Greetings again, dear yogis💕🤗. Since we have successfully avoided a second wave of this pandemic, by remaining in the grips of the original wave (!), I guess we’ll have to cancel all the rest of our possibilities for 2020 autumn season, my friends… I hope that we can start fresh in the springtime, friends. If that looks possible, I will post a schedule towards the end of 2020. Wear your masks and social distance,...
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Above is the Chinese dragon, on New Year’s Day. We are now in the year of the Metallic Rat. Below is my favorite “dragon,” and also my closest neighbor here at S.D.S. The photo is actually the baby. Mama appeared last month and posed for five minutes, but I didn’t have my camera with me…what a tease! Mama has grown to (at least) eight feet long now. For you left-brain readers, those brick tiles in the photo are approximately 14”. This...
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Greetings, dear readers. Hats. We all wear so many in these complicated times, huh? As the relentless dust and heat bore down, over six days of pickaxing holes in the dry rocky ground at SDS 2… I grew to love my Issan farmer’s hat. It became incredibly familiar and comforting as well. This is a strange disclosure for a “nudist Buddhist,” as I’ve often described myself. My sweet friend Maechee Wontawon is on the left (above photo)....
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Hello again, dear readers. And full-moon greetings from the Green Tara. (It was fun to wait for the moon to rise to just the right spot.) Thanks so much for your heartfelt response to my Tales. There are many Zero Waste Warriors out there, who have been responding with consciousness since long before my nascent attempts. I often fail to avoid single-use plastic: people give me bottles of water, or I buy something that is otherwise...
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Hello again, dear readers. Yes, this time I really am in Thailand, and back home at my retreat center, where I am the official International Volunteer. I can’t seem to resist featuring this fellow (above) that I found while gardening today, though he’s actually double that size. And below, little Maechee Pim, age 9, is showing me the onions that she waters every day. I was given a royal welcome and taken to “my” house, which is always...
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Hello, dears. I suspect that at least some of you are thinking: Hmmm, they have saguaro cactus in Thailand? The answer is: No. I spent twelve days at the tip of the Baja peninsula in Mexico, before heading out to SE Asia.Last winter, I spontaneously made a reservation at an airbnb in Cabo San Jose, on the un-touristed side of town (I hoped). Never been there, don’t know anyone there… I’m going to re-print parts of a letter that I just...
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March 20 – 22, 2020 CANCELLED to minimize any potential impact of COVID-19 What happens when you combine a weekend of Ashtanga Yoga with silent contemplative Vipassana meditation? Something wonderful and insightful enough to make us want to continue this experiment for 14 years now. Join Mark Cain and Joy Fox for this mind/body exploration into a world of possibilities. You don’t need expertise in either field…..thus the title....
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Sunday, March 29th, 2020 9:30 – 3:30 p.m. CANCELLED to minimize any potential impact of COVID-19 This will be our first springtime opportunity to be immersed in the practices of Vipassanastyle meditation: sitting, walking, eating, and loving-kindness exercises. There will also be a light yoga/stretching period before lunch. This is a perfect opportunity for new students to receive full instruction in these simple but profound...
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Thursday – Sunday, April 9 – April 12, 2020 (Thursday, 10 a.m. – Sunday, 3 p.m.) CANCELLED to minimize any potential impact of COVID-19 A silent four-day Vipassana Intensive for those of you who have been yearning for more in depth time to examine and observe where silence meets you inside, and/or the crazy mental sounds of monkeychittering that are not actually you, as you become the witness… We will have an...
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Saturday, April 25, 2020 CANCELLED to minimize any potential impact of COVID-19 Nature Day with our expert nature guide, Joe Neal… This is an annual springtime tradition now, and folks from all over the Ozarks show up…we’ll meet (9 am) at the top of the Wattle Hollow driveway on Hwy 170, and stroll slowly down-hill. (People will share their binoculars if you don’t have any). Then, we’ll share a pot-luck lunch overlooking the pond and...
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Sunday, May 3, 9:30 – 3:30 p.m. CANCELLED to minimize any potential impact of COVID-19 This is your one-day opportunity to take a personal tour into various Vipassana meditation practices: sitting, walking, eating and metta/loving-kindness. All are welcome, though registration must be no less than three days before the retreat (e.g. the Wednesday before). A great chance for beginning meditators to get their feet wet, and for...
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May 8-9th, 2020 CANCELLED (Wattle Hollow will be closed to minimize any potential impact of COVID-19 ) These incredible peace-makers contribute so much to our community and to world consciousness. This is their time to renew and refresh. Check with Gladys Tiffany for details.
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May 15 – May 17, 2020 CANCELLED (Wattle Hollow will be closed to minimize any potential impact of COVID-19) Experience an eclectic, organic approach to creating music in a provocatively creative atmosphere. Our extremely popular, semi-annual leap into creativity and music – led by our talented and creative teachers Donna and Kelly Mulholland, and Jack Williams into a special (and perhaps previously unknown) territory...
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Saturday, May 30, 2020 9:30 – 3:30 p.m. CANCELLED (Wattle Hollow will be closed to minimize any potential impact of COVID-19) Led by Joy Fox. Again, a one-day experience with a guided tour into the Theravadan Vipassana meditation practices of sitting, walking, eating and lovingkindness. We’ll also do an hour of stretching/yoga exercises. This is a great opportunity for new-comers to meditation, as well as our wonderful oldies....
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Wattle Hollow is a relatively small retreat center (40 acres of woodlands on a mountainside in Northwest Arkansas) with capacity for 20 - 25 folks.