Ronora - Summer Rejuvenation Retreat

The Ronora Lodge is located in Watervliet Michigan.

From July 11th through July 15th I was able to attend a Summer Rejuvenation retreat, eat raw foods, and meet
Mr. David "Avocado" Wolfe. This all happened because my wife was in Lake Tahoe for a Quantum Touch conference
( she is a practitioner and teacher ) and was so impressed she wanted to make sure I met him too. The raw food diet is nothing new. If you think about it until humans had controllable fire everything we ate was raw. If you get the opportunity don't hesitate to take advantage of experiencing this kind of retreat.

Day 1: Relaxation
So we arrive after a 3 hour drive and the location is perfect. We get checked in and unpack in a room that may be spartan for some, but perfect for our needs. We wandered around to see the lake and get a feel for what we would be able to do over the next 4 days.

Along the way we met with the volunteers and new arrivals and introduced ourselves. There are wonderful stories of health by a simple change is what is eaten. I will go into more on that later.

The evening ended with Mr. Wolfe discussing the Raw Food lifestyle. His style is charismatic, his presentation is energetic and his message is on target. His discussion of eating raw food as a way to add to the variety of what you eat as opposed to a way to exclude food from your diet was refreshing. I am tired of hearing militant vegans, vegetarians, and others tell people what they shouldn't eat in a
"holier than thou" tone. People are people and will eat what they want. As David mentioned, eating more organic raw foods leaves less time and room for foods that are not the best for health so even if you don't stop eating them, their impact on health is reduced.
While mingling with the other attendees I learned that my own barley grass growing at home was a better decision than I knew.
I also found out about the Spartans practice of feeding their warriors barley grouts during training. I learned that cereal grasses are some of the most nutritious foods on the planet.

Day 2: Gratitude
We got up at 0630 and headed over to the main building for an hour and a half of Yoga. I have to admit I haven't done yoga for way too many years and I felt it. I have never sweat that hard doing yoga and I still had a good time. Amy and Miguel were fantastic at both guidance and pace for all levels.. After a wonderful breakfast with choices of fruit, juices and smoothies we changed clothes and came back
for the first of the days presentations. Ms. Kerry Dancing Butterfly gave us an insightful and interactive session called Shamanic
"Tools to Reclaim Your Power". This was a very emotionally charged and shared experience that really makes you look at your motives and perspectives on incidents that have occurred in your life. For me it dovetails with my ongoing practice of trying to remain in the "now" and helped me quite a bit.

Lunch was followed up by Lisa of the Amazing Starr Barr showing us how to make better smoothies. Lisa has found a way to add ingredients in a smoothie to both increase their nutritional punch and add variety to what usually becomes a boring, routine activity. Fresh coconut, durian, aloe vera, and a host of other ingredients meet in combinations that may sound strange but have a taste that can't be described any other way than mmmmmm.....mmmmmmm!

I skipped out for a Hot Stone Massage from Loronna Barnes that was the best.

After another exceptional dinner we were once again given information from Mr. Wolfe. This time we reviewed the previous discussions before delving into subject as diverse as ormus and how to gather it, zapping, the function of sulfur in health, enzymes and how to get the most enzymes from raw foods. The best part for me was hearing about nanobacter. I have always believed that parasites carry viruses deep into tissues where the immune system has trouble finding them. This piggybacking on parasites is, in my opinion only, a vector of infiltration of the body for many of the diseases that seem to be epidemic all of a sudden. Nanobacter is another perfect candidate because of its small size. It can ride in a parasite just like a virus and cause calcification damage. I was happy to see we did not talk about curing diseases. The focus was on maintaining health. We talked about the methods for healing the body already has within it. The topics were always on what to eat to help prevent getting sick in the first place. In the context of this, I always wondered, if I told someone to eat an Orange so they would not get scurvy, would that be illegal? Would Vitamin C be considered a drug that cured that disease? Could the Orange be considered a drug carrier and regulated? In my own research I found out that EDTA is approved by the FDA for chelating heavy metals like lead, but isn't being used for other health care purposes where it might show some promise. I am not sure what direction the country is going in when it comes to health care and treatments.

Day 3: Surrender
This was sweat lodge day.
I have done Native American ceremonies in the past and have a feather to show for at least one of them. This was my first opportunity to take part in a seat lodge. Earlier in the day we walked the grounds of Ronora and tasted the leaves and berries of plants like sassafras, blueberry, nettles ( without getting stung ), red clover, and grape. If I ever get lost in the woods I will have no excuse for not eating since no matter what there is always grass growing somewhere.

I skipped out for a Mayan Card Reading frrom Miguel that was insightful.

If you have never done a sweat lodge, I recommend trying it just once. Sitting an a small space, in complete darkness, with no exit, bathed in hot steam and mud, will let give you the perfect opportunity to test your inner mettle in a safe environment. I did get to sit up front and I think the combination of the nature walk earlier in the day and inhaling smoke prior to entering the sweat lodge screwed up my breathing. After one round I had to leave but I am sure I will do this again and be able to go start to finish.

Day 4: Radiance
I slept in today and spent some time hanging out and wandering around. After lunch and hanging out with our new friends, Mr. Wolfe presented a summary of material covered and some new discussions took place. Again all related to paying attention to what you put into your body to stay well. The night culminated with hours of Kirtan Music, dancing and socializing. Everyone participated and Miguel showed amazing stamina playing music and singing for as long as he did. It was well appreciated.

Day 5: Integration
A light breakfast and lots of socializing started the day. There was a parting presentation by Mr. Wolfe which was followed by lots of hugs, picture taking, and sharing of thoughts to take home. On the way home we went out to Warren Dunes with Bernd and Michelle and climbed up to get a good view of Chicago.

So what food do I remember most?:

- A terrific Avocado/Kombucha Salad dressing
- Raw baklava that was incredible
- The raw pies

Special thanks to:

• Everyone that worked in the kitchen especially David
• Dorothea
• Bernd & Michelle
• Super Goji Girl
• Amy and Miguel
• Deej Leggitt
• Kerrie Dancing Butterfly
• Singing Man
• Loronna Barnes
• and last but not least, of course, David Wolfe

for making this the best retreat ever.

I did take Davids advice and start a "chaos" garden by just throwing fruit and vegetable seeds randomly in my garden.
It looks and tastes fabulous.I will be adding rock dust for mineralization next year.

I know that others that where there may disagree with my summary or feel I unfairly left something out.
Please feel free to add comments and fill in the blanks for me.

Marta was there and wrote about it here:
http://rawvolta.wordpress.com/

Ronora Lodge:
http://www.ronoralodge.com/

Resources:
http://www.journeysforthesoul.com/

David Wolfe:
http://thebestdayever.com/
http://www.rawfood.com/


In the interest of disclosure, this is not meant to be an advertisement.
I am not an employee of any of the people, companies, or organizations mentioned above.
I am, through my web sites, an online affiliate of rawfood.com.