On Forest Therapy and The Return of the Great Blue Herons Weekend

Our Connection to Nature includes a rare, near-by Great Blue Heron Rookery that comes to life wildly each Spring.

We’re back, weathering what’s proven to be a fairly mild Midwest Winter, now with late April warmth showing up weeks ahead of a typical Michigan Spring. The 14th warmest winter in recorded history FYI. We’ll take the smoother seasonal segue, especially considering last year this very week we were often subzero, with bare hours above freezing all week. That said, like you, we’re enjoying overall milder Pacific air, with a south westerly jet stream flow slated to promote a more robust surge of spring-like weather across most of the continental U.S. 

All this talk of Spring has us looking forward to getting Outside and the upcoming retreat season; once the frogs begin their evening chorus, the Great Blue Herons aren’t far behind. The annual reappearance of the large, wading bird community that springs up in our nearby wetland’s Blue Heron Rookery is quite the natural wonder. And this year we’re celebrating their return by welcoming all birds and other beings for a late March Nature Immersive Weekend, offering another authentic Forest Therapy Experience. Lead by ANFT trained Wild Heart Guide John Scott Campbell, here’s Scott direct on the healing experience: 

Forest Therapy is a research-based framework for easing the harshness of our modern culture’s effects on health and well-being. You will be offered possibilities to interact with the natural world in a way that can lead to increases in both mental and physical health.  A non-rigorous experience, participation by almost anyone is possible. Walk into the forest.  Sit among the trees.  Feel the breeze.  Watch the ripples on the water.  Find the magic that silently waits for you to become present.  Step into the healing that has always been available to you from the Earth.  Invite the relationship to all living Beings to come alive.

John Muir said, “The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” 

The Universe is calling you home. 

There is a path I can show you.  

Let me open the door.

 For more on Scott’s open invitation to join the Universe, see him at the door at www.wildheartguide.com. And register to reserve your spot for the Blue Heron Weekend here. More shortly on our Saturday monthly meditation class, late Spring comprehensive retreats with John Ashbrook, Fall yoga offerings and more. 

By The Light of the Full "Snow" Or February Moon

We kicked off the 2020 Retreat Season a little early this year, celebrating our monthly Ceremonial overnight the first February weekend. Every Ceremonial weekend this year is scheduled around the full moon, starting with Saturday night’s waxed gibbous, commonly known as the February Snow Moon, but also dubbed the Storm Moon, Hunger Moon, Magha Puja, the Mahamuni Pagoda Festival Moon, the Chinese Lantern Festival Moon and the Full Moon of Tu B’Shevat. Reaching its peak at about 2:30 am Chicago time Sunday, this Snow Moon was also a Supermoon, a full moon that occurs during the moon’s closest approach to earth, making the moon appear fuller and brighter. According to my friend and Vedic scholar James Kelleher, this full moon was in Ashlesha Nakshatra. Ashlesha is symbolized by intertwining serpents, the symbol of western medicine. This could symbolize the extra attention the world is now putting on the Wuhan Coronavirus, reflecting its fast-growing nature. Ashlesha’s desire is “the desire to defeat my enemies”, which may also reflect current political or military conflicts.

On the more individual level, Ashlesha is a deeply psychological and introspective Nakshatra. It makes this time perfect for looking at your programs and stories from a detached, non-judgmental perspective. All of us spin a tangled web of stories about ourselves, a web that colors the substratum of emotion producing unconscious narratives and guiding our actions. Our stories bind us to repetitive patterns of actions and emotions, but noticing our story and unraveling our intertwined experience moment by moment releases us from its grip. And with spiritual practice, that’s a recipe for producing unlimited energy, bliss and freedom. 

Here’s more on recent visitor Sue Ann’s experience. “I had the privilege of participating in a retreat at South Haven’s Higher Haven this weekend. Paul has created a beautiful, relaxing and comfortable facilities to help absorb the teachings. I believe this land to be sacred and participating in Ceremony helped me come to a new awareness of and insight into my spiritual journey. I especially found the living accommodations so very nice (I can’t stress this enough.. it’s all about the details right ladies!) — the house and studio are just lovely and provide everything for total relaxation and personal reflection. If you feel this location in the Universe is tugging at your heart, my recommendation is to heed the call and allow the teachings offered to your Spirit so you can fine-tune your personal path. One Heart, One Mind, One Voice, One Chanupa – Aho Matakuye O’yasin!   

The Aspects of True Love

Anh yêu em ~ Em yêu anh ~ Em thực sự đã giữ tôi… v.v….

Since February 14th was Valentine’s Day, and we’re officially back mid-month and looking forward to some upcoming Spring offerings with John Ashbrook and others, we thought it’d be appropriate to post this Ashbrook archive article, discussing the most important of all topics — Love! It’s interesting to note that the number 14 is a number that speaks of romantic love with a possible Warning of ultimately being unfulfilled. Indeed, romantic love is born of exciting emotions that hopefully will give way to permanent feelings. Unfortunately and too often, people are afraid to feel permanent feelings and their true love does not develop. Instead, the promise of a steady, even-keeled, peaceful relationship becomes the heartbreak of an emotional roller coaster ride, with all its peaks of ecstasy and valleys of despair. Obviously not true love but sadly accepted as normal, this manifest a state of more unfulfilled love.

What then is True Love? True Love is like a glass-smooth lake. There is not a ripple in it. Remember, still waters run deep. True love is a feeling of permanent love and constant peace. True love contains emotion but is not controlled by emotion. Certainly there are peaks of passion and excitement but there is constant peace of mind like the surface of that glass smooth lake. The relationship never falls below the level of peace and tranquility. Therefore, it remains satisfying at all times. True love is a constant state of knowing trust, it is a permanent feeling. You know that your partner will respect your peace of mind and never knowingly provoke any fears or insecurities that you are still working through. You trust this will not happen. You are committed to an all-out effort to do the same. Two responsible people coming together to further enhance and expand what they already have separately. True love always adds to, it never detracts from. True love is both detached and united. It is a high state of spiritual development, and, of course, requires gigantic inner work to achieve.

So how does someone get to this exalted state of being capable of sustaining true love? It is a lifelong journey and as long as you and your partner both pursue the journey, you both move toward completion (i.e. True Love). True love knows no fear. So as individuals, you must search out, identify, work through and release all fear. Once you as individuals have identified your fears, you must then reveal them to your partner. This revealing of your vulnerabilities to each other is crucial because it fosters trust. You are saying to your your partner: “I trust you with my secrets. I real myself to you knowing that you will not use your knowledge of my fears to provoke or control me.” You and your partner will make mistakes in this area and friction will result, but these frictions must be discussed openly because they are the stepping stones to growth in the relationship. Do not fear mistakes and when they are made, do not condemn or judge harshly either yourself or your loved one. Forgive freely and move on. True Love forgives and forgets.

As you reveal your fears to each other, you will be surprised to find that many of your fears are mutual and become mirrors to each other. Your partner reveals a fear and in doing so they become a mirror by which you can look into your own soul. This activity of revealing yourselves to each other will become in itself very fulfilling and as you discover more about yourself, generating great excitement. You can’t wait to get home to share your inner discoveries with each other in an atmosphere of true harmony and trust. The more you discovery and reveal, the more you open yourself to infinite revelation and personal growth. You and your partner become calm and secure in your constant and ever-changing state of true love. This is the path to True Love and it is self-nourishing and ever-satisfying. It heals the past, sustains the present and guarantees the future.