Luke on NAKED AND AFRAID
Holistic Survival School's founder and teacher, Luke McLaughlin show-cased his survival skills on the Discovery Channels, "Naked and Afraid" and "Naked and Afraid XL", where he survived and found how to live in harmony with remote and wild landscapes.
Luke on Naked and Afraid: Namibia
For his first 21 day challenge, Luke was sent to the Kalahari Basin where he paired up with his partner, Lindsey. After many days of struggling to make fire from the landscape, Luke eventually succeed in this essential survival task. He made a bow-drill kit from local plants and his bowstring was made of the sinew of a dead (and possibly rabid) Eland.
After fire was made Luke and Lindsey found themselves hungry and not sure if they could make it the remaining time without a solid meal. Eventually, the land provided and Luke and Lindsey ate turtles, snakes, and small birds which carried them through to the 21 -day finish line.
During this time in the cold and harsh desert Luke was reminded how important “stories” are to us as humans. Furthermore, Luke also experienced the impermanence of all things and how that can help in times of struggle.
Luke on Naked and Afraid XL: Colombia
One year later, Luke was sent to the jungles and savanna’s of Colombia to partake in a survival feat that had never been attempted: to survive 40 days off the land with 11 other survivalists.
During his time living off the land Luke made friends with many of the survivalists and is best known for compassionately listening to his distressed partner Honora as she threw his survival items into the river. :/
Luke and his partner Chris (#teambromance) enjoyed being “jungle rich” departure of their former teammate and thrived off the land eating, mangos, palm fruit, and cashews. The rest of their days were spent hunting sting-rays, caimans, lizards and bugs while meeting and surviving with new teammates.
Finally, after swimming with the rare pink dolphins in the Orinoco River, Luke and the other 7 survivalists made it to the extraction point on day 40 where they celebrated and ate to their hearts content.
Lessons From Naked and Afraid
During his challenges, Luke was able to overcome the extreme challenges faced in daily life with humor, skill and joy. Furthermore, Luke was able to push himself to his edge and learn “what it really means to be human”.
Luke was able to live the same skills he teaches at Holistic Survival School, and he was pleasantly surprised to find that his philosophy on life perfectly applied for living as a hunter gathering in a survival situation.
Luke is always excited to teach skills at a great depth with people. Primitive skills can and will change you to your core and if you wish to learn the secrets of the wild that Luke has gleaned from around the world sign up for Deep Remembering: a 9-month wilderness skills immersion.
People always ask Luke what the experience was like. Luke usually responds with a smirk and "it was a lot of things". If you come to a class and the fire is going just right, you might be able to hear some of Luke's personal stories from his experiences.
If you’d like to spend time with Luke, learn primitive skills, and hear stories of his adventures, please apply for the life-changing experience of his Deep Remembering immersion program.
He is also available for booking for public workshops and for private customized classes. HoSS is no longer self-hosting single classes. Instead, we’re teaching single classes at a variety of schools and events.