Most months, the first Saturday of the month, from 4 to whenever, the Community for Spiritual Living gathers to explore how to integrate spirituality into our daily lives. The next gathering is January 6, in Falls Church, Virginia. We'll do process work from 4-6, and pot luck from 8 to whenever. Please bring a dish for 8. This month: NONORDINARY CONSCIOUSNESS

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See map: Google MapsOnce each month, usually on the first Saturday of the month, the Community for Spiritual Living ("CSL") gathers in Falls Church to explore, through an experiential adventure, how to more fully integrate our spiritual lives with the entirety of our lives. DRUMMING CIRCLE ALL ARE WELCOME We'll begin with some light yoga and meditation and then begin 45 minutes to an hour of drumming. Don't know how to drum? -- just join in with a tambourine or some maraccas. Nothing fancy, just a good time letting yourself groove to the beat with community. Trance dancing is also welcome! Bring a drum or drums, or any percussive instrument you like. If you have extras, please bring them so we'll have some for everyone. Bring a friend if you like, and then stay for POTLUCK FROM 6 TO 8PM-be sure to BRING A DISH FOR 8 PEOPLE (main dish, salad, side dish, bread & beverage, or dessert).

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WE ARE MEETING, NOTWITHSTANDING THE WEATHER!

It's not as bad as you may think! See you there!

William James said "Genius means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way." The converse of that might be to say that creativity is stifled by our tendencies to routinize our thinking into cognitive ruts. One of most comprehensive ways in which the ruts of modern thought have been explosed and disrupted is Integral Theory. First elucidated by Jean Gebser and more fully fleshed-out by many others, including Ken Wilber, Integral Theory weaves together a tapestry of eastern and western developmental psychology, a radical understanding of taking multiple perspectives, the emergent wisdom of multiple intelligences, a revolutionary view of ordinary and nonordinary states, and an appreciation of the various typologies found in tantra, eneagrams, Myers-Briggs, and the like. The resultant rich tapestry leaves those who understand its basic principals with a drastically expanded canvas on which to paint our lives, our work, our world.

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See map: Google MapsMost months, the first Saturday of the month, from 4 to whenever, the Community for Spiritual Living gathers to explore how to integrate spirituality into our daily lives. The next gathering is April 7, in Falls Church, Virginia. We'll do process work from 4-6 p.m., and pot luck from 6:00 p.m. to whenever. Please bring a dish for 8.

April 2007: Befriending Death

Many of the Wisdom Traditions have understood that Death can be a great teacher about Life. In the encounter with the reality of death, whether we view it as the end or merely a passage, we can glean much about the richness of our lives.

Tom Goddard will lead the community through a series of experiential processes designed to create a series of profound learning encounters with Death. As a result of participating in this workshop, participants likely not only will have a deepened appreciation of the life we are given, but a clearer notion about how to live a life filled with meaning and joy. It is no overstatement to say that some participants in the March 2006 CSL exploration of Death, led by Dr. Goddard and Michael Smith, emerged with a radically transformed view of their lives. Some even made profound decisions that changed the very course of their lives, both professionally and personally.

Bring a friend if you like, and then stay for POTLUCK FROM 6 TO 8PM-be sure to BRING A DISH FOR 8 PEOPLE (main dish, salad, side dish, bread & beverage, or dessert).

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Tom Goddard, founder of The Integral Company, and Kristen Chamberlin, founder of Maitri, are joining their creative talents and experience to offer a Shalom-style retreat in the Washington D.C. area.

Kristen Chamberlin

What is a Shalom Retreat?

A Shalom Retreat is an intensive growth experience set in a loving and supportive community. Shalom Retreats are based on our understanding of love:

• More than anything else, we long to love and be loved.

• Love is a gift.

• Love is not time-bound.

• Love is a response to need.

• Loving is an art. The skills of loving can be learned. They involve seeing and hearing another, expressing good will, recognizing another’s right to think and feel as he/she does, and the skill of being fully present in our relationships with others.

Tom Goddard

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See map: Google MapsNow, as one of those who have worked with Wilber since Wilber founded the Integral Institute, Tom Goddard is joining with Alistair Macmartin of Shalom Mountain to offer the Integral Intensive to people interested in diving into the world of Integral. The Intensive is a 3-1/2-day, immersive experience in Ken Wilber's Integral Theory. This retreat offers participants a thorough exposure to Wilber’s work through a diverse blend of brief lectures, individual and group experiential processes, journaling, and group discussion.

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See map: Google MapsLast February, participants in the Community for Spiritual Living ("CSL") had a great time at our first ever drumming circle. The most memorable comment was "when can we do this again?" Well, the time has come.

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See map: Google MapsWhat's your relationship to the Divine? Is it an intimate, personal friendship? One of distant awe? Perhaps you experience yourself as Spirit, a component of Spirit, or all this and more. Or maybe you long for a relationship with the Divine, but are struggling to establish one.

Join us as Tom Goddard leads us through a series of experiential processes in which we will examine not only our existing relationships (or lack thereof) with the Divine, but also alternative perspectives that may enrich our relationship. Informed by wisdom traditions from across the globe and from throughout the centuries, these processes may take you from what you know about God to perspectives you've never known, or haven't tapped into in years.

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See map: Google MapsOn Saturday, November 3, at 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, The Integral Company's founder Tom Goddard will join Ken in taking questions from fellow Integral Institute members in a discussion of Integral Healthcare. Dr. Goddard is the author of "Integral Healthcare Management" in the first volume of the AQAL Journal.

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See map: Google Maps"I'll never understand men/women!" is a popular refrain in our culture. The other sex is indeed a mystery to most of us, irrespective of our sexual orientation, or partnership status. I'll lead this month's gathering, not with the intention to figure it all out, but to offer a rare opportunity to safely and confidentially explore the questions and curiosities we all have about the opposite sex. Only when we see and honor the differences of who we are as men and women can we begin to see the divine in each other. This sacred awareness provides the foundation from which real intimacy, vulnerability, and relationship can emerge. Guided by Shalom Mountain's Principles of Loving, we'll talk with others in an individual and group setting. Women will be able to present their curiosities to men and vice versa. All responses in this setting are of course voluntary. Join us in a session sure to be wonderfully rich and full of honest and heartfelt sharing!

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See map: Google MapsCome one, come all, to the Winter Holiday Party at the Community for Spiritual Living! More details soon!

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The Shalom Retreat™ is an intensive growth experience set in a loving and supportive community. Shalom Retreats are based on our understanding of love:

• More than anything else, we want to love and be loved.
• Love is a gift.
• Love is not time bound.
• Love is good will in action.
• Love is a response to need.

Loving is an art. The skills of loving can be learned. They include seeing and hearing another, expressing good will, recognizing another’s right to think and feel as he/she does, and being fully present in our relationships with others. Through the practice of intentional loving, open space is created in which individuals can learn to express themselves with integrity, creativity and passion. Our ability to love and our life force can be blocked by unexpressed feelings of anger, fear and pain. By unblocking energy, we are able to reclaim our joy, passion and sexuality and to fully embody the Divine in our lives. A variety of techniques (e.g., guided fantasy, primal therapy, role-play, gestalt and bioenergetics) are used as a means for releasing and transforming repressed emotions, so that one’s passion for life may be fully realized.

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See map: Google MapsShalom Mountain takes pride in the growing number of skilled and heart-centered process leaders who work both on and off the Mountain. Really alive collaborative leadership means intimacy among the leadership. Those who have responded to the call into Shalom leadership need a place just to be, to share our lives, to nurture, to give and receive support. What better way for us to show our most intimate selves to each other than through a Shalom Retreat? Bring yourself, your love for each other and for this life-giving process. This retreat is available to anyone who currently leads, or has led, Shalom Retreats.

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See map: Google Maps“Change and the passing of what has been, advancing years, an encounter with great beauty, the love of a precious child, illness, the pain of loss.” Life offers us so many moments that call us to be awake. In these moments, another reality breaks through. We become aware that the stories we have relied on to define our lives are simply that, stories; but stories that provide a familiar and hence comforting sense of home. The mystic’s journey draws us to risk leaving the known, to face dissolution of what has been, to wander in an unknown land and, in our wandering, to find the path that is truly our own, the path that ultimately leads us Home. Come and join our community of mystics as we share the next steps of our journey.

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See map: Google MapsThe Shalom Retreat™ is an intensive growth experience set in a loving and supportive community. Shalom Retreats are based on our understanding of love:  More than anything else, we want to love and be loved.  Love is a gift.  Love is not time bound.  Love is good will in action.  Love is a response to need. Loving is an art. The skills of loving can be learned. They include seeing and hearing another, expressing good will, recognizing another’s right to think and feel as he/she does, and being fully present in our relationships with others. Through the practice of intentional loving, open space is created in which individuals can learn to express themselves with integrity, creativity and passion. Our ability to love and our life force can be blocked by unexpressed feelings of anger, fear and pain. By unblocking energy, we are able to reclaim our joy, passion and sexuality and to fully embody the Divine in our lives. A variety of techniques (e.g., guided fantasy, primal therapy, role-play, gestalt and bioenergetics) are used as a means for releasing and transforming repressed emotions, so that one’s passion for life may be fully realized.

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See map: Google MapsWe are hard-wired to seek the divine, to ask the question "Who am I?" Ironically, it is this very desire to know that prevents us from finding an answer. The divine is ungraspable and unknowable but it can be experienced. This retreat draws on Western psychology and Buddhist spirituality to offer a direct experience of our fundamental nature - the great I AM. We do this by taking a point of view beyond the self, beyond the limitations of ego. We can realize that who we are is ever-present, eternal and unchanging. We are bathed in the vastness of our essence and oneness with all things - this is home, our true nature. Realizing our I AM-ness is an essential aspect of being a fully integrated human being, living an embodied life with wisdom and compassion.

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Somewhere in the struggle to find "equality" between men and women over the last 40 years, we began to dilute our essential masculine and feminine qualities. "Good" male/female relationships were modeled as 50/50 compromises. Could it be, however, that we lost something along the way?

Barra Kahn and Roger Telschow will lead an exploration this Saturday for women and men in the community.  With the support of our peers, the intention is to honor and celebrate the sacred masculine and feminine in ourselves and in the opposite sex.  You are invited into a dance of yin and yang that can enliven our relationships and rekindle a passion for life.

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See map: Google MapsThe Shalom Retreat™ is an intensive growth experience set in a loving and supportive community. Shalom Retreats are based on our understanding of love. More than anything else, we want to love and be loved. Love is a gift. Love is not time bound. Love is good will in action. Love is a response to need. Loving is an art. The skills of loving can be learned. They include seeing and hearing another, expressing good will, recognizing another’s right to think and feel as he/she does, and being fully present in our relationships with others. Through the practice of intentional loving, open space is created in which individuals can learn to express themselves with integrity, creativity and passion. Our ability to love and our life force can be blocked by unexpressed feelings of anger, fear and pain. By unblocking energy, we are able to reclaim our joy, passion and sexuality and to fully embody the Divine in our lives. A variety of techniques (e.g., guided fantasy, primal therapy, role-play, gestalt and bioenergetics) are used as a means for releasing and transforming repressed emotions, so that one’s passion for life may be fully realized.

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See map: Google MapsDennis Genpo Merzel Roshi, one of the preeminent Zen Masters in the Western world, has developed a unique and revolutionary approach for transmitting the authentic teachings that emerged from Buddha's enlightenment experience. With a mastery born of more than thirty years of teaching, Genpo Roshi has enabled thousands of participants in Big Mind workshops to gain profound insights and taste for themselves the illuminating experience from which Buddhism and all the world's great religions originate.

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See map: Google MapsSpring is a time of balance between the light of day and darkness of night, as the death of winter gives way to the new growth of summer. How can we explore the balance between the light and shadow in ourselves? What if instead of hiding from our own shadows we explore them and play with them? Who would we be if we balance both our light and our shadow sides? Many of us find ourselves to be more powerful when we are aware of all sides of ourselves! And some of our juiciest growth experiences have come out of the painful fire of shadow work. Afraid of your own shadow? Well, what better reason to come to CSL to explore it in a safe environment with others! Michael Smith will be leading us through a series of engaging processes from 4 - 6 p.m., followed by our usual, fun pot-luck dinner.

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See map: Google MapsThe Shalom Retreat™ is an intensive growth experience set in a loving and supportive community. Shalom Retreats are based on our understanding of love. More than anything else, we want to love and be loved. Love is a gift. Love is not time bound. Love is good will in action. Love is a response to need. Loving is an art. The skills of loving can be learned. They include seeing and hearing another, expressing good will, recognizing another’s right to think and feel as he/she does, and being fully present in our relationships with others. Through the practice of intentional loving, open space is created in which individuals can learn to express themselves with integrity, creativity and passion. Our ability to love and our life force can be blocked by unexpressed feelings of anger, fear and pain. By unblocking energy, we are able to reclaim our joy, passion and sexuality and to fully embody the Divine in our lives. A variety of techniques (e.g., guided fantasy, primal therapy, role-play, gestalt and bioenergetics) are used as a means for releasing and transforming repressed emotions, so that one’s passion for life may be fully realized.

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See map: Google MapsWork Weekends are special times when the community gathers, bringing together old friends and new, lending essential support to the Mountain. Friday evening we gather for a potluck supper (bring a dish for eight) and community building. Saturday and Sunday we work for six to eight hours during the day and then spend the evening together with dancing and an auction to benefit Friends of Shalom Mountain. We wrap up the weekend celebrating our time together with a renewed commitment to live lovingly in the world. Bring a tent, sleeping bag (linens not provided) and your personal belongings. Arrive after lunch on Friday, please! Early arrivals must be negotiated with us in advance.

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See map: Google MapsShalom Retreat Leadership Training (SRLT) is for people interested in, and who have a gift for leadership of Shalom Retreats. The SRLT’s intention is to develop excellence in Shalom process leadership and to build a group of skilled leaders to carry this work into a growing number of settings. SRLT will focus on deepening your theoretical understanding, honing your therapeutic skills and developing more presence as a leader. In addition, each participant will receive one-on-one supervision. Open to graduates of previous SRLT or SLT who are interested in continuing to develop their skills. Screening interview required

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We are exquisitely designed for movement with a capacity for ease, flexibility, power and expressiveness, whether we are dancing, singing or working at a computer. All too often, however, we unwittingly interfere with this design resulting in tension, effort, and fatigue. Diana Bradley, a skilled practitioner, will lead us in explorations in the discoveries of the F.M. Alexander Technique to restore our natural coordination and poise.

Wear comfortable clothes, bring a beginner's mind, and be willing to question, and perhaps release old myths about moving with "good posture."  We will explore ease in sitting, walking, standing, bending, yoga, meditation, and anything else you love doing in your lives. Through verbal coaching and gentle hands-on guidance you will gain heightened kinesthetic awareness and a sense of belonging in your body. 

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See map: Google MapsThe Shalom Retreat™ is an intensive growth experience set in a loving and supportive community. Shalom Retreats are based on our understanding of love. More than anything else, we want to love and be loved. Love is a gift. Love is not time bound. Love is good will in action. Love is a response to need. Loving is an art. The skills of loving can be learned. They include seeing and hearing another, expressing good will, recognizing another’s right to think and feel as he/she does, and being fully present in our relationships with others. Through the practice of intentional loving, open space is created in which individuals can learn to express themselves with integrity, creativity and passion. Our ability to love and our life force can be blocked by unexpressed feelings of anger, fear and pain. By unblocking energy, we are able to reclaim our joy, passion and sexuality and to fully embody the Divine in our lives. A variety of techniques (e.g., guided fantasy, primal therapy, role-play, gestalt and bioenergetics) are used as a means for releasing and transforming repressed emotions, so that one’s passion for life may be fully realized.

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See map: Google MapsWith over 25 years of experience in the central leadership of Shalom Retreats, Joy and Lawrence bring a depth of wisdom and expertise to the creation of loving community that is the context for the mysterious process of transformation. There are skills and ways of being which allow leaders to become consummate artists in this work. These are the talents that they are committed to calling forth in leadership and will be the focus of this process training. It is open to those involved in Shalom Retreat leadership as well as those who have participated in leadership training on Shalom Mountain.

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See map: Google MapsThe Shalom Retreat™ is an intensive growth experience set in a loving and supportive community. Shalom Retreats are based on our understanding of love. More than anything else, we want to love and be loved. Love is a gift. Love is not time bound. Love is good will in action. Love is a response to need. Loving is an art. The skills of loving can be learned. They include seeing and hearing another, expressing good will, recognizing another’s right to think and feel as he/she does, and being fully present in our relationships with others. Through the practice of intentional loving, open space is created in which individuals can learn to express themselves with integrity, creativity and passion. Our ability to love and our life force can be blocked by unexpressed feelings of anger, fear and pain. By unblocking energy, we are able to reclaim our joy, passion and sexuality and to fully embody the Divine in our lives. A variety of techniques (e.g., guided fantasy, primal therapy, role-play, gestalt and bioenergetics) are used as a means for releasing and transforming repressed emotions, so that one’s passion for life may be fully realized.

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It's time again to light your rhythmic fire this coming Saturday. Dan Petersen will again lead us in a drumfest. Note that no experience is necessary, and everyone can participate in the drumming (or movement, if you like--in fact, last time we had some delicious belly dancers!). You can also just meditate and let the communal beat carry you into a transcendent space.

Bring one or more drums or percussive instruments if you have any. If you don't, there always seem to be extras to pass around. So just come!

Stay for POTLUCK FROM 6 TO 8PM-be sure to BRING A DISH FOR 8 PEOPLE (main dish, salad, side dish, bread & beverage, or dessert).

Invite along a friend if you like. Can't make it at 4pm? - then just stop in at 6pm for the potluck! No Need to RSVP.

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The ancient Tantric tradition of India has invited mystics for centuries to explore the mysteries of the One through the inner marriage of Shiva and Shakti, spirit and matter, the inner masculine and feminine. Sacred sexuality is part of this journey, but by no means the whole of it. This course will be an introduction to the principles that guide seekers into discovering the power of breath, energy, the chakra system and a deepening awareness of the healing power of pleasure. We will be learning and experimenting with new skills through teaching, meditation and some gentle experiential exercises. Come and get a taste of the world of Tantra.

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See map: Google MapsThe joy of young people coming together is enhanced in this three-day retreat, guided by the Principles and Skills of Loving, in a community of young adults. We’ll use role playing, journaling and contemplation. This retreat has become a favorite of young people and forms the foundation of a lasting community on and off the Mountain. Come reflect, laugh and enjoy.

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See map: Google MapsWith Nance McGee & Roger Cramer Mysticism is the intimate knowledge, based on revelation, of the Source that underlies all existence. Since the beginning of time, mystics have engaged in the perennial quest – a longing for the experience of the One. How do we open ourselves to this revelation? Lawrence Kushner wrote: "Entrances to holiness are everywhere. The possibility of ascent is all the time. Even at unlikely times and through unlikely places. There is no place on earth without Presence. The Holy is always present. Apprehending it depends on my presence to each moment, being inside the face of God as I meet each experience in my life." On this retreat we will explore a variety of entrances: meditation/ prayer, nature, crisis and suffering, the erotic, art and music, relationship. Come because of your longing.

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See map: Google MapsIntegrating Life Choices is an extended 5-day retreat that is a specialized version of the basic Shalom Retreat. It is designed to provide time to explore new life choices emerging from the deep inner work and power of loving community. In addition to individual mat work, we expand the experience by teaching the disciplines that help us to integrate and sustain our learnings: meditation, journal writing, morning body prayer and the use of breath as a gateway to transformation. This retreat offers time to wander the woods, visit the sacred sites, sit by the pool, dip into the hot tub or sit quietly listening to the stars and watching the fireflies dance. Come enjoy the glory of Shalom Mountain in the summertime ~ it’s an experience not to be missed!

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See map: Google Maps"If you lose touch with the 2 million year old being inside of you, your life is in peril." - Carl Jung Within each of us there resides a deep knowing that holds wisdom beyond what we have learned in our lifetime. When we listen to that Ancient Voice we allow it to guide us like a rudder through our lives and our lives become richer. The challenge in listening is not only making the time and space, but also in knowing how to hear. The language of the Ancient Voice is often one of symbol and metaphor, taking place in that Time Beyond Time -- it is the Essential Story. To hear it we must bypass our logical mind and listen from our Soul. In this retreat we will use the magic of Myth and Story to listen to what the Ancient Voice is saying to each of us, individually and collectively.

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Many believe that the heart is at least as important an organ as our brain.  This month's gathering will explore how signals from the heart can positively affect how we deal with stress, anxiety, insomnia, and even improve cognitive and athletic performance.

Leda Cummings, longtime CSLer, is a trained PhD research scientist who is licensed to teach a technique called "emWave" technology.  She will demonstrate this technique and guide us in experiencing heart-based communication.  One real benefit is seeing how it enhances intuitive intelligence, which in turn positively affects relationships.  

Here is a chance to learn some new techniques to help us access the wisdom of the heart.  We are a blessed community to have so many good teachers in our midst!  This should be a different approach that most of us have never experienced.  Come join in the curiosity and fun.

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See map: Google MapsWe are hard-wired to seek the divine, to ask the question "Who am I?" Ironically, it is the very desire to know that prevents us from finding an answer. The divine is ungraspable and unknowlable but it can be experienced. This retreat draws on Western psychology and Buddhist spirituality to offer a direct experience of our fundamental nature -- the great I AM. We do this by taking a point of view beyond the self, beyond the limitations of ego. We can realize that who we are is ever-present, eternal and unchanging. We are bathed in the vastness of our essence and oneness with all things -- this is home, our true nature. Realizing our I AM-ness is an essential aspect of being a fully integrated human being, living an embodied life with wisdom and compassion.

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See map: Google MapsIn this three-day gathering, the joy of young people at summer camp is enhanced by creating an intentionally loving community of teens, based on the Principles and Skills of Loving. Come laugh, tell your story, create with your peers and engage in a scavenger hunt that requires skill and teamwork. This gathering has become a favorite of young people and has formed the foundation of a lasting community both on and off the Mountain. Come connect with other teens and make an impact on the Mountain and in the Shalom community! All teens ages 12-16 are welcome to attend.

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See map: Google MapsChildren 3 and under = Free Children 4-13 = $85 Teens & Adults = $110 Shalom Mountain is a magical place that allows each of us to shine. This festival is a time to play, love, and celebrate together as families without the pressures of the outside world. We will explore fun and play using storytelling, clay, art, dress-up, and much more. Please join us for this fabulous event! Love makes a family – all families, traditional or non-traditional are welcome at the Family Festival.

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See map: Google MapsLoving relationship is a great gift. It both comforts and challenges us, providing an experience of acceptance and home and calling us to be everything we are: powerful, compassionate, spiritual erotic people. Conscious partnership is a spiritual practice that calls us to expand our capacity to live with loving acceptance and compassion for self and other, seeing one another as holy and perfect. On this retreat, each couple will have focused time to work in the group. We will practice the arts of being great lovers.

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See map: Google MapsYour voice is an incredible tool for healing and power. To sing, authentically and unreservedly, can be an ecstatic experience. We'll uncover the vocal gifts that we were all born with, fostering courage and helping us to feel at home with our voices. Working both individually and in small groups, we will use a combination of body mapping, meditation, yoga and nature to ignite passion for the singing experience. Come and set your voice free no matter if you are a chorister, opera singer, shower singer or just sing your children to sleep at night.

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See map: Google MapsSpontaneity.  Humor.  Flow.  Surrendering to the moment.  This is how community member Michelle James describes this month's CSL experience.  Get ready for an active, high-energy workshop using improv and movement to set our creative spirit on fire.    We've been trained, traumatized, and socialized out of the natural spontaneity of our spirit.  This highly interactive session will renew your sense of trust and openness through laughter, awareness, letting go of perfectionism, and quieting the inner critic. 
Michelle has performed imrov theater for 11 years, and is founder of the Center for Creative Emergence and the Capitol Creativity Network.  She is a pioneer in the field, using improv and movement for business and personal transformation.

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See map: Google MapsIt is time to take up our own authority -- our own validation -- to stake out our values and our place in this world. This means facing our fears, forgiving and loving ourselves, and developing the focus to follow our passions. Acting from this place of Self, we find the power to serve our beloveds, families, community, and world.

This year’s Men’s Gathering will focus on taking up responsibility for our own lives. As always, the Shalom men’s community will serve as a loving container for this vital exploration.

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See map: Google MapsCommunity member and psychotherapist Lynn Turner will share her "relationship toolbox" with us this Saturday, and you'll take home skills you can immediately put into practice. Lynn has worked with the dynamics of relationship for over 17 years.  The skills she teaches can be used with intimate partners, children, friends, and work associates.

We'll explore:

• how NOT to get hijacked by our amygdala (where we store our emotional memories)
• how to know if we're moving from the heart in communication and conflict resolution
• practicing PAIRS tools (Practical Application of Intimate Relationship Skills)

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See map: Google MapsBig Heart is an experiential group process designed to help participants discover, experience and appreciate their lives in a new way. People of all backgrounds have found it to be a terrific way to identify and work through the unhealthy patterns that can sabotage our best efforts. By fostering a compassionate exploration of the intricate network of the diverse dimensions of the inner self, the Big Heart process empowers participants to live richer, fuller lives.

Big Heart is a novel technique of self exploration that combines tools of western psychology with the teachings of eastern non-dual traditions.  Participants in this non-denominational process emerge with the realization that they now can answer their most pressing questions about their lives with a greater level of compassion and wisdom than they previously thought possible.

There is no preparation or training needed in order to participate in Big Heart.  Life itself has provided all the preparation you need.

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All are welcome!

Don't miss the annual Holiday Party! It's a great time to reconnect with old friends, and make some new ones.

BRING A DISH FOR 8 PEOPLE (main dish, salad, side dish, bread & beverage, or dessert).  We'll also have some extra wine and appetizers on hand.
 
Invite along a friend if you like. No Need to RSVP -- just come on over to Barra's house.  If you need directions, call or email Tom Goddard.

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See map: Google MapsWe begin the New Year with a look at how our life expression--both our personal creativity and our mission in the world--might be more fully developed by knowing the energetic defense systems that can limit us.
 
Defenses are natural processes we all use to protect us from unwanted, unpleasant feelings and experiences, either real or imagined.  But unless we forge a relationship with these internal impulses, they can limit us.  Casting light on these defenses unlocks our energy, allows the free-flow of feelings, and helps us find clarity in our life task.
 
Barra will facilitate this session, which will include body-centered and meditative exercises.  What a great way to focus on renewal in the New Year!  Do join us!

Stay for POTLUCK FROM 6 TO 8PM-be sure to BRING A DISH FOR 8 PEOPLE (main dish, salad, side dish, bread & beverage, or dessert).
 
Invite along a friend if you like.  Can't make it at 4pm? - then just stop in at 6pm for the potluck!  No Need to RSVP.

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See map: Google Maps  How do you ask for what you want, take care of your needs, and really be heard? How do you assert yourself in both loving and aggressive situations? How do you express vulnerability and sensitivity and stay in your own power? Led by internationally recognized process leader Joe Weston, this workshop will shift and reframe your views on confrontation, assertiveness, and true power leading to greater self-confidence and peaceful interactions with others.