When you get up early in the morning and feel like stretching, moving, being active – this is Primal Tao. When you understand that cold, hunger, physical or mental effort, gentle stress, in general, are your allies – this is Primal Tao. When you understand the importance of eating mostly real food (not processed commercially) and only when you feel truly hungry – this is Primal Tao. When you feel tired and rest – this is Primal Tao. When you turn to Nature to recharge your batteries – this is Primal Tao. Ask yourself at the end of the day: Was I active today? Did I allow my stomach to rest and gave my body some good quality food when it needed it? Have I slept well and long enough? How did I deal with stress? Did I go out of my comfort zone and allowed myself to feel a little cold or hot occasionally? In Primal Tao we understand the concept of HORMESIS which means a phenomenon of producing beneficial effects by introducing small doses of the potentially harmful agent. For example, moderate stress on the body in resistance training leads to the strengthening and development of the muscles. The daily habits of Primal Tao reflect a simple understanding that we all need gentle stimulation and challenge for optimal functioning. Primal Tao is a lifestyle. It is a continuous effort to improve the experience of our daily life, health and well being through simplicity and understanding of the mechanisms governing our own selves. It points out simple ways to enhance our daily pleasure of life, energy levels, performance, and vitality. It is meant as an antidote to our crazy busy lives. Lives in which: – we forget to create time for our own body and mind – we forget how to breathe – we forget how to think – we forget how to be active – we fuel ourselves with lots of unnatural foods, for lots of unnatural reasons – we forget how to strengthen our immune systems – we forget how to be with our own minds, with ourselves. – we isolate ourselves from nature and it’s elements – we don’t get enough sleep There is a fascinating new approach to technology and engineering – Biomimicry. It finds time-tested solutions in Nature, imitating its designs. Of course, in a way, this approach is something humans have been doing for a long time. We have looked at nature to find solutions to our problems throughout our entire existence. Nature has been providing us with inspiration for how to build our homes, how to fly in the air, swim in the water, grow food or recycle what is no longer needed. When we pay enough attention we can learn from Nature and its methods to make our own lives easier and more balanced. It applies to our health as well. Observing nature and its creatures allows us to understand ourselves better. It allows us to find ways to discover strategies for maintaining, developing or regaining our own optimal health and well-being. The concept of Primal Tao is the result of such observations, It shares with Biomimicry the same principles of looking for answers in the natural world. It is imitating natural behavioral patterns still present not too long ago in our daily lives but now almost completely absent. Some of them are: The need to eat real food. The need to fast. The need to move. The need to rest. The need to be exposed to natural elements. We get easily confused about how to stay healthy nowadays. Primal Tao is one of the ways to answer this confusion. It is about simplicity, common sense, observation of nature, and effortless and sustainable ways to find your own recipe for a healthy life. ...
Avoid confusion.
Simplify your life and find out what is important for you. Don’t confuse things. We confuse education with intelligence. Happiness with pleasure. Achievement with sales numbers. Real value with popularity. Longevity with a number of years lived. Health with the looks. Facebook likes with real human interactions. Size of the muscle with fitness level. Sex with love. Starchy, sugary, processed stuff with nutritious food. Addictive cravings with hunger. Cockiness with confidence. Aggression with strength. Modesty with shyness. Tax deductible charity with generosity. We confuse surviving with flourishing. Existing with Living. ...
Follow Nature – Natural health cultivation.
The way of Nature Mother Nature provides. Listen to her voice. Listen to her instructions. Her voice is part of you. She will tell you what to do. Use her elements to stay fit and healthy. Use air, sun, earth and water. You are part of her. Do not avoid her. Flow with rather than against her. She is your teacher. Learn. Pay attention to your own body and everything around it. Use breath to control your body and your mind. Discover the breath as a wonderful connection between one and the other. Breathe deeply and fully. Keep things simple. Don’t over-complicate. Life is complex enough as it is. Simplify your work. Simplify your foods. Simplify your needs. Simplify your life. The more things you add the more complicated things become. Seek beauty in simplicity. Enjoy simple pleasures and learn how to recognize them throughout your day. What you do is what you develop. Repetition develops habits. You have a choice of what you want to develop. Do more of what and how you want to be. Do less of what and how you don’t want to be. Repeat it long enough and it will become your nature. It will become you. Live your own life. Get inspiration from others but you are the one who has to walk the chosen path. Make it your own by doing not just reading or thinking about it. Pick what suits you best. Discard what is not your cup of tea. How to tell the difference? – you might ask! Ask yourself! You and only you can answer this. Realize what comes to you naturally. You are a unique individual with your own strengths and weaknesses. Nurture the former and get rid of the latter. Pay attention to what you eat and drink. Combined with the air you breathe – this is what you are made of! Choose fresh and avoid processed foods, especially sweets. Variety is important. Think why you eat, how much, what you eat, when you eat, and how you eat. Let your body rest and recover after intense physical exertion. Let your digestive system rest and recover regularly. Your body is designed to feast and fast. Let your mind rest and recover. Find your favorite form of meditation. Make sure you get a regular good night’s sleep. Feel the hunger regularly. Do not stop moving! Your body is designed to run, jump, lift and twist. Pay attention to your posture. Repetition creates habits! Make sure you get a daily dose of physical and mental activity and stimulation. Sweat every day. Good stress (eustress) is the very stress that provokes change, adaptation and development. Find time to commune with nature and its elements. Don’t always insulate yourself from cold, heat, rain or snow. Train your body and mind to adapt to changing circumstances. Appreciate. Develop a habit of finding things, situations and people in your life to appreciate. Realize how lucky you are! ...
The minimum you can do for your health.
Stop eating all day long. Stop eating junk, especially highly processed and sugary “foods” and “beverages”. Get some good quality sleep. Where you sleep, it should be dark, quiet and well ventilated. Minimum 8 hours. No excuses. Learn how to breathe deeply and do it frequently in the park, forest, or any natural, clean place. Every day. Repeat: every day you need to be active. Move! Get out of the chronic stress situation. Pick the option more suitable for you: 1. Change your circumstances, as in: getting out of the toxic relationship or changing the work environment or 2. Change yourself, as in: learning how to deal with stress. Learning and practicing meditation can be helpful. You can use both approaches simultaneously. Recharge your batteries in nature and don’t isolate yourself from it. Regular and gradual exposure to natural elements like cold or heat will strengthen your body’s abilities to tolerate sudden temperature changes and effectively respond to the attacks of pathogenic viruses and bacteria. If you are overweight – fast. If you feel unwell – fast. If you lack the energy – fast ...
No movement = loss of the ability to move.
We often tend to ignore our bodies and minds to the point of not realizing the fundamental importance and impact on our life that the properly functioning body and mind have. In the continuous rush of day-to-day existence, in the midst of all the important matters that we absolutely have to take care of, we forget that if our body starts to malfunction, we will not be able to direct our attention and energy into anything else anyway. To prevent this from happening, try to incorporate physical activity into the normal flow of your day. Move at every opportunity you have! This will not only allow you to maintain your physical fitness and ability to do things but it will also greatly impact your mental fitness and the way you feel in general! It is difficult sometimes to find an hour or two for physical exercise. However, it is possible to integrate a lot of physical activities into our other daily activities. Get off the bus a couple of stops earlier and take a walk. Use stairs instead of an elevator. From now on, every flight of stairs, every hill to climb can be your ally in being more active. Whenever practicable – ride a bike instead of a car. Park your car in a place that will make you take a nice walk. Do you like to dance? Put the music on and dance till you’re breathless! Stretch discreetly when at work, on the train or plane. Waiting for something? Another opportunity to open up the body, release the muscle tension and move your body! Move and stretch when you wake up in bed. Move, stretch and release when waiting in the traffic jam. Move when sitting and traveling on the bus. Move when watching TV or listening to your favorite podcast. The sky is the limit! Or your imagination is. Be creative. Every day can become a game, an interesting challenge – how do I create an opportunity for some movement today? Your body is designed to move. Regular, balanced movement activities prevent illness, heal and strengthen. ...
Natural health cultivation. The simple approach to maintaining your daily health.
Every day we need to challenge ourselves to stay fit. Without this challenge, there is no growth. Without this challenge, a gradual decline begins. We need to challenge our cells. We need to challenge our mobility. We need to challenge our strength. We need to challenge our immunity. We need to challenge our mind. There are many ways to practice these challenges. Here are the three main ones: Every day make sure that you experience a little bit of being: Sweaty, Hungry and Cold. Sweaty means you’ve strengthened your body’s ability to be functional by moving, exercising, being active. Hungry means you’ve strengthened your digestive and cellular system by letting the body digest, rest and rebuild. Cold means you’ve strengthened your immune system by exposing your body to colder temperatures. Try to develop regular: Movement Habits Fasting Habits Body Tempering Habits ...
Use it or lose it!
Maintaining health is similar to riding a bike. You cannot ride a bike and then just stop and expect you will maintain balance. The moment we stop moving our balance is compromised. The moment we stop practicing healthy habits, our health, sometimes unnoticeably, starts declining. The moment we stop using our muscles – they start getting weaker and weaker. The moment we stop stretching – we start getting tighter and begin losing our mobility. The moment we stop making a mental effort to remember, to create solutions, to recognize and react – our mental capabilities’ decline begins. The main weapon we have to prevent this from happening or at the very least, to slow it down, is our effort to continue performing or maybe even improving our ability to perform various actions so that we maintain this ability as long as possible. WE DO TO BE. Idle pleasures like watching television or playing computer games, while ok in small doses, can quickly turn into “preferable” way of spending time, developing strongly addictive habits that do not challenge our mental or physical capabilities, thus contributing to the decrease of our well being. The gradual limiting of our social interactions, relying on patterns and solutions that we are very comfortable with, even practicing the very same practices without seeking improvement can and frequently does bring a slow decline. Is it only because we are getting “older”? Or is it because we are getting lazy? If we look at examples of those in later stages of their lives, who continue working in their field, studying, practicing, researching, it is easy to notice that their abilities do not correspond to their chronological age. In a positive sense. One more reason not to stop DOING! ...
Now is all we have.
We tend to worry, consciously or unconsciously almost all the time. When we’re in a “good place”, we worry it might end soon, when we’re in a “bad place” we worry it will never end. When we have stability we worry about instability. When we have instability we still worry about it. We spend a lot of time in the past, future and inside our imaginary world that never actually happens. In the meantime we are missing almost everything that is. Here and now. We forget to appreciate. We are unable to notice the good and beautiful. Our time slips away unnoticed and the imagined moment of happiness gets pushed further away again and again. The moment we turn our attention to the present moment the possibility to find contentment opens up. Just by observing what is, without emotional or intellectual involvement we begin to perceive the magic of our everyday existence. The precious little moments of joy and wonder. The appreciation for what we have. The great satisfaction from sharing and giving. Do you remember to be here and now? Slow down. Take a deep breath. Release all the tension. Appreciate this moment. Smile. ...
