Thanks so much for the enlightenment and the crash course you provided. In my present situation, I really needed it. I guess I was at the right session to learn about aloneness and the importance of stillness in everyday life. Sometimes we forget about the basics of living, and the Practicum was a wonderful way to bring everything back into balance.
Looking forward to the July session!
Be well,
- Jamshid Daneshgar
Although it happens infrequently and then all too briefly, I can occasionally put myself fully into the present and become completely engaged in what I am doing. That is, I can be mindful. I have practiced meditation for several years, albeit with limited success, but the constant demands of my four kids make finding a quiet moment and restful place nearly impossible. So it became clear that I needed a more practical way to connect with my inner self. Stephen's mindfulness Practicums have helped me learn how to develop this vital ability: a practice that has literally given me back my life, a life aside from my past, and aside from my "story." These Practicums have helped me connect with a much more powerful source of peace than I believed possible. Just as importantly, they have given me a chance to learn these skills in the company of truly inspiring men. I have attended every Practicum and always leave with much more than I bring.
- Eric, single father of four
For me, two elements have come clearly into focus since beginning the Practicums. First of all, I am learning practical methods of bringing myself into a peaceful place from a place of anxiety, anger, and alienation; and once I’m there, to keep myself there without backsliding. Second, the progression of the Practicums allows me to digest the material of one before building on it to get to the next stage. Non-resistance learned in the first session led to the acquisition of patience in the second, which took me to living in stillness in the third. This is the first time I can remember having a practice to bring down my hostility at other drivers who cut me off, blow through stop signs in front of me, and, well, I’m sure you all have experienced that anger. I can now deal with it; not all the time, but I'm getting better. Way to go, Stephen!
- Rich Manners
For further information on the upcoming July 26 Practicum, click HERE
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Matt O'Connor's Diving With Sharks!
Many of you know Matt O'Connor from the Sacred Path Retreats and Practicums. But - did you know that his work entails being a safety diver/cameraman for films shooting underwater? Here are some shots of Matt at work with a few finny and toothy friends!
Nick Rath's Book, The Job of Parenting, Now At EBAY!
Nick Rath's Book - - "The Job of Parenting"
is now on EBAY!!
Anyone can now get a copy by going to www.ebay.com and searching for
Nick Rath or The Job of Parenting
A great gift for Mother's Day!
or
Father's Day!
or
Any Day!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Director's Message for May 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Greetings,
The 21st Annual Spring Sacred Path Men’s Retreat combined with the 8th Annual Call to Adventure Retreat for fathers and sons, boys and mentors was quite fulfilling. We had a number of young men from age 12 upward with us. Some attended with their fathers and others participated with their mentors. Three came from Pacific Lodge Boys Home and 5 came from C.U.R.E. (Common Unity Reaching Everyone) with their mentor, Cameron Bonner. This was the third year in a row that we have been able to provide scholarships for young men from South Central Los Angeles and we’re pleased to be able to create a relationship with Pacific Lodge. It’s auspicious for me since my father was a major fund-raiser for Pacific Lodge during the 60’s and 70’s. In fact, their practice field is named after my father. One of the counselors presented me with a picture of the plaque that reads, “Johnson Field.”
The weather throughout the 4 days was outstanding and did not present any additional challenges like the 120-mile winds that were experienced during the fall retreat. I wish to acknowledge Philip Folsom and his team from Fulcrum Adventures who manned the ropes course. They were well prepared to lead us through the low elements team building trust exercises and the 5 high elements. One of their men, Ryan, facilitated an impromptu Kung Fu staff session following the ropes course and one of the C.U.R.E. young men, Artwan, picked up the most challenging routine as though he had been practicing for years. Andrew Soliz poured water for us once again during 3 sweat lodges. Justin Atanasio conducted drum-making workshops and the men of the Sacred Path Wisdom Council served as Tribe Leaders and facilitated break out sessions offering a variety of programs. We had 48 in attendance, including staff. Though the enrollments were down some, perhaps as a result of the tight economy and individual’s concerns regarding where their dollars are spent these day, the quality of the participants was stellar.
Special thanks are offered once again to Ken Valach for his generous contribution of $10,000 last year to our Walter Atkinson Memorial Scholarship Program that funds our youth oriented programs. I also wish to express gratitude to Phillip Jennings, Alan Hinds, Charlie Lagola and Tom Couper for their donations to our scholarship fund this year. As a result of the selfless giving of these men we were able to provide over $6,500 in scholarships for this past retreat. We welcome the gifts that are lovingly offered by our supporters. If you’d like to make a donation please let us know and we’ll provide a letter of acknowledgement that may be referenced in reporting your tax-deductible gift.
USC coach Pete Carroll has visited Helen Keller Park on two separate occasions and is aware of our support of C.U.R.E. and wants to assist our combined efforts to make a positive difference in the lives of these young men. It appears that I’ll be meeting with him one day soon and of course I’m looking forward to that with tremendous enthusiasm.
Coach Carroll is one of the men I hold in high regard not only for what he has done for the SC football program including his mentorship mentality in the way he shepherds the players but also for his dedication to making an impact in the extended community surrounding the campus. You might have seen the article that Kurt Streeter wrote about Pete for the sports section of the LA Times (“Carroll is a life force at street level”, Sunday, April 20, 2008).
Please note that the dates of the fall Sacred Path Men’s Retreat are Thursday, October 23 thru Sunday, October 26, 2008. I had announced at the retreat that I thought the dates were set for the 16th thru the 19th but when I checked with John Bard he confirmed that we’re in on the 4th weekend. Please mark your calendars now.
One of our Wisdom Council men, Jay Berger, contacted me several weeks ago regarding his vision that the Men’s Center would offer support to returning veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of them are experiencing serious reentry challenges as well as the post-traumatic symptoms incurred from their experiences on the front lines. Their relationships are suffering and their family members are under severe duress. We have been in contact with Dr. Judith Broder who founded The Soldier’s Project to create a relationship and to offer our services. It’s our desire to have a number of vets at the October retreat and to provide additional support through our counseling program and workshops. We wish to expand the funds in the Conrad Burke Memorial Scholarship Fund to provide the financial viability for these men to take advantage of our resources. If you wish to give, you may designate where you specifically wish your donation to be utilized.
On Saturday, May 17th I will facilitate the 3rd in a series of Practicums on Mindfulness. This next event will focus on the practice of Stillness. We will again convene from 8:30 am until 4:30 pm at Holy Spirit Retreat Center in Encino. We’ll spend quiet time by the lake, experience a walking form of meditation, perform conscious breathing sessions, partake in a tasty lunch and sit in council as we explore how the Mindfulness practices are bringing more balance, peaceful serenity and lightness of being into our busy lives.
The enrollment is still open and there are some slots available as of this date. I hope you’ll consider joining us for the day. Further information and a registration form are provided in this newsletter.
Wishing you days filled with blessings and opportunities for gratitude. Thank you for investing the time to peruse this newsletter.
In the spirit of brotherhood,
Stephen
Greetings,
The 21st Annual Spring Sacred Path Men’s Retreat combined with the 8th Annual Call to Adventure Retreat for fathers and sons, boys and mentors was quite fulfilling. We had a number of young men from age 12 upward with us. Some attended with their fathers and others participated with their mentors. Three came from Pacific Lodge Boys Home and 5 came from C.U.R.E. (Common Unity Reaching Everyone) with their mentor, Cameron Bonner. This was the third year in a row that we have been able to provide scholarships for young men from South Central Los Angeles and we’re pleased to be able to create a relationship with Pacific Lodge. It’s auspicious for me since my father was a major fund-raiser for Pacific Lodge during the 60’s and 70’s. In fact, their practice field is named after my father. One of the counselors presented me with a picture of the plaque that reads, “Johnson Field.”
The weather throughout the 4 days was outstanding and did not present any additional challenges like the 120-mile winds that were experienced during the fall retreat. I wish to acknowledge Philip Folsom and his team from Fulcrum Adventures who manned the ropes course. They were well prepared to lead us through the low elements team building trust exercises and the 5 high elements. One of their men, Ryan, facilitated an impromptu Kung Fu staff session following the ropes course and one of the C.U.R.E. young men, Artwan, picked up the most challenging routine as though he had been practicing for years. Andrew Soliz poured water for us once again during 3 sweat lodges. Justin Atanasio conducted drum-making workshops and the men of the Sacred Path Wisdom Council served as Tribe Leaders and facilitated break out sessions offering a variety of programs. We had 48 in attendance, including staff. Though the enrollments were down some, perhaps as a result of the tight economy and individual’s concerns regarding where their dollars are spent these day, the quality of the participants was stellar.
Special thanks are offered once again to Ken Valach for his generous contribution of $10,000 last year to our Walter Atkinson Memorial Scholarship Program that funds our youth oriented programs. I also wish to express gratitude to Phillip Jennings, Alan Hinds, Charlie Lagola and Tom Couper for their donations to our scholarship fund this year. As a result of the selfless giving of these men we were able to provide over $6,500 in scholarships for this past retreat. We welcome the gifts that are lovingly offered by our supporters. If you’d like to make a donation please let us know and we’ll provide a letter of acknowledgement that may be referenced in reporting your tax-deductible gift.
USC coach Pete Carroll has visited Helen Keller Park on two separate occasions and is aware of our support of C.U.R.E. and wants to assist our combined efforts to make a positive difference in the lives of these young men. It appears that I’ll be meeting with him one day soon and of course I’m looking forward to that with tremendous enthusiasm.
Coach Carroll is one of the men I hold in high regard not only for what he has done for the SC football program including his mentorship mentality in the way he shepherds the players but also for his dedication to making an impact in the extended community surrounding the campus. You might have seen the article that Kurt Streeter wrote about Pete for the sports section of the LA Times (“Carroll is a life force at street level”, Sunday, April 20, 2008).
Please note that the dates of the fall Sacred Path Men’s Retreat are Thursday, October 23 thru Sunday, October 26, 2008. I had announced at the retreat that I thought the dates were set for the 16th thru the 19th but when I checked with John Bard he confirmed that we’re in on the 4th weekend. Please mark your calendars now.
One of our Wisdom Council men, Jay Berger, contacted me several weeks ago regarding his vision that the Men’s Center would offer support to returning veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of them are experiencing serious reentry challenges as well as the post-traumatic symptoms incurred from their experiences on the front lines. Their relationships are suffering and their family members are under severe duress. We have been in contact with Dr. Judith Broder who founded The Soldier’s Project to create a relationship and to offer our services. It’s our desire to have a number of vets at the October retreat and to provide additional support through our counseling program and workshops. We wish to expand the funds in the Conrad Burke Memorial Scholarship Fund to provide the financial viability for these men to take advantage of our resources. If you wish to give, you may designate where you specifically wish your donation to be utilized.
On Saturday, May 17th I will facilitate the 3rd in a series of Practicums on Mindfulness. This next event will focus on the practice of Stillness. We will again convene from 8:30 am until 4:30 pm at Holy Spirit Retreat Center in Encino. We’ll spend quiet time by the lake, experience a walking form of meditation, perform conscious breathing sessions, partake in a tasty lunch and sit in council as we explore how the Mindfulness practices are bringing more balance, peaceful serenity and lightness of being into our busy lives.
The enrollment is still open and there are some slots available as of this date. I hope you’ll consider joining us for the day. Further information and a registration form are provided in this newsletter.
Wishing you days filled with blessings and opportunities for gratitude. Thank you for investing the time to peruse this newsletter.
In the spirit of brotherhood,
Stephen
A Letter from Cameron Bonner
Dear Friends and Supporters,
I write this e-mail with sadness due to the passing of my aunt and also Gary's younger brother. As we mourn as a family, I still must stay focused. I was torn with going to the men's retreat last week because I was supposed to be at the funeral Friday. Gary made me keep our commitment to the men's center, so I took 5 young boys up to Malibu for a retreat that has made a difference in so many peoples’ lives.
I must thank Dr. Stephen Johnson and the brothers from the Sacred Path retreat for again blessing my community by paying the entire fee needed to allow 6 people to attend the retreat.
For the third year going I was able to share such a special event with some needy children. When I selected the kids I let each parent know how serious this event is. I made no promises, but deep in my heart I knew if we just got them there we would be able to plant hope in them.
Well, I'm happy to announce that this retreat was a success.
I saw 4 out of 5 boys make a change. I saw hardened youths learn to trust. I saw angry kids accept love from men of different races.
It wasn't all roses the entire weekend. In fact, we had a serious blow-up before Andrew's sweat lodge, after Strong Bear and Andrew and the council convinced me to do the sweat. During the second stage of the sweat it hit me.
I started feeling joy.
What became clear to me was that these kids weren't mad at me. These kids were angry at what I represent. I'm what has hurt them the most. I'm a Black male who like their fathers, or even the men who dated their mothers, leave them. Almost every black man they love leaves them, so what makes me different?
They did all they could to run me away so I would prove them right, but no, I'm not going anywhere. It became so clear that the rest of the retreat was a joy because the boys became a team. The cabin was so peaceful at night I slept like a baby.
This breakthrough saved me from giving up. So for this I say thank you, brothers on the mountain, for hosting a powerful gathering. My pledge now is to find as many men who can join us next year. This program is a must. We must find solutions for our troubled sons. So on behalf of the C.U.R.E. family I wish to say thank you so much for giving us a chance to heal.
We plan to host a follow-up event on a latter date where the members of the retreat can join the kids and their families at Helen Keller park to celebrate our youths’ passage into manhood. Rites of Passage are important, and now our kids have a true image of what a Man looks and acts like.
Bless you all,
Cameron Bonner
P.S.
I was away Thursday and didn't get a chance to see the newspaper story done on us until Monday. The Watts Times did a story on C.U.R.E., and I wish to share it with you now. Please go to this link to see the entire story. Here's the link.
http://www.lawattstimes.com/articles/2008/04/10/community/community1.txt
Thank you Brooklyn Gipson for coming to see what is being done and sharing what you saw with your readers.
Here's a piece of the story:
“I’m not looking for the next Reggie Bush or the next Jordan. I’m looking for a Tom Bradley or an Yvonne Burke. We’re trying to teach these kids how to be leaders,” Robinson said as Roberto, a young Latino boy, runs up from across the field. Exasperated and out of breath, Roberto explains to Coach Robinson, “I was studying.” As is a common tactic for athletic coaches, Robinson punishes the boy for being late by assigning 10 push-ups. Upon completion Robinson calls out “Hard work!” to which the young boy responds “Pays off!” before running off to join the other children.
Thank You all for helping us do our works. Together we're making a difference in children's lives. Thank you for helping Gary's football dream team.
Thank you God for everything.
Much Love and Respect
Cameron Bonner VP of C.U.R.E.
I write this e-mail with sadness due to the passing of my aunt and also Gary's younger brother. As we mourn as a family, I still must stay focused. I was torn with going to the men's retreat last week because I was supposed to be at the funeral Friday. Gary made me keep our commitment to the men's center, so I took 5 young boys up to Malibu for a retreat that has made a difference in so many peoples’ lives.
I must thank Dr. Stephen Johnson and the brothers from the Sacred Path retreat for again blessing my community by paying the entire fee needed to allow 6 people to attend the retreat.
For the third year going I was able to share such a special event with some needy children. When I selected the kids I let each parent know how serious this event is. I made no promises, but deep in my heart I knew if we just got them there we would be able to plant hope in them.
Well, I'm happy to announce that this retreat was a success.
I saw 4 out of 5 boys make a change. I saw hardened youths learn to trust. I saw angry kids accept love from men of different races.
It wasn't all roses the entire weekend. In fact, we had a serious blow-up before Andrew's sweat lodge, after Strong Bear and Andrew and the council convinced me to do the sweat. During the second stage of the sweat it hit me.
I started feeling joy.
What became clear to me was that these kids weren't mad at me. These kids were angry at what I represent. I'm what has hurt them the most. I'm a Black male who like their fathers, or even the men who dated their mothers, leave them. Almost every black man they love leaves them, so what makes me different?
They did all they could to run me away so I would prove them right, but no, I'm not going anywhere. It became so clear that the rest of the retreat was a joy because the boys became a team. The cabin was so peaceful at night I slept like a baby.
This breakthrough saved me from giving up. So for this I say thank you, brothers on the mountain, for hosting a powerful gathering. My pledge now is to find as many men who can join us next year. This program is a must. We must find solutions for our troubled sons. So on behalf of the C.U.R.E. family I wish to say thank you so much for giving us a chance to heal.
We plan to host a follow-up event on a latter date where the members of the retreat can join the kids and their families at Helen Keller park to celebrate our youths’ passage into manhood. Rites of Passage are important, and now our kids have a true image of what a Man looks and acts like.
Bless you all,
Cameron Bonner
P.S.
I was away Thursday and didn't get a chance to see the newspaper story done on us until Monday. The Watts Times did a story on C.U.R.E., and I wish to share it with you now. Please go to this link to see the entire story. Here's the link.
http://www.lawattstimes.com/articles/2008/04/10/community/community1.txt
Thank you Brooklyn Gipson for coming to see what is being done and sharing what you saw with your readers.
Here's a piece of the story:
“I’m not looking for the next Reggie Bush or the next Jordan. I’m looking for a Tom Bradley or an Yvonne Burke. We’re trying to teach these kids how to be leaders,” Robinson said as Roberto, a young Latino boy, runs up from across the field. Exasperated and out of breath, Roberto explains to Coach Robinson, “I was studying.” As is a common tactic for athletic coaches, Robinson punishes the boy for being late by assigning 10 push-ups. Upon completion Robinson calls out “Hard work!” to which the young boy responds “Pays off!” before running off to join the other children.
Thank You all for helping us do our works. Together we're making a difference in children's lives. Thank you for helping Gary's football dream team.
Thank you God for everything.
Much Love and Respect
Cameron Bonner VP of C.U.R.E.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Director's Message 4/01/08
Greetings,
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Hello friends,
I’m writing to you during a weekend retreat to the desert. I truly enjoy the occasion for solitude that provides further opportunities to practice mindfulness. Whether I’m held up in traffic that allows me to meditate on the thoughts that “I can wait, I am patient” or encountering an experience, like with my golf game, that affords ample opportunities to practice non-resistance or non-judgment when its not going so well, mindfulness has been my focus. Facilitating the Practicums has been good for me in that it reminds me to be a committed student to the teachings and to practice what I preach. We’re all on this journey through life together and it’s through the concentrated power of the Sacred Path that we evolve as individuals and as a community.
At the end of February twelve men from the Wisdom Council joined retreat coordinators, Scott Ewing and Andrew Soliz, for a 3-day kayak trip down the Colorado River. We convened in Boulder City, Nevada, on Thursday night for a meeting to go over the itinerary for the trip and to set our intentions. Scott encouraged us to be mindful on this journey since it could make all the difference in our safety and overall enjoyment, and Andrew spoke of the sacred nature of the commitment we each made to participate in the adventure. The next morning we met in the parking lot with all of our gear ready to be loaded on the bus that would transport us to our launch site at the base of Hoover Dam. Security at the dam is quite high since 9/11, which only served to reinforce the awareness of how we would approach self-care and care for one another.
After packing our one-man kayaks with everything that we brought to support all of our needs while on the trip we started downriver. I’m going to refrain from discussing all of the nuances of our journey because there is far more to say than I have room for here, but I will express that it was truly a rewarding experience. It was challenging while quite invigorating. The preparation for the trip commenced weeks in advance, and I quipped to the men at our first meeting that I hoped that the trip would be like a colonoscopy with the preparation being the hardest part of the experience. The truth is that the trip itself was hard at times. We paddled a total of 15 miles and hiked through canyons, even using ropes to assist us to scale up and down canyon walls. We entered a lengthy vapor cave, the mouth of which was 1,500 feet below the top of the canyon walls, which narrowly snaked its way back about 100 feet into mother earth. And the men, one after the other, spaced about 4 feet apart, with one hand over head to feel the top of the cave and one hand at the left side to feel the wall of the cave, crouched in a bent over fashion and stepped carefully in the warm water toward the end of the cave, where we huddled together for about 45 minutes as we spoke our truths. Andrew just asked us to trust, and we needed to control our minds that raised images for some of the trapped miners and thoughts of what would happen if there were an earthquake. That, after crossing the river with the use of a rope against a rushing current of 55-degree water was just the beginning of the trip. While huddled together in the dark, each man spoke about what he was feeling, and there was consensus that we all relied on each other to help us man up to the challenges and that it would have been overwhelming to attempt them alone. That set the intention for the excursion and there were no injuries through the whole experience.
It was indeed a trip designed for spiritual warriors and it was filled with immense love. We laughed and cried together and we spoke from our hearts and reached into the depths of our souls to express our most authentic truth as we sat in council around the fire and shared in the stone people lodge. Yes, we even packed in all of the willows, tarps and stones for our sweat lodge that we constructed in the dark and entered late in the evening at the end of a very full day. Two additional men hiked in on Saturday and joined one of our men, Dan Stanton, for a three-day vision quest to commence on Monday. They had been in preparation for a year and Andrew watched over them from a distance as they sat on their medicine blankets for the three days and two nights without food or water. Another amazing challenge! My hat is off to those men.
I highly recommend this kayak trip to you. Scott and Andrew are facilitating them through Sacred Ways twice a year, so consider joining them for one. You won’t be sorry that you committed to the experience.
Commitment was key to participating in the kayak trip and commitment is the theme of our upcoming Call To Adventure retreat that begins next Thursday, April 10th. The kayak trip, the spring retreat and the practicums revolve around the concept of mindfulness. Commitment is central to living a mindful life. Pema Chodron, in her book titled Comfortable With Uncertainty, quotes her teacher Chogyam Trungpa as saying, “You can hear the dharma from many different places, but you are uncommitted until you encounter a particular way that rings true in your heart and you decide to follow it. In order to go deeper, there has to be a wholehearted commitment. You begin the warrior’s journey when you choose one path and stick to it. Then you let it put you through your changes. Without a commitment, the minute you really begin to hurt, you’ll just leave or you’ll look for something else.”
Pema states that, “The question always remains: To what are we really committed? Is it to playing it safe and manipulating our life and the rest of the world so that it will give us security and confirmation? Or is our commitment to exploring deeper and deeper levels of letting go? Do we take refuge in small, self-satisfied actions, speech, and mind? Or do we take refuge in warriorship, in taking a leap, in going beyond our usual safety zones?
This Call To Adventure retreat is designed to provide safe and yet challenging opportunities to stretch outside of your comfort zone in order to encounter yourself at deeper levels of experience. The dharma, as Buddha taught us, is about letting go of one’s familiar story line and opening to what is: to the people in our life, to the situations we’re in, to our thoughts, to our emotions. The dharma never tells us what is true or what is false. It just encourages us to find out for ourselves.
The Mindfulness Practicums have also provided the opportunities for this type of self-discovery. In January we dealt with the concept of non-resistance. In March we explored the practice of patience and in May we will delve into the practice of stillness.
Eckhart Tolle, in his book Stillness Speaks, states that, “When you lose touch with inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself. When you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world. Your innermost sense of self, of who you are, is inseparable from stillness. This is the I Am that is deeper than name and form.”
On May 17th we will enter the dimension of stillness and touch the deeper sense of awareness that allows us to truly know. In Discourse 40 from Paramahansa Yogananda’s extraordinary two volume darshans on The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, he states, “When bodily motions cease and thoughts become quiet, God begins to appear as the blessedness of stillness and divine bliss on the altar of peace and changelessness.”
I have been asked if it is necessary to have participated in the first two Practicums in order to benefit from the Practicums that follow and my response is that each Practicum stands on its own. I am enjoying working with the men that have committed to participate in all or as many of the six Practicums scheduled for 2008 and I am always delighted to have someone engage in an individual Practicum and walk away with exactly what he needed to get from it.
May I encourage you to contemplate the meaning of commitment in your life today and consider that when you make the decision to participate in the retreat and the Practicums it is in that moment of commitment that your life opens itself for new learning to occur and it begins in that very moment that you dared to say yes and to take another step forward on your path.
Further information and registration forms can be found on our blog and on the web site.
I look forward to seeing you soon.
In brotherhood,
Stephen
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Hello friends,
I’m writing to you during a weekend retreat to the desert. I truly enjoy the occasion for solitude that provides further opportunities to practice mindfulness. Whether I’m held up in traffic that allows me to meditate on the thoughts that “I can wait, I am patient” or encountering an experience, like with my golf game, that affords ample opportunities to practice non-resistance or non-judgment when its not going so well, mindfulness has been my focus. Facilitating the Practicums has been good for me in that it reminds me to be a committed student to the teachings and to practice what I preach. We’re all on this journey through life together and it’s through the concentrated power of the Sacred Path that we evolve as individuals and as a community.
At the end of February twelve men from the Wisdom Council joined retreat coordinators, Scott Ewing and Andrew Soliz, for a 3-day kayak trip down the Colorado River. We convened in Boulder City, Nevada, on Thursday night for a meeting to go over the itinerary for the trip and to set our intentions. Scott encouraged us to be mindful on this journey since it could make all the difference in our safety and overall enjoyment, and Andrew spoke of the sacred nature of the commitment we each made to participate in the adventure. The next morning we met in the parking lot with all of our gear ready to be loaded on the bus that would transport us to our launch site at the base of Hoover Dam. Security at the dam is quite high since 9/11, which only served to reinforce the awareness of how we would approach self-care and care for one another.
After packing our one-man kayaks with everything that we brought to support all of our needs while on the trip we started downriver. I’m going to refrain from discussing all of the nuances of our journey because there is far more to say than I have room for here, but I will express that it was truly a rewarding experience. It was challenging while quite invigorating. The preparation for the trip commenced weeks in advance, and I quipped to the men at our first meeting that I hoped that the trip would be like a colonoscopy with the preparation being the hardest part of the experience. The truth is that the trip itself was hard at times. We paddled a total of 15 miles and hiked through canyons, even using ropes to assist us to scale up and down canyon walls. We entered a lengthy vapor cave, the mouth of which was 1,500 feet below the top of the canyon walls, which narrowly snaked its way back about 100 feet into mother earth. And the men, one after the other, spaced about 4 feet apart, with one hand over head to feel the top of the cave and one hand at the left side to feel the wall of the cave, crouched in a bent over fashion and stepped carefully in the warm water toward the end of the cave, where we huddled together for about 45 minutes as we spoke our truths. Andrew just asked us to trust, and we needed to control our minds that raised images for some of the trapped miners and thoughts of what would happen if there were an earthquake. That, after crossing the river with the use of a rope against a rushing current of 55-degree water was just the beginning of the trip. While huddled together in the dark, each man spoke about what he was feeling, and there was consensus that we all relied on each other to help us man up to the challenges and that it would have been overwhelming to attempt them alone. That set the intention for the excursion and there were no injuries through the whole experience.
It was indeed a trip designed for spiritual warriors and it was filled with immense love. We laughed and cried together and we spoke from our hearts and reached into the depths of our souls to express our most authentic truth as we sat in council around the fire and shared in the stone people lodge. Yes, we even packed in all of the willows, tarps and stones for our sweat lodge that we constructed in the dark and entered late in the evening at the end of a very full day. Two additional men hiked in on Saturday and joined one of our men, Dan Stanton, for a three-day vision quest to commence on Monday. They had been in preparation for a year and Andrew watched over them from a distance as they sat on their medicine blankets for the three days and two nights without food or water. Another amazing challenge! My hat is off to those men.
I highly recommend this kayak trip to you. Scott and Andrew are facilitating them through Sacred Ways twice a year, so consider joining them for one. You won’t be sorry that you committed to the experience.
Commitment was key to participating in the kayak trip and commitment is the theme of our upcoming Call To Adventure retreat that begins next Thursday, April 10th. The kayak trip, the spring retreat and the practicums revolve around the concept of mindfulness. Commitment is central to living a mindful life. Pema Chodron, in her book titled Comfortable With Uncertainty, quotes her teacher Chogyam Trungpa as saying, “You can hear the dharma from many different places, but you are uncommitted until you encounter a particular way that rings true in your heart and you decide to follow it. In order to go deeper, there has to be a wholehearted commitment. You begin the warrior’s journey when you choose one path and stick to it. Then you let it put you through your changes. Without a commitment, the minute you really begin to hurt, you’ll just leave or you’ll look for something else.”
Pema states that, “The question always remains: To what are we really committed? Is it to playing it safe and manipulating our life and the rest of the world so that it will give us security and confirmation? Or is our commitment to exploring deeper and deeper levels of letting go? Do we take refuge in small, self-satisfied actions, speech, and mind? Or do we take refuge in warriorship, in taking a leap, in going beyond our usual safety zones?
This Call To Adventure retreat is designed to provide safe and yet challenging opportunities to stretch outside of your comfort zone in order to encounter yourself at deeper levels of experience. The dharma, as Buddha taught us, is about letting go of one’s familiar story line and opening to what is: to the people in our life, to the situations we’re in, to our thoughts, to our emotions. The dharma never tells us what is true or what is false. It just encourages us to find out for ourselves.
The Mindfulness Practicums have also provided the opportunities for this type of self-discovery. In January we dealt with the concept of non-resistance. In March we explored the practice of patience and in May we will delve into the practice of stillness.
Eckhart Tolle, in his book Stillness Speaks, states that, “When you lose touch with inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself. When you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world. Your innermost sense of self, of who you are, is inseparable from stillness. This is the I Am that is deeper than name and form.”
On May 17th we will enter the dimension of stillness and touch the deeper sense of awareness that allows us to truly know. In Discourse 40 from Paramahansa Yogananda’s extraordinary two volume darshans on The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, he states, “When bodily motions cease and thoughts become quiet, God begins to appear as the blessedness of stillness and divine bliss on the altar of peace and changelessness.”
I have been asked if it is necessary to have participated in the first two Practicums in order to benefit from the Practicums that follow and my response is that each Practicum stands on its own. I am enjoying working with the men that have committed to participate in all or as many of the six Practicums scheduled for 2008 and I am always delighted to have someone engage in an individual Practicum and walk away with exactly what he needed to get from it.
May I encourage you to contemplate the meaning of commitment in your life today and consider that when you make the decision to participate in the retreat and the Practicums it is in that moment of commitment that your life opens itself for new learning to occur and it begins in that very moment that you dared to say yes and to take another step forward on your path.
Further information and registration forms can be found on our blog and on the web site.
I look forward to seeing you soon.
In brotherhood,
Stephen
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