Our Fall Noble Silence Meditation Retreat Weekend

The Bell, the sound of which goes on for Infinity, marks the end of a Meditation Sit, with a deep bow to all that is.

We completed the Fall Noble Silence Meditation Weekend Retreat on Sunday — Chris and Emma, Emilia, Mindy and Natalie being the “We”, five brave pilgrims plus me. This quarterly foray into inner stillness and weekend of deep practice was established in July with the Summer NSMR. I’m a fan of dubbing it the NSMR because it harkens to Jon Kabat-Zinn’s MBSR, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, “the gold standard of and most scientifically researched mindfulness training program.” I haven’t taken and therefore can’t confirm the effectiveness of MBSR, but the feedback and experience of this weekend employing my teacher Shinzen’s techniques of BIT (Body-Image-Talk) and See Hear Feel, also science-based, merged with indigenous Ceremonial practices, again proved to be quite favorable

Given my elation as well as let’s say not-so-laconic take on the summer run — which you can read if you hit the link above and can endure the gushing — I think this weekend’s overview calls for a more measured response. “A more measured response” to all the things in life that tend to unnerve us was one of a host of positive rejoinders heard in our closing circle, as to the benefits of bearing down and doing the work this weekend. And considering 2020 has been a year of an awful lot of unnerving, external happenings, it’s high time for everyone to build up a bit of internal muscle and psychological resources.

Speaking of overwhelm, I feel pretty damn good about the whole thing because running one of these weekends takes everything I’ve got. And this is the exact retreat I’d been longing to teach when I put a stake in the ground on this land almost seven years ago, seven years Halloween night. Spooky! Time flies when you’re suffering, trying to make a dream come true that includes the success of others. But its a struggle that, when I consider the feedback, is more than worth the effort. “I feel like my mind is in a positive, well-worn groove.” “This was a wonderful weekend for me. It seems when I’m purposely silent, it’s for more negative reasons — I’m angry, I’m isolating — so to embrace silence for a more positive, purposeful reason felt great.” The more experienced meditators mentioned they enjoyed the structured sitting as well as the different focus techniques. Attendees who suffer chronic pain issues reported that they “didn’t feel like they needed to fix the pain” (which, if you have pain like that, is huge) and described the quality of their meditations as significantly improved. 

A participant who struggles with social anxiety commented that they didn’t feel strapped to the constantly spinning wheel  of their mind… which had me think: Like a snowball down a mountain, or a carnival balloon… like a carousel that's turning running rings around the moon. And a Metta or Lovingkindness Meditation, where we extended the same love and affection and positive regard we hold for people we care for deeply to others we felt very challenged by, led to feelings of “releasing long held shame, guilt, resentment and anger” as sending love out to all people, under any condition, including ourselves, will do. The Yin Yoga Class lead by Kelly aka KK kept us supple and able to work with body sensations that grow achey when we are unmoved, embracing the more traditional meaning of asana or yoga poses as "a mastery of sitting still". Nice work KK.

Finally, when someone described their focus on the breath as feeling like a giant bellow was fanning their Spirit, I thought: This is the kind of reimagining of the human condition and experience we’re after. “You truly are opening the doors to Heaven at Higher Haven,” added Emilia. “This place is magical, time stopped and only nature spoke back.  I am grateful for the teachings from your heart and for the space you held for us to commune with our souls. Please spread the word on this piece of Heaven! “ As to Heaven, building up resources in the face of death, becoming the cosmos, and learning how Meditation can lead one to states of unconditional love and eternal life, you’ll have to experience it all for yourself at the next Winter NSMR, starting Friday, February 26th 2021 and soon open for registration. 

Got Honey Bees

With insects disappearing in unprecedented numbers, reports say 40% of honey bee colonies in the US died last year.

Prior to our recent Fall Foraging Workshop and Wild Forest to Table Dinner, Anthony Blowers came by to scope the property and get a lay of land, discovering some nice pre-walk finds to share with the group (to read up on the success of that event just scroll to the article below). He also happened upon what we thought was a hornet’s nest just to the east of the retreat house. Bringing in local pest control, we discovered that we’re actually lucky to have a honey bee tree. Back in the day, it was good to have a honey tree because there were very few spices. People slathered the sweet, viscous substance on foods and made honey beer out of it. “You leave them alone, and they’ll be here for years,” Bee suited Terry informed me.

Bees are renowned for their role in providing high-quality food — honey, royal jelly and pollen — and other products used in healthcare and other sectors, such as beeswax, propolis, honey bee venom. The greatest contribution of bees and other pollinators is the pollination of nearly three quarters of the plants that produce 90% of the world’s food. A third of the world’s food production depends on bees, i.e. every third spoonful of food depends on pollination. Over the past 50 years, the amount of crops that depend on pollinators (i.e. fruit, vegetables, seeds, nuts and oilseeds) has tripled, while bee populations decline, due to varroa mites, nosema disease and complications with queen bees, mass use of products intended to protect plants in modern farming and their potential impact on pollinators, and urbanization, which is shrinking the agricultural space.

All that said, we’re keeping our bees. And this was a great pic and post to let the incoming group for our Fall Noble Silence Meditation Retreat this weekend know to give them respect and a little space. On the subject of respect and space, here’s what Morgan had to say about her visit to our last NSMR: "i’m doing so well in my life right now and a lot of it is thanks to attending The Summer Noble Silent Meditation Retreat at The Higher Haven. I've felt very in tune with myself and the Universe and i feel so good; I'm  grateful too, because I know many people are struggling to find their footing right now. Since the retreat, i’ve kept a positive outlook on life, especially during the chaos that this year has brought. Paul is an incredible teacher and experiencing a weekend at The Higher Haven is priceless!! I highly recommend this to anyone who’s been feeling a little down in life’s current situations, as well as someone who might already be on their spiritual journey and is looking to invest in a life-changing weekend retreat. I’ll be back soon.” - M.W.

A Good Day Foraging and Feasting with the Mighty Anthony Blowers

Grifola Frondosa grows in clusters at the base of Oaks and is known among English speakers as Hen-Of-The-Woods.

“Morels, Amanitas, Boletes — these are all mushrooms that share symbiotic relationships with their surrounding environment. It’s the symbiotic relationship that I’m really fascinated with, because it tells us how everything is connected. And mushrooms are definitely connected to trees, and they’re sending signals back and forth under-ground through their mycelial strands. There’s a lot of amazing communication happening in nature.”

Speaking of amazing communication, there’s a highlighted statement from a day chock full of highlight statements conveyed by our beloved Western Michigan Mycologist Anthony Blowers, the Mushroom Mogel and Master at leading others into learning, loving, and unearthing treasures of the natural world. And then eating them Lol. I knew we were in for a good time when Anthony I.D.’d the weeds I let grow in front of the retreat house (‘cause they looked cool and clover-like) as edible Wood Sorrel, giving new meaning to the term, “Eat the house.” But out on the trail and in the backwoods is where the magic really occurs, as he explained how Mycorrhiza mushrooms, fungus that share a mutual, symbiotic relationship with surrounding plants, connect with the plant’s Rhizosphere, or root system, playing important roles in plant nutrition, as well as the biology and chemistry of the surrounding soil. That lead to mention of the other class of mushrooms, the wood decomposers or saprophytic fungi, à la Chicken and Hen-of-the-Woods, and other species like Honey Fungus, living tree colonizers.

 Wait. Strike that. Not Honey Fungus but rather Armillaria. And not Hen and Chicken-o-the-woods but rather Grifola Frondosa and Laetiporus. “Things can be misconstrued in different parts of the world when things are called different names in different languages, so it’s always best to use the scientific or Latin rather than common name,” advised Mr. Blowers. Ram’s Head aka Sheep’s Head is also found in Europe and China and known in Asian markets by its Japanese name Maitake or Dancing Mushroom. Nice. Just take a look at Anthony’s Facebook page I Love Wild Mushrooms and you’ll find folks having fun with fungi the world over. Click on the link now and catch a shot of Bioluminiscent Ghost Mushrooms aglow at night from Wollondilly, Australia, soon replaced by some other widely exotic flora. Fare Freakin’ Dinkum.

Someone asked the important question regarding making sure to leave a portion of a good find behind, if only to encourage future bounty. In Anthony’s opinion it’s not necessary, opening up the discussion of what a mushroom actually is: “A mushroom is an organism, and the organism is usually not usually visible to the eye — most of it is underground.” The mushroom is actually the fruiting body of the underground entity – the flower that disperses many of their spores by the time their half-grown. That’s why it doesn’t hurt to take all the mushrooms in one spot. “It’s like picking apples off a tree. Picking mushrooms and even carrying them around in baskets helps their proliferation.”  I call Anthony our “local” keeper of knowledge, but his appeal extended to attendees Carrie and Ken, who came from as far as West Virginia, as well as Nicole and Fern who traveled down from the Traverse City area. 

Other findings included a huge flush of Boletes, Mica Cap, and the discovery and discussion of Aminita Muscaria and its hallucinogenic properties. When people hear “Mushrooms” they often think of the psychoactive properties of Psilocybin, and I especially like Anthony’s listening in that area, or lack thereof, a bit indifferent to mushrooms’ psychoactive side. Although we did discuss the FDA tested medicinal aspects of Turkey Tail and touched on the incredible Siberian folklore around Christmas, pine, drying mushrooms on trees, and stories of Reindeer notoriously digging through the snow to eat them, as well as the association between mushrooms and flying reindeer, a topic of this interesting  NPR online write-up. It seems a local variety of Aminita was used by the indigenous people of Siberia as an intoxicant and entheogen — a psychoactive substance that induces alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior for the purposes of engendering spiritual development in sacred contexts. 

 Regarding sacred contexts, we even took part in a brief Sit or formal meditation prior to The Wild Forest to Table Dinner, both proving delicious. Treats like pickled Grifola frondosa and Laetiporus sulphureus lead to a wild salad with mushroom medley vinaigrette — including Agaricus augustus, Boletus atkinsonii, Craterellus fallax, Grifola frondosa, and ramps — on to the entree Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo with a Black Trumpet Cream Sauce, graced with Ramp Porcini Butter Garlic Bread. And all sweetly crescendoed with Candy Cap Ice Cream for dessert. Here’s what Fern had to say about the Day: "We so enjoyed our time at The Higher Haven. It was like life was back to normal, with a Sense of Serenity. Paul was an awesome host, the Wild Forest to Table Dinner was phenomenal, and Anthony did an excellent job all day. Thank you!” You’re welcome and all are welcome to return to our Thanksgiving + Christmas Holiday Foraging Days + Dinners with Anthony, now in the works!