

Sasha Frate:Your photography has taken you to more than thirty different countries to explore and capture your art, but you also set out to take a more unique approach and style with the way in which you capture and convey what you discover. How would you describe your approach?

Eric Bennett: I really just try my best to avoid obvious scenes and to always create something unique.

Doing what others have done, or most likely would do, isn’t nearly as satisfying for me as feeling like I have created something new that will simply not be possible for another person to replicate. That way I feel like I am making a real contribution to the world as an artist and sharing a unique perspective that wouldn’t exist were I not here.

When I am out exploring in nature, I simply wander around until something naturally catches my eye.

Then I start to look at what else is surrounding it and what should be included or excluded in order to best convey what it is that drew my attention about the object in the first place. I tend to focus more on exclusion—simplifying the scene as much as possible—rather than inclusion while creating compositions.

If I strive for any certain style, it’s to create photographs that are powerfully concise.

SF: You’re part of the Nature First Alliance for Responsible Nature Photography. Can you explain a bit about this Alliance, what it’s protecting, and why it was important to you to join/ participate?

EB: I actually had the privilege to be involved in the early creation stages of the Nature First Alliance (I came up with its name) because Erik Stensland, a great nature photographer and one of the main organizers, invited me to one of the

initial brainstorming meetings. We created the Nature First Principles as a way for people to take and share photos more responsibly. It’s basically a “Leave No Trace” for photographers. The whole goal with these principles is that photographers that visit these beautiful, pristine places don’t end up damaging them while trying to take photographs. The preservation of nature should come first as a priority before a photo or selfie.

Instagram and other social media platforms have caused explosive rises in visitation to National Parks and public lands in the last few years because of all the photos that are now being shared—many of which even include geotags for the exact locations. This increased foot traffic has caused many places to now have to enforce permits, install protective railings to keep people on the designated trails, or be closed off to public access completely. In more www.facethecurrent.com

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I believe that nature photography has a positive impact on the world, as it effectively educates people of the true value of undisturbed wilderness and natural places that many of us will never get to visit, but it must be done responsibly. We believe that the Seven Principles of Nature First are the ways people can still enjoy taking pictures of the amazing places they visit in nature without having a negative impact on them in the process. It has been amazing to see the majority of the nature photography community now embracing and sharing these principles openly to spread awareness.

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A Happy Medium

severe cases, many places that were once pristine, offering incredible solitude and silence to anyone who visited, have now become overrun and destroyed by tourists looking to get “the shot” as they come through and love the landscapes to death.

I don’t think most people realize what vehicles of erosion we really are. Just a few people irresponsibly walking around off trail can have dramatic effects like disturbing wildlife, compressing soil, removing vegetation, and causing landslides. Like my friend and fellow photographer Phill Monson always says, “Outdoor popularity has exceeded outdoor awareness.” The large crowds of urbanites that are drawn to popular natural places are not educated on how to behave in them. The names carved into trees and sandstone that we see along trails everywhere now is clear evidence of that.

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I believe that nature photography has a positive impact on the world, as it effectively educates people of the true value of undisturbed wilderness and natural places that many of us will never get to visit, but it must be done responsibly. We believe that the Seven Principles of Nature First are the ways people can still enjoy taking pictures of the amazing places they visit in nature without having a negative impact on them in the process. It has been amazing to see the majority of the nature photography community now embracing and sharing these principles openly to spread awareness.

SF: You have an entire tab and page on your website that is dedicated to other photographers whose work has inspired yours. It’s not all that

often you find people sharing and promoting others’ work like this! Why did you choose to do this?

EB: As someone who tries their best to interact with the community and their followers, I am often asked which photographers inspire me and whose work I look at. I mainly created the list as a quick, easy way to share it with others so they can find great photography that will hopefully inspire them as well.

I think a lot of people make the mistake of looking at photography as a competition; a zero-sum game.

Like if someone else puts out a great photo then it somehow makes theirs look worse. I don’t know anyone that will only listen to one musician or eat at just one restaurant. I think photography or art is the same way, and most people have many favorite

Shadowplay

artists whose work they like to see.

Just because I show another artist’s work to one of my fans doesn’t mean that they will then trade me out for someone else. I have no problem promoting the work of my peers and those I look up to. I feel my work is original enough that it won’t be compared against anyone else’s work (you can only be compared if you are doing the exact same thing), and I will always have a deep respect for the great artists that came before me. I have no problem giving credit where credit is due.

Most of the photographers listed on my “Inspiration” page are seasoned veterans with decades of experience in creating images of nature. I admire the more “old school” approach to photography, largely based on composition and lighting rather than the gear or technical processing. They

tend to take photos that are quieter, that cause us to contemplate and wonder, instead of being loud and in your face, yelling for your attention.

Because of this, I feel their work is more timeless, continually relevant, and only gets better with the years, while new fads and trends tend to die out fast. Although I am still a younger photographer, I have tried to emulate this same sort of style in my own work, hoping to carry on this tradition of thought provoking, classic imagery.

SF: Looking through your galleries, you’ve created a name for each of the images that effectively describe the essence.

What made you decide to name each image, and how do you come up with all the names?

EB: I get asked about this often, and to be honest, I really don’t have a

special formula or anything particular that I do to come up with image titles. Once I finish editing a scene, I’ll sit and look at it for a while and a title will just pop into my head. I feel images need titles so that people can refer to them easier and it makes it a more complete piece of artwork.

Also, it’s an opportunity to add another touch of mood or essence to a scene so you can further guide the viewer’s perception of it.

SF: Observing the variety in your forest image gallery alone, one can easily reflect on the cycles, transitions, transformations and passing/ temporary beauty of each moment that is intrinsic in all of nature, including the human experience. In one of your articles, you discuss the perfect harmony found in the forest. As www.facethecurrent.com

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From spending much of my time in nature, I have observed that everything in the natural world flows perfectly. Each event, even tragedy, triggers another event that can sometimes be a joyous victory. I think it is important in our own lives to always try and remember that every experience we have, whether we judge it as good or bad, is for our benefit in some way. Human beings tend to often make the mistake of trying to control that which they have no power over. We spend enormous amounts of energy resisting things that come our way as if we could somehow wish them out of existence. I believe that the secret to a happy life and world lies more in submitting and adapting to the forces of nature around us, rather than trying to conquer and control them.

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you incorporate a lot of great education into your work, what would you say are some of the greatest ways we can learn from this harmony to find or create more of it in our own lives?

EB: That is a great question. From spending much of my time in nature, I have observed that everything in the natural world flows perfectly. Each event, even tragedy, triggers another event that can sometimes be a joyous victory. I think it is important in our own lives to always try and remember that every experience we have, whether we judge it as good or bad, is for our benefit in some way.

Human beings tend to often make the mistake of trying to control that which they have no power over. We spend enormous amounts of energy resisting things that come our way as if we could somehow wish them out of existence. I believe that the secret

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to a happy life and world lies more in submitting and adapting to the forces of nature around us, rather than trying to conquer and control them.

SF: While the forests are rich with life and creatures of all kinds and sizes lurking in unknown spaces, something about the desert—vast and desolate as it may appear-—has always felt even more wild to me. What is your desert story?

EB: To be honest, during my first few visits the desert seemed very underwhelming for me. It felt so static, arid, and void of life. I preferred hiking and photographing in landscapes of roaring waterfalls, majestic mountains, and dynamic coastlines. Desert landscapes just felt boring to me. It wasn’t until recent years that I developed a deep love and appreciation for its profound

Tentacles

space, stillness, and silence.

As a photographer, I love the simplicity of the desert landscape, especially here in Southern Utah near my home, where you can find and appreciate pronounced light, shadows, shapes, lines, patterns, and designs, without other objects crowding around them and getting in the way.

I also love the softer pastel colors of sandstone or clay. The light you can witness in the desert is like nowhere else on Earth as well, creating plenty of remarkable photographic opportunities. I feel like I am most prolific when it comes to producing images of the desert, because I can always find such interesting subjects, often more abstract rather than literal, even in places I have returned to time and time again.

As a person, the desert has become a place of refuge for me where I

can go and really escape from the busy, noisy world. It’s one of the few places where you can still look out for miles and miles at great expanses of nothingness and not see a single trace of humanity. It’s a place where my body and mind can slow down, and I can really focus on the things that are most important in my life.

The openness also allows me to feel and explore big emotions. Whenever I spend a few days in those wide, open landscapes, it acts as a mental reset and allows me to get more in touch with my soul again rather than my ego.

SF: Something about your Dolomiti capture you’ve titled “Golden Dawn” is really captivating. It has stopped me in my tracks several times now as I’ve been exploring your work.

Much like you’ve described of your personal experience with nature preventing your thinking mind from taking over and essentially reinvigorating your spirit, I look at this image and wonder how often people forget about the beauty in our world that exists in every moment with so much potential to ignite our spirit because we’re often bogged down and consumed by our thinking minds and the temporary experiences we face.

Can you share a bit about your experience with this?

EB: Absolutely. Photography has been a huge blessing for me as a person because it has caused me to always take a closer look and allow more time for observation while in nature. I do not love photography, rather I love nature—the subject that I photograph—and photography is just the medium that I happen to use to create images of what I love and share a message with others.

Photography helps me to be more mindful of my surroundings and have a greater appreciation for nature.

Ritual

Of course, you don’t need to be a photographer to do this—to see the beauty in every moment.

All it takes is giving yourself some time to slow down and take into account everything that you are sensing around you.You can begin by consciously breathing and thinking of everything you can taste, touch, smell, hear, and see. Surprisingly, this is something very few people ever do, but in this digital age where we are constantly surrounded by noisy,

flashing distractions, it’s becoming more and more important that we make time for it. Natural places where there are still no traces of human presence are extremely conducive to this way of being. The natural world is simple, raw, and much easier to take in. I fear a future world where we no longer have places like this that we can go to and take a break from civilization and society. www.facethecurrent.com

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SF: Our thoughts, words, and actions have more power than we often realize! If you could take any one of these images or experiences and use it to inspire your vision to dream up and describe how you would like to see the world one year from now what would that be like for you?

EB: Honestly, I think any one of my images would do, since I always work to portray a world still spared of human impact; a pure and undisturbed wilderness, which for me is heaven on Earth. I am trying to give people a glimpse of how the world was before us, and how it could still be if we only learned to be better stewards of this beautiful place we are fortunate enough to live in.

I think most of the human-caused problems we are facing on a global level today (ecosystems collapsing,

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extinctions, water shortage, pollution, drought, etc.) stem from an irreverence and disrespect towards nature. In a perfect world there would be a deep reverence for the planet and all of her creations, and a sincere respect for her sacredness.

I wish people would act towards nature more like the way they act towards their religious beliefs and deities. The Earth, the sun, water, and oxygen, all keep us alive—literally! It’s indisputable, no matter what religion you believe in, that we depend on them in every way. To me it’s pure insanity that we wouldn’t hold these things with the highest regard and would destroy the very thing that grants us the wonderful miracle of life.

SF: Your latest gallery is titled “Pacific Poetry” and it explores the coasts of New Zealand.You really put things into perspective in your gallery foreward,

sharing a lot of observations and facts including one study showing that currently only thirteen percent of the ocean has remained undamaged by human impact.This is significant!

Throughout your research and experiences so far, what hope have you witnessed on the horizon indicating our ocean (and humanity) is capable of recovering from this damage?

EB: The thousands of recent studies that reveal the negative impact we have had on all of the different ecosystems of our planet are truly overwhelming. Sometimes it can seem like we are already headed full speed towards a point of no return.

But the good news is there are many intelligent and dedicated people working hard to find long-term solutions to all of these issues.

One idea is that we replant as many

Resurgence

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A better solution that is being suggested by biologists such as Hope Jahren in her latest book, The Story of More, is to replant along the ocean floor instead. The seafloor still remains uninhabited by humans and has plenty of space to restore aquatic plants. These plants, green algae, and phytoplankton also photosynthesize just like their distant cousins on land. They effectively absorb carbon from the atmosphere and simply fall to the ocean floor when they die off, instead of releasing the CO2. Restoring sea plants would also help ocean ecosystems to bounce back— something that would be beneficial to the entire planet.

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WaterFall

trees as possible. This way they can absorb the carbon in the atmosphere that is causing global warming and create more breathable oxygen.

Theoretically this would help to offset the excess CO2 in the air, but it would take decades for trees that we plant today to mature enough to effectively absorb CO2. Trees also store all of the CO2that they consume; they don’t simply get rid of it. So, once forests are felled, burned, or die off, they release this CO2 in great concentrated quantities right back into the air again. Another problem with that idea is that we simply do not have the space to restore all of the forested lands that we have cut down since they are now used for civilization, farming, and pasture.

A better solution that is being suggested by biologists such as Hope Jahren in her latest book, The Story of More, is to replant along the

ocean floor instead. The seafloor still remains uninhabited by humans and has plenty of space to restore aquatic plants. These plants, green algae, and phytoplankton also photosynthesize just like their distant cousins on land. They effectively absorb carbon from the atmosphere and simply fall to the ocean floor when they die off, instead of releasing the CO2.

Restoring sea plants would also help ocean ecosystems to bounce back— something that would be beneficial to the entire planet.

Abundance by Steven Kotler is another great book that talks about other exciting solutions that progressing technology may bring. Water shortage is a foreseen catastrophe that we will soon be dealing with. Only two percent of all the water on Earth is drinkable, and half of that is still frozen in our glaciers. As glaciers melt, instead of being able to use that clean water, it

is released into the ocean. There is no ecosystem or species that can survive without water, so running out would simply be a disaster for the entire planet. However, new technology that is arising is promising that we will soon have the capability to desalinate seawater. In that case, there would be an abundance of drinking water for everyone and everything, and it would never run out, since we could always reuse whatever runoff reenters the ocean. It’s just a matter of that technology being developed in time before global disaster occurs.

Seafood makes up a large portion of the world’s diet, and with dying oceans, fish populations are significantly decreasing every year.

We are simply removing too many fish from the ocean, disrupting ecosystems everywhere, and causing the reproduction of more fish to be disturbed. If we continue at this current rate, it is foreseen that www.facethecurrent.com

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we will run out of seafood by the year 2048. While controversial, and previously another destructive industry to the environment, fish farming has been developing and improving in ways that are showing that promising things are in store for its future. Some of these are: alternative vegetable protein (instead of seafood) to feed fish in farms such as salmon; using fish to fight pests in rice farms, where in turn they can boost both rice and fish yields and both can be harvested afterwards; and greenhouses of vertical farms that house both fish and plants where the feces of the fish are used to fertilize the vegetables on higher levels.

SF: Beyond the ocean facts, some of your perspectives are in mindful connection where you describe the “low vibrating sound of crashing waves” and

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the ability it offers us to simply “fall into a restful awareness and stop being tossed around by the waves of thoughts in our minds.” When nature “escapes” aren’t readily or frequently available/accessible for people, what is your next goto recommendation?

EB: That’s a tough one to answer because of course there is no substitute for the real thing. Nothing compares to being in the wilderness, experiencing the serene space, solitude, and silence that it provides.

This is why it is so important that we preserve and protect these places as havens for humanity, as well as the millions of other species that enjoy them. We will never be able to adequately replace them by anything we invent or build.

For me, the next best thing would be to constantly engage in some form of physical activity. When I am not away on backpacking trips, I am at the local skateparks trying to learn new things and skate obstacles in new, creative ways. Art is also a great release, and accessible to everyone. Even with just a pencil and a piece of paper you can create something new and exercise your mind in a positive, relaxing way.

I also enjoy playing the guitar when I can’t go outside. As adults, a lot of us forget to make time to just play and not worry about something turning out “good”. The only objective should be to enjoy yourself.

I’d also say to be more mindful of going outside, even just in the backyard, whenever possible. When the weather is nice, I always try to eat, read, and even just sit and look at everything around me in our backyard as often as I remember to.

Molten Mud

It’s so important for us to be mindful and not forget to just soak in the moment whenever possible. This life goes by incredibly fast, and in the words of Ferris Bueller, “If you don’t stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

SF: You’ve been working on a book that will be available soon.

Can you share what will be featured in this book and why you decided to create it?

EB: Creating a photo book has been a dream of mine ever since I first picked up a camera and walked into the wilderness. As an avid reader I am a huge fan of books and I especially love seeing photographs printed. I felt this book was one of the best ways I could share my imagery with the world, presenting it in this way so people could physically hold my pictures in their hands and flip through the pages at their own

pace, having time to admire the amazing details of nature up close and in a suitable environment without distractions.

For this book I was able to combine both my love for photographing and writing about nature. It contains four sections: Forests, Deserts, Mountains, and Canyons, as well as a Foreword written by one of my biggest inspirations, William Neill; an introduction written by my friend and inspiring photographer, Alex Noreiga; a Prologue, and an Epilogue.

Each section features over thirty of my best images of that subject as well as an essay written by myself about what makes each environment special, my personal relationship with them, and the threats they are now facing as a result of climate change, pollution, and development.

The whole mission behind my photography is to educate the world on the importance of conservation.

The point of making this book is to spread awareness about the value that natural places offer us in their pure, unaltered states.

Pristine wilderness has steadily been disappearing, and it is important that we preserve what we still have left for now and for future generations to come. A world where we couldn’t visit these sacred places of singular beauty and experience the space, solitude, and silence that they provide is not what I would want for my children and grandchildren.

ymore info: www.bennettfilm.com www.facethecurrent.com

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FtC culture

Recovering the Strength of Humanity’s Interconnectedness with the Ubuntu Love Challenge: A Galvanizing Discussion with Founders Bodour Al Qasimi and Mamadou Toure

By Sasha Frate While we are still living in the Covid-19 pandemic and new challenges and roadblocks continue to pop up around us, a common question of the heart seems to be, “What can I do about all of this?” What are we as individuals capable of doing that can have any sort of meaningful impact on our families and local communities? After the threat of the virus has dissipated and we can breathe a sigh of mask-free relief, what should we do to ensure our family, friends, and neighborhoods have everything they need to confidently refuel for the future?

H.E. Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi,Vice President International Publishers Association, and Mamadou Touré, founder Africa 2.0 Foundation—a youth-led Pan-African Civil Society dedicated to building an inspiring and prosperous Africa—know that humanity’s way forward is dependent on our ability to connect and support one another.

That is why they created the #UbuntuLoveChallenge, a global movement with a mission to restore hope through a worldwide display of human collaboration and appreciation. Face the Current dug deeper with Bodour Al Qasimi and Mamadou Toure to learn more about the challenge and the ways in which we can form a collective response to the current times as we spearhead a new path into the future.

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I started my first NGO at the age of nineteen, and that gave me the experience and impetus to found Africa 2.0 Foundation through which I invited the best African brains in the diaspora to collaborate and create solutions for sustainable development in the African continent.

I am always looking to serve others and to add value, especially having grown up with the concept of Ubuntu: ‘I Am because We Are’.

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Sasha Frate: Can you each share a bit about your backgrounds and how you came together to create the Ubuntu Love Challenge?

Bodour Al Qasimi: I studied anthropology and my passion is publishing. I have always been fascinated by different cultures and their stories. Stories run deep in my culture and my family, and I am a storyteller myself, so it was a natural step for me to create a publishing house called Kalimat Group. Kalimat in Arabic means “words”, and my aim in establishing a publishing house was to give “the voiceless” a platform to share their stories and their words with the rest of the world.

Having been formerly stereotyped for my gender and background, I want to help others break down misconceptions or how they are seen by others in their own words. As the world started to go through this severe health and economic crisis, I

knew deep down I had a calling to help the vulnerable and those deeply affected by the crisis. Still, it wasn’t until I had my meeting with Mamadou early this year that I knew how that would manifest itself on a global level.

In many ways, my values and belief system have been closely aligned with the concept of Ubuntu long before I heard about it from Mamadou.

When we first had that conversation about what we could do in the face of COVID-19 and its global impact, it was a natural conclusion that we should unite our efforts to help people from around the world navigate this crisis and ultimately emerge stronger.

Mamadou Toure: My family is firmly rooted in the idea of service.

My great, great grandfather, Smouri Toure, fought British and French colonization on many fronts and dedicated his life to protecting the indigenous people of Western Africa.

The idea of public service is part of

our legacy, so it was natural for me to start thinking of giving back to Africa when I was a young student in Paris. I started my first NGO at the age of nineteen, and that gave me the experience and impetus to found Africa 2.0 Foundation through which I invited the best African brains in the diaspora to collaborate and create solutions for sustainable development in the African continent. I am always looking to serve others and to add value, especially having grown up with the concept of Ubuntu: “I Am because We Are.” It was, therefore, difficult for me to witness the state of fear engulfing the world and invading the lives of so many people around the globe. I had already begun to think of ways to serve people on a large scale since the beginning of this pandemic, so when I met Sheikha Bodour for a catch-up meeting in Sharjah last March, our objectives were quickly aligned and our conversation developed into the #UbuntuLoveChallenge. www.facethecurrent.com

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We want to challenge the current individualistic mindset and remind people that we are one, and that family and community are critical to our wellbeing and our evolution as humans. Somewhere along the way we lost our sense of interconnectedness and started to believe that living independently of each other was natural, but when we are hit with a crisis of this magnitude, it is nature’s way of reminding us that we belong together and we have to look after each other to overcome these challenges.

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SF:To what are you specifically challenging people when you invite them to participate?

BAQ: We challenge changemakers to take action to support those affected by the COVID-19 crisis in their communities. Fundamentally, we want to challenge the current individualistic mindset and remind people that we are one, and that family and community are critical to our well-being and our evolution as humans. Somewhere along the way we lost our sense of interconnectedness and started to believe that living independently of each other was natural, but when we are hit with a crisis of this magnitude, it is nature’s way of reminding us that we belong together and we have to look after each other to overcome these challenges. So, in a way, we want

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to challenge everyone to create a new humanity and a new awakening to take us into the future with more confidence.

vital piece of the larger puzzle of an interconnected human family based on the universal meaning of Ubuntu: “I Am because We Are.”

MT: We challenge changemakers to lead within their communities, to inspire a shift in consciousness, and to bring about healing and empowerment to those severely affected by this crisis. We challenge them to think in the context of a global movement of love over fear, a movement based on the idea that “We Are One”. This challenge is an invitation from us to all those capable of doing something to help during these difficult times to take action and not be bystanders. What they contribute and how much they contribute does not really matter.

What matters is that they take action because every action becomes a

SF: One of your hashtags for the challenge is #LoveOverFear: can you explain the fear component, not only in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic, but also in relation to our daily lives and our receptivity to embracing changes that are an inevitable part of our life experience?

Musician Maher Zain shared a beautiful message when he accepted your challenge saying, “Love is what keeps us going, what gives us hope, what makes us compassionate, what makes us care for one another…” Why do you believe that love is the answer?

BAQ: Choosing love over fear is the inner triumph for any of us when faced with life’s various challenges. If we submit to fear, we reduce our chances of meaningful progress, and we are more likely to make mistakes. I understand fear. I understand why some people might be fearful, especially in a moment of crisis. It is a primal reaction and our brains are wired to be alert to risk and danger. But fear is a lie; it does not tell the full story. It distorts reality and cripples us into a sense of helplessness and hopelessness. Love, on the other hand, is the essence of every human being. Love conquers fear and allows us to connect to the deeper meaning of everything that happens in our lives. Nothing great ever came out of fear. Hence our choice of #LoveOverFear was a conscious decision to inspire people

to embrace the power of love to help themselves and others, to hang on to hope and to reawaken our consciousness.

MT: Fear causes people to go into a downward spiral. This spiral can lead people to behave in ways that are destructive and counterproductive, especially during times of crisis.

What is happening to the world now is unprecedented—at least to our generation—and it can feel like the world is upside down. In times like these, the power of love, of faith, of our unity, of purpose and faith in humanity will help us to positively transition this period. This is not just theory. A closer look at the history of any nation or community reveals that the choice of love and faith in a better future is what helped them get through tough times. I can’t help but

think of the historic speech of Nelson Mandela when he was appointed the first black president of a postapartheid South Africa. He called for healing and unity and for actions that will “strengthen confidence in the nobility of the human soul and sustain all our hopes for a glorious life for all.” His love message was instrumental to peace as the nation grappled with a painful and prolonged past of injustice. On an individual level, going through the COVID-19 crisis with a spirit of love will help each one us make the best of this experience, to grow exponentially, and to be empowered to find creative solutions for our challenges. If you practice and embody love, which is light, you expand and radiate love. This becomes contagious—hope rises from love, and from hope comes change, and from change comes evolution. www.facethecurrent.com

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SF: Many noteworthy people around the world have already participated in the Ubuntu Love Challenge. Can you share a few examples of these participants and their experiences?

BAQ: Many global leaders and changemakers have risen to the challenge, and all of them thought it was the right time to collaborate and do something about the chaos we are going through. We were delighted to be joined by the world-famous author and health guru Deepak Chopra; Chris Gardner the CEO of Happiness; singer, songwriter, actor, and author, Tyrese Gibson; Maxwell, a musician and activist; Barbara McKay, a leading media personality; and Oulimata Sarr, Regional Director UN Women For West and Central Africa. A growing number of prominent government and private leaders in the UAE have been joining the challenge offering support and creative solutions to alleviate the pressure on impacted people. I want to note here the #educationuninterrupted campaign launched by Dr. Tariq Al Gurg, CEO of Dubai Cares, to support distance learning by providing free laptops to low income school children. I also want to mention the 1 Million Dollar Solidarity Fund set up by the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center (Sheraa) to support startups that are under strain due to this pandemic.

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MT: The response of the celebrities and changemakers we approached or who approached us reflect the idea that the universal ideals of Ubuntu lie in each and every one of us, so it just needs to be ignited. All participants were enthusiastic about the challenge and many of them have risen above and beyond what they pledged to do. World-famous footballer Dedier Drogaba accepted the challenge and spread the message across his vast network of influencers. WattsStix, the successful American rapper and music producer, took the challenge and is building something called the Think Watts HQ; a Californian community

hub to help develop new businesses.

Community members can learn the basics of coding, programming, music, entrepreneurship, sewing, and many other professional and practical skills to help them create new streams of revenue. I was also thrilled to see Queen Diambi Kabatusuila, the traditional ruler of the Bena Tshiyamba People who are part of the ancient Luba Empire in the Democratic Republic of Congo. His libation ritual session during the first edition of the Ubuntu Love Festival was very popular and helped many people understand the deeper connection between water and healing.

SF: How will the Ubuntu Love Challenge platform serve as a powerful totem of humanity through its sharing of various projects and initiatives?

BAQ: The #UbuntuLoveChallenge platform is a physical embodiment of the philosophy of Ubuntu. The “I Am because We Are” concept is ancient wisdom developed over time through human trials and tribulations. Based on the belief that we all share the same destiny, we developed the platform to allow collaborative efforts to sprawl throughout the world with the vision to inspire, empower, and nurture members of the human family during this crisis. We intended to inspire changemakers to make a difference within their circle of influence by taking concrete actions. For example, they can support remote education, organize food drives, teach and mentor online for free, among other supportive gestures. But, we also wanted to inspire people through uplifting stories, poems, songs, and other material aimed to lift our spirits and support our mental wellbeing.

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This is a platform for universal love. Changemakers and experts around the world are filling it with projects, initiatives, and knowledge of love and hope, and it will serve as a powerful totem of humanity in the face of hardship. Our aim is also to encourage people to reclaim their lives and channel the chaos and fear they feel into positive and powerful actions.

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MT:We are hoping that through #UbuntuLoveChallenge platform, global leaders and changemakers can inspire us so that more leaders emerge and empower even more communities. We are hoping they help us recover our intrinsic strength and understand our true capabilities, especially when we stand together. This is a platform for universal love. Changemakers and experts around the world are filling it with projects, initiatives, and knowledge of love and hope, and it will serve as a powerful totem of humanity in the face of hardship. Our aim is also to encourage people to reclaim their lives and channel the chaos and fear they feel into positive and powerful actions.

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not sustainable. We can’t dream of peace and social stability when we only think about ourselves, not as “one”.

Every year, new wars and conflicts start in different parts of the world and uproot millions of refugees in the process, creating many generations of uneducated children. This is because we are unable to think “as one” and instead act out of greed and fear. So, yes, we need Ubuntu and all similar ideologies during this crisis, and more importantly, after this crisis is over. A new awakening must take place so we can continue our journey.

SF: While the challenge is presented as rising out of the global pandemic to coordinate a collective response, how/why do you believe Ubuntu is truly relevant and valuable beyond the pandemic?

BAQ: Ubuntu is just one way to say and think, “We are one.” The world needs the “I Am because We Are” philosophy because, aside from the pandemic, we are facing

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serious challenges that are going to define our future and the future of this planet for many more years to come. We face an existential climate crisis that seems to be worsening, but we are unable to think as “one”. Everyone is waiting for someone to do something about it first, but no one seems to be able to take real concrete action in the face of this threat. The economic inequalities of this day and age are historically unprecedented and are

MT: This is a really good question and one that I have always reflected on. Is it possible that the principles of Ubuntu can be applied universally? Is it just an idealistic dream? Frankly, I can’t tell you that it is possible, but what I can tell you is that throughout my travels and my work through the Africa 2.0 Foundation and now through the Ubuntu Love Challenge, I have met so many incredible people with pure souls who genuinely want to serve humanity in their way without any expectation of any recognition. I have been stranded in the UAE for the past few months as all commercial flights were grounded in March. Since then, I have been meeting extraordinary people from all different walks of life who want to join the Ubuntu Love Challenge and who believe in the message of oneness now and beyond this crisis.

So, I believe that this philosophy is needed and its underlying ideology can transform the lives of so many people.

SF: Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge served as South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Health from 20042007 and shared with Global Oneness Project that “Ubuntu is not just for Africans. It is inside every single human being and has the capacity to bring tremendous change if people can live it.” As Co-Founders, what are the tremendous changes you wish to see for humanity from the Ubuntu Love Challenge?

BAQ: I personally want to see more compassion, more kindness, and more understanding of the fact that

what affects one person affects us all at a certain level.

MT: I want to see more love and less fear, more light and less darkness, and more hope and less despair. It is true that Ubuntu is an African concept, but it carries the values cherished by humans everywhere in the world for millions of years and so it is natural for all of us to embrace its core teachings and apply them to our daily lives no matter who or where we are.

SF: While the word Ubuntu is an African term, you’ve mentioned a few other cultures that have similar terms and concepts.

Can you share what these are, and the ways in which they are similar to and different from Ubuntu?

BAQ: Well, in the Muslim tradition, the Prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him) is quoted to have said that believers, in their mutual kindness, compassion, and sympathy are just like one body: when any part of the body suffers, the whole body feels pain. While the Prophet might have been addressing his followers at the time, the message is universally clear and applicable, and it is very much aligned with the “I Am because We are” Ubuntu philosophy. www.facethecurrent.com

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The Mayan tradition also has a concept called “In Lak’ech Ala K’in”, which means “I am another yourself,” or, “I am you and you are me.” (This is the closet translation.)

It is a statement of the truest unity of Oneness in all humanity and a way to create a positive reality for all forms of life.

MT: I believe the language reflects the culture, and as such, I am very impressed with some of the daily terms in the Arab world which indicate a great deal of love for each other.

For example, let’s take a look at the word “Marhaba”. If we split it, “Mar” means Master or God, and “Haba” comes from the word love.

Marhaba then becomes, “God is Love”. It means that one sees the Love of God inside another as they see in themselves. It is equivalent to a Western version of Namaste.

Another way of saying Marhaba, or Namaste, is Ubuntu.

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The Mayan tradition also has a concept called “In Lak’ech Ala K’in”, which means “I am another yourself,” or, “I am you and you are me.” (This is the closet translation.)

It is a statement of the truest unity of Oneness in all humanity and a way to create a positive reality for all forms of life.

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Additionally, when someone says “thank you” in Arabic, you’d reply by saying “Ahlan wa Sahlan”. Ahlan, which comes from the word Ahl, “family”, and Sahlan, comes from the word Sahl, which means “easy”. This way of replying is essential to reflect on because it means you are family, and this is why things will be easy.

Ahlan wa Sahalan reflects the same intrinsic philosophy about sharing with each and every one of us.

SF: What is the goal of the platform’s Ideas Bank, and what was your process for selecting each of these ideas?

BAQ and MT: The Ideas Bank is a result of our continuous brainstorming to come up with initiatives to empower people and guide them into positive action. We can’t see positive change without action.

SF: Some might say that this project is rather ambitious, or that it is something that is unavailingly trying to create

world peace. However, your approach with this project/ challenge has been to invite the changemakers to leverage their interconnectedness as agents of positive change and to amplify acts of love. Why do you feel that “a New Earth” is truly within reach?

BAQ: The forces of light and the forces of darkness are going to be in opposite directions forever. I believe this is a universal truth. We want to support the forces of good. We want more people who don’t know what to do to help to join and collaborate to create a new version of our humanity—a better version, hopefully.

Is it ambitious or too idealistic?

Perhaps. But it is not impossible. It is a numbers game. Change is possible; it was possible in the past whereby a group of people joined efforts and created history, and I believe it is possible today as more people join our challenge or similar initiatives.

MT: I think all inventions and innovations start with a simple, “Why not?”

Why not be ambitions to create a New Earth? Is it because the established, mainstream ideologies and practices are so prevalent that we don’t think it’s possible to improve them? Well, a quick look at history and we will learn that when people collaborate, they can transform history and improve the state of the world. The #UbuntuLoveChallenge is a start, and I hope others will follow suit and continue this journey.

SF:You have held an Ubuntu Love Festival on two powerful days of the solstice and the penumbral lunar eclipse. What did the festival entail, and will you hold similar events in the future? What’s next for Ubuntu?

BAQ: We held the ULF on the day the sun reached both its highest and lowest points in the northern and southern hemispheres, which is symbolic of a transition of nature’s eternal cycle of demise and rebirth. The solstice is a sacred time where the veil between dimensions

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grows thin but adding a solar eclipse into the mix heightens the energy.

This ring of fire is called Corona, strangely enough! Now when we add a new moon in Cancer it becomes the most powerful time of the year and so our mission behind launching the Ubuntu Love Festival is to nurture people during this special day of the year and help them transition their energy into new heights. We also want to challenge the way they think about this crisis, expand consciousness, and raise energy and vibrations to help make way for a new paradigm. We are very pleased about the results of the two first Ubuntu Love Festivals as people from around the world tuned in and engaged with global experts and gurus during some interesting sessions. We want people to leave the ULF inspired, energized, and enlightened, and this is why we carefully designed empowering programs with speakers and workshops centered on mindfulness, meditation, music, yoga, art, and healing.

MT: You know, the ULF is just yet another example of the potential of the #UbuntuLoveChallenge. It was a truly global gathering of people from around the four corners of the world to heal, nurture their souls, and empower themselves with a sense of renewed energy and purpose. The first themes we selected resonated with people and this is why we think we will continue organizing more ULFs in the future. So, the first two ULFs were organized on June 20th and July 5th, 2020. The theme of the first ULF was “Healing Humanity from Social and Racial Injustice”. And the second ULF was themed “Co-creating the New Earth” which we organized during the penumbral lunar eclipse with a mission to challenge our way of thinking, to expand our consciousness, and to raise our vibrations to make way for the new paradigm.

ymore info: www.ubuntulovechallenge.org

The first two ULFs were organized on June 20th and July 5th, 2020. The theme of the first ULF was “Healing Humanity from Social and Racial Injustice”. And the second ULF was themed “Cocreating the New Earth” which we organized during the penumbral lunar eclipse with a mission to challenge our way of thinking, to expand our consciousness, and to raise our vibrations to make way for the new paradigm.

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FtC culture

Attachment to Detachment How to Avoid this Common Self-Preservation

Mistake and Live a Life of Grateful Love

By Kai Karrel We come into this world as the result of an act of connection, often because of an act of love; a merging of intention, of ideals, of bodies. This unity of the two brings about the one. Love, it seems, is a unifying experience, elevating, uplifting, and bringing us together.

However, more often than not, we all experience the divisive nature of this so-called love, and we experience heartbreak, disappointment, pain, and frustration.

One thing we know about life with absolute certainty: it will eventually end. We know we are here for a short visit and that yesterday will never come back. This sense of certainty and awareness that our journey will someday come to a close causes us to grasp onto its fleeting moments. What if I won’t get to see this person tomorrow? What if I won’t have this job; this house; this experience? The fear of loss can be overwhelming and the innate sense of losing control over the things and ones we love can be immensely challenging.

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And so, because of this kind of pain, many spiritual traditions warn us of attachment in one form or another.

God forbid we fall in its trap and find ourselves living with the illusion that this—whatever it is—will last forever! Hence, the “logical” conclusion is that we should avoid attaching ourselves to that which has an eventual end. It seems logical because we all experience the pain of loss, but it is as flawed as saying that if you have a headache, the logical conclusion is to cut off your head.

Even if detaching from love was the solution, it is not easy to accomplish.

The path of the renounced ascetic doesn’t really entice most of us to follow along. For instance, celibacy, solitude, and renunciation definitely don’t appeal to our human desires, and I can regretfully share from experience that once you do step on this path, detachment becomes

your new form of attachment.You become attached, often fanatically, to this new ideal of living a detached life. Anything or anyone that might put your detachment at risk is now another object from which to push away and escape.

And so, it seems that both detachment from and attachment to love cause an eventual state of pain.

Are we damned if we do and damned if we don’t? How can we find the healthy balance? How can we love without attachment and live detached while staying connected to life itself? How do we live without the need to escape reality for all that it is?

There is an ancient Yogic tale that directs us to the answers: King Janaka was a saintly king who was very wealthy and as devout as truth itself. One day, a group of renounced

Yogis questioned the purity of their king.

“How can he be so devout while being so rich? How can he claim to live a detached life while living in such a palace?” they wondered.

These doubts turned into gossip, and as gossip often does, it grew into flames of blame and shame. King Janaka heard of these accusations and invited the esteemed Yogis to visit his palace for a feast.The Yogis accepted, wanting to find proof of the king’s hypocrisy.They were shown into an exquisite hall with a long and polished table standing in its center.The table was filled with dishes of all colors and shapes, showcasing many flavors and aromatic spices. It was truly a feast of immeasurable wealth and unending splendor. As they sat at the table, they couldn’t help but notice a sword, dangling on a slender silken thread, hung directly above each of their heads.

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“Welcome!” King Janaka exclaimed, “Eat, my brothers! Enjoy this meal—we shall converse more after your desire is fulfilled.”

Within seconds, the monks finished eating and stood up, fearing the wrath of their appointed sword.

“Wait, there is so much more! There is dessert and cake and tea,” added the king. “Why are you leaving in such a rush? Have you not enjoyed your meal?”

yet I always remember the sword, which is just there, hanging by a thread above my head.”

The king knew that he had to be grateful for all that life had given him, and he needed the freedom to enjoy every moment of it because of the finite nature of that which he loved.

Freedom is not a state of detachment, nor is it a state of escapism. Attachment to life’s greatest pleasures will only bring One of the monks whispered in shame, about fear and control, never “Honestly, I didn’t even get to taste it. freedom and love. Love does not The fear of the sword choked my throat.” hurt; attachment does. Love does not fail; expectations do. Aloneness and “This is how I live my life,” the king escapism will not bring wholeness, explained, gesturing to the table and swords. “I live each moment to its fullest, nor will they get you closer to your

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center as you cannot arrive there out of fear or avoidance. Freedom comes from an empowered choice to live life with gratitude, appreciating where you are now, and learning to express your deepest truths and desires.

Learn to let go and allow life to be let in. Through the process of living, you are required to eventually let go.

When the time is right, you need to surrender. We grow in our sense of living as we allow this understanding to shake and awaken us. Live each moment to its fullest, be present for each relationship and each experience, surrender to the flow of life, and trust in the Divine Plan and its gentle reminders.

Gratitude is a force of transformation that allows us to detach from an outcome and attach to uncertainty while living with the faith that life is happening for us and that it always conspires on our behalf. Life is a constant flow of evolution and it wakes us up to live empowered, grateful, and free. Gratitude is also the ability to appreciate all that we are given; it is the capacity to acknowledge the presence of uncertainty. Detach from taking things, people, and even life itself for granted. This is the path to pure love.

To attach or not to attach? To detach or not to detach? These aren’t the questions.

Instead, what is the innate meaning you choose to give to your relationship with life itself? Discover it, respect it, hold it dear, and honor your days with a loving and thankful heart.

ymore info: www.kaikarrel.com www.facethecurrent.com

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FtC culture

You Are Not Broken: Making Connections and Coming Home to

Yourself with Expert Mentor Dr. Scott Mills

By Sasha Frate Scott Mills, Ph.D. has been studying and teaching the ways in which humans really work for over twenty-five years, helping his clients to discover their personal paths to happiness and freedom.

In part one of Dr. Mills’ discussion with Face the Current, he shared his insights into super resilience, the expansion of our personal capacity, the Human Evolution System, the importance of living as an embodied being, and the concept of a “full body yes”.

In this, the final interview installment, Dr. Mills continues the intriguing conversation with topics including the importance of personal safety for getting outside our comfort zones, using a “mirror” to identify our choices, virtual retreat opportunities, and how best to equip children with the tools necessary to emotionally reset.

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Sasha Frate: You’ve spoken about being fully sourced and I think this is another amazing focal point that you cover in your course.You describe it as the capacity to drink in the full, energetic resources that you’re being offered, fully bringing you a sense of vitality and aliveness.

Now, I’m not the expert that you are on this, but I truly feel that this area is of such great importance. So many of us allow ourselves to become so depleted of our energies for various reasons. For instance, we stay in unhealthy relationships too long; we give attention, time, and energy to work or projects that we’re not passionate about; we update ourselves on stressful news feeds way too frequently—all kinds of things. I see it as really putting ourselves into a survival mode where,

rather than flowing from this centered, aligned, connected, and grounded space where we can thrive in our life, we’re just merely surviving. I know you’ve spoken about this, but maybe you can retouch on it: How can people become fully sourced, full of vitality, and do more with less energy spent? How do you rope people back into the space?

Scott Mills: I actually rely on the chakra system for this. I’ve studied the Hindu work as well, and it has a beautiful way of opening up different parts of who we are. If you think about these different centers of energy in our root chakras—the place where we connect safety and security—that’s actually where most of us are working right now. Part of what’s been interesting to me during COVID-19 is anybody who’s had any kind of developmental challenge (meaning they showed up in life and didn’t feel very safe at some level)

has been shaken. It’s been almost like, “Wake up, wake up, remember you aren’t safe in the world!”

A lot of us have gone into this fear mode because that basic level of security and safety has been missing.

When it comes to our sense of creativity, am I feeding my creativity in this moment? What about my sense of will and capacity to create; my sense of heart? We are so disconnected from our heart in the ways that we don’t see other people; we don’t connect to the pain and the joys of other people. This is the piece that I think is so tragic. When we protect ourselves from the pain of other people, we think we’re all good, but we’re actually missing out on all the positive, beautiful experiences we can have when we’re connected with them. We’re diminishing our capacity to express, to have insight, and to think.

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When we stop learning— when we stop being curious— we start stagnating. Stagnation is not good for anyone—it’s sort of like rotting in place.

We’re designed to be connected to each other. In fact, we’re designed for packs, to be collected with each other.

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I look at this and say, “Okay, how balanced is someone in the particular moment?” And you can do this for yourself! You can say, “Is most of my energy dedicated to just getting by; just surviving? Is there energy allocated in my life for creativity? Is there energy allocated to making things that show up in the world? Is there energy allocated for my heart to open and connect with other people; for me to express myself, for me to be insightful, for me to think?”

This is very easy to do. Humans are designed to be creative—we are curious by nature! Watch any baby that’s learning to explore its world and you will see that we are curious by nature. We are designed to learn and that’s part of why I think we’re so adaptable.

When we stop learning—when we stop being curious—we start

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stagnating. Stagnation is not good for anyone—it’s sort of like rotting in place. We’re designed to be connected to each other. In fact, we’re designed for packs, to be collected with each other, which is part of why COVID-19 has been hard. People have been isolated in a way where we don’t know our safety anymore. We don’t feel like we’re with our people.

We can simply notice if we’re experiencing a fullness or a deprivation in each one of these ways. Is there an opening, or is it closed down? It’s a very simple level.

I don’t find this complex for people to self-evaluate. However, can people shift their focus so that they can give to themselves in the place that they most need? That is where it gets more difficult. This is why part of super resilience is the capacity

to ask for what you need when you need it, fully receive it, and then to also give without expectation. We haven’t talked much about that, but it’s important to be able to give to other people without the strings attached. Give of ourselves and meet their needs.

For example, if I can notice right now that my heart is feeling disconnected and then you say, “My heart is feeling pretty empty,” I can begin to notice ways that I could feel more connected with you and I can ask for help with that. I can say, “I feel like I’m not spending enough time with people.

Let me see where I can spend more time.” That solution could be reaching out on Zoom or taking a walk with a friend. (I’ve made a big commitment during COVID to reach out to friends who are living by themselves, to make sure that everything’s okay.)

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Some of us have swallowed our sound and a lot of us have swallowed our words. It’s not that the capacity to speak is gone, it’s that some part of you—or somebody else—has convinced yourself that it’s not okay, and you’ve listened. We just need to remember to re-collect ourselves and to have our full voice open.

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You referred to the watching of stressful news feeds, and during the first year of this administration, I probably checked the news five times a day because I was convinced we would be in a war. There were many things that made it look like that was going to happen, perhaps with multiple countries. So, my head space was getting filled over and over and over, and when that happens, there’s not much room for anything to move.

Your head becomes like a shaken-up soda bottle and it explodes as soon as you open it! This is what facilitates rage culture.

If I notice that my heart is feeling empty, I can begin to look for ways to adjust. The important thing to know is that these adjustments don’t usually happen in a vacuum; we need other people’s help.

SF:That sounds like the aspect

of self-help you previously mentioned where we see ourselves as broken.

SM: It’s about seeing parts of yourself projected beyond the boundaries of your physicality. For instance, if I don’t think I’m creative, what I’m really saying is that I don’t know how to be creative. Perhaps no one has ever shown me the creative parts of myself before! If I do something as simple as Google “How are people creative?” I can see what’s available within myself and learn about some options on the menu that I haven’t seen before.

The sense of brokenness occurs when people hold the sense of, “Something’s wrong with me because I’m not creative,” or, “Something’s wrong with me because I don’t know how to love people,” or, “Something’s wrong with me because I don’t know

how to express my voice.” This is different than framing it in terms of never having been shown how to do all these things.

I’m teaching a course next month with Luis Chapa, a former principal for the Met Opera. We want to show people how to claim their creative voice and expression. The first step is to stop judging and just to let ourselves feel what it feels like to make a sound. Some of us have swallowed our sound and a lot of us have swallowed our words. It’s not that the capacity to speak is gone, it’s that some part of you—or somebody else—has convinced yourself that it’s not okay, and you’ve listened. As Walt Whitman said, “To shout your barbaric yelp from the rooftops of the world.” That is one of my favorite poems.

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connect into what is present right here, but that doesn’t mean we don’t go outside of ourselves for more information. I might ask someone what they think about something, and that might spark my own curiosity.

This is a component of super resilience! If you’re not curious, your world collapses on itself because your life-experience is so tiny and you only stay within your boundaries.

But I have to be okay with myself if I start to get curious as to what could be beyond my boundaries. If I’m not okay with myself, looking across the boundary is going to feel threatening. For example: “I don’t know who those people are, they’re not my people; I don’t feel safe with them.” But if I recognize that I’m pretty safe, things are okay, I know who I am, I feel grounded, and I know I’m supported, it’s very easy to look at a person or experience outside of my comfort zone without getting triggered.

We just need to remember to recollect ourselves and to have our full voice open. It’s important to feel safe and supported. These elements are usually in our body, but for whatever reason, we’ve ignored them. We have access to them; we just have to find them again. This is a huge piece of what I teach people to do and it’s actually very, very easy. I basically hold up a mirror and show you who you are. I’m not crafting that outcome, I’m not creating it, I’m just suggesting that perhaps the mirror is dirty and clouded by other people’s ideas, or some things that you believed about yourself, or some ways that you previously existed in the world.

But, if we just clean the mirror, you can look at it and see yourself as an extraordinary person who is here in this life for a big purpose. Once that

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happens, life starts to open up in a really interesting way.

SF: A lot of the simplicity lies in just the awareness and the recognition.

SM: Yes. I love this quote from Einstein: “We should strive for things to be as simple as possible and no simpler.” For me, it’s the definition of elegance. I strive for the work that we do in the world to be elegant; to not have a significant waste of energy.

For most of us, it’s actually just about coming home to ourselves; to start inhabiting this body that we showed up on earth with; to start saying, “I’m an embodied human.” What do I actually feel? Without other people telling me what to feel and whispering in my ear, what do I actually think? Just

SF:Yes, definitely. Scott, I like how you describe the idea of a mirror, and this positive way of reflecting our goodness and wholeness. A lot of people—or a lot of unhealthy relationships— have this mirror effect, but in an unhealthy way.This can unfold when you’re drawn to a friend, partner, or any other person in your life that reflects all the negative things that you believe about yourself, and somehow you’re still attracted to that mirror. I think that a lot of people are unaware that’s even happening, and that this type of relationship is an unhealthily reflected connection.

How would you advise people to tap into the awareness or recognition of a scenario like that?

SM: This is where you have to go back to the brain for a minute. For

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Part of the work of super resilience is to show you all the ways that you’re strong—the bigger parts of yourself—so that your brain can grow accustomed to new offerings on the menu of life. This is why safety is the foundational piece. If my pattern is showing up in relationships in a way where my needs are not met and I’m not really seen, it would feel unsafe for me to even imagine the possibility of somebody coming along who could completely see me. That idea does not even seem possible to some people and that can feel so scary. Our work can begin to make that scenario less scary, so the brain can relax and open up to the coding.

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most of us, we learn these patterns when we’re very, very young, usually by the age of two or three, and they teach us how to survive in the world.

Humans come onto the planet pretty unscripted, while other animals know how to hunt in a day or two.

Some animals can drop out of their mother’s womb and they can run in less than four hours, and their instincts allow them to quickly relate to their environment. One of the most beautiful things about humans is that we’re crazy adaptable; we can step into almost any kind of climate and figure out how to live in it. We can also eat an array of different food and live in different environments all over the world.

Imagine being young in an unsafe world and not having your needs met.

When this happens, we start to learn how to survive without feeling very good in ourselves. Our needs are

not met, and we don’t have people around us that really see us. Imagine this as your starting point in life! That would be your foundation and then you would keep building floor upon floor of your life on that. No matter how high you build, you are always going to be repeating the unstable shape of the foundation. Jump to being a twenty-two year looking for a relationship, and who do we pick? We pick the person who can’t see us and who doesn’t really meet our needs, because that’s what we know.

In fact, we’re really good at seeing this pattern in our friends, but it’s more difficult to see in ourselves.

SF:That’s a function of comfort, right?

SM: Yes, because to step outside of what you know you can survive feels much scarier than just staying in this pattern.

Part of the work of super resilience is to show you all the ways that you’re strong—the bigger parts of yourself—so that your brain can grow accustomed to new offerings on the menu of life. This is why safety is the foundational piece. If my pattern is showing up in relationships in a way where my needs are not met and I’m not really seen, it would feel unsafe for me to even imagine the possibility of somebody coming along who could completely see me. That idea does not even seem possible to some people and that can feel so scary. Our work can begin to make that scenario less scary, so the brain can relax and open up to the coding.

In the Western world I find we look for the root cause. We can explain all the ways that we’re broken, and point to relationships we’ve had at various ages to pinpoint a pattern.

For example, “It’s because my parents www.facethecurrent.com

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if it’s all of our being. One of the fun things I often do with people is say to them, “Okay, so can you find where the sadness in your body lives right now?” To do this, scan your body from the top of your head to the bottom of your toes, and breathe a little bit. For some people, it even helps to use their hand to trace their body. In doing this, I’ve never had someone say to me, “I can’t find it.”

It’s all pretty intuitive. For example, sadness usually shows up right around the heart. The important thing to ask yourself is whether or not it is everywhere in your body. The answer is “no”, so that means you are not this one part of you.You are not sadness, you have some sadness.

I think the romance languages nicely reflect this in translation.

SF: Right, you don’t say, “I am”, you say, “I have”.

SM: You just say, “I have this—I have some fear. I have some sadness.” You don’t say, “I am this thing.” We tend to over-identify with that “broken” part of ourselves; that one emotion we wish would go away. If you’re inside all of your sadness, you can get a sense of how hard it is to notice how to get outside of it. were terrible and they didn’t give me what I needed,” etc. It’s exhausting to inventory all of the ways that we are “broken” and it can leave us feeling very inadequate.

Instead, it’s much more useful to find places in your life where those patterns are nowhere to be found! Define the places that you have strength, and borrow from them. Most of us had a special parent figure, grandmother or grandfather, teacher, coach, auntie, uncle—someone—from whom we can borrow strengths. For instance, when artists sit down to create, they don’t have that “broken” experience, so we work with that type of wonderful strength and help it to expand.

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One way that we help people to fix areas of their lives is to say: “You know that dilapidated shed out there with the broken nails and broken hammer? Can you go in there and use those broken tools to fix it?”

Go into your brokenness. Go into what is not working and fully inhabit that place.

SF:That’s huge because that’s a shift in reinforcing a belief or perspective on self-identity to say, “This is an experience,” as opposed to, “I am this thing.”

SM: Yes, it’s about becoming stuck in time. We freeze ourselves by saying, “I am afraid, I’m happy, I am sad,” as

SF:Yes! SM: If you’re inside your wholeness, you might notice that you’re experiencing some sadness, but you most likely notice that you’re also experiencing some ease.You may even be experiencing some joy! We’re so much more complex than this computer model that says we can only experience one thing at a time.

We can experience lots of different emotions at once! We’re often conflicted about things, so as soon as we start to notice we’re more complex, we have a place to work from SF: Scott, you offer other unique experiences, courses, and a lot

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Everyone was so touched by that song. As humans, we know that we’re touched by music and the experiences of other people.

So, we create an experience where we invite people in just to listen to their stories. For all of our retreats, we actually use a transformative or transgressive education model that dictates that people need to have experiences. We as people have experiences all the time, but we rarely take time to reflect on them.

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of virtual retreats. I think it is a fascinating concept because I always think of retreats as physically going somewhere, but right now it’s a beautiful experience that people can still have while staying socially distanced or quarantined. Some of your retreats include Healers Thriving In Chaos and Beyond; Opening of Your Heart and Mind to Love ;and Soul Night of Comfort, Love, and Delight. Can you share a bit about how you conduct these virtual retreats, how they work, and why they’re so impactful?

SM: When we gather together— whether it’s virtually or physically— we create a connection with each other, and we remember it. For example with the Soul Night, we brought in the Corn Brothers, musicians who traveled with Coldplay and Pink. They opened up the retreat for us, and they shared a song that they recently wrote about the loss of an eighteen-month old infant.

Everyone was so touched by that song. As humans, we know that we’re touched by music and the experiences of other people.

So, we create an experience where we invite people in just to listen to their stories.

And yes, there are some beautiful things you can watch on TV and your heart can be open to it, but when we do virtual retreats, the assumption is that people are hungry for connection and for some sort of experience. We design the retreats so that you can have some sort of deepening experience.

We also bring in other people such as Dr. Laurie Laden, one of the top trauma specialists in the world. I haven’t really experienced trauma, so we bring in people like her and then we create lots of space for people to connect. Most of the retreats are created to fill a need; to step into the place where people are most in need. For instance, the love

retreat is actually just helping people see how their brain works around relationships.

For all of our retreats, we actually use a transformative or transgressive education model that dictates that people need to have experiences.

We as people have experiences all the time, but we rarely take time to reflect on them.

SF: Reflect and then integrate, allowing that space for reflection and to look at how we can integrate what we just experienced.

SM: Exactly. So, for us, we are first interested in every person coming into one of our retreats and leaving with more of a sense of agency or authority over their own lives. If I design an experience for someone, I want them just to have the experience. I’m not going to tell them what it looks like, what they should do, or what they should feel. There’s always space for reflection and www.facethecurrent.com

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engagement because we want people to sit with questions such as, “What is it that I just discovered? What’s the ‘aha’? What moved in me? What did I feel?” Only by helping people frame their experience so it makes sense in a larger context do we teach anything.

We get emails every day from people saying that one exercise in a retreat they attended literally changed their lives. We hear comments such as, “I feel more open. I feel more alive. I feel more loving.” (If there is anything you could do in this world that could get you responses like these, find your place to do that!) Talk about feeding your soul! That’s why we do a lot of these retreats for free, because we know that people need them, and we love watching those lights turn on for them. There’s very little that’s more exciting than that.

SF:Yes, it is really amazing and rewarding to see that spark.The next great extension of that is just knowing how that spark has its own ripple effect and even greater impact just from that

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one connection that you created with one of the people in your class. I noticed a great example of that when I watched one of your Mind Valley coaching calls.

I loved how one of the students was sharing and revealing what her experience was so far with the course, and she said that she thought she was already living life in a state of happiness.

So, she was happy in life, but this class brought her to this whole new level of happiness where even other people were recognizing that. It’s just a great example of how that impact on one individual really does have this effect and greater impact

on those around them, and then it just spreads in such a positive way. From the initial spark-point it reignites and reactivates.

SM: I am super committed to children having the tools that I create, and that’s my favorite ripple effect of what we do. (I say “we” because I’m standing on the shoulders of giants. There are so many people that I constantly acknowledge for the contribution that they made to allow me to create the work that I do.) In these calls, one thing we often do is teach people exercises and I’ll literally say, “This is something you can do with your kids.” I’ve had teachers take lessons into their classrooms, and I’ve had parents try them with their kids.

We teach people how to re-ground, re-center, and get back to safety.

When somebody tells me they taught their young child how to use this very basic tool that could help them feel okay again, that’s one of the biggest, “thank yous” I can ever get.

It’s wonderful to know that there are children who are going to feel better

in the world because of a tool that their mother or their father learned and that they can practice together.

In doing this, they’re also setting themselves up for more capacity in their own lives to re-center. To me, that’s just extraordinary to watch. I love when people have the openings that you mentioned, but even more so when they take it to friends and partners.

I received a sweet email from somebody the other day. I worked with her boyfriend and the email said, “I don’t know what you did to him but thank you. His heart is more open, he’s more present with me, and our relationship is getting so much richer.” I actually just saw her the other day, and she’s pulling in some of the same tools I taught him. She even participated in one of my calls and is stepping into more of her own capacity.

Ultimately, this isn’t about my work; this is about what we do for each other as human beings. If I step into my sense of safety, and if I know how supported I am and that I’m whole, then I have foundational points. When I sit across from you, it’s a whole different experience because now as a safe, supported, whole person, I can actually see you and I don’t have to say a word—I can just sit with you. I create more space for you to show up as yourself, and those are the most exciting pieces that come out of the work.

SF: It is exciting. And in terms of extending this to children— and not to judge any parenting practices—but I feel like sometimes parents look at kids as if they’re too young for certain conversations or lifestrategies. Some things are considered “adult stuff ” or kids are talked to in baby talk when they’re actually ready for adult language. So, what you

mentioned is really huge for children because we are helping guide them and give them tools so that they can move through experiences in life, well equipped, guided, and supported.

And so, I love that you hear that as well.

SM: Yes, and we’re not teaching people how to have conversations with their kids. So, I’m never saying, “Go talk to your kid about X,Y, and Z.” SF: Right.

SM: What I want them to learn is,

“How do I manage my own brain?”

This is actually stuff that should be taught starting in preschool, because it’s super simple. And the funny thing is, kids are actually better at picking up these tools than adults are because some of what we do is use things like guided imagery to initiate certain happenings in the brain. If you say to kids, “Imagine a yellow square in front of you,” they can do it. “Imagine you’re climbing a mountain,”—no problem. Kids are amazing with this, and we forgot that we have that skillset, too.

For instance, I have adults who come to my workshops and events www.facethecurrent.com

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One thing we teach people for parasympathetic reset, is to simply take one hand and move it down the center of your body in a calming, almost petting-acat motion. So, pretend that from your collarbone down to your belly button is the spine of a cat, and just pet it for two minutes. Your parasympathetic nervous system actually starts to kick in because of a nerve in that location. This is a very, very simple calming tool.

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and they say, “I don’t know how to be creative. I don’t know how to visualize.” As adults, we’ve shut off that part of ourselves. We all have this capacity, we just forget.

For example, one thing we teach people for parasympathetic reset, is to simply take one hand and move it down the center of your body in a calming, almost petting-a-cat motion. So, pretend that from your collarbone down to your belly button is the spine of a cat, and just pet it for two minutes.Your parasympathetic nervous system actually starts to kick in because of a nerve in that location.

This is a very, very simple calming tool. So, for a kid who is flooded with neurochemicals and emotions, it’s not helpful to say, “Why can’t you just behave?” Rather, if we can say, “Okay, cool. Don’t worry about the ‘why’, just sit down with me for a minute,” and we do this technique with them,

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it serves as our reset.You don’t have to call it a fancy name, you can just say, “Let’s just reset our emotions for a second.” Kids can do this for two minutes and then be back up and running. And this is just one of the many, many tools that are available for kids.

SF: Can you share what’s next for you, your path, and your offerings to the global community?

SM: I love that question. It’s a weird one because it’s a weird time right now. It’s so interesting to think about what’s next, because I think we don’t know what the new normal is. I just spent last year traveling to Japan, Malaysia, and Mexico, teaching all over the world. Now I don’t know if I’m comfortable getting on a plane or even going to a restaurant down the street from my house.

SF: Oh yeah. So, your future is open and flowing and adaptive.

SM: Yes, I’m being really open. What is very clear to me is that my work in the world is to teach more, so you’re going to see more courses offered from us.Yesterday we announced our summer brain camp, which is really fun. It’s a weekly free coaching call where people can come in and work and settle and just get grounded again. We also have a love retreat coming up, as you mentioned, and beyond that, we’re just watching.

We’re watching for what people need most as world changes unfold. And I think this is a place for most of us to just acknowledge that we don’t know what’s coming next week.

Now, that’s not an excuse to do nothing! It doesn’t mean we’re not planning, but it means we’re having to be very open and very fluid; we’re

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One of my favorite Taoist phrases is, “Go up when the river goes up and go down when the river goes down.”

This is great practice right now.

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really doing our own work here.

Trust and be in the flow of life. One of my favorite Taoist phrases is, “Go up when the river goes up and go down when the river goes down.”

This is great practice right now to go up when the river goes up and down when the river goes down, all the while responding to the immediate needs of those around us. That might be a wacky answer, but it’s really where life has taken us right now.

SF: Well, it’s wonderful for you to have that ability to create and provide in flow without having to have the whole next year planned out in terms of what’s coming for the community and your work. And I love having that type of flexibility, as well.

With the magazine, it’s so great to connect with you, because what you do is so perfect for our

time right now, and your content really resonates with what would be most helpful to people. I love that.

SM: Yes, and just go to our website.

We put things out very quickly, so it helps to be on our mailing list to get notifications. But we do create a lot of recordings which you can find on the website, and there are great tools in each one. The beautiful part is that we put out these recordings so you can actually go back and practice the exercises again and again. This all stems from the fact that my team and I are committed to creating a more loving and equitable world. We all just want to be a part of collective evolution. That’s really the foundation of it all, and anything we can do to make that happen, we’re here for it.

SF: Wonderful, thank you so much, Scott. I appreciate you

taking the time and sharing all of this, and I’m excited to participate in some of these.

They all seem very intriguing, so I look forward to seeing what you produce and share, because I really value what you’re doing.

SM: Beautiful. I think that Face the Current, where really creative, extraordinary people are able to meet and do work that can change their lives, is such a gift to the world.

It’s a huge honor for me to be part of this community of people that you’ve talked to, and I want to thank you for being you and for all the work you do.

SF:Thank you—I appreciate that.

ymore info: www.scottwmills.com www.facethecurrent.com

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ROZES

The Luxurious Voice of Electronic Pop’s Chart-Topping Songstress

By Ainsley Schoppel Born Elizabeth Mencel, ROZES is a multi-platinum American musician, singer, and songwriter with over a billion combined streams of her music.

Hailing from Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania, ROZES grew up surrounded by gospel music and began playing the piano at six years old. Further exploring her musical magnetism, ROZES also learned the clarinet, saxophone, guitar, violin, flute, and trumpet.

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Photo by Adam Cantinello

Photo by Adam Cantinello

After leaving college to focus on her musical journey, ROZES wrote and featured on Just a Gent’s “Limelight”, which reached the top spot on Hype Machine and currently has over five million plays with the remix hitting sixteen million on SoundCloud.

Building on the momentum of her successful song writing ventures, ROZES teamed up with

Andrew Taggart, one half of The Chainsmokers, to write and feature on the group’s song “Roses”.

Released in June of 2015, the single peaked at the sixth spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and claimed the top spot on Billboard’s Hot Dance/ Electronic Songs chart in January of the following year.

The following month, ROZES

released her EP, Burn Wild, and quickly penned a record deal with Photo Finish Records where she released “Where Would We Be” with Nicky Romero, “Canyons” and “Famous”. She also featured on Galantis’ track “Girls on Boys”, Louis Futon’s “Wasted on You”, Cash Cash’s “Matches”, and Cheat Codes’ “Sober”. www.facethecurrent.com

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As ROZES’ industry momentum was gaining traction, she received an invitation to attend Alicia Keys’ camp, She Is The Music (SITM). SITM is a non-profit organization that is seeking to increase the number of women working in music, including songwriters, engineers, producers, artists, and industry professionals. For ROZES, the camp was lifechanging.

“I feel like my ten-year-old self is freaking out that I met Alicia Keys,” she said. “The camp was a very defining moment for me. I saw how

raw and secure she is in herself.

The experience made me pivot. I relaxed, held on to what I’m doing, and took a step on my new path.”

In fact, while at the camp, ROZES wrote “Call Me”, a thought-provoking song about raising awareness and support for those struggling with mental health issues. “I’ve always been somebody who struggled with my mental health,” she divulged. “The lyrics discuss somebody laying in bed all day, going through depression and dealing with anxiety. I recognize those

emotions, because I’ve been there, too.” ROZES uses the song to detail everything she’s experienced. “I’ve stared blankly out of a window. I’ve gotten lost in my own mind and been trapped in my own thoughts,” she admitted. “I try to be the voice for the people who need it. Opening up has helped me the most. I encourage fans to do the same.You can turn to friends, journaling, poetry, or reading.

I turn to song writing.”

FACE the CURRENT MAGAZINE

Photo by Adam Cantinello

Last year, ROZES released “Halfway There”, a powerful track that became the official anthem of the 2019 Women’s March on NYC as part of The Women’s March Alliance. The emotional song initially found a spot in the heart of her sister-inlaw after a cancer diagnosis, and a diverse group of women supported the song by appearing in the music video including ROZES’ mom, aunt, grandma, and best friend.

In writing “Halfway There”, ROZES realized that a more natural approach to song writing and performing was a welcome change. “I just need to sing and feel music,” she exclaims. “Organic creation is what I embrace as an artist. Over the past year, I’ve matured the most in my life. I’m actively an adult now. My songs had to embody the change. I’m the type of person who needs to go through phases. However, I always wanted to get to back to the way I started—sitting at the piano and writing.”

Mat Kearney x ROZES - Walls | COVER

www.facethecurrent.com Mat Kearney nad ROZES. Photo by Delaney Royer

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ROZES has shared those changes with national audiences on Good Morning America, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Late Late Show with James Corden, and CONAN. She has also appeared in TIME, Pitchfork, MTV, Marie Claire, Paste, Entertainment Weekly, Paper, and Bustle, and has performed at Coachella and Ultra Music Festival.

Her latest single and EP, jointly titled “Crazy”, were released this August, and as ROZES explains, “I decided to name this EP Crazy because when these songs are all tied together, the listener really gets to see how back and forth my mind can be. One moment I am encouraging and uplifting, and other moments I’m self-conscious and nervous.” ROZES notes that women who are open with their emotions tend to be labeled as crazy: “I can only assume some of my past loves have labeled me this way.

But if the way that I love is ‘crazy’, ‘Say I’m crazy now, if that’s what love’s about.’”

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Photo by Adam Cantinello

All Up In My Head Single | Cover

In specifically speaking about “Crazy”, ROZES confessed that it is a song that leaves her very vulnerable. “I wanted to write something that portrayed how impulsive and erratic my love tends to be; how I can see everything disappearing and falling into place simultaneously. I’ve always thought that the way I love is ‘crazy’ but have always chosen to feel over hiding my true emotions. As an artist and writer, I have always been drawn to such intense relationships and have always latched onto a love that tends to be unpredictable but what others might refer to as unstable.”

The raw and extremely relatable nature of ROZES’ lyrics and performances have an inspirational impact on her listeners. “I’m finally who I’m supposed to be,” she concludes. “I feel more independent that I ever have. I’m stronger. I’m ready to really fight for what I believe in. I’m not afraid. I hope I can inspire others like I was inspired in the past year. If I can give you just a little bit of hope, that’s all I want. Music made me realize I could sit at a piano and use my voice for good. So, that’s what I’m going to do.”

ymore info: www.rozessounds.com Spotify: @ROZES www.facethecurrent.com Photo by Adam Cantinello

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FtC music

A Wanderlust Heart with an Ear for

Nature’s Serene Soundtrack:

How Musician, Composer, and Sound Engineer

Omar Raafat Uses Soundscapes to Energize His Music

By Sasha Frate Born in Switzerland, re-locating to France, and settling for a time in Cairo, Egypt, composer, sound engineer, and music producer Omar Raafat’s childhood was a gift in cultural exposure. Omar attended business school in Florida before relocating to Boston to complete his degree, and while there, Raafat found work at a recording studio which fueled his childhood passion for making and recording music. This inspiration channeled Omar into working with other artists and exploring the nuances of sound engineering and its role in sound design. It was here that he began to create his own sounds and integrate them into musical recordings.

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After another move back to Egypt, Omar established his own small recording studio for local artists.

Meanwhile, he also began writing music for advertisements, solidifying himself as an in-demand and marketable composer. His work has appeared in commercials for brands including Nestle,Vodafone, and Danone. Omar then moved to Montreal with his new wife and faced a difficult decision: should he focus on writing music, or dedicate himself to recording other artists? Landing a job at a large recording studio in the city quickly helped expose Raafat to big-name artists with even bigger recording opportunities . Realizing that he didn’t have to choose only one musical path, Omar began writing for media music, growing his catalog and eventually seeing his tracks used in various television shows on networks and platforms including Netflix, The History Channel, ABC, PBS, HGTV, and CBS.

With another move to Victoria, British Columbia, Omar decided to write his own album—one that didn’t require him to answer to anybody or fit prescribed media structures. By returning to his musical roots, Raafat sought to make an organic, intimate album, free from the large, sweeping, computerized orchestral sounds of his previous work. Omar can be heard playing the piano, guitar, and drums alongside a string quartet, and this reinforced to him that he needed to extend another branch of his work to allow for musical creation for the purposes of personal artistic exploration.

Omar shared some experiential insights with Face the Current including his collaboration on a track with BioGeometry, the way in which he composes for media, the inspiration behind his locale selection for soundscape recording, and why his latest album should be experienced as a conceptual journey. www.facethecurrent.com

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Sasha Frate: How would you describe the genre and the style of music that you produce? Can you share a bit of background on your journey explaining how you got into music and the evolution of your path up until now?

Omar Raafat: The type of music I produce is referred to as contemporary classical or neoclassical. It’s like a modern take on classical music, and makes use of classical music instrumentation.

We’re using a string quartet and traditional instruments that you’d find in orchestras or chamber music.

There’s a bit of a modern touch to it by bringing in electronics and instruments that are perhaps more folk-oriented or pop-oriented.

The actual structure and harmony of the music is more like current pop music but with very organic, traditional instruments as well as some electronics. It’s a little bit of a

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mix of everything coming together and it’s pretty interesting. I think it’s music that a lot of people can enjoy because it’s very relatable with its pop music foundation. The instrumentation is also very familiar and very cinematic. This invokes a lot of emotion because you’ll hear the beautiful work of violinists and cellists.

SF: On top of all of that, you also incorporate principles of BioGeometry into your music— is that correct?

OR: I did that because of my wife’s work. My wife and fatherin-law are BioGeometry so they like to experiment with music and instruments, and I’ve definitely been involved in it as well. But I’m more the music guy and I let them do the energy stuff because I don’t know as much as they do.

SF: Do you incorporate certain

frequencies or sounds?

OR: I did one song with my father-inlaw, Dr.Karim, and it started off as a joint-experiment. Dr. Karim came up with the energy part of it and then I had to figure out how to take that and then make it into music that you can listen to. It was many, many hours of experimentation, but it ended up being a very nice marriage of our strengths. But he’s definitely the one who gets all the credit for all the energy related elements.

SF: How would you describe that in an energy application to the music? For example, I’m familiar with the incorporation of healing sound frequencies into mainstream pop and hip hop music where you just listen to a track and take in its energetic quality. How would you describe what you are doing with this energy?

OR: The track I just mentioned is different than the album I did. On that track, Dr. Karim came up with the rhythms, timings, and the intervals that we needed in the music itself.

the blueprint. I transformed it from just a piano into an actual piece of music.

We started with something really basic. (It was all done on a piano at first.) And then once we figured out the rhythm, the intervals, and the tempo of the song, I came in and filled in the gaps to make it into a full piece of music.

OR: Yes, so that’s released with BioGeometry.You can find it on the BioGeometry website.

SF: So, by using those different modifications to the music—like rhythm or tempo—you created an energetic effect.

OR: Yes, because, instead of modifying the music to include the energy, we came up with the energetic blueprint/skeleton first.

Once that was figured out, it was much easier because I just worked off

SF: Have you released that track?

SF:The music video for your song “Hourglass” had a very beautiful setting. Why did you choose to film or compose this piece in the woods?

OR: Victoria, British Columbia was a new place for Doreya and I, and we fell in love with the Pacific Northwest. We honeymooned on Vancouver Island and were drawn to the area, it’s just so beautiful and inspirational. We come from Egypt and the desert, and that is beautiful in a different way, but Victoria is very

special to us.

Because we move a lot, I really wanted to document the place that inspired me to write that album, and it was like capturing a moment in time. I wrote that album when we were living in Victoria, and the forest in the video is right behind our house. We also lived a bit secluded up on a mountain, so I really wanted to make a video clip that highlighted and captured that moment in our lives because I knew that I could be in Egypt, Europe, or somewhere else in the future. That was a very special time and I really wanted to be able to capture it.

SF:That’s great because all of that comes through in the music and the energy behind it. You can feel that all of those pieces that you put together in the music are meaningful to you. www.facethecurrent.com

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OR: Thanks! I was really inspired by that area, and I felt like it was the right time in my life to do my own album. My wife and I love nature and going on hikes and walks, so it just felt right to write that kind of music there.

SF:You’ve made music in that setting, and you’ve also mentioned that another unique recording space that you’ve used is an old church in Montreal. Are there any other unique spaces that you’ve worked with?

OR: Yes, that’s the studio I worked at in Montreal. It was an old church that was turned into a recording studio, so the acoustics were really nice and really inspiring, too. As you can imagine, the space was great, and it sounded amazing to have instruments in there. Recording and working there every day was a great opportunity for me to grow as a recording engineer.

I’ve recorded in different churches for remote recording projects and I’ve had small orchestras request recordings, as well. I’ve also recorded in different pubs and bars doing big band music and random remote recordings, and that’s always a lot of fun. But those are recordings for other people.

Most of my writing and inspiration comes when I sit down and play with an instrument.

I get inspired by the instruments. If I sit at a piano, I’ll write something completely different than if I sat down with a guitar. I get inspired by whatever instrument is in front of me and the sound it creates is what guides me.

SF: What types of film and TV projects have you composed for, and what do you most enjoy about this particular application of your music?

OR: The TV projects are really interesting.

I work with about seven or eight different companies and they’re all based out of L.A., New York, and other locations around the world. Because of this, it’s mainly communicating online and through email, and sometimes I’ll receive a brief of a show that’s coming up and they need a specific type of music for it. They might need underscore and other elements that will fit in with the style

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of the show. I might do a few tracks, and sometimes it’s an entire album for the show.

Other times I’ll actually write an album that I think will do well for a specific genre in TV. It’ll be something that I feel like doing and I’ll just say to myself, “Okay, this month, I feel like doing a rock album.” After it’s completed, I’ll look for opportunities for it within the companies I work with. I’ll see who’s interested in it and who has a place for it.

So, those are the two different types of work that I do, and they both have their advantages.

I prefer doing my own thing because I can do what I want and challenge myself.

I’ve worked on a few Netflix shows including Fastest Cars, Supergirl on CW, Blood Money on the History Channel, some HGTV shows, and many other programs. I’ve also done a lot of work for shows in Europe.

But that’s what I like about this type of work—I write the music first and then it goes out wherever it needs to and lives on.

SF:That’s great! You said you founded the renowned recording studio known as The Mix. Is this the studio that’s located in Montreal?

OR: No, that’s the studio in Egypt.

When I finished in Boston, I moved back to Egypt and made The Mix studios.

SF: What was your inspiration for opening the space?

OR: My time working at the studio in Boston inspired me to open my own studio because there wasn’t a lot of recording studios in Egypt at the time. I created The Mix as a boutique-style studio. It’s more of like an artist retreat, somewhere to write and get inspired. And it’s a very homey, very comfortable-feeling studio. Most of the studios in Egypt were very clinical and very corporate.

You just feel like you enter into a white room and start recording.

Yes, they had great equipment and nice rooms, but it was a different vibe. I wanted to create a vibe that felt like home, as opposed to a very corporate area.

That inspiration actually came from the studio I worked at in Boston because it had a similar vibe. The lighting is dark and dim, and it has www.facethecurrent.com

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The album is really meant to be a journey, so it’s more of a concept album. It’s meant to be listened to straight-through, starting with the first song and then continuing on. That’s what I really like about this album because I’m used to just doing one-off songs or other projects that aren’t so connected.

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comfortable couches. It’s a very inspiring place to be, and I felt like that’s what was needed in Cairo.

The Egyptian music industry wasn’t really exposed to that kind of environment—it’s very commercial where people just come to record and then leave.

that were recorded at some of your favorite hiking locations around Vancouver Island and B.C., Canada. Can you explain the process of capturing and embedding or incorporating these soundscapes into your music?

SF: It sounds like a space that’s more inviting because it’s about the whole experience which makes you feel like actually staying a while, as opposed to just coming in and out.

OR: I think most people wouldn’t really notice them too much; they’re pretty well hidden. But again, I was really inspired by the area and I wanted to capture that moment in time and where I was. We hiked three or four times a week at that time.

OR: Exactly, and I think that was the thing that made it more special than your average studio.

SF: Early this year you released your first album, A Way Home.

You mentioned that this actually features hidden soundscapes

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So, I got a Zoom recorder, which is a small hard drive with two microphones to record in stereo, and I took it everywhere with me.

We would find interesting sounds and locations when we were walking

around, and we’d stop and sit down.

I’d set up the Zoom, wait for things to get quiet, and then I’d hit record and capture that environment for around five minutes.

I constantly did that and I captured a lot of different sounds. I even captured a storm we were once caught in! I now have a whole catalog of audio files of our hikes, and each song on the album has something different. I wanted each one to be a bit different, whether it was a hike right by the ocean so you can hear the waves, or a deep-forest hike that was in rain, or another one that followed streams.

Some soundscapes are more hidden.

I think there are a few songs where you’ll hear waves rolling in at the end, but that sound is deep down

throughout, as well. I think this all comes from my interest in sound design, because my background isn’t just composition, it’s recording engineering. I’m really interested in sounds. It’s about the combination of the melodies and the music, plus whatever sound is making that melody, and then all the layers that are behind the music.

SF: Would you say that even if the listener may not actually fully recognize the hidden soundscapes, they can still having some kind of affect? Maybe it’s being subconsciously received.

OR: Yes, absolutely—for sure. I think it’s one of those things you might not notice, but if we were sitting together and I turned off the soundscape, then you’d notice that something was missing and it would be very obvious.

SF: It’s like the effects of musical forest bathing where you are immersed in it without really paying attention to every little thing that’s going on in the background.

OR: Exactly. It’s a combination of everything that creates the sound.

Soundscapes are one of the many things that create layers or textures, and to be honest with you, it’s really fun for me because I know they’re all from places that I love. And because I put them in there, I’m obviously much more aware of them so I listen for them. It’s like taking an auditory picture: I can hear the sounds of a certain area and that’s very special for me.

SF:That’s very cool, and it’s something you don’t hear of very often. It’s like through

Instagram—we are inundated with experiences that are captured through photos and videos, but we don’t have that kind of experiential connection through music. What are you most proud of in terms of album features or the way in which the album came together?

OR: The album is really meant to be a journey, so it’s more of a concept album. It’s meant to be listened to straight-through, starting with the first song and then continuing on.

That’s what I really like about this album because I’m used to just doing one-off songs or other projects that aren’t so connected. With this album, the first song is the opening and then it flows in order. I definitely want to dive deeper into making more of these kinds of albums. www.facethecurrent.com

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It’s a shame because everybody wants singles today. Even online music distribution and Spotify—they tend to prefer singles. It’s really become less about the album and more about building a great song. But I definitely want to stick to making albums that journey with the listener from start to finish. If I ever perform this album live, then I would want it to be more of a theatrical experience; more about the lights and the visual aspect of it versus just watching a musical performance. I wouldn’t want to be the highlight of the show, instead I would want to be on the side playing music to accompany a visual interpretation. That’s what really interests me.

SF:That’s a talent in itself because you’re not just trying to capture one song with all the elements together, but you’re actually orchestrating a whole series of songs into something that journeys through an entire experience. It’s kind of taking it to the next level. I think that

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people aren’t familiar with that type of experience either, because we’re so used to those typical “top hits” where an album is released and there are a few songs that are the most popular and then those tend to trend. I don’t think people are used to having a full albumjourney.

OR: Right. I think the instrumentation lends itself to that more. My album is instrumental, so there’s no singing. It can be harder to retain people’s attention because of that.

I think music serves many different purposes. There’s some music that is meant to relax you, some is meant to take you on a journey, and some makes you have fun and gets you upbeat and excited. I do think every kind of music has its own place, and for me, this was a project that I was very passionate and excited about.

SF:Very cool. Speaking of

journeys, you journey all over the map. Aside from your time in Canada (you mentioned Montreal and B.C.), you also spent a fair amount of time in Egypt. It sounds like those are two of the main settings for your recent past. How do these different locations impact or influence your music, both from a working standpoint and because of the different influences on your work and music production? What is experienced and accessible in Egypt (such as the ancient and high-energy sites) versus Canada (where you mentioned that there’s such a different experience in the wooded natural surroundings of the Pacific Northwest)?

OR: The biggest influence is getting to work in studios in different areas.

You meet a lot of different people and hear lots of different music.

When you move around a lot, you find that there’s something very

similar with all these places. That similarity is what you start to notice everywhere you go: a lot of people are passionate about music and they’re just trying to make something good along the way.

But I feel like at the end, we’re all the same and everybody’s doing the same thing. I don’t feel like it’s all so different as people try to make it out to be, and that inspires me as well. Wherever I go, I just see what these people are doing and then I get inspired by them. This allows me to diversify as I see everybody creating in different genres and they’re very passionate about what they’re doing.

SF:That’s great! When it opens it will be the largest archeological museum in the world, so that’s really fantastic to be part of that.

Did the museum request any particular elements that they wanted to be played throughout that music?

OR: Yes; it’s a very cultural song.

We’re bringing in one of the top pop singers in Egypt—one of the most iconic and influential musicians from the eighties and nineties. He will sing, and there will also be an Egyptian singer who sings in the opera in France. She’s incredibly talented, and they flew her in to do the recording

for the opera sections. The song highlights Egyptian culture, including the instrumental big orchestra sound.

SF:Yes, that sounds really interesting—I’m excited to check it out! Well, thank you so much, Omar. It’s been wonderful to learn more about your work and your journey, and I look forward to seeing more of this unfold.

OR: Yes, absolutely—it’s my pleasure.

ymore info: www.omarraafat.com

SF: As far as any of the ancient sites, have you ever worked within particular areas in Egypt?

OR: Not particularly. As we speak, I’m working on a song for the opening of a museum in Egypt. I’m recording it at my studio and it’s a really fun project. It should have been completed a while ago, but it was halted because of COVID-19. Just last week I got a phone call that we’re starting up again!

SF: Oh, great!

OR: It’s really exciting because it’s a really big, new museum, and there will be a big parade and celebration, so the song will be the main theme of all of that.

www.facethecurrent.com

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FtC music

Following The North Star: Chris Assaad

By Anthony Reese Schneider Chris Assaad’s feet are firmly planted in the fertile soil of a world where music truly has the ability to heal and inspire—a world where selfexamination and self-love take precedence over mainstream culture and conventional wisdom. He exists in a world where hope is not lost and where we, in fact, have the ability to create our own reality. That reality looks to be one of peaceful co-existence, perpetual growth, and collective positive change.

First and foremost, Chris is an artist—a musician. He is a musician whose heart-led curiosity about

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life has birthed albums that sound as if they’ve been washed with the spirit of a hundred cultures. Tribal rhythms, jazz, funk, rock, reggae, soul melodies, ancient medicine songs— you’ll find traces of them all with Chris Assaad. On top of his musical expression, Chris is also a mentor and voice coach, actively lifting up his community and helping people transform their lives.

The best part is that it all still feels so fresh to those outside observers of Chris. This is an artist whose career is still in its adolescence and yet, it exudes maturity.

Chris has already shared the stage with industry heavyweights like Michael Franti and Trevor Hall, has performed all over the world, and has had singles featured on Canadian and Australian radio. Chris’ words have been selected to appear in such inspirational publications as The Daily Love, Positively Positive, and Project Happiness, and one of his written quotes recently went viral and was shared, liked, and reposted several million times on social media. He’s also the resident Music Content Curator here at Face the Current Magazine. Not bad for a first act!

Photo by Desh Fernando

Chris Assaad’s latest album, LION, represents the beginning of his second act—and a massive step forward sonically. All the roots are still there, but there’s a bigness that we’ve yet to see from Chris. He takes center stage in a life-affirming musical to which you can’t help but sing along.

Initially, LION was being slowly and privately distributed, gifted to individuals as the primary instrument in a musical ceremony. Since then, the first two singles off the album, “Lion” and “Together We Rise”, have been released and are streaming worldwide.

The entire album will be available everywhere November sixth.

As a native Canadian, Chris Assaad might just be the North Star of the Transformational Scene, shining a bright light in the darkness and guiding us all back home. Face the Current caught up with Chris to talk about his innovate approach in initially releasing LION through gifting, how 2020 has impacted his life, and more.

Anthony Reese Schneider: On top of being a performing artist, you also offer vocal alchemy and mentoring sessions. How have these offerings allowed you to expand as a musician and artist?

Chris Assaad: It’s said that we teach best what we are here to learn.

Learning to navigate the ins and outs and the challenges and pitfalls of the creative hero’s journey while unlocking my own voice have been a huge part of my path. It brings me tremendous joy and fulfilment to be able to share what I’ve discovered with others to support them on their journey, and to be able to contribute and give back to the creative wheel in that way. Working with and holding space for other artists and creatives has been a source of great inspiration to me and a role I view as sacred.

Witnessing my clients in their process allows me to continue to deepen my understanding and embodiment of those lessons in a way that has really supported my own artistry.

Photo by Darius Bashar

www.facethecurrent.com

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I have continued to be in awe of the profound healing, emotional release, and freedom to be who we are that is available through voice work.

I would say that the most magical thing of all is the discovery that we can use our voices and make sound as a way of connecting to our higher guidance and as a way to receive insight and clarity.

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Photo by Darius Bashar

ARS: What are some of the benefits you’ve witnessed firsthand of someone liberating their voice?

CA: In the same way that the eyes are a window to the soul, I believe that the voice is an expression of the soul. When we use our voices, especially with an understanding of the healing power that our Godgiven instruments possess and the effect that our own voice, vibration, and tone can have in our body, it is incredibly powerful. I have continued to be in awe of the profound healing, emotional release, and freedom to be who we are that is available through voice work. I would say that the most magical thing of all is the discovery that we can use our voices and make sound as a way of connecting to our higher guidance and as a way to receive insight and clarity.

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ARS:You just recently finished your latest album, LION. I’m one of the lucky few people that know how you’ve been secretly releasing this music to the world. Can you explain why you chose to release the album the way you have so far? What sort of response have you seen to this particular strategy?

CA: From the outset, my approach to this creation has been different from anything I’ve done before and my main intention throughout the process has been to be used as an instrument for good and to be as “out of the way” as possible. From this space, I’ve continued to be delighted and surprised by what’s come through, including clear guidance and new ideas about how to best share the creation and the songs with the world.

Even though music is such an essential part of our lives and has undeniable inherent value, I think the way music has been shared and consumed—especially in recent years—has created a disconnect from this value in artists and listeners. As artists, we are so often forced to “sing for our supper” and to go out into the world and seek the attention of listeners in a way that feels like we’re asking for something from them.

I’ve been on both ends of that exchange and it’s a paradigm I’ve felt called to leave behind and to move in the direction of something new that honours the inherent value that music possesses. What I’ve come to realize is that the music that has come through me and the creation that has resulted are a gift I’ve been blessed to receive. Knowing this and feeling it unequivocally have led me

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What I love is how that first inspiration was the seed of something that grew and evolved over a two-year period that included trips to Egypt and Jamaica, both of which influenced my direction with the album and that song (LION) in particular. Pretty magical ride from inception to creation!

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Artwork for LION album and “Together We Rise” single by Dïana Shams

to share it with my community as such, as a gift for them to receive without needing or expecting anything in return.This has really been the essence of how I’ve gone about sharing the album with the world, through intentional gifting and allowing the creation to be passed on from hand to hand like a sacred book of songs. The response has been incredible. It’s been amazing to see people’s immediate relief when presented with the music as a gift for them to receive rather than something that’s being given to them with an implied expectation.

Also, that sense of the value of the creation has been reflected back exponentially in people’s appreciation of the music and their desire to share it forward. For me, it has felt like the first expressions of a new paradigm that I’m excited to explore and develop further. I understand it is part

of my role as an artist to establish that within myself, first and foremost, for my listeners and community, and as an example of what’s possible for other artists.

ARS: What’s one of your favorite backstories for one of your songs? Is there one in particular that was birthed under unusual circumstances?

CA: Love this question. The song “Lion”, the title track from the new album, arrived in quite an unusual way. I was in BC and had just played the Wanderlust Festival in Whistler.

It was a beautiful August summer day and it was my birthday. My partner and I were driving from Whistler to Scotch Creek with my dear friend and album artwork creator, Diana Shams, and her partner, who we were going to stay with for a few days. As

we were driving and taking in the stunning BC views, radio going and all, I started to hear this melody in my head. It was loud and clear despite all the action going on around me.

I quickly grabbed my phone and started humming the notes into a voice memo. A moment later, the melody continued to evolve, this time with the lyrics: “Courage, where’s it gonna come from. Courage, what you tryin’ to run from. Courage, where’s it gonna come from now?…

Lion.” That was the first time the portal of that song opened, and it arrived unmistakably. I continued to explore it over the next couple of days, setting the melody to a chord progression on my guitar. I revisited it and developed it little by little from that day until two years later when it finally came time to record it in BC, where it originated, at Baker Studios.

The song’s arrival was definitely www.facethecurrent.com

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unlike any other I’ve written and received. And what I love is how that first inspiration was the seed of something that grew and evolved over a two-year period that included trips to Egypt and Jamaica, both of which influenced my direction with the album and that song in particular.

Some of the last lyrical additions happened right up until the final vocal tracking sessions and that very first melody that came through is now the opening horn line for the song and the album. Pretty magical ride from inception to creation!

ARS: What’s the most difficult part of your creative process? Is there a part that always seems to be the most difficult?

CA: The most difficult part for me remains the moment when it’s time to let go of a creation that I’ve worked hard on and that is dear to

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my heart and and share it with the world. There’s so much excitement and joy that can come from it and at the same time, it often comes with a whirlwind of emotions.

I’ve been learning to see this as a step in the process that can be as effortless as and supported by the same inspiration that gave rise to the initial creation, and that has definitely made it easier. It comes down to the balance between having a vision and desired outcome while being in surrender and being willing to truly release it and let it go. It’s something that has gotten easier over time and I think an integral part of the creative process is to be able to steward one’s work in the world without being attached to how it ripples out, while also remembering to leave room for magic to happen all along the way.

ARS: Are there any ceremonial aspects to songwriting for you?

Do you have any practices that happen for you on a regular basis while you’re “in the zone”?

CA: I see it all as sacred and ineffable. To be a vessel for an idea, a melody, a lyric, or a wave of inspiration to come through is one of the most exhilarating, fulfilling, and indescribable experiences I know of. To me, this is really the meeting point of spirituality and creativity.

All of my practices, whether it be meditation, journaling, or toning help to open up that heart space and clear the creative channel and they are all interconnected. More and more, I find that the most amazing and powerful ideas come through when I’m in a state of pure flow, playing for the joy of it, opening to a higher source of inspiration, and being a witness to what’s coming through.

When I’m in that state, I often feel that I’m accessing something ancient

FACE the CURRENT MAGAZINE Photo by Darius Bashar

Photo by Darius Bashar

and that I’m being blessed by what’s coming through as it washes over me and pours through my instrument— especially the voice. This is a zone where time truly ceases to exist and it feels like I’m surfing a blissful wave of sound and melody, while being attuned to the vibrations.

ARS: How has the process of self-examination influenced your song writing process?

CA: I first started writing songs as a way to capture and crystallize insights, discoveries, and realizations I was having as I began exploring my inner world and opening up to spirituality. In many ways, I think this intention has continued to underscore my songwriting. There are many things to write about and every song arrives in its own way with its own essence. And yet, I see it as a powerful way to encapsulate

a moment, a feeling, or a revelation and share it with the listener in a way that grants them access to the same within their own experience.

Seen in this way, I’ve always gravitated towards using music and songwriting as means to convey the most valuable pieces of wisdom and fruits of my own self-exploration and transformation. It’s an offering to others to support them in their own process.

ARS: Is it all sunshine and gumdrops?

CA: Haha—most definitely not. This life, the creative path, and the journey of the soul are an adventure and rollercoaster with highs and lows, ebbs and flows, and a wide range of experiences. I’ve had many a dark night of the soul along the way, and it’s most often the deepest dives into the shadows within that have led to

the richest fruits being harvested.

ARS: Some people might not know that you nearly lost your hearing to a hereditary condition. What is the most unexpected lesson you learned from the experience of recovering from that condition and getting a second chance?

CA: The biggest lesson for me from that whole experience and my journey with my hearing has been that what is for us cannot miss us. I often think about the fact that if my early attempts at playing music and singing had come easily, I might have somehow lost interest and moved on to something else like a kid who gets a drum set and then gets bored in a few weeks. As challenging and scary a time as that was, I truly believe it was all by divine design and grace; that it was life’s way of ensuring I wasn’t www.facethecurrent.com

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It’s just as much about who we are becoming as it is about what we are creating. The creative process is a healing journey that will reveal to us our insecurities and our limiting beliefs, and by engaging in it as such, we can bring love and awareness to these parts and move towards an embodied experience of our inherent value, wholeness, and perfection. And most of all, may we remember not to take ourselves to seriously and to have fun and play!

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Photo by Darius Bashar

going to miss my calling to music and to my purpose. It has continued to be something I’m deeply grateful for and an amplifier of my passion for the many gifts that come with being able to hear, foremost among which are my love of music, singing, and songwriting.

amidst the uncertainty. Most of all, it has magnified my gratitude for the little things and the big things, for the health and well-being of my loved ones, for all the ways that I am/we are blessed, guided and provided for, and for the things in life that bring me Joy.

ARS: How has 2020 shifted the way in which you prioritize things in your life?

ARS: Consider the young musicians who might view you as an inspiration. What do you hope they learn from you early on?

CA: This year has really amplified my commitment to living life moment by moment, one day at a time, as much as possible. It has forced me to lean deeper into my practices in order to create stability and to find peace

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CA: To enjoy the process. To remember that it’s just as much about who we are becoming as it is about what we are creating. That the

creative process is a healing journey that will reveal to us our insecurities and our limiting beliefs, and that by engaging in it as such, we can bring love and awareness to these parts and move towards an embodied experience of our inherent value, wholeness, and perfection. And most of all, may we remember not to take ourselves too seriously and to have fun and play!

ARS: What’s the future hold for Chris Assaad and transformational artists? What is our role in all of this?

CA: As much as there is a great

sense of uncertainty looming at this moment in time, I have also felt the potency of the opportunity that is here for us collectively. It’s undeniable that the world is going through a massive transformation and I believe that it is leading us to a new chapter in our history that will be marked by positive change and the birthing of a new earth. I believe we each have a crucial part to play in looking within, tending to the garden of our own heart, and tuning in to how we can best be of service and what role we each have to play in this forward movement. I know music and art have a powerful part to play in this time of great healing and awakening; in spreading messages of peace, love, hope, and upliftment; in bringing us together in oneness; and in being a catalyst for growth and transformation. I see artists being more essential and valued than ever before and I’m excited to see how music and transformational art will continue to be a part of leading us to where we are heading.

As for me, I’m excited to continue being available for the dance of creativity and what wants to come through, for my heart work in the world and the purpose I am committed to serving. I feel like LION has been a bridge for me into a deepening of my intention to make and share music as medicine, and I’m already collecting seeds and ideas for another album. I also see visions of gatherings in intimate and sacred spaces where this new collection of music medicine can be shared and come to life, where we can heal and grow together, and where the first fruits of this new world we are birthing can be harvested.

ymore info: www.chrisassaad.com www.facethecurrent.com Photo by Darius Bashar

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The Invigorating and Immersive Reality of

Hydrow’s Innovative At-Home Rowing Experience

By Ainsley Schoppel In our current times, our social circles have tightened, many of our extra-curricular activities have paused, and we’ve found ourselves recalibrating our regular workout routines to adapt to home-based life.

Home workout routines can become tedious and boring if the location is repetitive and the exercises are redundant and uninspiring. Without a broader fitness community with which to connect, working out at home can also feel lonely and isolating.

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Rowing is one of the best possible full-body workouts and it offers substantial physical and mental health benefits. Both cardio and strength training, rowing engages eighty-six percent of your muscles—that’s nearly double the amount you use for cycling and running. This means you can save time and increase your targeted muscle groups! And, because rowing is a low-impact activity, your joints won’t take a beating and your bone density levels can even improve. In addition, scientific evidence supports the mental-health boost that we all feel when we are near water. In fact, coastal living contributes to an improved sense of physical health and well-being, and actual contact with water induces a meditative state that helps to make us happier, healthier, calmer, and more creative. Because water covers

more than seventy percent of Earth’s surface and comprises nearly seventy percent of our bodies, we have a deep biological connection to it. Our brains have an immediate response when we are near water, and a flood of neurochemicals that promote wellness, increased blood flow, and relaxation are triggered when we see and hear water. Quite simply, being on, in, or near water is good for us.

The only problem: most of us don’t have a river, lake, or rowboat in our backyard. The great news is that we don’t need to!

Hydrow—the next-level in rowing machines—provides the ultimate equipment and platform for the most energizing, calming, centering, and connected at-home workout that will have you slicing through international

waterways around the world from the comfort of your own home.

Using patented technology to completely re-engineer the rowing machine, each stroke truly makes you feel as if you’re out on the water, and, with the immersive experience of Hydrow’s trademarked Live Outdoor Reality (LOR), you’ll almost be able to feel the water for yourself. Rowing classes are filmed from the rower’s perspective, streamed live from the water, and are available on-demand whenever your schedule allows. This places the at-home rower in the perfect position to see, hear, and feel every element of the rowing session.

Led by world-class athletes, the workouts take place at a selection of breathtaking waterways including Boston, New York City, Miami, London, Scotland, and more. www.facethecurrent.com

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By using this industry-changing technology, each workout is an unscripted journey from the open water that provides at-home rowers with the authentic experience and real-life benefits of being outdoors.

And, since the rowing experience is not bound by the confines of a controlled studio environment, rowers should expect the unexpected! Chance encounters with boats, sea creatures, and other scenic surprises will guarantee a workout that is not only effective, but engaging, fun, and captivating, too.

Literally designed from the ground up, the Hydrow is a unique and unmatched machine that is advanced and sophisticated enough to deliver engaging full-body workouts while also being an elegant addition to your home. With a brilliant twenty-two-

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inch touchscreen display and frontfacing speakers, you don’t have to leave the comfort and safety of your home to go for a row on the river.

Bluetooth 5.0 enables you to connect for direct audio, and you can even sync your heart rate monitor for added health observation. Hydrow’s ten-roller system is ergonomically designed and precisely cushioned, and its distinctively patented drag mechanism is electromagnetic and computer-controlled and is responsible for mimicking all the sensations of being on the water.

And, with industrial grade webbing foot straps, each stroke is smooth and virtually silent.

Once you’re connected, comfortable, and ready to row (and have taken the beginner how-to courses), complete Hydrow’s Assessment—a five-minute

Drive workout that benchmarks and measures your rowing progress. The Assessment is an essential part of the Training Camp programs, but it can also be used at any time to review your rowing performance. As you get started on your rowing journey, don’t be intimidated by exercise or rowing terms with which you might not be familiar—the Athletes will teach you during your workouts and you can also visit Hydrow’s website for a complete glossary so you can row with confidence.

When you’ve finished rowing for the day, wheel your Hydrow to your desired location and use the Upright Storage Kit to tilt and lock it into an upright position for easy storage.

However, even when your row is complete, your connection to other

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The Hydrow community is built upon encouragement and support, and it is here you’ll find collective motivation to push yourself to new milestones and to celebrate all of your victories. Unlike other in-home fitness machines that eventually become expensive and cumbersome dust collectors, the ongoing community-based journey of Hydrow workouts is the perfect backdrop for ongoing active involvement.

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Hydrow rowers doesn’t have to stop because Hydrow is turning in-home fitness into a community experience without boundaries.

In the rowing community there is no strength without unity, and the ability to work together in an inclusive environment is as essential to rowing as rivers and oars. Boathouses are gathering places for rowers and their equipment, and they are truly the hub of rowing clubs. Crewmates of all backgrounds and abilities come together for the love of rowing and connect and support each other through this common interest.

Join Boathouse, Hydrow’s virtual community, where rowing tips, experiences, news, triumphs, and struggles are shared amongst fellow rowers. Conversation posts on the blog range in topics from advice on

muscle pain to the importance of hydration. The Hydrow community is built upon encouragement and support, and it is here you’ll find collective motivation to push yourself to new milestones and to celebrate all of your victories. Unlike other inhome fitness machines that eventually become expensive and cumbersome dust collectors, the ongoing community-based journey of Hydrow workouts is the perfect backdrop for ongoing active involvement.

The community even extends into the social sphere with Hydrow’s Training Camp Facebook page. There, Hydrow Athletes interact with Crew (Hydrow’s term for customers), building each other up and celebrating landmark achievements.

When it comes to hitting special milestones, Hydrow awards Crew

members when they reach certain meters rowed. These gifts range from a special edition water bottle at 100,000 meters, to a commemorative t-shirt at one million.

And not to worry—Hydrow Athletes aren’t actors, they’re actually real competitors at the forefront of their sport including Olympians, Paralympians, and National Champions. Transforming into skilled and inspirational coaches out of the water, Hydrow Athletes are adept at drawing the very best out of their rowers, and with everything on the table for conversation—from their own personal struggles to their favorite fueling foods—you can connect with and ask your Athlete anything you’d like.

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Find the Athlete that best suits your personality and goals, and then match your current mood with Hydrow’s library of workouts. Move in-sync with the Athletes as they row in real time on the water. And, because every live workout is recorded, you can take any workout with you wherever you go using the Hydrow app on your mobile device.You can even interact with the community, track your progress, and more. (If you don’t have a Hydrow, you can still subscribe to the Digital Basic membership and get access to all the amazing offerings of the app.) Ranging from classes designed to elevate your heartrate and fatigue your muscles, to meditative and restorative rows,

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Hydrow has everything you’d ever need in a workout.

Having a day where you’re not interested in an Athlete-led workout?

Not a problem! Hydrow’s unguided rows take you through scenic waterways that allow you to explore at your own pace. In fact, if you want a break from rowing altogether, Hydrow even has workouts that will get you off your machine and onto a mat for yoga, Pilates, stretching, and strength training sessions to complement your rowing.

Your heart is guaranteed to get a great physical workout, but it will also get a feel-good boost, too.

That’s because every single Hydrow

row counts toward a donation to Water.org—an organization that brings clean, safe water to developing countries. Follow the tracker on the progress screen of your Hydrow, because every sixty days of rowing equals a donation to Water.org!

Now that’s the ultimate workout motivation!

With only one membership, give your entire household access to all the varied and incredible workouts Hydrow has to offer. So, head on over to Hydrow.com to push your body, improve your health and stamina, and make some waves for a calmer, happier, you.You deserve it.

Your heart is guaranteed to get a great physical workout, but it will also get a feelgood boost, too. That’s because every single Hydrow row counts toward a donation to Water.org—an organization that brings clean, safe water to developing countries. Follow the tracker on the progress screen of your Hydrow, because every sixty days of rowing equals a donation to Water.org! Now that’s the ultimate workout motivation!

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ymore info: www.hydrow.com www.facethecurrent.com

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FtC sports

A Trip of a Lifetime Olympian Emily Batty’s Beautifully Rugged Bikepacking Expedition Across Iceland How four riders navigated their way across an entire country in nine days

By Molly Hurford | photography by emily batty team When COVID-19 forced the cancellation of summer mountain bike races worldwide, racers were forced to adapt and find new challenges. For Canadian cross-country mountain biker—and World Championship bronze medalist—Emily Batty, this could have been a disaster. Instead, it turned into one of the most fun summer adventures ever as she headed to Iceland to tackle an east-to-west traverse of the country alongside her husband Adam Morka, her brother Eric, and famed action photographer Chris Burkard.

For nine days— and seventy-eight hours of pedaling—the group laughed their way across rivers, rocky expanses, sandy dunes, and narrow gravel roads in pursuit of adventure.

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“Riding across Iceland was something that was definitely going to push me to my limit,” says Emily Batty. “But I knew this was the chance of a lifetime—having the time to do a trip like this with Adam, Eric, and Chris was such a gift during such a hard time. And the ride was incredible—the terrain was so varied, there were so many tough moments, but I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as much as I did on this trip.”

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I love long rides, I love being out on the bike, subject to a remote landscape somewhere where you feel really insignificant and you feel really small and it really strips away the ego.

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- Chris Burkard

The idea for the Iceland traverse evolved in the last few months. Burkard had already spent time riding around Iceland and had been to the country dozens of times. “Like many of the places I travel, I love going back every time,” he says. “I love long rides, I love being out on the bike, subject to a remote landscape somewhere where you feel really insignificant and you feel really small and it really strips away the ego. In Iceland, I realized there‘s a line that could go from the furthest east to the furthest west taking you almost dead through the center of this country, through as close as you can get to its glaciers, moving perpendicular right across all these river systems and really experiencing what I would consider the best of what Iceland has to offer.”

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The east-to-west course set by Burkard with help from a local cartographer and expedition team measured 913 kilometers, running from Dalatangi to Bjargtangar, and from what the group could find, this would be the first time anyone had attempted the ride. By the end of the trip, the group pedaled a total of 975 kilometers (including 40,000 feet of climbing).

Provisions along the route would be scarce, so the bikes were weighed down with twenty-five pounds of food each. (Though the riders all admit that their food stash was primarily candy for fast fuel!)

Fellow photographer and expedition leader Eric Batty was also thinking about Iceland.

Most recently, he’d done a 2019 fat bike crossing of James Bay and was looking for the next adventure. Once the two started talking, the plan began to evolve. “I loved the idea of being able to bike across Iceland with my little sister, since we never have the opportunity to do adventures like this due to her racing schedule,” Eric Batty says. “The four of us made for the perfect expedition team.”

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We don’t have many chances to go on expeditions like this one,” says Adam Morka, Emily’s husband and the manager/director of a newly founded Mountain Bike World Cup team. “We didn’t know when something like this would come up ever again, so we jumped at the chance to push our limits and really explore somewhere new.

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“The group was great: there were certain things that were new for some people, and certain things we felt comfortable with,” Burkard explains.

“We were able to complement each other, and we all took different roles. Emily was just strong and solid through the whole thing. I don’t think she complained once. She was just absolutely bulletproof; it was really amazing to witness. And at the end of the day, when we were all worked and tired, she was still bubbly and jovial, and making sure we had our nutrition. That energy was exactly what we needed at the end of the day.”

Luck was on the group’s side: Earlier in August, the route would have been impassable thanks to high water levels in some of the rivers. But the weather took a turn, and by the time the group rolled out on August nineteenth, the rivers had calmed, and the forecast was ideal for a bikepacking trip. “You always pack for the worst and hope for the best,” Burkard said later, laughing about the unused rain pants he packed.

“People always ask if there was anything you wouldn’t have brought with you, but I’d rather be prepared

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and not use some of my gear!”

The bikes weighed in at roughly eighty pounds each, once panniers carrying sleeping supplies, spare clothing, emergency gear, and of course, tons of snacks (and Red Bull) were attached. Nine hundred and seventy-five kilometers and full days of riding become much more challenging with that much weight

attached! “I’ve done many hard things throughout my career as a professional athlete, but bikepacking through Iceland may have been the toughest, between the terrain and challenging route, plus all of the gear!” Emily Batty says.

The terrain wasn’t steady, either: A look at the map and their stopping

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points each day demonstrates how nine hours of riding could add up to very different distances each day, thanks to the ever-changing surfaces that they crossed. “Every hill was different,” Eric Batty recalls. “You come over a hill and you think it‘s just going to be flat black sand, and suddenly, it‘s volcanic rock or shale.

I‘ve never seen a place like it.”

I’ve done many hard things throughout my career as a professional athlete, but bikepacking through Iceland may have been the toughest, between the terrain and challenging route, plus all of the gear!

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“There were points where we were struggling to keep up an eightkilometer-per-hour pace, it was so bumpy and rocky,” Morka says. “But that just meant we had more time to take in the scenery, and made the moments where the terrain was smooth and we could pick up speed feel all the more magical.”

“It was the most remarkable trip I’ve ever done,” Emily Batty says.

“I’m thrilled that we were able to capture so much of it on video and in photographs to be able to relive it and share it with everyone. And I’m already thinking about what our next adventure should be!”

ymore info: emilybatty.com www.facethecurrent.com

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Bringing Big Swells to the Small Screen with the Ultimate Surfing Safaris in World of Waves

By Chris Almida | Co – Founder surfing.com

“Let’s go surfin’ now, everybody’s learning how. Come on and safari with me!”— “Surfin’ Safari”,The Beach Boys, 1962 The Beach Boys sang it on their very first album and it’s still just as true today! The ultimate adventure truly is traveling to surf, and World of Waves is the ultimate surfing safari. Presented by Surfing.com and debuting on Sinclair and NBC regional Sports Networks beginning October thirty-first, World of Waves is a travel adventure that showcases the world’s greatest and most famous surfing locations and their inhabitants along domestic and international coasts.

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Host Daniel Hughes brings surfing to a vast global audience every week, both to those who already understand the stoke of surfing, and to those who are anxious to discover its allure.

The show’s first season follows Daniel as he visits domestic locations including famous surf spots along the west coast of the U.S., as well as east coast locations including Cape Cod and Montauk, Long Island.

Hughes gets the opportunity to sit with surf legends and locals including “The King of Malibu”, Allen Sarlo, and Huntington Beach native son Brett Simpson professional surfer and US Olympic Surfing Team Coach.

He even explores the history of American surfing including the sport’s

inception when three Hawaiian royals visited Santa Cruz in the mid 1880s and introduced surfing to the local community. (This actually happened decades before the popular influence of Hawaii’s surf legend, Duke Kahanamoku!)

“World of Waves is our way of taking viewers to far away and often remote locations most of them will never visit,” says veteran professional surfer, multiple world title holder, and executive producer, Ian Cairns.

“The program will reveal stories and locations within those destinations where the people live, eat, assemble, and call home.Viewers will see indepth locations like they’ve never seen them before, through the eyes of our host, one of the top, award-

winning Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP) surfers in the world and life-long Huntington Beach resident, Daniel Hughes, as well as the locals who live in and inhabit the locations we’ll be visiting.” The show will not only cover traditional surfing, but it will also highlight other ways to ride on water including kite surfing in Oregon and SUP racing in Lake Tahoe. It will even get up close and personal with man-made wave pools offering inland surfers a chance to hit the swells. While season one of World of Waves focuses on domestic shores, international stops are planned for future seasons including Australia, France, Ireland, The Maldives, Senegal, and Portugal.

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We’re looking to broaden the scope and ‘stoke’ of surfing beyond beachside waves and the people who ride them. World of Waves will bring a fresh look to surfing which has grown in worldwide popularity, rising to the level of making it an Olympic event in next year’s Japan 2021 games.

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“We’re looking to broaden the scope and ‘stoke’ of surfing beyond beachside waves and the people who ride them,” says executive producer, Chris Almida. “World of Waves will bring a fresh look to surfing which has grown in worldwide popularity, rising to the level of making it an Olympic event in next year’s Japan 2021 games,” he explains. “We’re all fans of surf film pioneers like Bruce and Dana Brown, Chris Malloy, and Stacy Peralta. We want to show our viewers the waves, but we also want to capture the texture and feeling of

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the places those waves appear and the people and places to visit while you’re there—even if you never leave your own living room.”

Whether you’re a grom (young surfer) ready to hit your local break, or a land-locked adult just dreaming about it, surfing strikes a common chord. Part of that excitement and fantasy is being able to stand on water and glide down the face of a long, smooth wave without any motorized propulsion.

However, another enticing factor is

the traveling required to get to the remote dreamlands serving up those surreal wave breaks. Because, while catchy in the famous tune, a “surfing safari” isn’t just a descriptively fun lyric, it’s a real thing! For instance, if you’re in southern California, a surfing safari could mean a trip to Rincon in Santa Barbara or a northern trek to Santa Cruz and Steamer Lane where old timers used to train for the “big waves” like Wiamea and Hawaii’s Sunset. If you’re headed south you could hit up Swami’s or Windansea in San Diego,

or dip into Baja for K38 (thirty-eight kilometers from the U.S-Mexico border). If you’re confident in your skills, check out the island and famous big-wave spot off Ensenada, Todos Santos.

French Polynesia. Or, how about Nicaragua, Costa Rica, South America, Australia, France, Portugal, and South Africa? Now those are safaris! And don’t forget about the south—there’s surfing in Antarctica, too!

For any surfer, ultimate safaris include Hawaii’s entire North Shore, where dozens of waves have earned their spot in the English lexicon including the Banzai Pipeline to Waimea Bay, Maui’s Honolua Bay, and Jaws. Other South Pacific destinations include Bali’s Uluwatuu and Teahupo’o in

Surfing has also spawned entire industries, brands, and cultural touchstones. From the popularization of Torrance, California’s The Beach Boys, to the invention of iconic apparel brands like Hang Ten, Body Glove,Vans, and Maui Jim, surf culture extended the reach of its low-key

cool factor. Even movies like Gidget capitalized on the hype, and food and beverage brands like Corona and Malibu Rum were quick to connect with the popular sub-culture.

Currently, Frontier Cable in Southern California is using The Beach Boys’ “Surfing USA” as their musical backdrop to encourage people to “surf” their new 5G network.

Because no matter the decade or current fad, surfing is dependably cool and attractive.

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To state the obvious, waves appear everywhere and anywhere there’s water. Where natural bodies of water are scarce, man-made wave pools have popped up in landlocked locations everywhere from central California (the original Surf Ranch was built by eleven-time surfing world champion, Kelly Slater) to the Wasi Adventure park in the deserts of the United Arab Emirates, and URBNSURF in Melbourne, Australia.

There’s even something categorized as “wave phenomena”—perhaps the most unusual wave on the planet— that can be found in Eisbach, Munich,

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Germany on an artificial river. Here, the surfers don’t need to move out to the waves because the water comes to them. Future explorations are even planned to include rivers and lakes where surfing has sprouted up and taken root in traditionally unlikely locations. World of Waves explores all of these unique locales and more!

“We’re bringing high-quality cinematic photography to these locations to capture not just the amazing action on the water, but also the oftenexotic locations we’re visiting,” says

TV veteran and executive-producer, Jason Charles. “We’ll have cameras in the water, on the boards, on the surfers, and in the air above them with drones. We’ll be seeing locations many viewers will never visit, so we want to give them an immersive experience, so they’ll feel as though they’ve been there and experienced those locations first-hand. If they still want to experience more of that location, Surfing.com will provide them with everything they will need to know and perhaps the incentive to travel there.”

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We envision World of Waves and Surfing.com to provide viewers and visitors with information on hundreds of locations around the world. We’re building a program and complementary website to be a resource for surfers who’re visiting foreign sites to surf those amazing waves, to learn about the history, the outlying locations they should visit, where to stay, and possibly the people they can meet there.

Another key member of the World of Waves team is Kevin Griffith, executive producer, partner in Oceanic Media, and owner of Surfing. com. Griffith had the foresight to register the URL in 1995 and feels the time and team is right for introducing it in tandem with World of Waves. “We envision World of Waves and Surfing.com to provide viewers and visitors with information on hundreds of locations around the world. We’re building a program and complementary website to be a resource for surfers who’re visiting foreign sites to surf those amazing waves, to learn about the history, the outlying locations they should visit, where to stay, and possibly the people they can meet there.

We’ll eventually solicit content from people who live in those locations and provide blogs so people can communicate with each other about their experiences and get advice from others who’ve already visited.

We hope to also post submissions from people and places we ourselves may not know about so we’re able to learn and educate others, all the while continuing to expand on the incredible ‘world of waves’ that we all share.”

So, mark your calendars this fall, wax your boards, and hang loose with World of Waves!

ymore info: www.surfing.com www.facethecurrent.com

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FtC health

Naturally Loving the Skin You’re In

The Wildcrafted and Organic Philosophy of Annmarie Skin Care

By Ainsley Schoppel Our skin is the largest organ of our bodies. In fact, the average person has twenty-two square feet of skin acting as a protective barrier between all that happens in the outside world and the complex systems working inside our bodies. Skin also helps to regulate temperature, aid in immune defense, and even make crucially required vitamins. Perhaps most importantly, skin is the preliminary layer of sensation, containing over 1000 nerve endings in every square inch.

While skin offers obvious physical

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necessities and benefits to our overall system, its appearance can also be the root of issues with self-esteem and confidence. A clear complexion conveys health, beauty, and youthful energy, and acne breakouts, visible oil imbalances, and inconsistent coloring can contribute to nagging battles in self-confidence.

A skin care routine is a very personal experience usually involving several steps and multiple products. Most people have a daily routine that differs from the one they implement at night, and the combined products

and ingredients can quickly add up. In fact, according to the Environmental Working Group, the average American woman uses twelve personal care products and/ or cosmetics a day, for a total of 168 unique chemicals. Of the top seven carcinogenic impurities commonly found in personal care products, the chemical most often involved in exposure is hydroquinone—a potential contaminant in products used daily by ninety-four percent of women and sixty-nine percent of men.Yikes!

Aside from the buzzwords on the front of the bottles and jars, do you actually know what is in the products you apply to your skin? And, if you hold eco-conscious and holistic standards for other products in your life such as household cleaners, hand-soaps, and laundry detergent, why not apply that same level of rigorous scrutiny to the scrubs, serums, and lotions that you apply to your skin?

Healthy-living bloggers Annmarie and Kevin Gianni asked themselves this very question.

In 2008, they powered up a vegetable oil-powered RV, left Connecticut, and began a two-and-a-half-year journey across North and South America to track down the best natural-care products and protocols they could find. With a legion of viewers on their popular YouTube videocast, The Renegade Health Show, Annmarie and Kevin wanted to share their findings

on their platform. As they met with healthcare experts, manufacturers, growers, and healers, more and more of Annmarie and Kevin’s viewers were asking them the same question: “What products do you use for your skin?”

After pausing their quest to raid their cupboards, Annmarie and Kevin were horrified to discover that nothing they were using met their own high standards. So, with a quick agenda recalibration, they decided to find a specific product line that they could recommend with confidence.

In talking with skin care company owners, Annmarie and Kevin weren’t always impressed with the ingredients or even the results of the products.

After speaking with formulators about how to actually develop a holistic and healthy skin care line, they were deeply disappointed by the number of responses that essentially

said: “Just omit toxic ingredients if they appear in minute amounts!”

Apparently common industry practice is to simply not list any toxic ingredients on the label if they are present in amounts too small to be covered by federal labeling regulations. This was most definitely not what Annmarie and Kevin were looking for, as their products would have to be completely free of toxic chemicals.

After a string of dead ends, Annmarie visited a small spa in Patagonia, Arizona, and the esthetician there introduced her to a line of skin care unlike anything Annmarie had ever experienced. The products felt different—palpably alive with an energetic vibration—and their aroma was unique and invigorating.

After one application of the face oil, Annmarie saw immediate results, and she and Kevin felt confident they had found a product line they could

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wholeheartedly recommend. Bunnie, the owner of the skin care line, is an herbalist and chemist, and she has been formulating organic skin care products for over thirty years. Bunnie only uses herbs and extracts sourced straight from nature in their purest forms, however, her products are only sold in spas. With help from Bunnie, Annmarie and Kevin were able to formulate a natural skincare line for both men and women that would be available to the wider public, and in 2009, Annmarie Skin Care was launched as a natural, sustainable, and conscious unisex skincare line.

Through their research into industry practices, the team at Annmarie Skin

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Care has uncovered hidden processes in ingredient production, chemical derivatives in so-called “natural ingredients”, and other manufacturing shortcuts and oversights. These investigations have helped Annmarie Skin Care to establish their own processes to ensure high-quality products that will deliver dependable and honest results.

This starts with organic and wildcrafted ingredients, and as Annmarie Skin Care’s philosophy goes, if you can’t eat it, you shouldn’t be putting it on your skin. That means that all products are free from alcohols, synthetic chemicals, harsh preservatives, and synthetic

fragrances. Using organics sourced from farmers that use little to no pesticides and only natural fertilizers also ensures that the environment and its precious ecosystems remain intact. In fact, in 2019, Annmarie Skin Care officially used zero pounds of pesticides on their ingredients! Also, all organic ingredients are marked with an asterisk on product bottles, and any asterisk-free ingredients were either selected from uncertified organic sources or they were wildcrafted. Otherwise known as foraging, wildcrafting is the practice of harvesting plants in their natural state from their natural habitat.

Each Annmarie Skin Care product

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This starts with organic and wildcrafted ingredients, and as Annmarie Skin Care’s philosophy goes, if you can’t eat it, you shouldn’t be putting it on your skin. That means that all products are free from alcohols, chemicals, harsh preservatives, and synthetic fragrances. Using organics sourced from farmers that use little to no pesticides and only natural fertilizers also ensures that the environment and its precious ecosystems remain intact.

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is made with intention using their three-step Energized Botanical Infusion Process. All ingredients are hand-selected and then infused into base oils and organic aloe vera. From there they are crafted using additional plant extracts and ingredients to increase their efficacy, and the result is beautiful, glowing skin. All Annmarie Skin Care products go through the most minimal amount of processing possible (if any!) to ensure that the alive and active ingredients are not compromised.

The first step in the Energized Botanical Infusion Process is Curation. Organic and wildcrafted ingredients including herbs (like milk

thistle, calendula, and echinacea) and high-vibration plant extracts are curated to meet the highest standards of quality and effectiveness for the skin and body. Annmarie Skin Care forges relationships with farmers and tirelessly audits their sources in order to maintain their stringent standards of purity and sustainability.

vera from Texas and skin-nutritive oils, including organic golden jojoba..

This combination is softly heated, never exceeding ninety-five degrees Fahrenheit. These botanical infusions are left to steep for up to thirty days and are energized by crystals during and after this process before becoming the potent base for all product formulas.

The second step in production is Infusion. Annmarie Skin Care products are handmade in the Colorado mountains in micro batches, and the curated herbs— ranging from goji berries and lotus to comfrey and plantain—are infused into a combination of organic aloe

Finally, the products enter the Creation phase. This is where highperformance seed oils (including broccoli, pomegranate, and black cumin) join antioxidant-rich botanicals, such as buriti and sea buckthorn berry, and synergistic plant stem-cells derived from lingonberries www.facethecurrent.com

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and citrus to deliver skin-supporting nutrients and luxurious aromatherapy.

All Annmarie Skin Care products are then dispensed into deeply colored biophotonic Miron violet glass bottles. More than just containers, these unique bottles energize the organic molecules of the product inside by filtering in a small amount of light while simultaneously protecting it from damaging light rays. This can enhance the quality of the formula while preserving it for maximum freshness without the use of any artificial preservatives.

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At a wind-powered facility, the products are then carefully packaged using sustainable materials that are either recyclable or made from post-consumer waste. Annmarie Skin Care uses only petrochemicalfree bio-based adhesive labels on all bottles and containers, ensuring they stay recyclable after their lifespan.

With several packaging updates made in 2019, including the complete elimination of plastic use in their Travel Kits, moving to aluminum bottles for the Rosemary Peppermint Body Wash, and altering the tea packaging to include compostable

teabags and tamper seals, Annmarie Skin Care is proving that no detail is too small when it comes to our environment.

In fact, online shopping shipments contribute to a substantial amount of global waste, and that’s why Annmarie Skin Care shipped over 135,000 packages in 2019 that was free of plastics and Styrofoam filler.

The final result is active, supernaturally-effective skincare that upholds Annmarie Skin Care’s initial commitment to clean beauty and environmental protection.

Because of Annmarie Skin Care’s natural ingredients and manufacturing process, they have earned the MADE SAFE® stamp of approval.

MADE SAFE® is a non-profit organization that provides America’s first comprehensive human healthfocused certification for nontoxic products. The MADE SAFE® seal literally means that a product is made with safe ingredients and is free of toxic chemicals known to harm our health. In order to verify this, MADE SAFE® screens ingredients against their Ingredient Database of known harmful chemicals. This list contains

thousands of chemicals found on scientific lists from organizations and agencies around the world. Then, MADE SAFE® examines all product ingredients for bioaccumulation, persistence, and general and aquatic toxicity. This means that products will not contain known harmful ingredients, nor will they release vapors, gases, or by-products that could negatively impact human health.

Not only has Annmarie Skin Care rightfully earned this coveted badge of eco-honor, but they are also Leaping Bunny certified (no animal

tests were used in the development of any product), non-GMO, and cruelty-free.

So, nourish your skin with the wildcrafted and organic natural elements of Annmarie Skin Care, give your body a boost, and rest easy knowing the planet hasn’t had to sacrifice any of Her beauty in order to enhance yours.

ymore info: www.annmariegianni.com www.facethecurrent.com

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Using Evolutionary Health Principles

to Optimize Our Modern Bodies: The Primal Health Approach of Best-Selling Author, Mark Sisson

By Dr. Jim Bentz Mark Sisson is the New York Times best-selling author of The Keto Reset Diet and the bestselling author of The Primal Blueprint—a book credited with turbocharging the growth of the primal/paleo movement in 2009. He is also a former triathlete, distance runner, and Ironman competitor, the founder of Primal Kitchen and Primal Nutrition, and a personal hero of mine.

Mark’s top-ranked health and fitness blog, Mark’s Daily Apple, is a fantastic daily source of all things health-related—I highly recommend it!

I also appreciate the fact that Mark actually lives everything that he recommends to his followers, and in this way, he truly walks his talk. He impressively delves deep into the science behind various health concepts and approaches, and this has greatly helped me to differentiate fact from opinion.

In this discussion, Mark covers many healthy-living topics including the importance of uncovering our primal blueprint, the benefits of hormetic stressors on the body, and why we all could stand to benefit from chilling out! His responses are not only useful and applicable to everyday health, but they serve as inspiring motivation to assess our current states of well-being while we proactively seek to improve our health now and into the future.

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We must discover our own optimal eating habits within the framework of evolutionary health principles.

We must make allowances for the enjoyment of modern life, as well as individual preferences and sensitivities.

Regarding the ancestral dietary debate, a few things are indisputable. First, it is clear what our ancestors did NOT eat: processed sugars, industrial oils, and refined grains (or even whole grains!).

We also know that, regardless of their environmental circumstances or location on the globe, they did choose to eat only plants and animals.

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Dr. Jim Bentz:You introduced the world to Grok the caveman. What is the importance of understanding our evolutionary biology in the context of how we live in modern culture with its emphasis on comfort and convenience?

Mark Sisson: Understanding our evolutionary biology is to understand what I refer to as our primal blueprint. It means learning what our DNA as humans expects of us in the areas of nutrition, sleep, sunshine, play, exercise, and our bond and connection with others. I developed a set of ten simple and logical eating, exercise, and lifestyle practices—my Primal Blueprint “laws”—in order to model our twenty-first-century life after our primal hunter-gatherer ancestors. After all, it was their survival that forged today’s genome!

This approach can help people greatly reduce or eliminate almost all of the disease risk factors that one may

falsely blame on those genes that you inherited from your parents.

We don’t have to fall victim to our genetic vulnerabilities; we can control how our genes express themselves in constantly rebuilding, repairing, and renewing our cells.

JB: Over the last few years, I’ve noticed there are a lot of differing opinions among “experts” about what constitutes the optimal human diet. As one of the early proponents of the paleo diet, do you think this is confusing to the public, and is it distracting us from the fundamental message that you have been making regarding how and what we should be eating?

MS: At the root of it all is the advice to “just eat real food”. With that, regardless of your chosen way of eating, you will likely find a diet that suits you. Interestingly, the book Paleofantasy attacks the paleo diet as

a farce because, as they claim, our ancestors ate all kinds of different diets depending on where they lived on the globe and the particular environmental conditions of the day. I agree. The book Cult Diets asserts that because no single diet is a perfect fit for everyone, the assorted “cults” or supposed strictures of primal and paleo are ill-advised. But these are exactly the arguments I make as to why regimented diets are illogical, and why I insist that we must discover our own optimal eating habits within the framework of evolutionary health principles. We must make allowances for the enjoyment of modern life, as well as individual preferences and sensitivities. Regarding the ancestral dietary debate, a few things are indisputable. First, it is clear what our ancestors did NOT eat: processed sugars, industrial oils, and refined grains (or even whole grains!).

We also know that, regardless of their environmental circumstances or location on the globe, they did choose to eat only plants and animals. www.facethecurrent.com

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Our vitamin D needs are primarily met by the sun, not by diet (by a factor of approximately ten times). Frequently exposing large skin surface areas to sunlight to maintain a slight tan (as I do) is a sign of healthy vitamin D levels. Vitamin D deficiency decreases immune health and increases cancer risk, so sun (and winter supplementation) is essential to balance indoor-dominant lifestyles.

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JB: One of the most useful things I’ve learned from you over the

brief cold-water plunge is an activity considered to be a “hormetic

potentially even stimulate cell repair.

A short sprint workout can generate a hormetic stress that prompts a release of adrenaline, cortisol, growth hormone, and testosterone.

When we hone our fight-or-flight attributes once in a while, as our genes expect us to, we stay youthful, powerful, vibrant, and self-confident.

Conversely, when we indulge in endless modern comforts and conveniences, constantly stay warm and well-fed, and never stress our bodies to spur hormesis, our mind and body atrophy across the board and we become less resilient to all forms of life stress. Of course, overstressing at work and/or exercise can cease being hormetic and become a chronic stressor, and this can negatively impact health as well.You just need to find that balance.

JB:You spend a lot of time outdoors. How do you maximize the benefits of sun exposure while minimizing the risk of skin cancer?

years has been the concept of hormesis. Could you tell us why this is such an important (and overlooked) piece of the health puzzle for so many people?

MS: Occasional brief exposure to a mild stressor can have a positive effect on our body. For instance, a

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stressor” that helps boost immune function and antioxidant defense, decrease inflammation and pain, and increase blood flow and lymphatic function—something particularly therapeutic for tired muscles. A hot sauna session can have similar effects.

A two-day fast can improve glucose tolerance, burn off body fat, and

MS: Our vitamin D needs are primarily met by the sun, not by diet (by a factor of approximately ten times). Frequently exposing large skin surface areas to sunlight to maintain a slight tan (as I do) is a sign of healthy vitamin D levels.Vitamin D deficiency decreases immune health and increases cancer risk, so sun (and winter supplementation) is essential to balance indoor-dominant lifestyles.

I always try to avoid burning, and I try to shelter my face and other sensitive or thin-skinned areas from overexposure. That could be wearing a hat, zinc oxide on my face, and long sleeves once I have had sufficient unprotected exposure. Moderate sunlight—contrary to conventional wisdom—actually protects you from the most serious form of skin cancer.

JB: Describe your personal evolution and the ways in which you have changed over the years regarding your views on health and healing.

MS: I started out as a carb-centric endurance athlete who was doing everything right and “by the book”.

Unfortunately, I had lots of injuries and gastrointestinal issues that made no sense for someone pursuing a healthy lifestyle. After I retired from competition, I did some research on diets and slowly evolved to a lower carb way of eating. Within a few months, I noticed that my maladies all cleared up (no more arthritis, IBS, Gerd, sinus infections, etc.). For me, it was largely the elimination of grains that had the most profound effect.

Early into this I was anti-legumes as well, but I have eased back on that aspect somewhat over the years. I also found that as I really noticed the effects certain foods had on me, I

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could add or subtract them and get better results, thereby refining my own dietary regimen even further. So, my major view on health and healing is that eighty percent of all disease results from diet and a few other lifestyle choices. If you can intuitively understand this, you can exert tremendous power over your health destiny.

JB:You obviously live what you teach. I also appreciate the science you research in your writing. What are your thoughts on the academic world’s approach to health compared to those who practice what they preach, and how can we best use science to guide our health choices?

MS: I am very skeptical of nutrition science these days. It is clear to me, for instance, that saturated fat is not the enemy, that cholesterol should

not be vilified the way it is, that red meat is a vital part of a healthy diet for most people, that grains are UNhealthy, etc. All these seem to fly in the face of long-accepted “dietary science” which begat, among other things, the USDA food pyramid and the gross over-prescription of statin drugs. Recently, however, it seems that much of that “settled” science is finally starting to come around almost one hundred and eighty degrees to agree with my ancestral research friends and me. As I said earlier, I think that more than eighty percent of modern diseases are a direct result of inappropriate lifestyle choices and that diet is a huge component of that.

JB:You recently sold your Primal Kitchen food line to Kraft Foods. What do you think the possible impact of this sale could be on the corporate food system?

My major view on health and healing is that eighty percent of all disease results from diet and a few other lifestyle choices. If you can intuitively understand this, you can exert tremendous power over your health destiny.

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MS: Kraft Heinz purchased Primal Kitchen because they recognized that the consumer is getting wiser to what’s on the Nutrition Facts Panels of their food, and very few companies were actually paying attention. Primal Kitchen has led the way in producing condiments, sauces, and dressings that you can put on real foods to make them taste better, allowing variety to exist in the different flavors from one sauce to the next, and adding value in using “better-for-you” ingredients.

Now other companies are following suit and cleaning up their labels. This effect of “a rising tide lifts all boats” is fantastic for the corporate food system as it evolves to meet the needs of a discerning customer. I am proud that we have led the way.

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JB: We know that movement and exercise are critical to our health, but I notice that recovery is often overlooked. Could you tell us how you see the relationship between exercise and recovery?

MS: Well, at the foundational level, exercise (which is an intentional form of stress) only works as intended if you allow your body adequate rest and recovery. If you don’t properly recover, or if you over-exercise, you risk becoming a collection of those stresses, getting burned out, perhaps putting on unwanted fat (I know, right?), and compromising your immune system. The same concept applies even if you don’t exercise

much but still burn the candles at both ends with work, play, and other stresses. Optimizing sleep practices should be the prominent focus here, but we should also consider a broadbased approach to chilling out, such as disciplining your use of technology, taking frequent breaks from peak cognitive tasks, and doing specially designed micro-workouts that promote relaxation and rejuvenation.

KETO is also a great tool to enhance recovery, combat inflammation, and foster anti-aging.

JB: What do you see as your legacy in terms of your impact on the health landscape in the U.S?

MS: I would like to think that I have helped change the way the medical community looks at achieving and maintaining excellent health, having created a much greater emphasis on prevention through a lifestyle that emulates our huntergatherer ancestors (obviously, in the context of a more comfortable, even hedonistic, society). And more specifically, I would like to be known as having changed the way the world eats.

MS: The influence of conventional wisdom on our collective psyche has never been more tenuous, as people are sick and tired of being sick and tired, fat, and overstressed. Metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and Type 2 diabetes are out of control. The time has come to ditch once and for all the health advice dispensed by most of the mainstream medical community and gimmicky best-selling diet books. It’s time to return to the scientific evidence about how our species not only survived against the odds but thrived.

The experience of our huntergatherer ancestors is worth understanding and incorporating because it contains the secrets to our long-term health and survival moving forward. And it’s not that difficult!

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The influence of conventional wisdom on our collective psyche has never been more tenuous, as people are sick and tired of being sick and tired, fat, and overstressed. Metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and Type 2 diabetes are out of control. The time has come to ditch once and for all the health advice dispensed by most of the mainstream medical community and gimmicky best-selling diet books. It’s time to return to the scientific evidence about how our species not only survived against the odds but thrived.

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JB: If there is one thing you hope readers will take away from this interview, what would that be?

ymore info: www.primalblueprint.com www.marksdailyapple.com IG: @MarkSissonPrimal @MarksDailyApple @PrimalKitchenFoods www.facethecurrent.com

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