Director's Message for January 2012

Greetings Sacred Path Community,

Well we’re now officially on board with 2012 and all that will unfold as we traverse the months ahead. Have you made any resolutions for this year? Celebrating the New Year with the tradition of creating resolutions can be dated back 4,000 years. It has been viewed as an opportunity to find inspiration for future goals and absolution from past mistakes. Many people make New Years resolutions and yet many never follow through with them. A British psychologist surveyed 3,000 people and found that only 12% of them accomplished their resolutions. The question is: Why do so many fail? Perhaps the simplest explanation is that we do not take the time to prepare and meditate on what we truly desire and what we can realistically attain.

What does it take to succeed in making a realistic change for the coming year? Neuroscientists Mark Waldman and Andrew Newberg, M.D. state that, “Ancient wisdom and modern science offer some sage advice: In setting an intention we need to carefully contemplate what we really value as important to us and then choose the one that is most essential for our well-being. Then we need to boost our willpower so that we can execute our intention.” I know this sounds simple and yet if it were that easy we would find that we had accomplished many more resolutions over the years.

Waldman and Newberg suggest that the difficulty is that we need to interrupt our brain's propensity to sabotage the plan. Researchers discovered that the people who had the most success at achieving their resolutions were those that were fully willing and committed to making a change. They employed certain strategies that changed the ways they thought and the ways they behaved. Those who weren’t successful tended to engage in wishful thinking and self-blame. Those who were successful utilized Mindfulness Cognitive Behavioral strategies empowering the brain to turn resolutions into reality.

In other words, if we choose the “right” intention, and apply the “right” kind of thinking with the “right” kind of action, we can stimulate the motivational centers in the brain to create a year of transformation and success. Swaha Ron Holman, who shared Navapashanam Water with us during the last retreat, has recently given me some information from the Siddha Yoga tradition on the practice of Sankalpa, a Sanskrit word meaning “will, purpose, or determination.”

Ron states that, “Sankalpa is a Declaration of Intended Truth... It’s like a New Year's Resolution with a yogic twist... The difference is that a resolution often zeros in on a perceived negative aspect of ourselves while a Sankalpa explores what’s behind the thought or feeling. At a deeper level One recognizes a Sankalpa as Truth!”

“To make a Sankalpa is to set an intention in the sense of a prayer or resolution formed for the attainment of a spiritual purpose directed toward a specific outcome. It is said that Sankalpa is a way of taking goal setting to the highest level and infusing it with one’s deepest knowing as connected to the Divine. It combines the deepest meditative mind with the power of intention, a combination that is known to have the capacity to change the thought vibrations of humanity. The Sankalpa is revealed as part of our inner work, our personal path, our spiritual practices that lead us to Experiencing the Purpose of Our Life.”

I’m inviting 20 men to participate with me on Saturday, February 18th in a Practicum designed to empower you to cultivate the Practice of Mindfulness with the intent of developing your deep intuitive knowing through the mechanism of expanding your experiential awareness. This ultimately is what gives one enlightened wisdom. Several men have registered thus far. There are still spaces available so I encourage you to register now to join your brothers for a day to set your intentions into skillful actions for 2012, a year of great anticipation. We will work with the information provided on the Siddha practice of Sankalpa as well as metaphysical concepts and strategies for creating personal alignment on the Sacred Path. You will experience Mindfulness Meditation and dyadic Conscious Connected Breathing sessions (aka Rebirthing). This is the only one-day event for men prior to the Spring retreat in April. Read more about this event and find your registration form in this newsletter.

Mark your calendars for the 25th Annual Spring Sacred Path and Call to Adventure Rites of Passage Retreat, April 12-15. This retreat will welcome men of all ages from 12 upward. Fathers and sons, uncles and nephews, grandfathers and brothers as well as mentors and young men wanting to be in the presence of good men are invited to attend. We will create a memorable experience as we provide some initiation of the younger men into conscious manhood. Registration information will be available by early February.

For those of you who like to plan ahead, our 25th Annual Fall Sacred Path Men’s Retreat will commence on Thursday, October 18th through Sunday, the 21st, 2012.

The next event for men and women will once again feature Leonard Orr for a weekend of events (June 8-10) including didactic presentation, experiential learning and community sharing. Leonard will present on Friday evening the 8th followed by a workshop on Saturday for those wanting to deepen their Conscious Breathing expertise and then an event on Sunday for those that simply want to experience the process. We had 50 in attendance last June and many are working with the recommendations that Leonard offered for making spiritual purification an important part of one’s life.

Here’s to a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2012,
Stephen