Discover
Holistic Life Navigation
Holistic Life Navigation
Author: Holistic Life Navigation
Subscribed: 308Played: 14,633Subscribe
Share
© 2026 Holistic Life Navigation
Description
This podcast explores holistic stress and trauma recovery. I am your host, Luis Mojica. My work, Holistic Life Navigation, was modeled after my own journey in healing myself from chronic illness and PTSD. I share this podcast with many brilliant minds who, like me, healed themselves through unique, unusual, and unorthodox ways.
For more information, please visit: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com
Written, produced and recorded by Luis Mojica. Edited by Fredo Viola. Intro/outro song: "Witch Love" by Luis Mojica.
376 Episodes
Reverse
Throwback to when Camille’s weekends contained 16 bottles of wine, and a day contained 80 cigarettes for Luis. Wine and cigarettes respectively calmed and stimulated their neurodivergent brains into surviving. They no longer need wine or cigarettes because they live in alignment with their interests and capacity: part of the process was learning to live lives that fascinated them. In month 6 of the ADHD slow group, we dive into how to cultivate a fascinating life for ourselves. &n...
PRE-ORDER the upcoming book now: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book We aren’t gonna tell you how to fix ADD/ADHD. (Spoiler alert, you or your loved one don’t need fixing.) We are, however, going to teach our 6-month group on how to relate to ADHD, in yourself or in someone else. The actual problem is a societal standard our brain wasn’t designed for. In this podcast we are talking about months 3 & 4 of the slow group curriculum. We will explore navigating overwhelm, and...
PRE-ORDER the upcoming book now: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book At the age of nine Luis was diagnosed with ADHD. He never medicated with pharmaceuticals: instead his drugs of choice were coffee, cigarettes, and a stimulating diet. Over the years Luis has learned how to reduce the stimulants needed to keep him engaged. ADD/ADHD is when there is not enough dopamine getting to the brain, usually because of low levels of brain and gut, or vagus nerve inflammation. People in...
PRE-ORDER the upcoming book now: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book In this replay episode, we explore ADHD or RITC -- a Radical Inability To Conform. Luis shares with us his own childhood experiences with ADHD, Tourette's syndrome, and nervous ticks. Often people are prescribed medications to suppress these conditions but Luis questions what would it mean to allow ourselves to relate to them as expressions? Luis begins to reframe the idea of ADHD; pivoting from "I can't focus"...
PRE-ORDER the upcoming book now: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book Our favorite biochemist, Karen Hurd, joins us again to discuss how stress fuels disease. Chronic levels of stress, be it from food, relationships, physical exertion, thought patterns, or the environment, all tax the adrenal glands. Karen tells us how and why this happens. With taxed adrenals we are left feeling burnt out and reach for coffee and stimulants, forcing us to push past our bodies need to rest. Luis an...
PRE-ORDER the upcoming book now: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book Kymber Maulden joins us on the podcast today. Fertility isn't just for women who want to be mothers, it is a sign of health in menstruating females. Trauma stresses and rapidly oxidizes the body, causing it to need even more nutrients and therefore be in metabolic debt. This draws on resources contributing to low progesterone and elevated testosterone, which may lead to PCOS and infertility. Luis and Kymber...
PRE-ORDER the upcoming book now: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book The new Food Pyramid is released in the United States, turning the old one on its point. Regardless of how you feel about the administration it is released under, the focus has shifted from carbs and demonizing fats to centering protein, vegetables, nuts, beans and healthy fats. Camille reminds us that it is a guideline, not a hard and fast rule, because diverse bodies have diverse needs. And, she reminds us, sci...
PRE-ORDER the upcoming book now: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book Luis and Camille banter as they dive into the concept of the Self in somatics. Along the way Luis offers 3 practices to work with finding the Self as witness. This witnessing allows us to be with a sensation or state and feel it rather than avoid it. It also helps us dis-identify from the state. From there we can experience something unpleasant and be with it rather than fix it. From this place of witnessing, Lui...
PRE-ORDER the upcoming book now: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book Luis and Tasha talk about beauty standards, eating disorders and their role in Tasha's life. She used food as a way to control her appearance and fit into beauty standards. Her hormones tanked. Out of desperation she began the complicated journey of taking control of her own health. In 2020-2021 she found herself within the nuance of liminal space. She felt non-binary, identity-less. In 2022 she suffered long-COV...
PRE-ORDER the upcoming book now: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book Meet Linda Erman, Luis' Somatic Godmother, Art Therapist and Somatic Experiencing practitioner. About a decade ago Luis decided to go back to school for psychology. Instead of school his own body's resurgence of symptoms led him to Linda and her Somatic work. Linda herself found SE in her 50s. SE carefully tended her body, titrating into the trauma it held. Her changed biology was the proof she needed. As ...
Curious about how Luis teaches? Here is your window into a nutritional teaching about stored trauma, visceral fat, and inflammation. Stored trauma in the body sets off a chain reaction resulting in elevated insulin, putting the body into fat storage mode. Visceral fat becomes an endocrine organ producing protein molecules called cytokines that create an inflammatory response. This process primes the body for carb consumption. Often food is either avoided, or binging is chosen, stressing...
3 Oreos and 1/2 an Avocado join Luis on the podcast today. Their calories are the same, but how each affects our glucose levels is very different. Refined carbs spike glucose, which increases insulin, and puts us into fat storage mode. Another factor to weight is stress and trauma, especially when in functional freeze, where we produce adrenaline, but do not burn it off with movement. Join us live on January 13th 2026 at 10am EST as we take a deeper dive into this topic together. You ca...
Today's episode is a replay of the recent free Food Therapy session. Recovery is different from abstinence, though both are important as you heal from addiction. Abstinence is the avoiding of an addictive substance, while recovery is the balancing of your body from years of addiction. For example, some people go from cocaine to coffee so the same activating patterns of addiction are playing out with a new substance. This free session focuses on the somatic psychology behind addiction (a despe...
Quick and dirty, Luis outlines the science between insulin and fat storage. It's not the least amount of calories that is the golden ticket, instead, it's the least amount of glucose spike. He teaches us which foods, and the ideal combination of those foods, that results in the least amount of glucose release, so that the body goes into fat burning mode instead of fat storage mode. An important factor in the equation is addressing emotions and unmet needs that drive food cravings so we ...
Colin is our fourth and final small group facilitator for the Embodied Masculinity program starting January 6th 2026. His journey to somatics, and Luis, started with a nail gun, and the pain resulting from repetitive use. He realized he was holding tension around accuracy in physical labor, and relationally around important topics. Somatics helped show him how to hold his body through work and relationships in a way that was easeful, not painful. Luis invites Colin to share what he loves abou...
Al Romano, Tim Paula, Rio Allen, and Naveed join Luis for a collaborative conversation about sex apps in the gay community, and what men really want. Men are conditioned to discover their sexuality as boys, isolated with porn. And yet, all bodies want security, touch ,and connection. Corporations prey upon this conditioning and need with sex apps that dehumanize and objectify men, gamifying their arousal and isolation with quick dissociated hook-ups. Where did gay men meet before ...
2025 and it's still fringe as f*ck for men to do somatic work. Why? Because men are conditioned to suppress the parts of themselves that are tender and vulnerable with dissociation and porn. Join Luis and his friend Steven as they discuss masculinity and the upcoming 6 month Embodied Masculinity Slow group, starting January sixth. Steven reminisces about singing with a friend when he was 11 years old, when a parent commented, "You are gay, aren't you?" Singing with a friend was "not ma...
Our boys, too often, grow up using porn as a formulaic way to self soothe. They experience the dopamine rush, stimulation and sexual gratification in isolation. There is no touch or feedback in return, no boundaries to navigate, just dissociative pleasure.This stress loop, repeated chronically in a young body becomes a developmental trauma. The pattern spills into future relationships, where they find themselves numbed out and disconnected from themselves and their partners. Join Luis f...
Atarah Valentine joins Luis on the podcast today. They warm up talking about how we can practice self hatred, and we can practice gratitude. It's all a practice. What choices and practices have adapted you to be the person you are? Men, Atarah saw, hurt women. He did not want to hurt women. As a result he practiced hating masculinity. He evoked feminine energy emulating his grandmother who wanted to fix everything for everyone. Another woman he emulated was his mother who married ...
On today's episode, Luis is joined by Annette Knopp - meditation teacher, somatic educator, nature mystic, and author - to discuss her newly released book Mystic Nomad: A Woman's Wild Journey to True Connection. In her book, Annette shares the personal experiences that shaped who she is as a person, and then how these events developed her way of teaching and showing up in the world. Part memoir, part modality teaching, she wrote the book with the intention of sharing her story as a way to sup...


![[Ep. 325] Embodying ADHD: Navigating Overwhelm, Capacity, & Relationships (Part 2/3) [Ep. 325] Embodying ADHD: Navigating Overwhelm, Capacity, & Relationships (Part 2/3)](https://storage.buzzsprout.com/pxxcgd8rax5e2agudo5pjxc75hem?.jpg)
![[Ep. 324] Embodying ADHD: Dopamine Deficiency, Functional Freeze, & Stimulants (Part 1/3) [Ep. 324] Embodying ADHD: Dopamine Deficiency, Functional Freeze, & Stimulants (Part 1/3)](https://storage.buzzsprout.com/1tpc8uoyp2gklv8edlzieksurdcj?.jpg)
![[Ep. 323] Embodying ADHD: My Story Of Being Unmedicated & Thriving [Ep. 323] Embodying ADHD: My Story Of Being Unmedicated & Thriving](https://storage.buzzsprout.com/a4siymth99csvswjp8braw2crk62?.jpg)
![[Ep. 322] Biochemist Explains How Chronic Stress Fuels 99% Of All Our Diseases [Ep. 322] Biochemist Explains How Chronic Stress Fuels 99% Of All Our Diseases](https://storage.buzzsprout.com/c9xfqdhq2i53v4m2ep9gilsf5fnt?.jpg)
![[Ep. 321] How Stress & Trauma Affect Female Hormones & Sexuality [Ep. 321] How Stress & Trauma Affect Female Hormones & Sexuality](https://storage.buzzsprout.com/vxc2pdvb00axevirh71a8gry6lh8?.jpg)
![[Ep. 320] Let's Talk About The New Food Pyramid [Ep. 320] Let's Talk About The New Food Pyramid](https://storage.buzzsprout.com/eukp49hwtkkejhruhanofip4jzgh?.jpg)
![[Ep. 319] The Self, Star Wars, and Savoring Depression [Ep. 319] The Self, Star Wars, and Savoring Depression](https://storage.buzzsprout.com/m809oj0ba1smeovoo1e88mfboj46?.jpg)
![[Ep. 318] How Nourishing Foods Helped Her Feel Like A Woman Again w/ Tasha Blank [Ep. 318] How Nourishing Foods Helped Her Feel Like A Woman Again w/ Tasha Blank](https://storage.buzzsprout.com/gpwe8ww5b4etbvhaz4fuipwmmnzj?.jpg)
![[Ep. 317] Meet Linda Erman: The Woman Who Initiated Me Into Somatics [Ep. 317] Meet Linda Erman: The Woman Who Initiated Me Into Somatics](https://storage.buzzsprout.com/1xu17bnrtccl99erg3i317zv4v8p?.jpg)
![[Ep. 316] LECTURE EXCERPT: The Correlation Between Visceral Fat, Inflammation, and Trauma [Ep. 316] LECTURE EXCERPT: The Correlation Between Visceral Fat, Inflammation, and Trauma](https://storage.buzzsprout.com/jx2x2882swvi0z8eme44vjci9p3w?.jpg)
![[Ep. 315] Cracking The Code For Weight Loss: Insulin, Calories, and Stress [Ep. 315] Cracking The Code For Weight Loss: Insulin, Calories, and Stress](https://storage.buzzsprout.com/pu3r2oetkeffcar4wjjzew4b4xnp?.jpg)
![[Ep. 314] Food Therapy: How Nutrition Impacts Addiction & Recovery (Webinar Replay) [Ep. 314] Food Therapy: How Nutrition Impacts Addiction & Recovery (Webinar Replay)](https://storage.buzzsprout.com/6g7fkghll3oujo4yty6jk7swp9bn?.jpg)
![[Ep. 313] The Connection Between Weight Gain & Trauma [Ep. 313] The Connection Between Weight Gain & Trauma](https://storage.buzzsprout.com/0ix75vxobtl4y91fz7vjis3wm8ac?.jpg)
![[Ep. 312] How This Blue Collar Carpenter Became An Embodied Man w/ Colin Safranek [Ep. 312] How This Blue Collar Carpenter Became An Embodied Man w/ Colin Safranek](https://storage.buzzsprout.com/k3gebdmuveqw5iy9l5fsexsh7eug?.jpg)
![[Ep. 311] How S*x Apps Affect The Gay Community And Men [Ep. 311] How S*x Apps Affect The Gay Community And Men](https://storage.buzzsprout.com/j0wk9pq0opf7w8qsys62hss6zdue?.jpg)
![[Ep. 310] "They Called Me Gay Just For Singing" Why Men Shut Down & Isolate w/ Steven Rasovsky [Ep. 310] "They Called Me Gay Just For Singing" Why Men Shut Down & Isolate w/ Steven Rasovsky](https://storage.buzzsprout.com/20gy8b8qszcwe88zjt687s8e17q8?.jpg)
![[Ep. 309] Share This With A Man You Know: How P*rn Affects Their Relationships [Ep. 309] Share This With A Man You Know: How P*rn Affects Their Relationships](https://storage.buzzsprout.com/owdefb8nayt9pyttb4c3qizibgo5?.jpg)


🙏🏼
really appreciate when you address the schism of how people read one's identity from your inner experience, and especially when you relate it to all different aspects of eco-social-somatics, meaning the physiology, the social, and the experiential aspects of "passing white white (cis, straight)" (recognizing the privileges that come with that, while still acknowledging) at the same time the inner experience of an identity that's different than what is perceived in the surface. and you got deep into some of complexities if that here really so well, acknowledging ancestry and so much n thanks!
this is a great one! important!
I'm quite enjoying this and thought you would as well... [Ep 14] Decolonizing The Psyche | Dr. Amber McZeal on holistic life navigation podcast. https://castbox.fm/vb/311433122 If you Install Castbox use my referral code - rewards! Se Instalar o Castbox use esse código! https://castbox.fm/tasklist/gold/invite?invite_id=YYXJED thank youuuuu sss