Tending the Fire

Have you ever witnessed the creation of fire? It is such a profound privilege, one that strikes a cord deep in our ancestral memory.

Fire, to our modern minds, is as simple as striking a match, flicking a lighter or - going back to elementary school science experiments - using the sun and a magnifying glass. The actual creation of fire, however, is a complex endeavor that requires much effort, preparation and focus.

Similarly, though its initial spark might be as simple as lighting a match, maintaining a relationship is a complex endeavor requiring effort and attention. Using a bow, string and spindle stick to make fire is not easy, and neither is keeping a relationship alive.

When building a fire, the first order of business is finding the right location. We need to be mindful, for example, of where the wind is coming from and which way the smoke will flow, yet aware that it could all change in an instant. In our own lives our relationships are impacted by external conditions and circumstances over which we have little control. Unpredictable winds of change such as the economy, employment status, illness or accidents can throw us for a loop. The qualities of our living space and physical environment can also impact our feelings about and the nature of our relationships.

Next, the area where the fire will be built needs cleansing, preparation. We create a circle of safety, containment and protection. Clearing the space of stones, branches and debris is analogous to “cultivating our garden” - doing the internal preparatory work of clearing obstacles to love within ourselves so that we can attract a compatible partner instead of subconsciously sabotaging the endeavor, as well as minimizing the potential for conflicts in the future.

Finding the right kind of wood is important. Some burns more easily than others; some burns too fast; some creates more smoke than others; some can even be toxic when burnt. Interestingly, the Spanish word for wood, madera, can also be used in reference to having the right mettle, caliber, or character. What kind of qualities are you looking for in a partner?

Another preparatory step is building a little nest, out of twigs, dry grass, moss and other tinder material for capturing the initial spark. If there is no container to catch the spark and hold it, where it can be tended to, it will not survive. The same can be said about relationships; the container here applies to physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual space.

How the wood pile is structured is important. Allowing room for the fire to breathe is critical; if the wood is placed densely the flame can be stifled. Within a pyramidal structure we add twigs at first, gently, then larger kindling. What is the foundation of your fire? Is it steady, balanced? Can it hold the weight and keep the flame of love going or will it come crashing down? Who is your support system? Leaning on our partners for our happiness and fulfillment is not only suffocating; it is unfair and a sure recipe for failure. We need to give each other time and space to breathe, and ultimately, the responsibility for fulfilling our life’s purpose is ours.

Friction creates fire. Once we create and capture that initial spark of fire, we need to maintain it. To keep the flame going we blow ever so gently on it; it is more like breathing on it, breathing it to life. Love, too, usually requires a little friction. Too much alike-ness can be stagnating. When we are blessed with the unpredictable spark of love, we must tend carefully to it, lovingly, ever attentive to and mindful of its needs. During times of friction, breathe! Deep breathing has an immediate calming effect and helps navigate the emotional reactivity, bringing choice back into the equation.

Once the fire is going, we still need to mind it as the weight of the logs shifts or the wind changes direction. We will need to make adjustments, reposition logs, adding new ones - new sources of energy and life. Add too much and we stifle it, too little and the fire can become extinguished. Similarly, our relationships require constant vigilance and maintenance, but not oppressively or breathlessly. The important thing is to be present, conscious, mindful - paying attention and making necessary adjustments. Flexibility is key, and the willingness to let go of the way things were for how they now are and what they may become.

Love is in the details. By gifting them with our attention we discover what our partners like, what turns them on, physically and spiritually. For that is how the heart is wooed, seduced. Surprising them with little gifts--even a flower or stone--just to let them know we are thinking about them, lets them know we have made an effort to know who they are and what they like. When we email them a song or an article that we know will interest them, they know that we were paying attention to what they were saying and what ignites their passion. When we give them something, such as framed photograph that captures a special moment, we honor and "ritualize" the relationship.

This is how we become tenders of the fire of love: We listen to the whispers of their soul. We become soul whisperers.

Asking for what we need, and finding playful ways to together meet those needs, is equally important. For though we are fire keepers, in a relationship we are also deeply a part of the fire itself. Indeed, that is at the heart of the creation of fire...we become one with it. In the words of Teilhard de Chardin: “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”

Don't Forget: Christian, author of "Coming Out Spiritually" and founder of Mastery of Breath, along with Joe Weston, author of "Mastering Respectful Confrontation" and founder and presenter of Respectful Confrontation workshops and lectures, will be leading the retreat, Waking the Open-Hearted Warrior: Empowerment Camp, June 16-22nd, at the Feathered Pipe Ranch.

Join Us...Occupy Your Heart & Transform Your World!

Christian de la Huerta

Christian de la Huerta, writer, speaker, retreat and group facilitator for the past 20 years, is author of the award-winning and critically-acclaimed Coming out Spiritually and the forthcoming The Soul of Power. Christian is founder of Mastery of Breath, a school, program and system of training based on the principles of Transformational Breathwork. Christian is creator and teacher of several self-development programs focusing on self-awareness, advanced spiritual practices and growth, understanding sex and relationships, mechanisms of the ego and projection, life purpose, and reclaiming personal spiritual power. More about his work may be found at: www.SoulfulPower.com.

Subscribe to "Teachers' Cabin" in a reader

Sanctuary & Retreat

As the days are beginning to become noticeably brighter, we are looking forward to seeing you at the Feathered Pipe Ranch this summer!

It's not too early to start planning a week of renewal and rejuvenation for body and spirit at a Feathered Pipe Retreat. And with that, we would love to as well welcome any friends or family members with whom you might like to share the sanctuary and wonder of the Feathered Pipe. If you know someone who hasn't been to Feathered Pipe before or an old friend we haven't seen in a couple years, we encourage you  to invite them to join you.

In order to  support you in sharing the magic of the Feathered Pipe, we are offering our 2012 Feathered Pipe "Bring A Friend" Promotion:

We will give you and a friend $100 off the cost of ANY 2012 Feathered Pipe summer retreat at the time of registering for the same retreat. Each friend must either be new to Feathered Pipe or has not  been to a Feathered Pipe Retreat in Montana or abroad within the past two years.

Bring one friend; they get $100 off, you get $100 off.  Bring three friends; they each get $100 off, you get $300 off.  Bring fifteen friends, and your workshop would be close to free (depending on workshop tuition and accommodation choice)!  All they need to do is tell us that you referred them when they call us or when we do our follow up call if they register online.

Offer good on all 2012 Summer Feathered Pipe Foundation Retreats at the Feathered Pipe Ranch and Blacktail Ranch.  Accrued discount may not exceed value of workshop tuition and accommodation cost. All or a portion of the discount may be transferred to another person.

This promotion may not be combined with another Feathered Pipe promotion or discount.
Accrued discount must be used during the 2012 Feathered Pipe summer season. Offer ends March 31.

Don't Forget: The 2012 Feathered Pipe Raffle will be drawn on the auspicious day of February 29th! There is still time buy a $100 ticket for a 1-in-25 chance at a FREE or 1/2 Price Retreat during the the 2012 Feathered Pipe Summer Season!

2012 Feathered Pipe Retreat Raffle

For Further Information & Registration Contact kim@featheredpipe.com or Call (406) 442-8196.

As well, please sign up for the Feathered Pipe Mailing List so you can stay abreast of all events and promotions!

Here is your "Good Chance"...Come, Join Us & Dream Your World!!!

Subscribe to "News from the Feathered Pipe" in a reader

Peace in the Garden

After a challenging drive across the country I am now in DC! I am enjoying getting settled here. It feels good.

As soon as I arrived I headed up to NY to attend a discussion with Deepak Chopra, Arianna Huffington and Dylan Ratigan from MSNBC. Ratigan just wrote a new book called Greedy Bastards, where he clearly outlines how we can move from economic free-for-all to economic integrity.

Lora O’Connor from CitizenGlobal, who works closely with Deepak Chopra, experienced my training in LA where I worked with members of Occupy LA, and asked me to attend the discussion.. She sees, as I do, clearly how Respectful Confrontation can play an important part in the emerging discussion around social and economic responsibility and the need to communicate with those you see as adversaries.

For me it was a gift to meet these great voices of our time and also hear them confirm the need and importance of opening up dialogue and learning how to collaborate in a way that is fierce and respectful. Deepak Chopra kept using the term “ruthless compassion.” Sounds a lot like Respectful Confrontation to me!

I had a chance to give them my book and talk with them and others about my work. I met some incredible people who are devoted to creating positive change for all. There were also a number of members of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Dylan Ratigan said to me, “I’ve been waiting for your book. Thank you for writing it!”

It is my intention to keep this discussion open on this scale. I still believe that congress, business and especially the Occupy movement must find ways to overcome the anger, prejudices and past “hurts” and figure out a way to communicate with respect and honor. I hear over and over again how grateful people are that I am providing the tools to have those tough discussions. I am excited for the possibilities. 2012 is going to be an amazing year!

Note: Joe Weston, author of  Mastering Respectful Confrontation and the founder and presenter of Respectful Confrontation workshops and lectures, along with Christian de la Huerta, author of "Coming Out Spiritually" and founder of Mastery of Breath, will be leading the retreat, Waking the Open-Hearted Warrior: Empowerment Camp, June 16-22nd, at the Feathered Pipe Ranch.

Join Us...Occupy Your Heart & Transform Your World!

Joe Weston

Joe Weston is an international workshop facilitator, author, consultant, personal life coach, creative social activist, and advocate for peace. He is the author of the fast selling Mastering Respectful Confrontation and the founder and presenter of Respectful Confrontation workshops and lectures. Joe brings a wealth of insight to his work based on many teachings, including Tai Chi Chuan, Buddhism, Taoism, the teachings of Jesus, contemporary communication models, as well as his experience in theater and various organizational trainings. His clients and students include the Dutch Consulate, NASA, political refugees in the Balkans, inmates at a California prison, corporate and non-profit employees from every continent, social activists, artists, middle school children, teachers, and parents. He also volunteers for the Liberation Prison Project, teaching Buddhism to inmates. He has been integrally involved in numerous peace movements and projects including the current Occupy Oakland campaign. For move information on Joe's activities and thoughts visit: www.respectfulconfrontation.com

Between Here and There

Five years ago I arrived in Pune, India for the first time.  At that time I was intending to stay only for three months and attend classes at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute and then return to life in America. As time went by, I found myself more captivated with the world outside of the institute than within. I found it quite curious that in the midst of such daily struggle and chaotic conditions that the majority of the people I encountered and observed, young and old, seemed genuinely content and at peace, if not joyful within their lives. I compared this to the world I had come from in the West and found the difference quite disquieting. I asked myself, “Why and what is it that enables these people to experience and endure such hardships and still smile and waddle their heads in such a welcoming and joy-filled manner? And why with all the excess and comfort that we have in the West are we still so often unhappy, if not miserable, feeling that we are lacking something?”

I had my ideas at that time, some based in reality and some based on the idealism that so many of us have about the East, and India in particular. I ended up deciding to stay here in India, and since that time I have experienced so many facets of this culture and society without really ever leaving Pune itself. I in no way would define myself as “experienced” now or knowing of the deeper truths of India. In fact, with time and experience I find myself ever more humbled and feeling that the ocean in which I try to swim is more vast and fathomless than I imagined. I am a small child within a culture of myriad traditions that moves an entire land of 1.3 billion people forward and as well roots them. It inspires such diversity and vibrant expression of being while at the same time pulls like gravity grounding all, and unfortunately at times, limits personal freedom in sacrifice for the well-being and/or honor of the whole.

Up to this point, I have studied for three and one half years within the University of Pune’s Sanskrit department, feeling as if I have been simply trying to tread water more of the time than actually swim. I find myself overwhelmed at the depth of the language system as well as the innumerable philosophies and sciences that have come from it. It is a universe within itself, and in fact, an expression of this exactly with all its contradictions and unresolvable questions. To comprehend fully the makeup of even a droplet from this great ocean requires absolute dedication for a lifetime, if not more. I am in awe of my fellow students and teachers who have done just this, comprehending the enormity of the tasks and the sacrifice required. To say one is learning Sanskrit is an admirable challenge to take on and aspire to, but to truly know Sanskrit is of the highest level of dedication and practice.

During this time, I have worked within the slum areas of Pune, originally being drawn by the brightness within these children’s eyes and their exuberance of expression. Having almost nothing, these children still love life and taste it fully. They taught me how to clear the film from my eyes and experience what is here now and to be immersed within. When there is little opportunity to have more, one learns to appreciate and find satisfaction in what there is. I did my best to teach English and art, and in trade these children taught me to live. I am ever indebted to these children as well as their parents that were so eager and gracious to welcome me into their world. To learn for betterment of one’s future is one thing, but to learn while sharing of joyful expressions of now is to truly be alive. I am left wondering what could actually be accomplished if these children with so little were given the resources and attention that they deserve.  Regardless, somehow in the midst of the depravity there is still a true sense of contentedness and joyfulness.  And in spite of, or possible even because of the difficulty encountered, there is a genuine kindness and looking out for one another that extends throughout.

I have also now spent two years within the world of IT (Information Technology) in which India is fast becoming a global leader. It is a cutthroat world where because of the disparity in the value of the India rupee as compared to the dollar, Indian-based companies can take great advantage of the market. On top of this, IT companies within India itself undercut each other to the bare bone. Working hours for marketing and engineering staff are typically 12-16 hours, six days a week with project deadlines requiring compulsory all-night shifts and seven-day workweeks at times. It is truly a brutal existence for most within the industry with only the larger, well-established companies able to have what we in the West would call more regular hours of service. Somehow amidst it all, my colleagues take it in stride, laughing and accommodating with grace the needs of the moment, tolerating angry, demanding Americans who wanted their product yesterday, and irate bosses and managers that think they should give even more for the company. These twenty-thirty year old computer engineers have come from families that are looking to them to bring home the money that will support the entire family, ensuring that the parents will be taken care of when they get old. As well, there is the hope from parents that the prestige of the job will impart respect to the family that will enable that boy or girl to marry with another good family.

And when it comes to marriage, it is another world completely from the one Americans know. Here, arranged marriages are the norm with “love marriages” being the rare exception. It extends throughout all levels of society with parents expecting this honor to choose or at least give approval, and children wanting to respect their parent’s wishes after being loved and cared for throughout their childhood. Here, above all else the family’s honor and cohesion are most important, and this comes as quite unfamiliar and strange to one brought up in a culture where love between the potential husband and wife, and personal freedom is everything. Here, love is of a different sort than Americans are used to. I, through my own struggles here and within America, have come to see the value in both systems feeling that if the best parts of each could be somehow fused together that we would truly have a vibrant and sustainable community, one where personal freedom and expression of self are aspired to and communal good and cohesive wholeness are rooted within. At the same time, I wonder how this could actually ever happen.

It is funny after being immersed for five years within a foreign culture that I wished to call my own, that the most common question that was and is asked is “Why are you here?” For many Indians there is the aspiration to go to the West, to somehow make it to America and live the “American Dream”. To them my aspiration to learn their languages, their culture, their arts and music makes no sense at all and is laughable. From my perspective, it makes perfect sense. We in the West are never satisfied, continually looking forward, continually looking for what is next. I believe this is because of one reason only – we have no traditions that we are so deeply rooted within. We travel amidst the stars not quite sure where we came from. For Indians who have been immersed in a culture and tradition for thousands of years, the ground on which they walk is well known to them; it emanates within every cell of their being. For many of the current generations there is the desire to reach for stars unknown while the gravity of tradition still pulls heavy on them. With the coming of globalization and the internet, it is a challenging and exciting time for us all, but within that there is also trepidation and dis-ease on both sides. Where is that middle ground to be found and how does one who is standing there honor both tradition and self? I am not sure, but I do know it’s somewhere in between and look forward to it’s coming.

Eric D. Myers

Eric D. Myers is IT and Marketing Director for the Feathered Pipe Foundation. He is overseeing the re-design and development work that is taking place currently. He post the articles here on the website and on social networking sites, and promotes the foundation's Retreats & Tours as well as our Good Works projects. He will be assisting in increasing the visibility of the Feathered Pipe as well as developing a community here online and through our programs.

We at the Feathered Pipe Foundation are in the midst of a transition. It is a process of defining who we are and what role we have played in the past in nurturing such a vibrant and varied community, understanding of the resources, experience, and wisdom we bring to the table, and envisioning how we will face the challenges of our present and future with steadfast and hope-filled resolve. We welcome your input and support, and look forward to creating tomorrow together with you. Forward your thoughts and suggestions to eric@featheredpipe.com. This is your community. Join Us!!!

Subscribe to "Many Paths of Yoga" in a reader

Michael Fraser, CMT

Almost everyone knows about aromatherapy--and most people probably experience it when they get a massage.  But, very few people use aromatherapy in their daily lives as an important tool for stress reduction and helping the body heal. Here are some examples of very powerful "aromatherapy tools" to add to your "radical self care" tool box:

Thieves Oil - strange name, but important to know about in the winter.  This is a oil combination made by Gary Young of Young Living Oils.  This oil combination (mainly clove, oregano, thyme, garlic) is the perfect "virus barrier" in the winter time when you are around people with colds.  Why is it called Thieves Oil?  It is based on the notion that during the bubonic plague, gypsies and thieves believed that they could not get sick by wearing this combination of herbs around their necks--so they could get loot, without getting sick.   You can use this oil after you are sick. It can actually be drank it by adding one or two drops to tea, stirring it in so it doesn't get directly on your lips without being dissolved some, otherwise it burns.   You can use it to clean up, like a cleanser, after you or loved ones have had a cold in your house, laundry, etc.

Lavender Oil - is the easiest to find and most versatile of essential oils. It calms the system, fights infection (yes even internally), sooths burns and in general is just a great stress reliever when you add a few drops to your "healing bath".  It's great for helping kids to calm down and can be used anytime you need to relieve stress.  Put 3-4 drops in a diffuser, or try using the simplest diffuser of all - a Kleenex in a glass or mug on your desk or table!

Peppermint Oil - revives, awakens, and stimulates.  It is also anti-viral, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial (just like Lavender and Thieves Oil).  Peppermint is great for using during your shower in the morning to wake up, and can be used as mouthwash.   It really makes any environment smell good, and you can cook with it as well, such as in brownies!

Orange Oil - any of the citrus oils, orange, lemon, tangerine--are amazing for waking people up like peppermint, but also can be used as natural cleaners.  For those sensitive to all the "store-bought" spray cleaners, just a couple drops of lemon oil on the floor, counter, whatever, does all the cleaning you need in a completely healthy way.  And these oils are known to be "mood elevators."

You can combine different combinations of oils if you really get into this!  Buy a book on aromatherapy or just go to your local health food store and ask about them.  Eucalyptus helps with breathing difficulties and sinuses, Rose helps with women's health.  You can get these relatively inexpensively, but know that the quality of some oils is better than others. In my opinion, the Aura Cacia brand at the health food store is fine, but Young Living Oils are really the best!

Michael Fraser

Michael Fraser, CMT is a shaman, bodyworker and energy healer. He is known for his very thorough "Deep-Process Transformational Healing Sessions" that combine cutting edge bodywork with traditional shamanic and energy techniques to help heal chronic and "stuck" health challenges.

He practices internationally in cooperation with medical doctors, psychotherapists, yoga teachers and other health professionals who trust him to bring a powerful energy healing component to their clients. His clients are especially grateful for the immensely practical quality of his insights and counsel. Long-time clients, many of whom travel great distances to give themselves the gift of a session with Michael, praise his powerful intuition in diving deeply and precisely into the places in their hearts and bodies where openings are most needed - always with love, always with joy, always with compassion.

Michael has practiced at the Feathered Pipe for nearly 15 years and developed and refined his technique at the Ranch. He considers Feathered Pipe to be a spiritual home and loves practicing here as it is ideally suited for deep healing work. He as well as our other Massage & Bodywork specialist will be posting here once a week to assist in empowering you to more deeply care for your body, mind and spirit. For more information about Michael and his services, Visit: www.michaelfraserspiritcoaching.com or "Like" his Facebook page at Michael Fraser Spirit Coaching.
Subscribe to "Health and Wellness" in a reader

Bhakti Moves

"In many shamanic societies, if you came to a medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions. When did you stop dancing? When did you stop singing? When did you stop being enchanted by stories? When did you stop finding comfort in the sweet territory of silence?"

~ Gabrielle Roth

I’ve heard this quote over the years, worded slightly differently from various sources. However, the gist remains the same, for me: Might healing have something to do with getting back into the flow of unabashed self-expression? Might feelings of dis-ease have something to do with holding back who we are, for fear of what others might think about us? Maybe feeling really alive and whole has something to do with becoming more child-like, more open, more vulnerable; moving in our own unique way, speaking our truth, being brave enough to share our stories of who we are, throwing our arms up to the blue sky shouting, “Yes, this is ME!” and then basking in the golden silence. Have you done any of that lately?

Children are incredible teachers; amazing to watch. They are masters at having fun. Children move freely, spontaneously, in their bodies. They dance, they jump, they shimmy and shake; totally unconcerned with how they might look to anyone watching.  Children hold back nothing about letting their voices through. They sing songs, they shout with exuberance and exclaim their wonder about the world, and they make it vocally clear how they feel about things. Not only do children dance and sing, but they are completely enchanted by all kinds of stories; ones they love to have read to them, fantastic stories they make up, stories of how they found the most beautiful leaf in the ditch, or the story of how a squirrel found a nut in the yard today.

Somewhere along the way in our lives, we’ve stopped doing this. Somewhere along the line, we were told that our dance looks silly, that our singing isn’t pretty, that our story doesn’t fit in with what other people are saying, that our ideas of fun are childish, rather than child-like. We throw water and sand onto our inner fires, squelch our uniqueness and our passion about life, and become serious “grownups” who rein in who we are to fit into the adult mold…and wonder why we might feel so stressed-out and dissonant.

After seriously studying hatha yoga (the movement-oriented yoga) for over 12 years, I realized I had grown to love the territory of silence, but had stopped dancing, singing, and listening to stories. Interestingly, my life was feeling quite dispirited, despite my deep spiritual studies. Something small, yet huge, was missing; however I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. Unbeknownst to me, it was bhakti yoga.

Bhakti Yoga is the devotional yoga of the heart. In the world of bhakti, we use our emotions and our longing for God as the channel for experiencing conscious union with The Divine. Bhakti yoga includes things such as poetry (like Rumi and Kabir), mantra, music, singing, chanting, mythological stories, dance, prayer, and devotion as the vehicle for the experience of divine connection.  In response to the quote at the beginning of this article, bhakti was what I needed. And a lot of it!

The result of my newfound hatha/bhakti merger is a new practice that I have created called Bhakti Moves. Fueled by my love for bhakti yoga and inspired by the 5 Rhythms work of Gabrielle Roth, Bhakti Moves is a fusion of my most deepest passions: Freedom Style yoga, meditation, devotion, dance, music, rhythm and percussion, and expressing my exuberance for the awesomeness of this life.

Bhakti Moves is a deeply healing and cathartic way of practicing yoga, without the mat. It’s a practice of not holding back even one ounce of who you are. It looks like dance on the outside, but it’s an inner-work experience of reviving your soul, and having fun in the process.

In this practice, we move through five basic sequential sections of work: Waves, Patterns, Reconfiguration, Celebration, and Devotion.  These sections of movement, music, and emotions take us right into the center of our hearts; right into the center of the experience of inseparable union with The Divine.

We start with slow, grounded, primal waves of breath and movement; getting in touch with the deep undercurrent of the ocean of creation, as it comes up through us and finds expression. Waves is all about experiencing ourselves as the slow, fluid morph of swirling energy; constantly moving change.

The waves of this primal energy find expression in the world as infinite configurations of specific and unique patterns. So, in this next section of work, Patterns, we let ourselves drop into percussive, rhythmic patterns, using our feet, our hands, our voice, our whole Self. We become comfortable working with repetitive movement and sound patterns and letting them change when they no longer serve us and need to change.

The third section, Reconfiguration, has become my favorite lately. Sometimes in our lives, the pattern shift is so dramatic that the intense energy of change can be overwhelming. Instead of resisting this energy of the unknown and never-before-seen newness, we embrace it by dancing it and letting it move through us. We completely let go of what we think we know and move with wild abandon, letting this beautiful energy of transformational change begin to free blockages and reconfigure ourselves, helping us find our new footing in the world.

Celebration is a direct result of reconfiguration. Joy abounds! In this section of work, we honor who we are, we honor the group dynamic, and give ourselves the freedom to be moved in a brand new way. Here we find our true dance, our real joy.

The result of all the work up to now is deep gratitude, which takes us straight into a profound space of Devotion; full body prayer and communion with The Divine. Gesture comes through, spontaneous mudras surface, and we find ourselves completely open and alive, in this beautiful space of Infinite Communion together. Then we bring it all back to center and all back to the silence, where we began.

We’ll be incorporating a couple of sessions of Bhakti Moves at my June retreat at the Feathered Pipe Ranch. Bhakti Moves is the most freeing thing I’ve ever done and I can’t wait to share it with you live in Montana!

Here’s to reclaiming the beauty of our dance, the truth of our song, the importance of our story, and setting into the sweet territory of silence together.  Ommm….

Carie Garrett

Carie Garrett will be leading the retreat, Freedom Style Yoga: Shaken and Stirred with a Twist of Bhakti at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, June 9 - 15, 2012. She is a senior teacher of Los Angeles-based yoga master Erich Schiffmann. Since 2001 she has worked extensively with Schiffmann as his apprentice and teaching assistant at workshops, retreats, and teacher trainings throughout the country. Carie teaches a fluid and creative practice based on inner listening, self-trust, and intuitive alignment. Her unique teaching style weaves together a love of innovative movement from a dance background and a strong knowledge of anatomy and kinesiology from 25 years as a group exercise instructor. Her classes are spontaneous, fun, outside the box, and reflect her passion and real-life experiences of living the yoga in the world on a daily basis. Carie teaches Freedom Style Yoga classes in College Station, Texas, and workshops and retreats both state and nation-wide. For more information, visit: www.cariegarrett.com.

Subscribe to "Teachers' Cabin" in a reader

Lissa Rankin, MD

Welcome to The Pink Medicine blog series, wherein I share with you my vision for a new type of health care model, a model I call “Pink Medicine.” In my last post, The Difference Between Sick, Well, & Whole, I talked about my father's death and said that I learned that there is a critical difference between healing and curing.  Today I want to expound a bit on that difference.

Key to my Pink Medicine model is the notion that you can heal yourself from illness, trauma, loss - whatever is holding you back from skyrocketing to the stratosphere in all aspects of your life.

But this notion is contingent upon one key bit of semantics.

While I also believe you can cure yourself, one gigantic lesson I learned in the past few years is that healing is not the same as curing. You can cure without healing, and you can heal without curing. In medical school and residency, most of our training focused on curing. Very little attention was focused on healing. You might heal a fracture or heal a gaping surgical wound. But healing a person? Nah. Woo woo, hocus pocus horseshit.

But healing and curing are inherently different. Curing means “eliminating all evidence of disease,” while healing means “becoming whole.”

In 16 years of being a doctor, I’ve learned this key distinction and it has revolutionized the way I practice medicine. A few health conditions are easily cured. A single bladder infection can be treated with an antibiotic, and three days later, it’s cured (though you may now have a raging yeast infection).  A leg fracture may be cast, and two months later, the problem is cured. A basal cell carcinoma (skin cancer) can be lopped off, never to return again.

But most health conditions are not so easily cured - things like migraine headaches, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, fibromyalgia, chronic pelvic pain, arthritis, and emphysema. Most health outcomes are much more successfully treated if they are healed from the core.

For example, you can give someone with high blood pressure three pills that barely control their hypertension, but until they learn to manage the high stress of their job in healthy ways (or quit their job), you’re unlikely to “cure” their high blood pressure. The pills are merely a Band-aid.

If someone has ovarian cancer, you can cut out the cancer and treat any remaining cells with chemotherapy. But you can only “cure” cancer if the underlying physical/ emotional/ nutritional/ life imbalances are healed. Otherwise, the cancer just comes back.

In the case of chronic illness or emotional disease, “cure” is only lasting when healing happens on a deeper level.

Once I knew in my heart that there is a difference between healing and curing, I had this “A-HA!” moment that led me to realize that everything I had been taught in medical school was suspect and needed to be reevaluated. I spent 12 years of medical education learning how to cure people, but no one once spoke to me about healing.  The past five years have been about that process for me, and I will share part of what I have concluded with you in this blog post series.

What if those of us in need of healing - and those of us committed to helping others overcome illness, trauma, or loss - aim to mix healing and curing? Whoa, Nelly! Now we’re talking, baby. When you marry healing and curing, you pave the way for magic to happen.

What Does It Mean To Heal?

Before we move any further forward, let me comment on what I think it means to heal and how I’ll talk about those who help facilitate the process. First, a note about the word “healer.” Please, don’t back away just because I’m using this word. I know it’s a loaded word, conjuring images of Baptist preachers laying on hands and bellowing, “You are HEALED, brother!” (No offense to Baptist preachers, of course.) Or perhaps you think of the ancient medicine woman gathering herbs to pound into a potion.

But hear me out. My intention is to expand the definition of what it means to be a healer, such that the term includes, not just the man who practices the wisdom of native medicine or the “woo woo” practices of a New Age woman in a muumuu, but also the Western medical doctor, the nurse, the Chinese medicine doctor, the OR tech, the yoga teacher, and YOU!

We healers are numerous. And we come with varied backgrounds, different belief systems, and unique tools in our healing toolbox, and yet, we are all still healers. But YOU are the most potent healer of all.

It’s Easy To Get Overwhelmed

The scope of what’s broken in our health care system may seem daunting - and it is. But my goal with The Pink Medicine blog post series is to help us work from the inside out. The US government is spinning their wheels, trying to work on changing the external aspects of what is broken in our health care industry. But that will only take us so far. We must reclaim the heart of healing, and it has to start with YOU.  Changing the skeleton of our system, without focusing on the heart, defeats the whole purpose. When something lacks heart, the whole thing keels over and dies, which is what’s at risk of happening to our current system.

So instead of tackling the big behemoth of our entire health care industry, I’ll focus in this series on expanding what it means to be healthy and whole. I’ll remind you that you know your body way better than anyone and that the power you have to heal yourself will blow you away.

I’m not suggesting that you won’t still seek out the guidance of other healers. When you need an antibiotic for that strep throat, by all means, go to your doctor if that’s where your healing inner wisdom leads you! When you throw out your back, call your chiropractor if that’s who you believe can help! When your husband cheats on you, get thee to a therapist, if therapy resonates with your spirit. Go ahead and seek cure.

And don’t forget about preventative health. Get your Pap smear, mammogram, and colonoscopy. Get your blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose levels checked.

But unless you do the deeper work, these things are only Band-aids. Healing goes to the heart and changes everything, if you approach it the right way.

My vision of Pink Medicine is to create a huge healing round table at which you, as the patient, sit alongside those of us whose healing services you seek out. You are a vital, valued member of that healing round table and, in my opinion, your voice matters most. You get the seat of honor. The rest of us all have tools in our toolboxes, for sure. And when we gather our tools together from different disciplines in a loving, collaborate, integrative way, with you at the center of our efforts, magic can happen.

But only if you are an active participant.

My goal in visioning Pink Medicine is to create a heart-centered healing movement that shifts the tectonic plates of how we receive and deliver healing services. This model might make some people uncomfortable. After all, we’re used to passively showing up at the doctor’s office, handing over our power and our intuition, and blindly doing as we’re told by the people in the white coats.

But it’s time to deal with the discomfort and make the change - NOW.

Are you on board? If so, make sure you’ve signed up to be a Pink Medicine Revolutionary so I can keep you in the loop as my ideas about all this develop.  And stay tuned for my next post in the series wherein I offer a Global Apology on Behalf of Physicians Everywhere.

As well, don't forget to join us at the Feathered Pipe Ranch this summer, July 28 - Aug. 3rd, for "Heal Yourself, Heal the World." It's time for us to take back our power and become the masters of our own body, mind, spirit and world!

Lissa Rankin, MD

Lissa Rankin, MD is an OB/GYN physician visionary, an author, a speaker, a consultant to visionaries, a professional artist, and founder of the women’s health and wellness community, OwningPink.com. Discouraged by the broken, patriarchal health care system, she left her medical practice in 2007 only to realize that you can quit your job, but you can’t quit your calling. This epiphany launched her on a journey of discovery that led her to become a leader in the field of mind/body medicine, which she blogs about at OwningPink.com and is writing about in her third book, Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof You Can Heal Yourself (Hay House, 2013). She teaches self-healing to both patients and visionaries who seek to live more vital, whole, balanced lives. She is leading a revolution to feminize how health care is received and delivered by encouraging collaboration, fostering self-healing, reconnecting health care and spirituality, empowering patients to tap into the mind’s power to heal the body, and encouraging women not to settle for being merely well, but to strive for living vital, joyful, authentic lives full of “mojo.”

Subscribe to "Teachers' Cabin" in a reader

Pizza Margherita

Homemade pizza is fairly easy and enjoyable to make, as there are endless delicious toppings. At the Feathered Pipe it is always a big hit and typically served on a busy evening like arrival day. Pizza is essentially a flat bread covered with various toppings, a method which many cultures and cuisines share and has been popular in the Mediterranean region for centuries. Modern pizza owes its origin to Neapolitan cuisine, first with tomato and later with cheese. This pizza dough recipe is based on a Cook's Illustrated recipe I found in Baking Illustrated. I made a classic Margherita pizza with tomato sauce, basil and fresh mozzarella, originally served in 1889 to Queen Margherita of Savoy to resemble an Italian flag. Pizza Margherita is a delicious, fresh and simple way to highlight homemade pizza dough.

Dough Ingredients

Ingredients:

Dough

2 c flour plus more for shaping dough

1 tsp salt

1 ¼ tsp yeast

¼ c water, warm

½ c water, room temperature

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp olive oil plus more for bowl

Tomato Sauce

Topping

1 c tomato sauce

1 c fresh mozzarella

½ c fresh basil leaves

2 tsp olive oil

Recipe:

1. Place warm water in a small mixing bowl. Sprinkle yeast on water and let stand until yeast swells and dissolves (5-10 minutes). Combine flour and salt in mixing bowl.

2. Once yeast is ready, add room temperature water, olive oil and honey. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently mix to combine. Knead dough until dry to touch and elastic (about 7 minutes), adding additional flour as necessary. Place kneaded dough in a large well-oiled mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size (about 2 hours).

3. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Preheat baking stone as well, if one is being used for pizza.

Formed Pizza Dough

4. Punch dough down to deflate, turn onto a floured working surface, divide into two equal balls and cover with a damp towel. Let dough relax in balls for 10-20 minutes.

5. Working with each ball by hand, shape the dough into a 10" round or other size and shape as desired. Place dough on a flour pizza peel, if using a baking stone, or a parchment lined cookie sheet. Brush the surface of formed pizza dough with olive oil.

6. Spread ½ c tomato sauce on dough, leaving a 1" edge and arrange ¼ c basil leave and ½ c mozzarella on the tomato sauce. Place pizza in oven on either a baking sheet or pizza stone and bake until golden brown, 8-12 minutes depending upon thickness of pizza. Repeat process with remaining dough and toppings.

7. Serve pizza immediately.

Makes Two 10" pizzas

Teal Mittelstadt has been part of the Feathered Pipe family for many, many years, and worked in our kitchen for five years. She now lives in North Carolina and cooks professionally.
Please feel free to post your feedback or request for specific dishes. As well, please visit Teal's website, My Own Private Kitchen, for more great recipe's and cooking tips.

Subscribe to "From the Feathered Pipe Kitchen" in a reader

Freedom

I feel the impulse to write about my experience in San Bruno jail today. I teach a weekly iRest (Integrative Restoration Institute) class there, to a group of men who are incarcerated veterans convicted of violent offenses.

When I walked in today, as most days, the guys were milling about, placing their yoga mats down and trying to grab enough old towels that we use as makeshift pillows and bolsters. Eventually they settled in, lying in savasana on their yoga mats, with one man moving closer to me because he had lost most of the hearing in both ears. I didn't ask why but can assume it might have been from the war in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The majority are young guys, casualties in a way, of war, men who have so much trauma and anxiety in their bodies that they take it out on their loved ones or strangers, or get involved in drugs and violence, and end up in this place. The 'Glamor Slammer' it is called because it's a newer facility. Nothing too glamorous about it though....

I asked everyone to say a few words describing how they were feeling in that moment, and one young man whom I've never seen before said "scared and overwhelmed". Another man, also new and probably in his 50s, said he lost his wife and child in a house explosion in 1996 and feels he will never recover.

The week before I had asked in the meditation, "Can you let go of all the judgments and beliefs of who you think you are, and find your deepest truth of who you really are?" One of the guys at the far end sat up and said "You have got to tell us more about that!" So I asked them, for homework, to write down their core negative beliefs that they carry around and live from, and also to write down what would be there if that belief wasn't there. It's part of what we do in the iRest practice.

So this week, we talked a little bit about that before settling into the meditation. The new guy in his 50s said there was no way he could open the door on those beliefs because it would be overwhelming. I looked at him and said, "No, for you we are just working on building an inner resource, somewhere that you can find rest and ease, and security, a feeling in your body of "at home-ness". He seemed so relieved that he didn't have to meet this old wound that he still carries, not yet anyway, and relieved to be able to connect with a place of resource within.

I started the meditation and the room quickly became quiet, but with a kind of alertness. I could tell they were all engaging in the practice instead of falling asleep or fidgeting.

When I wrapped up, having taken them through a journey working with their intentions and inner resource, as well as beliefs and their opposites, I played a Kirtana song called "Home."

When we debriefed, it was incredible, the palpable sense of homecoming and ease that was in the room. I could tell each guy was really meeting himself, in his own way.

The young man who had been anxious beforehand said, "I feel like an eighteen month old baby. Totally innocent and free." The man in his 50s who had concerns about meeting his old trauma said, "I feel, for the first time in many, many years, connected with something again...Love. Now I know I can meet anything, even this wound that I didn't think I would ever deal with." In giving him room to not have to feel it and room to feel safe, he paradoxically felt both safe and the capacity for meeting this wound in a deeper way in the future.

All I can say is that I felt such reverence and gratitude leaving that room. Don't get me wrong, other times the guys fidget and snore, and sometimes even huff and puff when the person next to them is snoring. Today was one of those days of grace and gratitude. It's why I do what I do - to really connect with what is most alive in the moment, and to have a chance to explore it and see where it takes us. When these guys start reconnecting with themselves after so long 'away', in denial, in overwhelm, magic really does happen.

And this time, instead of rushing down the halls to get back to Marin for a meeting, I sauntered out, letting the feeling of Love really carry me back home.

Note: For those moved by Kelly and the iRest's incredible work, please consider joining us for Richard Miller's 2012 Summer Retreat, "Living Truth, Living Love: Happiness Without Cause," June 30 - July 6th.

As well, you might want to check out yesterday's article by Anne Jablonski on the Veterans Yoga Project teacher training she attended last week. Wow! so many ways to make a difference!

Kelly Boys

Kelly Boys graduated from Trinity Western University in British Columbia, Canada with a BA in Intercultural Religious Studies and Third World Development. She is a certified hatha yoga and a certified iRest Yoga Nidra teacher and is currently the Director of Operations for the Integrative Restoration Institute.

She has taught iRest Yoga Nidra to US veterans with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injuries (TBI), as well as to women in prisons, cancer survivors, and those with substance abuse addictions. She also participated in a yoga therapy program for active-duty soldiers with PTSD at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, DC. She began studying with Richard Miller, the founder of iRest, in 2007.

She is currently teaching at the San Bruno jail for violent offenders who are veterans. She has recently begun teaching a combination of dance and meditation at the various retreats and trainings offered through the Integrative Restoration Institute, as well as locally in the San Francisco Bay area. Find out more about Kelly at: www.kellyboys.org and www.irest.us

Special thanks to Nuttakit for use of "Freedom" image
Subscribe to "A Better Way to Give" in a reader

Dan Libby

These are undeniably marvelous and magical times we're in, friends.

One of my teachers declared recently that 2012 is “The Year of the Miracle.”  That this is the year when there will be so many practicing the “holy instant” – the rich moment of stillness that gives rise to the shift in perception and reveals to our tired and seemingly broken selves the already-existing truth and extraordinary news that Love is all that’s real – that the tide will turn.

Evidence of this registered with me during some potent moments at a recent teacher training workshop; I wanted to share it here with my Feathered Pipe friends because, yet again, I’m in awe of how very much of what’s made my life come true is rooted in the transformative power of the people, experiences, and magic that is FPR.  Feathered Pipe President and Co-Founder of the Veterans Yoga Project, Dan Libby nailed it in his recent blog when he said he’s seen it over and over: people come for a weeklong immersion at the Ranch and come away deeply and permanently changed.

As background, last weekend, I had the privilege of attending a weekend workshop training given by Dan and Newington Yoga Center director Suzanne Manafort. Dan and Suzanne together launched a marvelous new nonprofit called the Veteran’s Yoga Project, which provides education and support for the use of therapeutic yoga practices to aid in the recovery process from PTSD and other psychological distress among US veterans.  The sold-out ‘Mindful Yoga Therapy for Veterans Coping with Trauma’ workshop, held in light-filled space donated by the kind peeps at the Bethesda Mindfulness Center and sponsored by the Give Back Yoga Foundation, focused on giving yoga teachers a strong foundation for teaching effectively and sensitively to Veterans facing PTSD.

Dan and Suzanne emphasized that well-meaning yoga teachers can unwittingly exacerbate anxiety, flashbacks, or reinforce hyper-vigilance in students coping with trauma if they are unaware of the triggers.  Conversely, appropriate movement that stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, breath work, and the Mother of All Relaxation practices (Yoga Nidra), are powerful tools in a phased approach to managing PTSD.  And that’s why they’ve taken their show on the road, traveling across the country to work with teachers to empower them with the knowledge and tools on how to bring the practices to Veterans.

The thing is this: I expected to come away from the workshop with new knowledge and tools to take into the yoga classroom.  And I did.  What I didn’t expect was to be so profoundly moved by the spirit and the stories of the eclectic mosaic of attendees.  What a group!  They came from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, from the Semper Fidelis Health and Wellness nonprofit (talk about cool peeps!), from Yoga Activist, from the Yoga Prison Project, and on and on.  It was a veritable Who’s Who of the yoga Seva world, all joined by wanting to be part of the a team effort to help Veterans facing challenges with trauma.

Suzanne and Dan Libby continuously reminded us that in settings such as this training, filled as it was with what Dan affectionately called "the do-gooders that are everywhere in the yoga world," it was critical to recognize the limits of what we could accomplish  - yoga alone is not a cure for PTSD – and simultaneously to not undervalue the gift of guiding someone feeling deep pain into even one single “tiny” moment of peace, of rest, of joy.

Dan said we shouldn’t discount the value of just even that one "little" moment, that one glimpse, into something that felt like joy.  When someone feels so helplessly trapped inside of darkness, even a flicker of light can change everything.  Suzanne – what a lovely yogi she is – shared some stories of the courageous students she works with and the power of the practice. “This stuff really works!” she exclaimed. The point was to remind teachers that even just one millisecond of appreciating and knowing breath, one peace-drenched moment of being attentive and relaxed about sensation in an atmosphere that is safe, predictable, and controlled, had inside it the seed from which the possibility of peace can be grow for those struggling to heal deep, old pain.

Those are lovely words, but it's easy to zip quickly past them without savoring what they mean.  That was true for me.

That is until we were just getting ready to wrap up the final day and discussion turned to the issue of whether or not someone with PTSD could "go it alone" without support. And Suzanne reminded us of the almost incapacitating "shame" that creeps up on anyone who has suffered a trauma.  Shame that there is some "weakness" that forces them to deal with a debilitating condition.

And as happens in yoga workshops when the hearts of those who are there to learn start blasting wide open, the talk among the participants shifted to inquiry about our selves and why we were there. This was, after all, a workshop about healing trauma and so the talk turned to the traumas – large and small – that so many of us struggle to heal from.  Old wounds. Not so old ones.

Two stories tugged at my heart and blasted it wide open.  One from a woman who spoke eloquently about how so much of her life had lacked the Technicolor she deeply craved and that if it hadn’t been for yoga, she’d have never had a taste of what it felt to move out of the black-and-white world she’d spent decades navigating.  She echoed and amplified Dan’s gentle admonition to all of us energetic do-gooders longing to “fix the world in one fell swoop” to stay grounded in truth.  Specifically, he said, with those sparkly eyes of his smiling, that we should never underestimate the immense power of one “tiny” moment of peace, of the feeling of being held by the indescribable love that wraps around us when we get still enough, just long enough, to let it register with us.

Another spoke up to share that after listening to for three days to all the empirical science about symptoms and pathologies of PTSD, she was certain she still had work to do in healing from her own trauma. She said, “I honestly don’t know where I’d be without the gift that yoga has given me.”  As if to supply the clinching evidence of the idea that it only takes one breath to transform darkness to light, she said that the hope-giving experience of joy and deep peace that the practice offered made all the difference.

No book, no manual, no clinical scientific study could ever convey with such clear conviction - that even just one single solitary breath wrapped in peace has the power to make possible the choice between waking up to embracing life’s purpose or to settle for anything less.

And so there we have it. The discrete practices - asana, pranayama, yoga nidra, meditation - alone may not be enough, but their transformative power is undeniable.

As these stories were shared, I went back to 2005 when I made my first visit to the Feathered Pipe Ranch.  As I drew in my first breath taking in the scenery for the first time, layers of tension inexplicably fell off.  A few days into the workshop, the alchemy of the space, the sweetness of the staff, the grace of the mountains, and the peace of the lake worked their magic and nearly knocked me to my knees with gratitude.  I didn’t know it was possible to feel this good.

Feathered Pipe Ranch is my moment.  Its gifts have extended to every corner of my life in ways that I would never have imagined.  Does India Supera know what even just the sight of her out of the corner of my eye walking along the grass to speak tenderly to a guest does to a heavy heart?  Do the people who nurture and protect this precious and sacred spot on our pretty blue planet recognize the sheer power of the gift they continue to give?  Like the young woman at the training who said she didn’t know where she’d be without yoga, I shudder to think where and who I’d be today if I hadn’t had the dumb luck of stumbling on to the Ranch eight years ago.

Let's keep practicing.  Let's keep teaching.  Teaching ourselves, guiding others, letting their wisdom guide us, learning the lessons over and over and over again until they register.  It's worth the effort.

Let's keep conscious of the fact that we really never do this alone, either.  My teacher is always saying, "It's not going to register with you - the fact that the kingdom of heaven is within you - by yourself.  You have to do it with a brother or a sister."

I'm a slow learner, but I think I'm just sort of finally now beginning to really appreciate what he means by that.  One dimension is, of course, letting "Namaste" be for real - desiring to see what's true and divine in a sister or a brother is what unlocks the door for us.  But another aspect of this is not letting the richness of one single solitary moment of now, so full divinity, escape our notice or appreciation.

We hold each other's hands in the dark to find the light.

Veterans Yoga Project Training Gallery

Anne Jablonski

Anne Jablonski is a “Freedom Style Yoga” junkie in Arlington, Virginia.  She teaches yoga and meditation at Sun & Moon Yoga Studio in Northern Virginia, has an obsession about cat nutrition, and recently joined the Feathered Pipe Foundation board.  Piece of paper-wise, she completed her 300-hour training at Sun & Moon and spoiled herself silly with Erich Schiffmann’s teacher training in 2006.  She loves the Feathered Pipe Ranch even more than she loves chocolate. Visit Anne’s website at:  www.yogasetfree.com

Subscribe to "A Better Way to Give" in a reader