So… today is the real 11th day going 100% raw. At this point I’m wondering if I should just do a weekly update on my “rawness”.

Yesterday I ordered a Spirooli Slicer from RawGuru.com. Raw chef Matt Amsden uses this when making zuchinni pasta, and in his book Rawvolution, I was very impressed with the way his zuchinni noodles turned out in his spaghetti recipe. When I was a non-raw vegan I loved spaghetti back when I was eating the real pasta. Now, I am certain that my body can not tolerate pasta or breads. So, I just had to invest in a Spirooli Slicer so I can make my own raw pasta dishes. I’m pretty excited about this. Any way to expand on the number of raw dishes I can make at home is always going to help in my raw vegan quest.

Anyway, I’m feeling great still. Lots of energy. I had a gig tonight but couldn’t do it because I simply don’t have a keyboard yet, but I will soon. I’ll find a way to afford it. I need the additional work as a pianist. But, I was able to do a lot of errands today and work in the yard trimming the hedges. Vacuuming, working in the kitchen. Preparing all my raw foods.

I still have slight back aches but I think it’s because I’m working pretty hard now that I have all this energy. And I’ve been playing the piano for at least 2-3 hours each day, in intervals. More later… but so far the raw journey is feeling good!

I haven’t written much about my piano playing lately, amid this whole move to a 100% raw vegan lifestyle. Transitions and transformations are very important in life. So, consciously making (which to me is a major deal, a profound effort) this transition to become 100% raw is a very important part of my musical life.

Over my entire lifetime I’ve mostly been a vegetarian, then a vegan. I’ve tried a few times to get to certain percentages of being raw, from 60% to perhaps 75%. But I repeat that 100% is a very big jump from 75% raw.

So, how does this affect my piano performance? Or performing musically?

Clarity! Subtlety…

I think that might be the difference in my playing music.

If you look at your body as a machine that needs to perform at certain levels of artistry and musicianship, then you definitely are what you eat. And whatever you are eating or drinking at the time will have a profound affect on the way you play your instrument.

Many of the great Jazz giants knew this, but unfortunately many of them resorted to heroin… namely, Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. Reading their biographies, many of these jazz greats wouldn’t perform on stage until they got high.

But looking back positively on food as a drug, I think food profoundly affects a musician’s level of performance. And for me, I somehow get to feeling the immediate effects of food right after I eat a meal.

If I eat something, will I feel sluggish afterwards? Will I feel energetic and on top of my game?

But getting back to the subject of piano playing….

To me, it IS ZEN…

…pure and simple.

On a beautiful sounding grand piano, I could play middle C every 30 seconds, just tapping lightly, like how the Indian Gurus chant “OM”… and to me that would be music enough.

So I’d been thinking a LOT about my piano playing and where that journey could lead as far as a musical journey. To me it is a path to enlightenment of sorts… and lately I’ve been treating the piano in a very improvisational manner. Not to say that I don’t play standard songs like Pop, Rock and songs from the Great American Songbook. And some Classical pieces, ragtime, etc…. But I’ve been approaching the instrument as an improvisational voice, as a language that transcends language and becomes thoughts expressed through the instrument. The piano, then becomes an extension and other voice of my being… who I am…

But improvisation is the key.

There is a whole art to improvisation that I feel I am competent with, yet still aware that I am but a student, forever learning. Yet, it’s also important, like in Zen, to always keep a beginner’s attitude to playing. A beginner’s mind. And one has to be aware of a few things:

1. Music as an art form is dependent upon the space between the notes. The silence.

2. Improvisation has to be a reaction to one’s surroundings. To the audience. To the room and the building in which one plays the instrument.

3. One must be aware of the natural dynamics of music, just like the dynamic changes of nature. Music isn’t played at one volume, at one speed, at one intensity. It should be breathing, alive, like the swaying of the tree… the rise and fall of the tide.

4. Music has to come from the heart. It has to be an emotional expression. A personal experience.

5. The intention is to reflect back your life experience through music.

So, with piano… I’ve focused mainly on improvisation, just as Keith Jarrett has improvised, just as Ravi Shankar has improvised… two heroes of mine who’vereally taken the art of improvisation to new heights. Who have deconstructed the art of improvisation and reconstructed it into a new art form.

The idea is to be… CREATIVE! So, every day I try to challenge myself to play something different from the previous day’s playing…

I don’t think I will use the term “practice” any more. I’ve learned from Miles Davis when he said, “Practice at the Gig”… which I think he meant to say, every time you touch the instrument, PLAY! So, every day I play piano. I perform. Never practice.

You never say, “Oh, today I practice talking”… well, if you were giving a great speech you could practice. But in Zen, everything is practice, everything is performance… everything is “being”…

So…

I play. I perform. I live.

And that is my piano ideology thus far…..

In this video, raw vegan Victoria Boutenko mentioned something about raw plant food containing “liquefied sunshine” because of the chlorophyll. And that description really stuck with me. One is literally eating “sunfood” because plants gather light from the sun to produce chlorophyll.

So, why get the sun’s energy second-hand from meat, since the animals we eat get that sun’s energy direct, by consuming plant food?

As I enjoy my 2nd week of being 100% raw, already feeling a lot more energy… aches and pains and other detox symptoms all gone… I’m beginning to understand that life forms around the planet are competing to get the sun’s life giving energy through the foods they eat!

Why not get that light energy direct through plant food? Why get it second-hand from another animal?

Today is Day 10 of my 100% Raw Food diet…

For breakfast or brunch, I’ve managed to settle on a simple garden salad with very light lemon dressing. This morning’s salad consisted of: spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, blackberries, blueberries, radish, white onion slices and cucumber slices.

In addition to the salad, I had some raw kale crackers (from Whole Foods) with raw garlic dip. Mmm… now THAT combination is excellent!

And, I can’t start the morning without some sort of smoothie. Usually I’ve been making the raw cacao smoothie, but this morning I made that plus a blackberry/banana smoothie using homemade almond milk.

This kind of breakfast feels pretty complete to me nutritionally, and gives me energy and makes me feel very good… it feels, exceptionally healthy to my body.

And now I’m reading that I can actually make pasta out of zuchinni! I just need to buy one of those spirooli slicers. Then I’ll be ready to make some serious raw dinners soon. It’s all starting to get pretty exciting to me. And I was generally very happy with my performance last Saturday, so I think the diet is helping me as a musician. I definitely have more energy to do more throughout each day…

Watch Wendi Dee’s transformation from obesity to vibrant health. Be inspired!
. . . .
The transformation, although dramatic on the outside, mostly took place from within.

This has got to be THE most inspiring raw food transformation I’ve ever seen. Thank you, Wendi (and Jim), for sharing your raw food transformation with us. And lots of love back to you…

Pure Jeevan ~ All Raw Directory

Anthony Anderson of RawModel.com:

Anthony has worked with companies such as Hugo Boss, Target, Macy’s, Tommy Hilfiger, JcPenney, Kohls, Acura, and Paul Mitchell. Though he enjoys modeling, his true passion is spreading ideas and awareness about green and simple living, and the raw-foods lifestyle. He is now building a self-sustainable home and organic garden/orchard in Minnesota where he is growing over 200 kinds of fruits and vegetables, and loves to spend time in nature while hiking, camping, and wild food foraging.

Getting Back To Nature

I find the whole concept of foraging for your food in the 21st century quite intriguing. I mean, we definitely (as a species) need to get back in tune with our natural instincts.

We have been so brainwashed by the media and corporate America to eat foods that appeal to our taste buds. But the fact is, McDonalds and the other fast food restaurants aren’t there for your health and well-being, they want to make food that’s fast, cheap, will have a long shelf life filled with preservatives, and at the same time make a huge profit off of you.

They tempt you with a meal that is quick, easy, takes no preparation on your part, and you don’t even have to step out of your car!

Oh, we lazy Americans are just too weak!

Like A Moth To The Flame

We go for it like a moth to the flame! And the more gourmet restaurants are no different… they appeal to your taste buds because they know that you’ll just become addicted to and crave those fats, sugars and starches!

Foraging Is One of Our More Instinctive Traits

So, it blows my mind that someone out there like the Raw Model is foraging for dandelion, a common weed found anywhere, yet is more nutritious and healthier for you than a large order of McDonald’s french fries. And the dandelion is free.