October Ready is a reference to one of my favorite T-shirts, inspired by the 2024 Detroit Tigers’ historic turnaround, making an improbable run to the playoffs after being ten games out of the wild-card race with a 0.2% chance of making it in early August. The Blessed Boys finished with a 31–13 record down the stretch, clinching their first playoff berth since 2014 and first winning season since 2016. The run included a Wild Card Series sweep of the Houston Astros, followed by a five-game loss to the former Cleveland Indians in the Division Series. Like Wednesday’s game three win in Detroit in the American League Division Series against the Seattle Mariners, we were fortunate to attend and report on the third game in the battle against the Guardians, the best game at Comerica Park in a decade. Speaking of renowned turnarounds, 2025’s late-season contrarian collapse has been equally labeled the one of the most shocking in Major League Baseball, when the Tigers lost a 15.5 game lead in the AL Central, while the Guardians surged, making for one of the most blown leads in MLB history, while also making our recent wins all that much sweeter.
Having attended game three of the 1984 World Series at Tiger Stadium (W - Tigers 5 Padres 2), I joke that 2025 is 1984 all over again, a warning against totalitarianism. This is a reference to George Orwell's dystopian novel describing a situation involving oppressive, authoritarian government control, mass surveillance, manipulation of truth, and suppression of individual freedoms. With an eye on and beyond post-season baseball as well as our funky political situation, I’m here to announce our Omnipotent October schedule, kicked off with our Ceremonial overnight under the Hunter or Harvest full moon. If you recall the Mighty Mindy from the previous post, a synchronous series of events had her attending last weekend’s inipi Ceremony, along with our new standout yoga teacher Kellie Lindsay.
While next month’s Ceremonial Weekend under the November Beaver Moon may soon be closed to public attendance, we’ll be ending the Fall 2024 retreat season under December’s waning Cold Moon. Between now and then, there’s still an opportunity to join next weekend’s Fall Noble Silence Meditation Retreat Weekend, couple our final, signature Meditation + Mindfulness 101 class with an overnight weekend stay, and/or roll it all into our first, fabulous, FREE day of yoga practice with Kellie L. on Sunday afternoon, October 26th. Registration for that final October gig will fill, so Contact Us pronto to save your spot. And watch for our full 2026 schedule up for registration soon. As told to Mindy, she’s literally our dream come true: a soulful, hard-working practitioner who has employed the industrial strength mindfulness tools we provide in order to transcend her troubles and elevate her life. Here’s Mindy Part 2: The Awakening. Hope to see you all soon.
"Around the same time each Fall, I feel the welcome and familiar call to return to The Higher Haven. I’ve been attending ceremonies and retreats since my early twenties. These pilgrimages have become an integral part of my personal growth and spiritual development. When I first arrived all those years ago, I was a young person so utterly disconnected from my internal reservoir of spirit. With Paul as my Tteacher, I learned foundational practices of self-inquiry and interconnectedness that I brought into my everyday life in a serious and intentional way. Coming to practice in a consistent way over the past seven years has served to transmute painful life experiences into a profound reverence for life and a level of mental clarity that I only dreamed of achieving not too long ago. I’ve come to place where my practice is so solid, I’m now in a place of healing ancestral wounds carried down through my lineage. Ceremony serves that process incredibly well. The Higher Haven has been an anchor in my life, a place that I return to again and again and always leave feeling lighter than when I arrived. It is imbued with a very special sort of energy.
As I was telling Paul and my new friend Kellie during my October ceremony visit this past weekend, I always felt a profound sense of relief upon my arrival up the gravel drive. I didn’t feel that old feeling hit this time; later, I realized it was simply because I was already abiding there. There are some things in life that are truly invaluable, and the ability to reside in an inner state of contentment is one of them. I give eternal thanks to the Higher Haven for helping me get there." One Heart! One Mind! One Voice! One Chanupa! Matakuye O’yasin!!!