It’s easier than ever these days to surrender to unbounded time shackled to screens that capture our attention and put our senses to sleep. But there’s another sort of surrender — the one that invites us to reclaim our power over where we put our attention. It helps us rediscover our built-in capacity to soften life’s sharp edges and revives reverence and gratitude for what we can see, hear, taste, touch, and love. Instead of putting us to sleep, it wakes us from slumber, bringing consciousness and mindfulness to what we’ve become unconscious of and mindless about.
The Mindful Unplug blossomed from a seed of an idea that a handful of longtime Ranch enthusiasts dreamed up in late 2015. “Let’s fashion a Feathered Pipe mindfulness and sensory enlivenment program from scratch.” The concept was simple: unplugging in a sacred, nature-drenched, enchanted setting is an opportunity for a healthy reset of our stressed, digitally-deluged lives.
Each summer we uncover new reasons and strategies for taking a conscious pause from the confines of our devices. We relish the whimsy of the Ranch, and one another, to experience the delights of our interior and exterior landscapes without filters. We weave a calming balance of scheduled activities into stretches of unstructured time for you to settle into your natural rhythm. Nourishing and resilience-enhancing practices woven into the week’s choreography include: accessible-to-everyone yoga, user-friendly meditation, nature strolls, mindful sight and sound sensory enlivenment, investigation of how wisdom traditions apply to real life today, and cultivation of the vital life skill of restorative, conscious relaxation.
Who are your guides fro the week?
— Longtime Ranch friend Matthew Marsolek of Drum Brothers is returning to The Unplug in 2024 to share his popular participatory sound, rhythm awareness, and voice practices, including an introduction to West African hand drumming. Simple, guided exercises to open and free the voice will be a prelude to a song circle, featuring chants and songs gathered from Matthew’s travels abroad and studies in World Music.
— Mindful Unplug emcee Anne Jablonski of Yoga Set Free will serve as your daily yoga, mindful movement and accessible meditation practice guide. Anne’s mission is to return you home with skills to plug back in consciously so you can step back into the world of noise and technology equipped to nourish and safeguard your own health — and apply your consciousness for good of all.
Ready to RSVP ‘Yes’ to Unplugging?
Is next year your summer to surrender to The Mindful Unplug Experience? If so, we’ll meet you with open arms and willing hearts.
With affection,
Anne
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Our eighth running of the homegrown Feathered Pipe Mindful Unplug is about deepening our exploration of life affirming rhythms. The alchemy of mindful movement, all-levels yoga, meditation, community sound and rhythm practices, dance, song, and poetry offers more than a transitory antidote to stress, July 13 – 20, 2024, “The Mindful Unplug: Movement, Rhythm, And Nature.”
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About Anne Jablonski
A Yoga-Alliance registered teacher (RYT 500) in Virginia, Anne teaches at Sun & Moon Yoga Studio, serves as President of the Feathered Pipe Foundation (she midwifed the Mindful Unplug!) and works for busy startup companies. She knows all about what it’s like to yearn for practical ways to insert pauses into a heavily scheduled, rat-race-y life. Anne’s mission is to return you home with skills to plug back in consciously so you can step back into the world of noise and technology equipped to nourish and safeguard your own health — and apply your consciousness for good of all. Anne’s teaching draws on inspiration from her most influential teachers: Erich Schiffmann, every fine poet, her cheeky teacher within, and the Feathered Pipe Ranch itself.
Learn more about Anne: yogasetfree.com