Director's Message for March

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Greetings,

I presume that you may be reading this on or about Saturday, March 1st. At this point approximately a dozen of us guys from the Sacred Path Wisdom Council are kayaking down the Colorado River out of Boulder City, Nevada with Sacred Ways lodge leader Andrew Soliz and another of the men from our mutual communities, Scott Ewing, who organized the trip. We will be building a sweat lodge, traversing some canyons on foot, exploring a cave or two and performing ritual and sitting in council. We’re packing in all of our gear including food and water and will be bonding with each other and our natural surroundings. In a way this is in preparation for our spring Sacred Path Call To Adventure retreat.

Forty years ago I backpacked from the top of the Grand Canyon to the bottom and camped for 3 days along Bright Angel Creek that fed into the Colorado River before making the challenging full-moon assisted 14 mile ascent to the top in a mere 6 hours. It’s been a true Mindfulness experience to prepare for this trip and it has brought up memories of my former journey down to the river as well as other camping trips over mountain peeks into the deep forest along streambeds and backwoods lakes. I especially look forward to being with my brothers, these men that have been there for each other during smooth times and through a myriad of personal challenges and occasional crises. These are the same men that have been there for you on past retreats and will be there to support you on “our mountain” in April.

The mailing went out in the middle of February so if you didn’t receive your retreat flier you can go to the web site and download one or you can let us know and we’ll mail you a new one. In any event, it would be a good idea to let us know that you didn’t receive one so that we can make sure that we have your current address. If you’re considering joining us, it’s time to get registered for the retreat. The theme is on commitment and in actuality once you fill out the form and send in your deposit you have taken the first step of commitment and have essentially commenced the initial preparatory stage for your Call To Adventure. I recommend that you read the information concerning the retreat and become Mindful of your intentions regarding your participation and the outcome that you would like to create for yourself. We will be holding our community and dining activities in the new building on the mountain and it is fantastic.

Before leaving town I checked the registration list for the second Mindfulness Practicum scheduled for Saturday, March 8th at Holy Spirit Retreat Center in Encino. There were a few spaces open so if you were considering signing up but thought it might be completely full at this point you still may be able to participate. The purpose of this series of Practicums is to build more personal support so that you can integrate mindfulness practices such as meditation, breathing awareness, light Yoga and discernment into your daily life. Mindfulness practices are a way to quiet and calm the mind by paying nonjudgmental attention to your moment-to-moment experience. It helps to restore and maintain a sense of personal balance and to develop the skills to avoid emotional and physical depletion. This is important not only for persons who are facing stress-related conditions (so who isn’t?), but also for those who want to avoid physical or professional burnout. We will be focusing on the attribute of patience in the March Practicum and there will be ample opportunity to consider how our daily practices are applicable in dealing with our day-to-day concerns. All information and registration forms for the events are contained herewith as well as on the web site so I encourage you to exercise your commitment to step into action.

Looking forward to seeing you when I’m back from the river.

Mi Takuye Oyacin,
Stephen

TO DOWNLOAD THE MARCH PRACTICUM FLYER/APPLICATION, CLICK HERE
TO DOWNLOAD THE CALL TO ADVENTURE RETREAT FLYER/APPLICATION, CLICK HERE