Feathered Pipe Bathhouse

Attending the Feathered Pipe for Retreat...the ultimate self care experience! Our season is about to begin and we have some awesome retreats lined out for this summer, so one fabulous way of caring deeply for yourself is to come visit us at the Feathered Pipe for a week of total self care. Amazing food, nature at it's finest, all the elements soothe you and whatever retreat you choose, they all bring a deep care for the core development and growth of each individual person.

My part in the self care experience at the Ranch is being the "Senior Bodyworker" whose provided literally thousands of sessions over the last 15 years. Feathered Pipe bodywork sessions are nothing short of "magic" as anyone who has had one can tell you. The pastoral setting in Nature, with deer grazing just outside the window and the breezes through the pines bring a natural element like no "spa" can offer. Our hot tub and sauna offer the ideal "warming up" for the session - and the bodywork, well we try to give our finest at the Ranch.

Sessions include elements of traditional Swedish and Esalen style massage, hot stone therapy, deep tissue work, accupressure, and Cranio Sacral Therapy. I also bring in a strong intuitive energetic and shamanic component.  I often tell people, the land here will take want you want to leave here - and you can drop some of your deeper cares and issues in a very short time at the Ranch - leaving refreshed with a new perspective on life. I'd like to think my sessions have contributed in some way to this "transformation" in people - and often we do very, very deep core work in Ranch bodywork sessions - truly bringing release and healing where it's needed.

I hope to see you this summer at the Feathered Pipe or Blacktail and I hope you will allow yourself the deep self care experience of receiving bodywork not just from me, but from our other fine transformative healers, Jen Daily, Renee Francis Conn, and Amy Budke.

Looking forward to getting our hands on you!

Peace,
Michael

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.
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Science and the Sacred

Whoever departs from this world without having realized their own inner world, to them life has been of no service; it remains unlived, like the unrecited Vedas or any other undone deed.

~Brihadaranyaka Upanishad(I.4.15)

A great deal of emphasis has been placed by the traditions on self- knowledge, the kind of knowledge that transforms and heals the soul. The words written over the ancient library of Ozymandias, the king of Egypt, meant The Soul’s Cure.  Self-knowledge is a prerequisite to, if not synonymous with, knowledge of God.  According to Plutarch, the inscription at Delphi, ‘Know thyself’,  is an injunction addressed by God to all who approach Him. Human beings see "the nature of Brahman through the nature of their own self, as by a lamp,“ says Shvetashvatara Upanishad  (II.15).  Plotinus said, "Those  who seek to penetrate the nature of the Divine Mind must see deeply into the nature of their own souls, into the Divinest part of themselves."

In fact, it appears that the only way to God is by self-knowing, dying to one's superficial self and being born to a deeper self.   Clearly, there are differences in detail and emphasis, but there is no other point on which there is a greater unanimity of principle among the various masters of spiritual becoming. One of the non-canonical sayings of Jesus Christ is: "The Kingdom of heaven is within you and whosoever knoweth the self shall find it. And having found it, ye shall know yourselves that ye are the sons and heirs of the Father, the Almighty, and shall know yourselves that ye are in God, and God in you. And ye are the City of God."

Obviously, there are levels of self-knowledge which correspond to a development of or to a deepening of being. Different traditions refer to these levels in many ways: as a seven-storied mountain, as rungs of a ladder, or as levels of consciousness. Within ourselves at the level of ordinary humanity, where we usually are, there is  confusion and chaos. We are like "a troubled sea, a sea that cannot rest, whose troubled waters cast up mud and filth" (Isaiah, 57:20).  We have conflicting desires and our compulsions are in constant flux; there is nothing abiding, nothing that could be properly called self.  As Pascal said, "We are naught but lies, duplicity, contradiction, and we hide and disguise ourselves from ourselves."

Only deeper down is there the possibility of increased understanding, integration and wholeness.  Only in a state of collectedness, composure, openness, and alertness can we know anything objectively.  In all other states our perceiving apparatus is out of tune and it introduces its own noise arising out of the internal or external distractions and afflictions.  Nothing that we decipher in these dispersed states is ultimately trustworthy.  One of the purposes of the various spiritual schools is to help human beings repair themselves so that they may gradually come to a state of preparedness, freed of subjective desires, expectations, and fears.  As long as we keep making our little noises, we cannot truly hear.  Only when quietened within, may we encounter what is real.

In a purified and integrated state, arrived at after a long and arduous spiritual journey, we can discover our deepest self, which sages call by various names: ‘the spirit of the soul’ (Eckhart), ‘acumen mentis’ (Hugh of St. Victor), ‘center of the soul’ (St. Teresa of Avila), ‘spark of the soul’ (St. Jerome), ‘the divine person who is beyond the beyond’ (Mundaka Upanishad).  These are all attempts to name the nameless, but as Eckhart said: "The God who is without a name is inexpressible, and the soul in its ground is equally inexpressible, as He is inexpressible... To gauge the soul we must gauge it with God, for the ground of God and the ground of the soul are one and the same."

Healing of the soul is both a finding of the soul and its refinement and right ordering, an attunement to what is subtle and real and on which the manifest world is evidently dependent.  Transformative self-knowledge is thus both a discovering and a sculpting of the soul.  Sages often declare such a soul to be eternal, always there from the beginning, but constantly threatened by fragmentation and perdition.  To say that human beings are made in the image of God is a statement of the Real, not of the actual.  For the actual to mirror the real needs work and spiritual discipline, a way, a yoga. In the process, the soul is healed as it finds its proper place in the Whole.

Healing of the soul quite naturally leads to the healing of our planet, in fact of the whole cosmos.  In the universal traditional idea of a correspondence between a human being and the cosmos, the microcosmos-macrocosmos homology, it can be easily forgotten that this correspondence does not apply to every human being.  It is only the fully developed person (mahapurusha) who is said to mirror the whole cosmos.  To become such a developed and whole person requires a transformation of the natural self.  Then we discover not only that we are one with the cosmos in its physical and biological materiality and lawfulness, but also that the cosmos is one with us and has many inner and spiritual aspects.

In our attempts to find objective knowledge, which is the great aspiration of science, we cannot eliminate the person or the soul.  What is needed in fact is an enlargement of the being of the person - freed from the merely personal and subjective.    In order to truly comprehend, one needs to be comprehensive.  This does not require a horizontal extension of more and more knowledge, but depends upon a vertical transformation which allows a participation in the universal being.  Such a transformed person is naturally inclusive and compassionate.

More and more, as one is freed with the aid of spiritual disciplines  from fear and self-importance, one can come to clearer and clearer perceptions - so that we can see things as they really are, things of time as subsets of eternity.  Such cleansed perceptions reveal objective reality - which surely includes not only what we can measure, but also that which can take the measure of our own being.  Such perceptions always carry a sense of universal significance derived from their participation in the Mystery.  An example from William Blake:

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

The spiritual yoga - whether of the East or of the West, for Spirit by definition is non-sectarian and inclusive - aims at the realization of the transformed being, a Mahapurusha.  Such a person is deeply in accord with one’s own inner core as well as that of the cosmos, manifesting the First Person Universal.  Such a person loves what one knows.  Only such can know without opposition and separation, freed from any desire to control or to manipulate.  A person whose soul is healed, that is to say is whole, is naturally a sage.

Apart from the selflessness (and the accompanying absence of pride) and the natural feelings of compassion and love, which are characteristic of all the sages, there is one feature which needs to be underscored, and which is rarely remarked upon.  A sage simultaneously sees the oneness of all there is and the uniqueness of everything.  One cannot be unmindful of the seeming paradox implied here.

However, we are speaking about the experience of the sages and not about the limitations of our ordinary minds.  It is a fact of their existence and behaviour that, in relationship with others, the sages are aware that each human being is a manifestation of One Divine Energy, but that at the same time each person presents a unique potential (and corresponding particular difficulties) and is a wondrously unique expression of the Vastness.  Each person is related with the oneness, but no person is replaceable by another.  The One is unique in each manifestation. Everyone is seen by the sage as both one with the Source as well as uniquely oneself.

~Ravi Ravindra from Science and the Sacred

Don't Forget: Ravi along with Kira Ryder of Lulu Bandha's & the Ojai Yoga Crib, will be leading the profoundly deep and playful Yoga & Indian Philosophy Meditation retreat, Yoga and the Search for the Eternal, at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, June 23 - 29. Feathered Pipe's Community Discount Program Applies...Save $100 & accrue retreat credits for your Studio/Organization!!!

Ravi Ravindra

Ravi Ravindra was born in India and received his early education there. He went to Canada as a graduate student and later as an immigrant. Now he is a Professor Emeritus at Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he served for many years as a professor in three Departments: Comparative Religion, Philosophy, and Physics. He was a Member of the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study in Shimla, and the Founding Director of the Threshold Award for Integrative Knowledge. Ravindra’s spiritual search has led him to the teachings of J. Krishnamurti, G. Gurdjieff, Yoga, Zen, and a deep immersion in the mystical teachings of the Indian and Christian classical traditions. He is a prolific author including: Krishnamurti:Two Birds on One Tree, Science and The Sacred, The Wisdom of Patañjali's Yoga Sutras and The Inner Journey-Myth, Psyche, and Spirit. These as well as Whispers from the Other Shore and many more can be found on his website: www.ravindra.ca.

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Baxter Bell at the Ranch

Most of us are aware of how BKS Iyengar and his teachers in the US approach the concept of sequencing yoga poses to create a practice. This is of practical value if you want to design and practice Iyengar style yoga on your own at home. It can also give you insight into the class you took last week as you try to understand the framework that your teacher may have used to put the class together.

But there are so many other yoga traditions and sequencing styles! Today, I'm going to begin exploring how to design a sequence in the tradition of Krishnamacharya. For those unfamiliar with T Krishnamacharya, he is sometimes considered a kind of godfather of modern Hatha Yoga practice.  And although he never traveled to the US to teach in his lifetime, many of his students who became advanced teachers have, most notably his son and grandson, TKV and Kaustub Desikachar.  Some of us in the US know this style of yoga as viniyoga, but this is a name that Gary Kraftsow, one of Krishnamacharya’s American students, coined.  TKV Desikachar prefers to say that they teach yoga in the tradition of Krishnamacharya, and that calling it “yoga” is sufficient without other branding.

Two foundational concepts will assist us in looking at this way of sequencing: first, a yoga practice has goals, overriding ones and personal, individual ones, and second, the yoga practice you do today has to take into account all the personal variables of your life as it is today. This makes attending public classes a challenge from this system’s perspective. They consider it essential that you have do a good amount of svadyaya, or self-study, before or as you begin to practice to get very clear on where you are starting from and where you would like to go.

Vinyasa Krama

In addition, there are three stages of life that will help to determine the kind of practice you will do, and an analogy to the tree is used.  Regardless of which stage you are at, this system uses the Yoga Sutra concepts of sthira and sukha as underlying qualities you will be cultivating in your practice.  Sthira can be thought of as firm and steady, and sukha as gentleness. So you will be balancing these two different aspects no matter what yoga tools you employ in your sequence (for example, a practice that incorporates asana, pranayama and mantra).

Using this as the foundation of developing a practice, you put into action via something called vinyasa krama.  Desikachar defines the term as follows:

Krama is the step, nyasa means “to place,” and the prefix vi- translates as “in a special way.” 

So you have to have a correct direction in order to have success with your practice.

Then there is the decision on what part of the “tree” you are.  When you are young, you are like the twig on a tree, young, flexible, yang in nature, strong.  Designing a practice for this group of people is known as “Srsti Krama,” and would resemble what in the west is knows as power flow or Ashtanga in the Pattabi Jois style.  For those of us after about 25 years of age, we are looked upon as more like the branch of the tree, a bit less flexible, a bit more differentiated in personality, thinking and body. These are the students who need to study their individual characteristics prior to jumping full bore into practice. This style of practice is termed “Raksana Krama.” Finally, for those with illness of any kind, the practice requires greater care in designing and the style is called “Cikitsa Krama,” cikitsa meaning “therapy.”

No matter which group or age category you personally fall into, Desikachar suggests that you start out where you are, taking a gradual and intelligent course in your practice, looking towards a certain goal. Then you choose the steps and tools to lead you towards your goal.

Brahmana and Langhana

In addition to having an eye to a goal for your practice, and understanding which stage of life you are in and what additional work or reflection you need to do as you start your practice, you need to evaluate on any given day whether your overall system in a state of fatigue, depletion or weakness or if you are in relative good health, energized, strong and balanced. Once you have an honest sense of that, you can apply another essential concept to how you will design and approach the yoga today.

Two terms help to clarify the way in which you will practice and even the attitude you will cultivate as you work: brahmana and langhana. Both concepts are very helpful when you are addressing injury or illness, but I find them helpful for everyday practice as well. And although Desikachar first connects these terms to how you breathe as you move between poses, I find the concepts can also be applied more generally.

Brahmana, which can translate as “to expand,” refers to a lengthening of the inhalation, with the possibility of adding a short pause or retention at the end of the inhale. This tends to energize and heat the body, which could be perfect for someone who’s underlying energy is a bit sluggish. Brahmana breathing tends to affect the chest and lungs more and anatomically fits better with back bending poses.

Langhana, which can translate as “to fast” or “to reduce,” refers to extending the length of the exhalation, with a possible pause or hold at the end of the exhale. Langhana practices tend to have a quieting and cooling effect on your system, so could be helpful in anxious or stressful times, as well as when you are generally depleted and need support. Langhana breathing tends to work better for forward bending practices and has a greater effect of the upper and lower belly, so could be good for processes of elimination.

Mini-Vinyasa

In this system, unlike some others, you start working consciously with your breath with your very first asana sequence, since something called a “mini-vinyasa” is used. Instead of coming into a pose, say Warrior 2, and holding it for one to two minutes, with the mini-vinyasa method, you begin from a starting position, coordinate with your breath as you come into the full pose, and then return to the starting position with the next part of your breath. Typically this cycle is repeated about six rounds.

As an example, for Warrior 2, you would begin with your feet four feet apart, adjusted as usual, with your arms relaxed to your sides. On an inhalation, you would lift your arms up parallel with floor and bend your front knee to 90 degrees. Then, on your exhalation, you would lower your arms and straighten your front leg. You would then repeat this cycle five more times. And after completing six rounds on the right, you would repeat six round on the left.

To any mini-vinyasa, you could apply the concept of langhana or brahmana. In our example, since there is a natural expanding quality to the Warrior 2 pose, brahmana works more easily. So, as you enter the pose, you could take a four second inhalation, pause for one to two seconds in the pose, and then exhale naturally out of the pose. If your breathing gets ragged after only one or two rounds, you may not yet be ready to do this brahmana variation, so go gradually.

A full sequence or practice would involve a series of mini-vinyasa linked together to move you closer to your goal. To see illustrations of mini-vinyasa, see The Heart of Yoga by TKV Desikachar or Yoga for Wellness by Gary Kraftsow.

Don't Forget: Baxter along with visionary musician and vibrational alchemist, Mark Stanton Welch, will be at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, June 30 - July 6th, for the transformative retreat, "The Music of Yoga, The Yoga of Music." Spaces are limited and sure to fill! Feathered Pipe's Community Discount Program Applies...Save $100 & Accrue retreat credits for your Studio/Organization!!!

Baxter Bell, MD

Baxter Bell, MD, RYT500 is a yoga practitioner, teacher, educator, musician, physician, and medical acupuncturist. He leads classes, workshops and retreats in northern CA, the US and around the world. His workshops and retreats are an opportunity to reconnect with your deeper self and find the sources of energy to evolve and transform your life. Baxter is the director of the teacher-training program at Piedmont Yoga Studio in Oakland, CA and also serves as adjunct faculty on training programs, including Yoga Therapeutic programs, around the country. A violinist since the age of 5, he loves to share improvised music with his students at the end of practices, as well as collaborating with other musicians to create unique sound-scapes for deeper transformative work in yoga. To learn more about Baxter and his work, visit his website at www.bellyoga.info or enjoy his blog posts at www.yogaforhealthyaging.blogspot.com.

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Marla Apt - Deeper Within

For many of us, what inhibits us from reaching our full potential and effectiveness in our day-to-day life isn't a visible and readily apparent handicap but is the built-up mental and emotional stress that can manifest in the physical and mental body as pain and anxiety. This can hamper if not block our progress forward in our work, our personal relationships and our individual spiritual evolution if not effectively channelled and redirected.

Marla Apt, a Senior Intermediate level Iyengar Yoga teacher, based in Los Angeles, who has been involved with medical research studies at UCLA on yoga for depression, anxiety and IBS shares this asana sequence for potentially bringing relief to those suffering from anxiety.

Please Note: If you are suffering from severe and debilitating anxiety consider consulting with your doctor before employing the sequence.

Adho Mukha Svanasana (Supported)

1. Adho Mukha Svanasana 
(Downward-Facing Dog Pose), supported

With your hands and knees on the floor, place a block under your chest. Straighten your legs and lift the pelvis up. Push the floor away to extend and lift the torso. Keeping your arms straight, release your neck and rest your head on the block. Adjust the height of the block or add a blanket to rest the head easily. Keep the arms and legs strong and the face soft. Hold for 2 minutes.

Adho Mukha Vrkshasana

2. Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand)

Place your hands a few inches away from a wall. From Adho Mukha Svanasana, walk the feet closer to the wall, lifting the hips. Raise one leg straight up toward the ceiling, and push off the other bent leg to kick up and take the feet to the wall into Handstand. Keep both arms straight and stretch the heels up the wall. Spread the palms and extend from the arms through the sides of the chest up to the feet. Lift your head slightly to look at the wall. Hold for up to 1 minute. If you can't get into Handstand, try kicking up several times, working on taking the pelvis toward the wall as you kick up; then repeat Adho Mukha Svanasana.

Viparita Dandasana (Supported)

3. Viparita Dandasana (Inverted Staff Pose), supported

Sit backward through a folding chair, preferably one that has a large opening in the backrest so that you 
have ample space for your legs. Holding on to the sides of the top of the chair, lift and broaden the chest while lying backward over the seat. The edge of the chair seat should support you near the middle of the back. Rest the top of your head on a bolster or folded blankets. Straighten and extend the legs. Open the chest and move your arms in between the front legs of the chair to grasp the back legs of the chair. If you cannot straighten your legs, raise your heels onto blocks or some other support. Hold for 5 minutes. To come out of the pose, hold near the top of the chair, bend your knees, put your feet flat on the floor, and keep your chest open as you pull yourself up. Once upright, stay for a few moments with your eyes closed.

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Supported)

4. Setu Bandha Sarvangasana 
(Bridge Pose), supported

Keep the props set up as in the previous pose, but add a second chair 
for your feet and more support (a second bolster or more blankets) for your head. As in Viparita Dandasana, hold on to the top of the chair as 
you lie backward on the seat. Slide off the chair until your shoulders reach the bolster so that your shoulders and head are resting at the same level. Place your feet on the second chair and straighten your legs with the heels apart. Relax the abdomen and allow it to extend. Hold for 5 minutes, and then come out of the pose as you did in Viparita Dandasana.

Sarvangasana Variation

5. Sarvangasana 
(Shoulderstand), variation

This blanket setup is different from the typical Shoulderstand. Here, the head is elevated and the back of the neck lengthens, which allows the face to recede and concentrated tension to dissipate. To begin, roll up one blanket. Then make a thicker roll with two blankets. Open your mat against a wall and place the thin roll against the wall and the thicker roll about 1 foot away from the wall. Place 
a bolster lengthwise against the second roll. Lie on the bolster, shoulders on the thick roll and your head on the thin roll. Bend your knees, lift your pelvis, and place your feet on the wall. Walk your feet up the wall and straighten your legs. The thin roll supports the back of the head so that the back of the neck lengthens between the two rolls. If the head touches the wall, move it closer to the bolster. Relax the arms, bend your elbows, and rest the back side of your hands on the floor.

Although you'll feel a stretch in your neck, most of your weight should be on the shoulders. Your neck should feel relaxed. Do not push the back ribs toward the chest, as you might in other versions of Shoulderstand. Instead, allow the sternum to move away from your chin and the upper back to round slightly. Relax the temples and keep the jaw soft. 
At first, this variation may feel awkward. Practice
it several times to experience the desired effect. 
If you can, hold for 5 minutes.

Paschimotanasana (Supported)

6. Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend), supported

Sit in Dandasana (Staff Pose) with a folded blanket under the buttocks, and put a bolster lengthwise on top of the thighs. Place a folded blanket on top of the end of the bolster closest to your feet. Extend your torso forward over the legs, and catch the feet with your hands. Rest your forehead on the blanket and your abdomen on the bolster for 3 minutes. Use more support if the props aren't high enough, or place a chair in front of you and prop the bolster against the seat of the chair.

Viparita Karani (Supported)

7. Viparita Karani 
(Legs-up-the-Wall Pose), supported

Stack a couple of folded blankets on top of a bolster near a wall. Put a block between the bolster and the wall and a blanket on the floor in front of the bolster for your head and shoulders. Sit on the side of the bolster and roll your sacrum 
onto it, lifting your legs up the wall. Scoot yourself close to the wall so that the buttocks touch or come near the wall. Gently lower your shoulders and head 
to the floor. If you slide off the bolster, you can push yourself closer with your hands on the floor. Straighten your legs and press the thighs into the wall as you open your chest. Rest for 5 minutes. To come down, bend your knees, push your feet into the wall, slide away from the wall, and rest your back on the floor. End your practice by resting for 10 minutes, with 
eyes covered if you'd like, in Savasana (Corpse Pose).

Don't Forget: Join Marla, highlighted by Yoga Journal Magazine as one of 21 in the next generation of yoga teachers helping to “shape the future of yoga," at the Feathered Pipe Ranch for the retreat, "Deeper Within: Balancing Stability & Mobility," July 22 - 27th! The Feathered Pipe Community Discount Program applies saving you $100 and accruing retreat credits for your studio/organization. Join Us!!!

Marla Apt

Marla Apt is a Senior Intermediate level Iyengar Yoga teacher, based in Los Angeles. She has been involved with medical research studies at UCLA on yoga for depression, anxiety and IBS and created the first yoga therapy content to be incorporated into the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine’s curriculum. She is a writer contributor for Yoga Journal Magazine and was the 2009/2010 author of the "Basics" column of which you can find many of her articles here within our "Teachers' Cabin" blog.

She is on the faculty of the three-year Teacher Training Program of the Iyengar Yoga Association of Southern California. Marla served as the President of the Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States and is currently a member of the national certification committee. She leads workshops and trainings throughout the U.S. and abroad. Please visit her website at: www.yoganga.com.

*Special appreciation goes out to the Yoga Journal Magazine for allowing us to re-publish this article.

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Flying without Borders

Last month, I celebrated my 65th birthday. As I came up on this milestone, I took note of the stories present in our culture that await me at this age: being eligible for Medicare, entering into the “retirement” stage of life, and crossing the threshold, stepping into elderhood. I am all too familiar that, to some, this signals the beginning of the slide to the end.

But this is not my view. As I cross over into this new territory, I intend to see this 65th year as a new beginning, the beginning of my time as an elder with the opportunity and responsibility to share what knowledge has been imparted over these years of living. I enter it with certainty and a renewed sense of energy and excitement. I feel more vibrant, empowered, joyful, grateful and alive than ever before.

As I approached the actual day, I found myself pausing to take stock on where I am going, and what I am bringing with me. A poem I heard many years ago called The Dash by Linda Ellis kept popping up in my inbox, which I took as a sign to pay attention and read it again. The “dash’ between dates in this poem represents all of the days of a life between one’s birth and death. As I sat with it, I reflected on the questions of how I was “spending” my time in the dash. This particular reading of it took on new meaning, as time seems to be passing with greater speed.

Though my body shows some age with its aches and wrinkles, exercise has endowed me with the physical strength to feel younger. And the years have given me the wisdom to make the balance of the journey as good as, and even better, than that which has already passed. I have been a slow learner, and the road has been filled with land-mines. It doesn’t matter, for my spirit is strong, and I have finally learned to listen to the voice inside me. I can hear the questions rising from the teacher within and I am present for the answers that emerge.

It is an honor to be invited to sit alongside 93 year young, master of Yoga and Living, Tao Porchon-Lynch as we share our experience and understanding of these years and lifetimes lived during the Wisdom to Renew...Living in Luminosity retreat. She is a beacon of light illuminating the way and showing how best to “invest” one's time in the dash, living life fully with dignity, grace and vitality. Her stories are many and fascinating - Check out this incredible interview she did with Dr. Terri Kennedy for the Huffington Post:

7 Steps to Crafting an Amazing Life

With the tools of yoga and photography on the sacred ground at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, we offer a borderless time and place for you to contemplate how you are currently living your own dash, regardless of your age. At this retreat, we ponder those questions that you might have, and those we believe you should consider. We hope to ignite creative fires, and invite your spirit, body and heart to bask in the luminosity and listen to your own inner voice. (See Living and Luminosity gallery.)

Join Us...Connie along with Tao will lead the Yoga & Photography Meditation retreat Wisdom to Renew...Living in Luminosity at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, Aug.18 - 24th. The Feathered Pipe Community Discount Program applies saving you $100 and accruing retreat credits for your studio/organization. Be Here!!!

Connie Reider

Connie Reider is an accomplished professional photographer, specializing in portraiture, with studios in Bethesda and Annapolis, MD. For over 25 years, she has been using her camera to express her personal vision of the world. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995, Connie used her camera and journaling to help herself to heal. She discovered that the cancer experience had a profoundly positive effect on her life which she documents in her book, IN SHADOW AND LIGHT... Looking for the Gifts of Cancer.

In 2007, Connie created INscape, The Healing Art of Photography. INscape is based on the technique that when photography is used as a walking meditation, it connects the wisdom metaphorically represented in nature with the landscapes of our inner lives. The resulting “self portraits” reveal a wealth of insightful information, giving a deep understanding and appreciation of our authentic selves along with new possibilities as to how we choose to live each day. As well, Connie co-founded the F. Holland Day Center for Healing and Creativity with Dr. Matthew Budd, serving as the Creative Director leading week-long healing retreats for women with cancer. Find out more about Connie at: www.inscapehealing.com.

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Pad Thai

Thailand is an amazing country and Thai cuisine is just as amazing and delicious.  My first introduction to Thailand was in the city of Bangkok as part of a wonderful Feathered Pipe trip with Rodney Yee on which we visited Thailand, Burma and Cambodia.  I had been eating Thai food for many years and cooking Thai food at both the Feathered Pipe Ranch and at home and was delighted to experience the food in its country of origin.  After my first trip to Bangkok, I continued experimenting with Thai cuisine and have learned many things thanks to research and Thai Food by David Thompson, a wonderful book for those interested in Thai cuisine.  I especially love the use of fresh ingredients and the particular attention to their intrinsic colors and flavors.  I was able to take another trip to Thailand a year ago, and while there my friend and I took a great cooking class in the heart of Bangkok from a lively Thai man who taught us about the use of fresh ingredients, careful preparation and rapid cooking.  Pad Thai, a popular dish at the Ranch, remains one of my favorite dishes and one I make frequently at home.

Note: Most any style of rice noodle will work.  Meat such as shrimp or chicken can easily be used in addition to or instead of tofu.

Ingredients:

Pad Thai Ingredients

¼ c boiling water

2 tbsp tamarind paste

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp palm or brown sugar

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp fish sauce or 1 tsp salt

1 tbsp rice vinegar

-------------------------

16 oz rice stick noodles

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 c tofu, cut into ¼-½ inch cubes

Cilantro

1 clove garlic, pressed or finely chopped

1 shallot, finely minced

2 eggs, beaten

1 carrot, peeled and grated

1 bunch scallions, cut into 1" pieces

1 c bean sprouts

½ c cilantro, stems removed

½ c ground peanuts

1 lime, cut into wedges

Recipe:

Pad Thai Sauce

1. In a small bowl combine tamarind paste, tomato paste, sugars, fish sauce and rice vinegar.  Whisk in boiling water until sauce is well combined.  Set sauce aside.

2. Heat a large pot of water over high heat, bring to a boil and add noodles.  Remove from heat and allow noodles to cook off heat until tender (4-5 minutes).  Once noodles are tender, drain and run under cold water to stop cooking process.  Set aside and allow noodles to continue draining.

3. Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat.  Add tofu and fry until golden brown (about 4-5 minutes).  Using a slotted spoon, remove tofu and set aside.

4. Keeping oil over medium-high heat, add shallot and garlic and stir until fragrant (about 30 seconds).  Add egg, carrot and tofu and stir continuously until egg has cooked (about 30 seconds).  Add noodles, gently combine with cooked ingredients and pour sauce over skillet.  Gently stir ingredients to heat and combine (about 30 seconds).  Remove from heat, add scallions, ¼ c cilantro leaves and bean sprouts and gently toss to combine.

5. Serve immediately.  Garnish with ground peanuts, lime wedges and remaining cilantro leaves.

Serves 3-4

Feathered Pipe Ranch Cookbook $25

Teal Mittelstadt

Teal Mittelstadt grew up in Montana and have always loved to cook. She worked as a cook in the kitchen of the Feathered Pipe Ranch for five years, and as a private chef in Montana and New York for two years. She started a food blog as a way to share my food and recipes with others. She is continually creating and updating dishes, drawing inspiration from a variety of sources, but fresh and appealing ingredients are paramount. Please visit Teal's website, My Own Private Kitchen, for more great recipe's and cooking tips.

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Cooperation not Competition

“We must shift from competing with one another to cooperating, collaborating and co-creating with one another.”

~Sacred Lodge Sister Carla Goddard

My grandparents grew up during the Great Depression. I remember as a child closets and basements stocked full of household cleaners, paper towels and assorted sundries. Items bought because they were on sale and would be needed “someday”. Hoarding was the consequence of not having enough. Unraveling the deep rooted fears of scarcity from a collective consciousness can take lifetimes to extricate. And it starts by facing the fears that strangle the life force of our own hearts.

Most of our societal infrastructures have been built on ideologies of lack and fear, a fertile breeding ground for greed, competition, control and co-dependency. Structures are held in place by egos driven to insure survival on the limited beliefs of not enough.

We are in the midst of a spiritual awakening. The cognizance of the plight of our planet is increasing. Grassroots discontent is slowly arousing from apathy. The foundations of financial infrastructures are quaking. Life as we know it is breaking down. And what underlies these breakdowns are the belief systems that erected them in the first place.

Nearly everyone I know is experiencing a breakdown. From mechanical breakdowns of machines and plumbing, to the grief and loss of security and finances, physical breakdowns of body and health or the heart wrenching breakdowns of intimate relationships, life as we know it is shape shifting. Large and small we are all effected as a new world order is making itself known. As prophecies profess, we are living in times of great change.

As life threatening as these breakdowns may feel, what if we could see them as paving the way for a new world order? What if these breakdowns are the gateway to our heart? What if we could learn to ride these turbulent waters with faith and courage?

For what is breaking down are the outdated structures and old paradigms that have prevented our hearts from thriving. For with our heart at the helm sharing and generosity are our watchtowers.

When we are riding turbulent waters from the breakdown of all that we know, when the ego itself is deconstructing, the waters can feel terrifying. We do not know when the shore will arrive. What do we hold on to when all we feel is lost at sea? Old strategies and coping mechanisms no longer operate.

This is when the faith of our heart is fortified. The internal compass is the wisdom of our heart. It takes tremendous courage to keep our heart open while we face our fears of the unknown. What new tools do we need to ride these waves?

A divine doorway has paved the way to the sanctuary of Feathered Pipe. Along with Christian de la Huerta and Joe Weston I will be part of the Waking the Open-Hearted Warrior: Empowerment Camp at the Feathered Pipe Ranch in June to develop the skills and fortitude of the heart as we learn to navigate these unknown waters of our times. As we retreat from the demands of our schedules and routines we immerse ourselves in the call of our heart. We release the bondages of fear through the purification of breathwork and pave the way to mastering respectful confrontation to maintain an open heart to greet life and its challenges with compassion and steadfast resolve. Both Christian and Joe are masters in their respective circles and I am humbled to join them in this life changing experience.

With honor I have been given the opportunity to offer Earth based medicine practices to weave our hearts to the heartbeat of our Mother Earth as we learn to walk in intimate conversation and reverence for all of Nature. As this retreat occurs during both the Summer Solstice and the New Moon we will journey to the Shaman’s cave in the oldest once-inhabited cave system in North America for ceremony. My heart is bowing in AWE.

An invitation awaits. A divine doorway opens. Do you hear your heart beckon? Dive deep into your most courageous heart.

Don't Forget:  Feathered Pipe's Community Discount Programs Apply!!! Save $100 and earn retreat credits for your Studio/Organization!

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

Karen Chrappa

Karen Chrappa is author of A Structure for Spirit and a contemporary Medicine Woman. Her life has been dedicated to mastering the art and science of healing by weaving together the roots of Physiotherapy, a foundation of intuitive Thai Massage and the heart of Shamanic Energy Medicine and Ceremony. Find out more about Karen and follow her blog at: www.astructureforspirit.com.

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Evolution through Empowerment

"The Mission of the Feathered Pipe Foundation is to help people find their direction through access to programs and experiences that cultivate awareness of their truest selves, enrich spirit, mind and body, explore the world’s wisdom and discoveries, and actively practice seva (service) to support healing, education, community and empowerment."

Almost three-quarters of a century ago, a young and adventurous Liam O’Gallegher, who played a considerable role inspiring what has evolved at the Feathered Pipe over the past 37 years, took the risk, moved by his own internal calling and hitchhiked from his home in the Bay Area out into the Mojave Desert to pay a unexpected visit to the writer, Aldous Huxley. He knocked on the door and was welcomed in by Mr. Huxley’s wife.

From the conversation that transpired between Liam and Aldous Huxley, his life-long trajectory was set which would include pushing the forward edge of creative expression and conscious evolution through art, culture and societal transformation. With his quiet, welcoming, and ever-curious demeanor, he along with his life partner, Robert Rheem, would befriend, inspire and support many of the foremost luminaries of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s counter-culture movements.

In similar fashion a free-spirited, young woman named India Supera in the mid-sixties hitchhiked across the country to New York, took a flight to Europe and after many strange and unexpected adventures finally ended up in India. Her wandering eventually brought her to Satya Sai Baba’s ashram where she would spend many years and befriend another devotee named Jerry Duncan who had brought the Feathered Pipe Ranch from Robert Rheem’s father, the well-known industrialist of Rheem's Heating & Cooling.

When Jerry returned to America and was dying of cancer, she requested that India come and care for her through the final days. Upon her death, Jerry bequeathed the Ranch to India who was living the life of a renunciate at the time. India had all intentions to sell the land and give the money away, but encouraged by Sai Baba upon her return to India saying she had learned what she needed and that it was time to put this knowledge to use, she came back to America with a mission.

With Liam O’Gallegher and Bob Rheem living just up the hill at Sky Farm, she then began with a bunch of “just crazy enough” friends what has come to be known as the Feathered Pipe Foundation. Such is the way of those that follow their true inner-calling being attuned to the direction of the “Feathered Pipe.”

With India’s retirement and the passing of the baton to the next generation, the Board of Directors decided it was time to update the Foundation’s Mission, to clarify and reassert not only its meaning, but its purpose as well. In doing so, we turned to the original vision that brought the Feathered Pipe Ranch and Foundation into being when they were founded in 1975. In its beginning, the image and concept of the Native American feathered pipe inspired India Supera and Jerry Duncan and guided their mission.

According to descriptions of a rite attributed to the A’aninin tribe of north central Montana, the feathered pipe was hung from a tripod when there was a question about which way to go.  Once it settled, the direction it pointed guided the A'aninin people in their travels.

Turning to the feathered pipe to point the way continues to inspire the work of the Feathered Pipe Foundation.  We offer a time and place for  people to slow down and tap into their deeper selves and limitless potential and gifts. We provide a sanctuary where teachers bring their wisdom and experience to ‘the Pipe,’ offering direction and guidance into new territories of exploration and practice. Through our educational programs and services we support the development of healthy communities on local and global levels. In conjunction with our support for programs and teachers, the Foundation continues to embrace the tradition of service, or seva.

The educational programs we provide are an integral part of the Foundation's mission.  Over the years, not only has Yoga been an important part of our history and we a part of Yoga’s history in America, but we have presented programs over a wide spectrum with teachers exploring deeper awareness from many traditions.  Through these programs we support teachers, experienced and aspiring, and encourage them share their knowledge and insights.

Another aspect of our mission is the nurturing environment that we provide at the Feathered Pipe Ranch.  The beauty and the energy of the land and the contentious service of our staff come together to create a sanctuary where people can slow down and go deeper.  Through this combination of teachings and place we have helped many students become teachers or leaders in their own communities.

We also reach out into the world through journeys to explore sacred lands and traditions.  We seek to give back to the world through the seva work. Over the years we have supported The Tibetan Children Education Fund in India.  Closer to home we helped Cree and Blackfeet elders preserve their traditions and continue to support the HIV+/AIDS community through yearly education programs and retreats ath the Ranch. As well we are a steadfast suppporter of social and environmental activist, Jean Shinoda Bolen's call for a 5th World Conference on Women at the United Nations to support women’s empowerment.  Recently, we’ve begun supporting the Veteran’s Yoga Project.

We are grateful for the role we have been able to play.  We are also grateful to all of the people who have supported us over the past 37 years by attending our programs and through donations to the Foundation.

With Sincere Appreciation,
Feathered Pipe Foundation

As always if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, please feel free to contact us at (406) 442-8196, or contact JV or Melissa at: jv@featheredpipe.com or melissa@featheredpipe.com.

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That, which is Essential

Those who seek the dimension not opposed to but different from that of time and achievement have a pilgrim soul. They seek to enter the dimension of eternity. Eternal life is not a life of endless duration, a time that lasts forever; it is a state of being in time, accompanied by the qualities of clear perception and love. The everlasting is not timeless. Anything that is everlasting is still in the dimension of time, whereas timelessness transcends this, for the category of time does not apply to.

To be a pilgrim is to be a searcher, a searcher for entry into the dimension of eternity.  This cannot be known in the ways in which we know, it cannot be reached by the ways we have already understood. To set out on this journey, it is necessary to know that we do not know.  This is not a celebration of ignorance, but of innocence, an openness to what is, a freedom from all that is known. This freedom is also a freedom from fear, for the simple reason that what is truly unknown can never be a source of fear. Fear is created by an imagined or expected loss of what we know. The unknown is a source of Mystery; the only feeling it can create is that of wonder. And fear and wonder cannot co-exist.

But this state of wonder is less frequently available than we wish; innocence is far too often, and far too much, sullied by cleverness and control-driven knowledge. It seems that we need to work at unknowing, to pay for owning nothing, and to make efforts to reach a state of effortlessness.

Is the Eternal Everlasting?

The eternal cannot be approached except by sacrificing the wish for the everlasting.  When I wish to have a life without end, it is in fact a wish for a continuity of my personal identity, my own ego-self, throughout time.  This wish arises out of a fear of the loss of my ego.  It is difficult for me to imagine life, or the cosmos, without my ego being present.  Because I am self-occupied, I regard myself as the centre of the universe and, in my ego-centred imagination, I believe that the whole universe would collapse if I were to cease existing in the form I know.  I project my fear of the loss of the known onto the unknown and I devise whole systems of consolation which would vouchsafe an everlasting life for me.

The wish for continuity, the tendency to repeat myself and the inertia of a psychological momentum prevent my transformation - being born of the Spirit.  This feature of the mind is what is called abhinivesha by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras (2:9).  The usual interpretation of this notion is that this is 'a wish for continuation of life,' which in turn is often interpreted as 'a fear of death.'  However, abhinivesha is any desire for the continuation of the status quo which results in a fear of change.  The wish for everlasting life is a consequence of abhinivesha and it stands in the way of the spiritual transformation necessary to find eternal life.  The spiritual masters have said - see for example Matthew 10:39, Luke 11:33, John 12:25 - that only the person who is willing to sacrifice the superficial life (or self, or ego, or samsara) can find Life (or Self, or God, or Nirvana).

The Eternal: Transcending Time

If the everlasting continuity of personal identity is not what the spiritual seeker wishes, what is aspired for?  There is an ancient Vedic prayer, quoted in the Brihadaranyak Upanishad (I.3.28), which says:

"From the unreal lead me to the Real,
From darkness lead me to Light,
From death lead me to Life."

This state of Non-death, of Life (amrita), presumably is not the state in which one is born again and again, endlessly, for this requires no effort and is guaranteed to all.  Such a state cannot be the goal of spiritual life, any more than death can be such an aim, for the simple reason that everyone will undergo this fate in any case.  On the contrary, the desired end is a state of being which does not come about automatically; it requires strenuous effort and discipline, a yoga, from below and grace from Above.

A spiritual seeker wishes for a transformation of being so that the quality of the relationship with higher energies and levels could be radically altered.  This transformation results in a life which is not ego-centred but is rather centred in God, who because of his omnipresence lives in the deepest recesses of the seeker's heart as well as in every other person and in every other thing.  A mark of this inner re-orientation in the aspirant is a shift from being in a state of occupation with acquisition and self-advancement to one of love for others and of wishing to be of service.

The highest form of sacrifice is the renunciation of the ego-self.  Our one individual and personal possession is the sense of 'I'; all other possessions are accidental and subject to external loss.  This self which is occupied with itself is what the spiritual aspirant undertakes to surrender.  The saints achieve only this: they succeed in doing nothing.  Nothing, that is, which is their own.  They have no project, no point of view, no ambition of their own; they do what they must under the guidance of the will of God, as a service and as an offering.  "In truth, in very truth I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he does only what he sees the Father doing: what the Father does, the Son does... The teaching that I give is not my own; it is the teaching of him who sent me.  Anyone whose teaching is only his own is bent on self-glorification" (John 5:19; 7:16,17).  And St. Paul said, "I live, yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20).

The greatest fear of the saints is that of dying without being self-annihilated, without having died to their ego-selves.  Without this death they would be condemned to the prison of their own egos.  As the Theologia Germanica (Chapter 34) says, "Nothing burneth in hell except self-will."  The sage strives for a discontinuity of the ego-self in time and not for its everlasting perpetuation.  Very different sorts of questions about life after death arise for those who wish to be free of their own self-will than for those who fear the extinction of their egos.  The sage fears dying without the extinction of the ego, without self-naughting, without having entered into the state of Eternal Life, of Nirvana.

As well Don't Forget: Ravi along with Kira Ryder of Lulu Bandha's & the Ojai Yoga Crib, will be leading the profoundly deep and playful Yoga & Indian Philosophy Meditation retreat, Yoga and the Search for the Eternal, at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, June 23 - 29.  Feathered Pipe's Community Discount Program Applies...Save $100 & Accrue retreat credits for your Studio/Organization!!!

Ravi Ravindra

Ravi Ravindra was born in India and received his early education there. He went to Canada as a graduate student and later as an immigrant. Now he is a Professor Emeritus at Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he served for many years as a professor in three Departments: Comparative Religion, Philosophy, and Physics. He was a Member of the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study in Shimla, and the Founding Director of the Threshold Award for Integrative Knowledge. Ravindra’s spiritual search has led him to the teachings of J. Krishnamurti, G. Gurdjieff, Yoga, Zen, and a deep immersion in the mystical teachings of the Indian and Christian classical traditions. He is a prolific author including: Krishnamurti:Two Birds on One Tree, Science and The Sacred, The Wisdom of Patañjali's Yoga Sutras and The Inner Journey-Myth, Psyche, and Spirit. These as well as Whispers from the Other Shore and many more can be found on his website: www.ravindra.ca.

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Spring Vegetable and Rye Berry Salad

Whole grains are grass seeds which contain endosperm, bran, and cereal germ, as opposed to refined grains that consist of only endosperm. They are a great addition to any diet because they provide more protein and fiber than their refined counterparts.  Cooking with whole grains does take some patience, as they require a longer cooking time due to the bran exterior; but whole grains are well worth the extra time on the stove as they have a rich, nutty and earthy flavor. The easiest way to cook whole grains such as rye, wheat or oat berries, is to boil them for 1-2 hours until they are al dente (firm but not hard).  The cooked berries can then be added to any number of recipes or eaten on their own.  Whole grains mixed with vegetables and herbs make great side salads to keep on hand during the summer, as they can be eaten room temperature or cold and taste delicious with/for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Note: Peas may be used instead of sugar snap peas.  Most grain berries will work in place of rye such as wheat, oat or barley.  Grain berries can be found at larger supermarkets and natural food stores.

Rye Berries

Ingredients:

2 c cooked rye berries

1 medium new potato, thinly sliced into rounds

1 small leek, trimmed, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced

¼ lb sugar snap peas, trimmed and cut in half widthwise

¼ lb asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces

Steamed Green Vegetables

½ small red pepper, trimmed and finely diced

1 tbsp parsley, roughly copped

½ c feta

1 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

leaf lettuce (optional)

Recipe:

Potato, Leeks, Red Pepper & Parsley

1. Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat.  Add potatoes and fry until golden brown on both sides (about 5 minutes), stirring frequently to prevent sticking.  Remove the potatoes from skillet, leaving the oil in the skillet and place them in a medium-mixing bowl.

2. Reduce heat to medium, add red pepper and leeks and sauté until just cooked (about 1 minute).  Remove from heat, stir in parsley and set skillet aside.

3. Place the asparagus and peas in a steamer basket with water in a small pot.  Cover the pot and bring the water to a boil.  Once water boils, remove vegetables from heat and place them in the bowl with the potatoes.

4. Add the rye berries and skillet ingredients to the potatoes and vegetables, gently toss to combine and season to taste with salt and pepper.

5. Sprinkle feta on top or gently toss with salad when serving.  Serve salad room temperature or chilled on leaf lettuce if desired.

Serves 3-4

Feathered Pipe Ranch Cookbook $25

Teal Mittelstadt

Teal Mittelstadt grew up in Montana and have always loved to cook. She worked as a cook in the kitchen of the Feathered Pipe Ranch for five years, and as a private chef in Montana and New York for two years. She started a food blog as a way to share my food and recipes with others. She is continually creating and updating dishes, drawing inspiration from a variety of sources, but fresh and appealing ingredients are paramount. Please visit Teal's website, My Own Private Kitchen, for more great recipe's and cooking tips.

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