December 1, 2007
Season's Greetings,
Last year I facilitated a series of Colloquium style one-day events for men, spaced approximately every other month, commencing in January. Rich Manners and Mitch Roth assisted me by providing the extra support and encouragement for all to feel comfortable enough to open up and go deep. We averaged about 20 or so men per gathering and brought together a mix of participants who are familiar with the work we offer through our Men’s Center/Sacred Path Community events and others who were introduced to the nature of men’s soul work for the first time. We had fellas as young as 18 and those in their 70’s with men of all ages filling in the decades between. We discussed any and all issues, during large group and small group sessions, pertinent to each man with the intention of covering a broad range of topics that would fit into the relevant areas specific to one’s age. We met in a variety of locations including a hotel, a spiritual retreat center and a conference room. All venues seemed conducive to the personal nature of the work. Additionally, the lunches were sumptuous and added to the ambience and opportunity for intimate bonding welcomed by each setting.
In July, we convened at Holy Spirit Retreat Center for an overnight experiential practicum featuring Yoga, Conscious Breathing Sessions, Meditation and talks on Spiritual Psychology geared to stimulate discussion on Mindfulness and practical day-to-day matters of concern. As a result of those one-day events, and the positive outcome from this past Sacred Path retreat in October, I am inspired to host another series of one-day events that will be held in a Practicum format. Essentially, there will be opportunities for Mindfulness training that will include a variety of practices such as light Yoga, Meditation, Breathwork and Darshan teachings as well as small group interactive process sessions and community talking stick council time.
The focus of this new series is on Practical Mindfulness, which is the practice of being fully present within moment-to-moment experiences with relaxed, non-attached acceptance. Mindfulness training supports one’s ability to access the cognitive, sensory, somatic, and emotional elements of experiences in the present moment, thus enhancing one’s contact with spontaneous states of enlightenment. Cultivation of mindfulness facilitates the free-flow of creativity while engaging the wisdom of the heart. It fosters the ability to listen deeply with “beginner’s mind’ and opens up the possibility of moving beyond the limiting frame of self and other. Mindfulness training equips us to expand our perceived awareness of the nuances of the relational field in which we are always influencing each other.
The overall goal of this year’s cutting edge series of Mindfulness Practicums is to investigate how mind, brain and body work together in ways that enhance personal growth and healing, as well as to effect change on all levels by adding a larger philosophical and ethical context. Essentially these one-day events are opportunities for attention to Dharma, which is the basic ground underlying the contemplative teachings and practices which enlighten us to the transitory nature of all phenomena, including mental states. The willingness to be intimate with the mystical nature of one’s soul, in contrast with the mind’s tendency for attachment to the conceptual illusions about the world, allows us to more fully comprehend the distinction between self and selflessness. Our challenge today is how to find interior peace, compassion and wisdom within the heart of change as we engage with the exterior world.
In the first Colloquium last January I personally invited a specific group of men to participate. Out of that group, many of the men elected to continue with the series while others attended some of them. I am pleased to offer this new series to those that will participate. I look forward to the further development of a core group of men intrigued and invested in their process of improving the quality of their lives as they deepen their spiritual dimension and expand their relational capacity.
The first Practicum of the series will commence on Saturday, January 26, 2008. I believe you will find this to be a great way to kick off the New Year as we set our intentions in action on the Sacred Path. If you feel called to participate in this event, register right away. Reservations will not be held without an actual commitment, so please make yours today by completing the registration form on our blog or web site. Since enrollments are limited, a waiting list will be formed so that spaces can be filled should they become available.
In the spirit of the season, I wish you and your family a Happy Hanukah and a very Merry Christmas.
Namaste,
Stephen
To download the January 26, 2008 Practicum Flyer, click HERE
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
4th Annual Winter Solstice Celebration
Our 4th annual Winter Solstice Ceremony, Spectacle and Celebration will
be Sunday, December 16th 1-5 pm in the incredible 60+ year old Upper Davies Building in Farnsworth Park in the foothills of Altadena. $50 before December 8th; $65 after space permitting. Our Gift to you: Bring a loved one/friend for FREE
*Live music*movement*deepstillness*homemade gift exchange*fire*potluck feasting*
Contact Fred Sugerman
fsugerman@yahoo.com
(818) 608-9848
be Sunday, December 16th 1-5 pm in the incredible 60+ year old Upper Davies Building in Farnsworth Park in the foothills of Altadena. $50 before December 8th; $65 after space permitting. Our Gift to you: Bring a loved one/friend for FREE
*Live music*movement*deepstillness*homemade gift exchange*fire*potluck feasting*
Contact Fred Sugerman
fsugerman@yahoo.com
(818) 608-9848
Sacred Ways Spring Canoe Trip
Dear Friends,
I trust you are grand!
We recently returned from the second Sacred Ways Kayak Retreat and I wanted to give you advance notice of the next one.
I sincerely hope you will make plans to join us.
The dates for the next river trip are March 6-9, 2007 and are now set. We have already taken ten of eighteen possible reservations and anticipate a sell out this time. Early bird pricing is just $345 per person. Regular pricing will be $395 after December 15th. Please let me know if you would like to attend so I can reserve your spot and get you that discounted pricing. Additional details will be provided to attendees with a right to cancel with full refund if requested before January 1st, 2008.
Cost includes admission to all ceremonies, kayak, paddle and life vest rental, first
night’s shared rooms at the Hacienda Hotel in Boulder City, NV.
Please contact me for further information as soon as possible.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Be well.
Namaste,
Scott Ewing
bigskyewings@sbcglobal.net
(818) 679-7890
I trust you are grand!
We recently returned from the second Sacred Ways Kayak Retreat and I wanted to give you advance notice of the next one.
I sincerely hope you will make plans to join us.
The dates for the next river trip are March 6-9, 2007 and are now set. We have already taken ten of eighteen possible reservations and anticipate a sell out this time. Early bird pricing is just $345 per person. Regular pricing will be $395 after December 15th. Please let me know if you would like to attend so I can reserve your spot and get you that discounted pricing. Additional details will be provided to attendees with a right to cancel with full refund if requested before January 1st, 2008.
Cost includes admission to all ceremonies, kayak, paddle and life vest rental, first
night’s shared rooms at the Hacienda Hotel in Boulder City, NV.
Please contact me for further information as soon as possible.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Be well.
Namaste,
Scott Ewing
bigskyewings@sbcglobal.net
(818) 679-7890
Icanchu's Drum
At the fall Sacred Path Retreat, Strongbear had planned to tell four stories. Due to the fire danger and high winds, he was only able to tell three before an evacuation was ordered. Here, then, is the fourth story that we never had the chance to hear.
Once upon a time the world got consumed with a great fire that broke out and began to spread in all directions. And everything on the entire earth was burned and was consumed until all that was left was ashes. And there was nothing standing and you couldn’t tell one thing from another; for they had all mixed into the same gray matter of ash. And it happened that at that time people disappeared as well and they returned back to ash.
And everything would have been turned to ash except that it happened that two bird beings, Icanchu and Cano, had been off doing something else. They had missed the great inferno. They weren’t there when the fire broke out and therefore they weren’t consumed by the flames. But, now they were flying back looking for their hole for the place where they used to dwell. For they couldn’t tell one place from another as each place looked like the same ashes spread in all directions.
While they were despairing over the possibility of finding home again the trickster appeared to them and said. “Listen I’ll tell you how to find your home. Stretch your hands before you and point your middle fingers straight ahead. Fly until that middle finger turns downward. When that finger goes down to the ground you too go down to the ground. That will be your home; that will be your dwelling place.”
Now Icanchu and Cano had knowledge in how to proceed. So the two of them proceeded to fly along with their middle fingers pointing out when, sure enough, their finger turned down and aimed at the ground. Then the two of them flew down to the ground. When they got there they began to look around for something to eat. For they had become hungry from all of that flying and searching about. So they began to dig down into the ash for they couldn’t find anything to eat at all for everything had been burned and turned to ash.
Down inside the ash Icanchu found a small piece of charcoal. Icanchu looked upon that piece of charcoal. For some reason he began to play it like a drum. Icanchu that bird being there in the conflagration at the end of time began playing the charcoal piece that he found amongst the ashes as if it were a drum. And he played and he played and as long as he was playing something inside him began to dance. Pretty soon Icanchu was playing that charcoal drum and he was dancing. After a while he became so tired that he stopped.
He put the charcoal down there in the ash. He himself lay down as well. He fell asleep and night came and rolled over the world. Icanchu slept there amongst the ashes.
In the morning when he woke up he looked. There where he had place the charcoal was a green sapling growing straight up from the charcoal; growing straight from the ash from which it was anchored. Icanchu began to sing to that sapling green growing up from that charcoal. And as he sang there to it, it began to grow very quickly. Suddenly it grew into a tree that stood there before him.
After a while when the branches had spread in all directions, Icanchu picked up some rocks and began to throw them at the branches of the tree. Each time rock would hit a branch, it would break off from the tree and it would fall to earth. It so happened that each time one of those branched hit the earth it turned into another kind of tree. And in this fashion by throwing rocks and breaking branches, Icanchu caused all of the kinds of trees that had been in the world before the great fire to begin growing again. Pretty soon all kinds of trees were growing. Finally when he had knocked all of the branches off of that tree, another tree grew from its center. This was the tree that was the stem of healing. From that tree came all the medicines that people had lost. All of those medicines returned as that tree grew from the center. And then there was medicine on the earth and there were all kinds of trees. They grew there from the ashes.
Pretty soon the forest returned the animals came as well because they had something to dwell in and something to eat from. Pretty soon people came along again. After a while the world was going along the same way it used to be before the fire. Except that there was a little dust of ash on everything.
At least that what they say when they tell this story in this little tribe that lived by the great river trying to imagine this world and whether it comes to an end or does it keep going somehow. That’s what they tell when they begin thinking about these things. In terms of this story, that talks about things continuing and beginning on and on. In terms of this story we have come right upon the end.
Once upon a time the world got consumed with a great fire that broke out and began to spread in all directions. And everything on the entire earth was burned and was consumed until all that was left was ashes. And there was nothing standing and you couldn’t tell one thing from another; for they had all mixed into the same gray matter of ash. And it happened that at that time people disappeared as well and they returned back to ash.
And everything would have been turned to ash except that it happened that two bird beings, Icanchu and Cano, had been off doing something else. They had missed the great inferno. They weren’t there when the fire broke out and therefore they weren’t consumed by the flames. But, now they were flying back looking for their hole for the place where they used to dwell. For they couldn’t tell one place from another as each place looked like the same ashes spread in all directions.
While they were despairing over the possibility of finding home again the trickster appeared to them and said. “Listen I’ll tell you how to find your home. Stretch your hands before you and point your middle fingers straight ahead. Fly until that middle finger turns downward. When that finger goes down to the ground you too go down to the ground. That will be your home; that will be your dwelling place.”
Now Icanchu and Cano had knowledge in how to proceed. So the two of them proceeded to fly along with their middle fingers pointing out when, sure enough, their finger turned down and aimed at the ground. Then the two of them flew down to the ground. When they got there they began to look around for something to eat. For they had become hungry from all of that flying and searching about. So they began to dig down into the ash for they couldn’t find anything to eat at all for everything had been burned and turned to ash.
Down inside the ash Icanchu found a small piece of charcoal. Icanchu looked upon that piece of charcoal. For some reason he began to play it like a drum. Icanchu that bird being there in the conflagration at the end of time began playing the charcoal piece that he found amongst the ashes as if it were a drum. And he played and he played and as long as he was playing something inside him began to dance. Pretty soon Icanchu was playing that charcoal drum and he was dancing. After a while he became so tired that he stopped.
He put the charcoal down there in the ash. He himself lay down as well. He fell asleep and night came and rolled over the world. Icanchu slept there amongst the ashes.
In the morning when he woke up he looked. There where he had place the charcoal was a green sapling growing straight up from the charcoal; growing straight from the ash from which it was anchored. Icanchu began to sing to that sapling green growing up from that charcoal. And as he sang there to it, it began to grow very quickly. Suddenly it grew into a tree that stood there before him.
After a while when the branches had spread in all directions, Icanchu picked up some rocks and began to throw them at the branches of the tree. Each time rock would hit a branch, it would break off from the tree and it would fall to earth. It so happened that each time one of those branched hit the earth it turned into another kind of tree. And in this fashion by throwing rocks and breaking branches, Icanchu caused all of the kinds of trees that had been in the world before the great fire to begin growing again. Pretty soon all kinds of trees were growing. Finally when he had knocked all of the branches off of that tree, another tree grew from its center. This was the tree that was the stem of healing. From that tree came all the medicines that people had lost. All of those medicines returned as that tree grew from the center. And then there was medicine on the earth and there were all kinds of trees. They grew there from the ashes.
Pretty soon the forest returned the animals came as well because they had something to dwell in and something to eat from. Pretty soon people came along again. After a while the world was going along the same way it used to be before the fire. Except that there was a little dust of ash on everything.
At least that what they say when they tell this story in this little tribe that lived by the great river trying to imagine this world and whether it comes to an end or does it keep going somehow. That’s what they tell when they begin thinking about these things. In terms of this story, that talks about things continuing and beginning on and on. In terms of this story we have come right upon the end.
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