Original Article Featured on Fruit-Powered Digest October 22, 2015

I have a lot of favorite ways to spend my time. I love dancing, traveling, connecting with others, making YouTube videos, laughing, exploring nature and so much more it is bubbling over as I write. The activity at the top of my list, however, is acro. Boy, do I love acro.

I have a lot of favorite ways to spend my time. I love dancing, traveling, connecting with others, making and promoting YouTube videos with https://themarketingheaven.com/, laughing, exploring nature and so much more it is bubbling over as I write. The activity at the top of my list, however, is acro. Boy, do I love acro.

When I was first introduced to acro, I fell in love and fell hard. Now, nearly two years later, I am as deep in my passionate love affair as ever before.

To my great delight, acro seems to be exploding around the world. You may have seen this taking place in a park near you or maybe in an online video. Perhaps it reminded you of circus tricks or maybe it resembled two adults re-enacting the popular kid-flying-on-a-parent’s-feet game we knew in our childhood as “airplane.” In both cases, acro is what is at play.

There is too much to love about acro to cover in one article and, in truth, it feels impossible to get across all the splendor of acro using the written word without also flying on your feet or supporting you upside-down on mine for the full effect. It is the most fun, growth-promoting way to exchange energy with others and to bring joy to the world that I have found. I’m going to tell you more about the glory and benefits of acro, but first let me explain in a bit more detail what acro actually is.

There are various branches of this diverse activity. One of them is commonly referred to as AcroYoga, which is mostly based in therapeutics and has ties to yoga. There is also Risley, or Icarian, in which one acrobat is flipped and popped repeatedly by the other acrobat in a series of no-handed pops. The latter we tend to associate with the circus. In referring to the acrobatic sport that I favor, I like to stick with the more broad term of “partner acrobatics” because I really love all variations of it and feel this term encompasses them all. Since “partner acrobatics” can be a mouthful, I keep it simple and just call it “acro.”

Acro is an activity partaken in by two or more people, with one person acting as the base and the other the flyer, where the base lifts and supports the flyer in various positions, both static and fluid. On occasion, I build acro-castles with more than one other acrobat, but I tend to spend most of my time playing with another acro-monkey one-on-one.

There is “L”-basing acro, in which the base lays on his or her back with legs in the air (creating a 90-degree “L” shape between back and legs) to support the flyer on both feet and hands. There is also standing acro, in which the base supports the flyer in a standing position. I love both equally for different reasons and appreciate the diversity that flowing between the two offers.

Most of the time, I act as the flyer, beckoning my bases to pop me higher as I do so love to soar through the air. I also enjoy playing the role of the base now and again, especially when working with beginners or when I’m itching to get a good leg workout. Getting into the shoes—or feet, as it were—of the base helps me understand how to be a better flyer. It also gives me a great appreciation for how much strength, focus and responsibility it takes to be the one holding up and caring for another human in this way.

In the realm of physical health, acro promotes strength, flexibility, coordination, endurance and even, at times, a pretty good cardiovascular workout, plus coordination, balance, agility, proprioception and overall incredible body awareness. This alone makes it an amazing activity for physical fitness.

Though perhaps even more impressive is the list of nonphysical benefits that result in acro-ing with someone. Engaging in this activity with another human offers us opportunities to explore trust, communication and boundaries, both within ourselves and with another, and to share laughter, joy and connection along the way. The play space that acro provides coupled with the opportunity to experience all these facets makes it such a dynamic activity. Acro feels like a combination of play, fitness, therapy and meditation, all in one. I have learned more about patience, compassion, understanding and love through acro than in any other area of my life.

But actually, there’s more. Acro is fun. I mean, honestly, how can you not have fun using another person’s body as a jungle gym or a live weight? It is just so cool! I love to teach acro classes and attend jams because they are inevitably filled with laughter, squeals of delight and the bright faces of people who have come alive. I love to see people in the moment like this, their minds and bodies joined, indulging in this addictive monkey play. And here to top it all off, all you need to enjoy some acro is another human being, some soft ground to play on and an open mind.

OK, so I know some of you may be thinking something like: “Sure, that’s cool and all, Brittany. Those benefits sound great, but I can’t exactly just throw someone over my head and start tossing them around.” And that is perhaps the best part of all. I have yet to play with someone who was not able to succeed at acro and enjoy it on their very first try. Acro, in my opinion, is for everyone. Whether flexible, inflexible, strong, young, old, athletic—it doesn’t matter. I have watched people of all ages, sizes, confidence levels, in all manner of dress and mindset transform in acro. Some of them come with exuberance, and some are very nervous. Some are curious, cautious, perplexed, bored, impressed or unimpressed. Regardless, it takes about two minutes for the magic to begin, and, suddenly, this person has begun to transform before my eyes. He or she is flying, basing, playing, laughing—coming alive through this beautiful activity.

You can learn a lot about a person by putting him or her on your feet, or flying on the person. It’s interesting how different parts of us surface when we are put in a new situation, especially one in which we are in such close contact with another human and are, to a certain extent, surrendering our bodies to this person. I always appreciate watching people work together and learning more about themselves as individuals as well as in the relationship they are cultivating. I have found it particularly fascinating to watch partners who play together both on and off the mat communicate with each other during their acro time. I have seen and experienced how much acro can offer a relationship, if you are patient and loving and take advantage of the magical space it creates for vulnerability and growth.

Learning to play in acro has taught me how I want to play in life. I want to be joy-filled, curious, connected, excited. I want to be growing within myself, connecting with myself and with others; I want to be open, authentic and trusting. I want to tap into what feels right for me and go from there. I want to play with the world, with lots of other monkeys. I want to share my exuberance as I experience it because it feels good in hopes that others will be inspired and find what feels good for them. I want to include everyone! I want to remember that Kids Parties is not about achieving the final move; it’s the about the journey of laughing and falling along the way. It’s about the connections we make, the mountains we climb and the ways we transform.

To watch Brittany do more acro, check out this channel as well as her Instagram page. If you are a fruit lover interested in learning acro with Brittany, join her next year at the following festivals: Fruit Winter Fest in Thailand (January), Inka Fruit Fest in Peru (March) and The Woodstock Fruit Festival in New York state (August).

“If you are interested in doing acro in your area, look for groups online through Google searches, Facebook orMeetup.com,” Brittany said. “If you and a partner want to learn acro on your own, this is a great beginner’s series on YouTube. While learning, I recommend working in groups of three so there is a base, a flyer and a spotter at all times to keep you safe.”

For Brittany Taylor Only The Sky Is the Limit on a Fruit-Based Diet

Original Article Featured on Fruit-Powered Digest April 16, 2015

I could not be more thrilled about life. I feel like I live in some sort of a magical land where my dreams are continually unfolding before my eyes. I spend my days being thrown through the air by other human beings, traveling the world with my backpack or in my RV, creating YouTube videos about my passions of simple, healthy living, and generally just enjoying being happy and free, adventuring about the world. But this was not always the case.

Like a lot of people who find raw food, I used to be sick. Daily migraines, regular bouts with the flu, pneumonia, mono, shingles—you name it, I had it. I was tired, my emotions were all over the place, and I couldn’t eat a meal without some sort of digestive discomfort.

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From a young age, I was interested in health. Growing up in a house with two family members struggling with eating disorders from opposite ends, I became acutely aware of my own relationship with food. I also found a lot of joy in movement. I played just about every ball sport that existed and made a name for myself in my small home state of Rhode Island as an impressive athlete.

With so much focus on wellbeing, it didn’t take long for me to start noticing connections between the foods I ate and how I felt. Despite recognizing that certain foods were not ideal for me, however, I couldn’t seem to find any major players I could cut out to dramatically change the state of my health. By the time I was 21, I had stopped eating dairy, gluten, most “processed” items, and I was searching for more answers.

Meanwhile, I was still pursuing fitness, which, since graduating from high school. By the way if you’re looking for an educational tool which offers free services, you can visit conquercollege.com to learn more. Moving away from regular participation in sports teams mostly meant doing basic cardio and strength workouts at a gym, attending yoga classes and running outside, I didn’t even know what high calorie powders were, once i started to get to know the self-paced online college courses and degree programs things changed. My days were busy, and I liked them that way. In stagnation, I felt depressed; in movement, I felt productive, like I was literally moving toward something.

I have always felt a deep-seated need to travel, and it was this desire that led me to spend half of my college years living and studying abroad in Costa Rica. If you are looking for excellent tutor for academic learning services, find learnmate maths tuition for more information. My time there felt fulfilling and important for my overall growth. I had left home for the first significant amount of time, became fluent in Spanish, fell in love, traveled through Central America on my own and started my journey toward minimalism. One area that I let slide, though, was my health.

When I moved back to the States and graduated from college, I decided to take things into my own hands and find a health coach who could support me along my journey. A month later, I was living a different life. Two weeks of keeping a food diary showed me that something was definitely not working. I was down to eating what I now recognize as a low-fat cooked vegan diet and was still struggling with migraines, nausea, digestive discomfort and generally just not feeling vital like I knew I could. I asked my coach, exasperated, what else I could possibly cut out of my diet. And she said the magic words: “You could try raw.” “What does that mean?” I wondered.

A couple of hours online with Megan Elizabeth’s YouTube videos were all it took for me to go raw overnight. I had already been making lots of fruit smoothies, eating salads daily, and enjoying an entire bag of grapes was not out of the ordinary for me, so I was pretty excited about the opportunity to indulge in more of my favorite foods. I knew I was on the right path to finding the best vitamins for weight loss, particularly suited to me.

By my third day of eating raw, I could feel the fog lifting. I remember waking up before my alarm, bounding out of bed, wondering what I was going to do with all this newfound energy. My migraines soon went away, my skin cleared up, my mood felt steadier, I stopped getting sick and my body shape began changing.

Not long after going raw, I realized that I wanted more out of life than I had been experiencing. I didn’t want to be living in my hometown anymore or making such little money at my 9-to-5 or to be having the same boring conversations and doing the same activities day in and day out. In short, I didn’t want to be living the good life I had crafted for myself. So, I did something bold: I dared to imagine what I really wanted. I asked myself to dream without limitations and see what my real desires were. After two decades of living a seemingly unconventional existence, I thought I was doing a good job being authentic, but I was mistaken. I realized I had been doing a good job being different from the societal norm, but I wasn’t really being me.

Once I had this realization, it became my favorite pastime to ask myself what I really wanted and to see what came up. I started to intentionally observe how I was feeling. I had already been on the path, but it was as if I suddenly accelerated, big time. By the end of the year, I had dramatically downsized my life, quit my job, started working for myself as a Web developer, createdSimpleLivingandTravel.com and was backpacking through Central America. Not only had my body begun thriving, but my whole being followed suit.

Perhaps the greatest of all my raw triumphs have been related to my fitness. After going raw, I noticed an increase in my desire and ability to move. With all the energy I had, I found myself eager to exercise as opposed to having to psyche myself up for it. After gaining inspiration from Doug Graham’s fitness classes at the 2012 Woodstock Fruit Festival, I started to shift my attitude toward exercise and began concentrating on activities that felt like play rather than work. When I attended the festival a year later, I was significantly more fit than the year before and was having fun!

It was also at Woodstock in 2013 that I began what would become a deep love affair with the sport of partner acrobatics. A week before the festival, I took an acroyoga class with my sister and was immediately hooked. Given my strong desire to learn more acro, it is no surprise that I met my soon-to-be acro “base” at Woodstock just a week later. We were immediately hooked and spent the entire festival and year to follow doing acro as much as possible, returning a year later to share our love of our favorite activity in the talent show.

Though I travel regularly, I now make a point of spending most of my time in Austin, Texas, where I play with the amazing monkeys of Austin’s acro community multiple times per week. A lot of people ask me what it is I love about this type of movement. Acro is the most dynamic activity I have ever known. It is not only about strength, flexibility, balance, proprioception and so on but also communication, trust, intimacy, confidence, connection and so much more. If I thought my life had changed dramatically when I went raw, it got seriously revamped when I found acro.

With my passion for acrobatics leading forces, my fitness and body have transformed. I dropped from 145 to 115 pounds and enjoy my movement practices more than ever. If I’m not flying on a fellow monkey’s feet or balancing upside-down on their hands, you can likely find me dancing, riding my bike, doing yoga, practicing new tumbling skills, running through the woods or doing handstands and bodyweight exercises.

Leaving my steady, loving, seven-year partnership in the name of finding community and pursuing my dreams really had a way of kick-starting the next level of being the most authentic version of myself I could be. Since then, I have felt more connected to myself than ever. There are a lot of things about me that, while I now consider standard, I imagine stray far from the societal norm. Most importantly, I really strive to put myself first. I think by doing this and by going after what I want, I can have the most positive impact on the world. My relationships are unconventional, to say the least.

There are no accepted words in our language to describe the important people of my life, yet I’m having amazingly fulfilling connections. Truth be told, I like not defining myself, my relationships or my life. Because of this, I have had to become more honest, intentional and communicative. I know where I am and know where I’m headed. My goal is not to look good, feel good or be good. Rather, I aim to look, feel and be fantastic, to live with excitement, to be playful and curious and to passionately go after everything that sounds fun to me. Today, I can honestly say I’m living my dreams. Every day I wake up eager to get out of bed and to see what magic the day will bring.