If you’ve ever visited The Higher Haven, you know we’ve dug deep into our property as well as ourselves over the last 3,196 days, from Halloween night of October 31, 2014, the first night we slept on the land, to today, August 1, 2023. Over ten years, we transitioned from our former life as an advertising copywriter to turning twenty acres in Southwestern Michigan, USA, Earth into one of our world’s most powerful places for personal healing. For almost a decade now wow, we transformed ten acres of northern deciduous forest into the Massasauga Wooded Trail, an old auto body shop into a one-of-a-kind indoor/outdoor yoga studio/meditation zendo, and renovated a 19th century farmhouse into a cozy, Sante Fe style modern retreat lodge. The remaining five acres of vibrantly pristine, seasonally saturated Midwest wetlands remained fairly inaccessible. Welcome the new Wetlands Walkway, a winding wood path taking visitors from the backwoods to the banks of the middle branch of the Black River, South Haven’s main waterway emptying into Lake Michigan seven miles West. That’s my sweet grrl Rosalita aka RoZie AKC: The Higher Haven’s Rose above pounding the boards after our daily, morning walk, Sit! (wink wink) and swim in the Black.
It’s a cool new addition to an already incredible mix of offerings, helping us to better walk our absence of talk during silent retreats and serene afternoons in nature, before circling up for Ceremony. As my teacher the mighty Shinzen Young says, just experiencing the simplified, natural environment of a retreat can be incredibly healing. Add a little spiritual purification work and our everyday ordinary miseries can be converted into extraordinary states of happiness. We’re all working on it. Or at least visitors to The Higher Haven are.
On that note, Pilamaye, Wopila Tanka (great thanks) to first-time visitor Jesse Kane for his following feedback. I gave some thought to whether I wanted to publicly share the latter part of Jesse’s testimonial. While deeply appreciating the spirit of what Jesse expresses below, I’m not much of personal horn tooter; when I start to consider myself some great Spiritual Healer, it just doesn’t feel right. I try and regard myself as just another bozo on the bus, a lucky wasichu or white person to receive the teachings of the Head Bozo, the real scary, real deal Heyoka clown and his Wicasa Wakan Medicine Man teacher who welcomed me into Ceremony in 1999, although it appeared to me like 1879, Rosebud, South Dakota, USA, pointing a crooked finger to the crooked, contrarian road that would become my spiritual walk and ongoing awakening.
Cut to my teacher the venerable John Ashbrook — who will be here for our Fall Comprehensive Spiritual Development Retreat delivering the next class in his series on Developing a True Spiritual Life with a focus on male and female relationships — who’s fond of reminding me that everyone has their path to walk in life, as every great spiritual teacher that has ever lived has had their own problems to work through. Here, we offer the rarest of rare opportunities to work them through Ceremonially. Thanks again to Jesse for his kind words below. We look forward to your visit and being of one heart and one mind with you soon.
“Coming into the weekend I did not know what to expect. My mind wanted details: a picture of the bed I was staying in, an exact itinerary, food menu, pictures of the property etc. Not having these was an exercise in itself. As soon as I pulled into the property and saw the beauty there, my mind was at ease. Paul (and Rosie the dog) were there to great me with a big smile and a warm heart (and a large delicious sandwich). I immediately felt like family. As the other participants arrived, that family grew. The guest house was large and comfortable, a well stocked kitchen, comfortable beds, nice bathrooms. There is plenty of time in the schedule to rest, explore the property, or mingle with others. I want to emphasize that this isn’t wasted time. Simply unplugging from the stress and hustle of life, being in nature, and being around interesting people is Medicine.
I took walk into the woods on the property and within minutes was surrounded by nothing but nature as far as I could see. A few steps later and I arrived at a small river where a couple other participants were sitting for a mediation they noticed me and welcomed me in. Afterwards a few of us went for a swim in the river! This was the theme of the weekend - joy, peace, serenity, community. I am not going to go into detail on the inipi (sweat lodge) because I think the magic is in the unknown and the vulnerability it brings. But it was powerful, very well led, and Paul makes sure everyone feels safe.
I do want to say a few things about Paul. There are many who, in Paul's position, would put themselves on a pedestal. The experience, the mentors, the training that he has is enough to afford anyone an inflated ego. But Paul somehow remains humble. He stands next to you, shoulder to shoulder sharing what he has learned, while honoring his teachers, their traditions and their teachings. I have much gratitude for him and what he is doing. It was a beautiful weekend and I would strongly recommend it to anyone on a spiritual path. I have a feeling I'll be back many times to Higher Haven - hope to see you there.” One Heart! - JK
