Sisterhood
Freed from our jobs, roles, identities, and constraints of our “regular’ life we are given refuge to be with ourselves and each other in a fresh way. Women act as reflections for each other to learn how to integrate and embolden our unexpressed creativity, curiosity, and divinity. Time together at the fire, talk at dinner, play on the beach, meditative practices, and forest time seals our Sisterhood. Remembering that at the foundation we hold and honor the inner relationship to our quiet and secret self to be primary and the group experience a blossoming from the self. Silence is essential as we learn to be together and attending to our own inner place. To create layers of intimacy and safety we form dyads and smaller groups to begin knowing each other. We recognize the old wounds of exclusivity, take-overs, shadow plays, scapegoating, and bullying that can happen in group, thus the container is built with attention to inclusion, safety, and mutual respect. The group could be all strangers, two friends, or a whole group that wants to experience a collective journey together. In the end the Sisterhood is clear and the feeling of connection and mutual care is deeply seated for each of us to move back into our lives. The continuity of the group continues in Portland as Ashley Natalya will offer seasonal gatherings, Barefoot Buddha walks, and other opportunity for play for all participants of the retreats. Female identified retreats will be announced and offered as separate from Community Retreats.
Community
Learning how to be together men, women, non-binary, and trans we come to learn of the rainbow of expression and wholeness. When we have a Community Retreat the space of both connection and the art of presence are strengthened by our differences, similar needs and values. When we can be both strong and vulnerable in our own unique ways we can come to see how much benefit we can have by our influence and acceptance. Remembering that at the foundation we hold and honor the inner relationship to our quiet and secret self to be primary and the group experience a blossoming from the self. Silence is essential as we learn to be together and attending to our own inner place. To create layers of intimacy and safety we form dyads and smaller groups to begin knowing each other. We recognize the old wounds of exclusivity, take-overs, shadow plays, scapegoating, and bullying that can happen in group, thus the container is built with attention to inclusion, safety, and mutual respect. The group could be all strangers, two friends, or a whole group that wants to experience a collective journey together. Although I am new to leading community all gender work I feel the circle to be so much more complete when we choose to be in a trusting and open container together. I have witnessed what happens when we can see each as whole and safe. The wheel of the masculine and feminine turn within each of us and take many shifts and shapes in our life. Our gender identified roles become barriers and limits to our own fulfillment and self-realization. As we learn to be in Unity and BEING consciousness together we learn the much needed skills of listening and opening to kindness.
Ceremony
Ceremony is fundamental to the path of waking-up with compassion, wisdom, and clarity. Ceremony is a moment where an individual or a group becomes interconnected to the larger sphere of their own consciousness and existence. Ceremony allows the mundane and the sacred to have a conversation. The setting Sun, the fire, the forest, the Ocean... become the platform for us to gather and consecrate our collective force. Ceremony creates a form with a beginning, middle, and end; to enter and direct our energy in ways that are pin-pointed like a laser or vast like the rays of the Sun. Ceremony belongs to all people as a gateway to states of Being that shift our habitual thinking, and open us to imagination, freedom, and creativity. Ceremony act as a passageway to receiving what our body, psyche, and Spirit need at both the primitive and sublime levels. Ceremony is integrated into every Golden Spruce Retreat with special sensitivity to cultural appropriation and dogma, which can so easily find its way into the health and wellness subculture. Authenticity, present moment alchemy, humor, and ease are at the heart of our ceremonies.
Ashley Natalya’s ceremony are deeply informed by: Somatic Psychology, Tibetan Buddhism, Native American and Mayan Shamanism, Peurvian Medicine work, Cross-Cultural Dance Ethnology, Classical Chinese Medicine, and Ethnobotany. However, ultimately the experience becomes a doorway where spirit meets matter, where trust and surrender yield our hearts to receive the insight, connection, celebration, and presence that is available to us.
“The central purpose of the Work that Reconnects is to help people uncover and experience their innate connections with each other and with the systemic, self-healing powers in the web of life, so that they may be enlivened and motivated to play their part.”