Our Outstanding October Yoga Weekend

Uh, What a weekend! If you’re a reader of The Higher Haven blog, you’ve heard the line before, I know. But we’ve never actually opened with that interjection. And I’m pretty sparing with exclamation points. And this one truly did live up. Lived up to that Uh in the sense that we lost power early Saturday afternoon people! (Note second exclamation). I’m unsure how widespread state-wide Saturday’s storms were, but power was out all over shadowy Southwest Michigan, from Saugatuck on down. Actually, on second thought, power is not what we lost. Power as defined is the ability or capacity to perform or act effectively, and that capability was certainly not absent. What is it the Bible says? “The light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it” (John 1:5).

We won’t bore you with all the bloodshed; there was very little. Having to look after the people who come here for healing, there was no good way to run a somewhat arduous purification Ceremony, ask folks to get low and work their way through the experience, and then send them back to a lightless house with no ability to take a hot shower. Thank Wakan Tanka for wood stoves, as a roaring fire in the retreat house saved the day, saved the night, saved the weekend. We didn’t miss a (drum) beat, and reports coming back indicate that the blackout only made the experience cozier. “I had the privilege to attend the Higher Haven Yoga retreat with Brighton Yoga Studio over the weekend and can’t say enough good things about it… it’s hard to put into words how special this retreat center is. What it did for me was allow room for growth in my life, the chance to meet like-minded individuals from all walks of life and share in a truly moving experience. I unplugged from everyday life and focused on connecting with nature, meditation, and my own spiritual growth. I would recommend this retreat to anyone and everyone I meet. I can’t wait to go back.” Nothing missing there.

Many thanks Alissa. Thanks go out also to Amy, Donna and Kim, as well as our Rock Man Extraordinaire  J. Scott Campbell, leader of Wild Heart Guide Services and a steady presence amongst the peeps. Thanks too to Guy, Bridget’s companion, a fellow woodsman and Guy who knows how to wield an axe. As to teacher Bridget Erin Sheahan? I was a fan before but I’ve grown to be an ardent devotee. After our modified Fire Ceremony Saturday night, she lead a killer inner-heat building Ashtanga class Sunday morning in our chilly studio. How goes the other heartening quote? “If the world is cold, kindle fires to warm it.” Inner fires people. And on that note, If you’re up for joining us, consider the upcoming November weekend, with a focus more on meditation and spiritual purification. Or come for Bridget’s triumphant return February 22-24, 2019. We’ll close with an excerpt from her Paidraig O’Tuama poem, delivered near the end of our final class.

 “Oremus (Latin for ‘Let us Pray’). So let us pick up the stones over which we stumble, friends, and build altars. Let us listen to the sound of breath in our bodies. Let us listen to the sounds of our own voices, of our own names, of our own fears. Let’s claw ourselves out from the graves we’ve dug. Let’s lick the earth from our fingers. Let us look up and out and around. The world is big and wide and wild and wonderful and wicked, and our lives are murky, magnificent, malleable, and full of meaning. Oremus. Let us pray.”

Man Cave Meditation

Man Cave of this post’s title is a personal josh, “Write Man Cave Article” being my reminder in this week’s list of things to do. The Cave spoken of here is not the proverbial man space or Mantuary, a male retreat or sanctuary down in the basement, garage or out in the back wood shed. This was simply my joke amongst an upstanding circle of men visiting South Haven last week from the Chicago Family Business Council’s Peer to Peer Networking Group associated with DePaul University. Eight owners and entrepreneurs of various businesses were part of a forum group promoting better communication by exploring emotional intelligence skills in the purpose of creating a safe space where the group could explore themselves, their businesses, and dive deep into looking closely at who and what they were, are, and hoped to become. The exercises in preparation for their Michigan getaway asked questions’ like: If you were asked by a child to tell that child what the most important thing you have learned in your life, what would you say? For what do you want to be remembered? And What do you feel about the underlining meaning and purpose of your life?   

Not your traditional Man Cave mindset, as the stereotype is one of more emotional distance. No, Marty, Ken, Joel, Bill, Sean, Scott, Eric and Rick were genuine guys looking for the deeper resources of their own personal and professional life’s experiences. They hoped to incorporate some meditative techniques to meet the challenges that even successful business owners in today’s world still need to negotiate - insomnia, scattered thinking, taking a fragmented approach to daily life that can leave one wanting, even in the face of material abundance. So we did some meditating, we did some Seeing Hearing and Feeling within, a concentration practice that can increase one’s ability to focus, to relax, to gain insights into the nature of life and increase one’s love of self and others.

We talked about the benefits that flow from developing meditative skills, so as to have more of a foundation for keeping up this practice that enhances all areas of life. It’s an honor and a privilege to actually Do a spiritual practice with regularity and devotion in this world and enjoy the immense rewards thereof. It’s even more of a distinction to pass on aspects of spirituality that can be radically life-changing to others. Of course, along with hoping to give this group some of the building blocks of a good foundation, there was the need to mention the steep learning curve that can be the challenging side to embarking on a new meditative path. The good news is any of the members of this group or anyone else interested in rooting down with their practice can join the November Retreat weekend for an exploration of practices that empower the creation of more positive and meaningful lives, both at work and home.

On the Building of a True Tribal Community

Wakan Tanka Tunkashila Pilamaye Chanupa Wakan Cha

Prior to our mind-blowing, mind-training weekend, inaptly titled Mindfulness for the Yoga-less (more on why and the tender touch of Yoga Therapist Samantha “Like the Whiskey” Jameson in the next post), we attended a talk sponsored by the nearby town of Coloma’s North Berrien Historical Museum.. The descriptor stated: “Potawatomi Customs and Traditional Medicines presentation by Andy Jackson, Pokagon Tribal Council member. The Potawatomi inhabited the southwestern portion of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula long before European settlers began arriving in the late 18th and early 19th century. The Pokagon band remains active in the air today, preserving cultural traditions and autonomy as a federally recognized Native American nation. Jackson will present on the customs practiced and medicines used by her people.”

Note her people, as Andy turned out to be a girl. Or a woman rather, fifty-five years of age and a knowledgeable, trusted Medicine Person schooled in the traditional ways of her people. She opened the talk by identifying and thanking members of her tribe whose presence there supported her and gave her strength. Andy identified herself as a member of The Turtle clan of Pokagon Potawatomi’s, a Native American people of the Great Plains, upper Mississippi River and western Great Lakes region who called themselves Neshnabé from Anishinaabe, the “youngest brother" and Bodéwadmi or “keepers of the fire” in the Council of Three Fires with the Ojibwe and Odawa. Her exact Indian name I missed, but it boiled down to “She Who Cooks Killer Food for Her Family”. She then went on tell a fun hours worth of stories that could only be told by someone living the soulful, wholesome life in the center of the center of a traditional culture. There was information on the endless medicines and rituals they perform - from growing traditional tobacco and singing and praying over plants to harvesting milkweed and making soups to mixing mint and lemongrass in Ceremonial teas. But at the heart of it all is what I call a Mind Medicine, an understanding of life and death, the reality of the Creator and a connected tribal community that provides its people happy, meaningful, mentally-sound existences, having little to do with material wealth or notoriety in the world. These are traditional healing ways that have much to offer contemporary western cultures.

Now there was the surface content of the talk which I somewhat recounted and enjoyed — knowledge of plants and animals, stories of knocking on people’s door whose property held a nice caché of some medicine, fun times with family learning the language and upholding the culture. If your’e a Spartan and you’ve headed to or from Michigan State University home to Detroit, you’ve passed the town of Okemos a hundred times, unknowing that Okemos means “Grandma” in Potawatomi. At least I did (Go Green). Beyond her stories, I also enjoyed Andy’s demeanor and the way she thanked her elder who was present. I had a chance to approach Tom who was 94 years old and enjoyed meeting him as well. I asked, “What do they call you? Out of respect, is there a term?”, “Nope, they just call me Tom”, he replied.”When I was younger everyone called me Som.” “Som,?” i asked “Like S-O-M?” “Yeah, Som, that’s it.” “Why did they call you Som?” “You know, I don’t know why.” (we both laughed). Andy also spoke of Ceremonies like the annual thirteen mile Water Walk, a moving prayer open to non-tribal members. I’m always jazzed learning about Michigan tribes, not only because it’s my home and will be for a long time, but because my passion for healing and spiritual knowledge was actually first fired by leaving the area. And to return now to its richness, having been previously unaware, its a perfect reflection of the poet T.S. Elliott’s quote, “"… and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”

So there’s this freshness, a newness, in the realization that’s its all personally, in many ways, come full circle. But there’s more to the feeling. There’s also an awareness - and people I humbly say this, with great joy and awe - that the Healing Ways hidden in the secrets and the dirt, back roads and the kitchen cabinets of Potawatomi Okemos (Grandma’s), are the same Healing Ways upheld here, at The Higher Haven. Same but unique in their own way., as are all clans, let’s say. We share the same four sacred medicines — tobacco, sage, cedar, and sweetgrass. We take part in the sweatlodge and other rituals that allow our people to renew themselves and strengthen themselves. And we carry and honor an authentic Healing Pipe for which we are very grateful. We have fire keepers too, or A fire keeper, and we take care of them, or him, as he does us. Our guy not only fixed the door, the great nemesis of all sweat lodge leaders, he writes haikus. He’s not on parole, and I’m not sure he’s even seen the inside of a jail cell. And when a tree or a rock let’s him know what’s up, he knows how to listen. We have some cool tribal members and we have a lot more coming, as we build our community one warrior at a time. I envy Andy because she doesn’t have to boost her social media posts to build her tiospaye, her family, warmly surrounded by relatives. Yet its an honor to be a bridge to the traditional Ceremonial way of life, provide a transformative experience for people and do our best to live the teaching of Matakuye O’yasin, that we are all truly related. We’ll be teaching a similar workshop to this, a Mindfulness Weekend for anyone who wants to learn techniques to expand their human happiness and take part in a traditional healing Ceremony. Join us the weekend of Saturday and Sunday November 10th-11th and if you do, you may just find yourself a member of our tribe, too,