We’re prepping for the final public, monthly Purification Ceremony of 2024 this weekend, and are happy to confirm our blessed Holiday Happening, the evolved version of our former Aho Ho Ho Hoedown Throwdown, this year’s Silent Night/Holy Night, Friday evening, December 20th from 6pm — 8pm. We’ll gather for the final Sit of 2024, with some simple Meditation instruction, a thirty-minute, guided Vipassana Sit, and a talk by our beloved friend and Naturopath Dr. Denise Acton on Immune Health and how to stay healthy during the Winter months. Come on out and take a proactive approach to the transformative year ion the snake 2025, with a healthy “Jump Start” .on the new year.
Interestingly, the very moment of the Winter Solstice will occur early the next morning at 4:19 a.m., and so we’ll be conducting our own Yaza, or all-night Sit, something we may be offering to the public in 2025, a great challenge, but also a great boost to one’s personal practice. As to the last of our public programming ’24, after our Sit, Walk, and Talk, along with Ceremonial and Holiday song, we’ll end with a bit of cheer at the Retreat House, to tak a cup of kindness for auld lang syne and toast to a Happy New Year 2025.
We’ll also bring in the Spirit of Advent and poet Reiner Maria Rilke, who famously wrote of the hope, reverence and renewal found in the forest wilderness. Rilke also cited the paradox of seeking human companionship in the solitude of night. “Night divides you from your neighbor, and by no means are you to seek him out.” We’ll defy that a bit in true contrarian fashion, and hope to see you in our final circle of 2024. Also look for a majority of the 2025 retreat schedule up for registration by Chanukah. Shanah Tovah — Good Year!
`SCHEDULE
Gather at the Love Shack Yoga/Teaching Studio 6 p.m.
Meditation Sitting and Walking Instruction 6 p.m. — 6:30 p.m.
Sit/Walk in Silence and Peace 6:30 — 7:00 p.m.
Talk on Immunity Health with Dr. Denise Acton 7:00 p.m. — 7:30 p.m
Cheers to the Yr. of the Dragon ’24, Welcome the Yr of the Snake ‘25 — 8 p.m….
Tails are wagging around here with a clear-eye on our upcoming Winter Break, RoZie’s tiny tail moving like a mobile metronome around our iced up 19.67 acres. We follow our arable land’s lead, not sowing for a season’s cycle, allowing both it and us to recover. In the case of the land, storing organic matter while retaining moisture and disrupting pest life cycles and soil borne pathogens by temporarily removing their hosts. In the case of us, letting go of our focus on our Sevā— the work we do for others and the world — to renew our own Sādhanā — the work we do on our ourselves for ourselves. Sitting, walking, reading, writing, renewing and for a time, hitting the road.
That means there’s just a few more opportunities to visit The Higher Haven before the home fires are lit: our breezy, three-hour Signature Meditation + Mindfulness 101 class, a life-altering course in higher consciousness, Sunday, November 24th, our Monthly Spiritual Purification Ceremony the weekend of December 14th, and our evolved annual Aho Ho Ho Ho Down, a Silent Night and Advent Celebration the weekend of December 21st, inspired by the writings and Christianity of poet Reiner Maria Rilke, who wrote of looking within himself to find “room for a second huge and timeless life.” If a second huge and timeless life is on your wish list this Holiday season we hope to see you, and if not, when we resume in March of 2025. Toksha