Come help create an artistic and rustic-looking roof for the brand-new “arthouse” (composter plus art gallery!) being constructed next to Sea World.

We need to ultimately process about eight hundred sticks of bamboo for the new roof.. This would be a lot more fun with a half-dozen folks. It’s also an opportunity to spend the night at Wattle Hollow, share cooperative meals, or just to drop in for part of the day . . .

No charge except your participation…potluck meals and cooking. Sleep-overs can be arranged. Call or write SOON about this, please (479-225-2381).

This is our latest cob/adobe creation: Sea World

We will take the time to sink down into a meditative focus which is much deeper than our everyday busy-ness mind and become acquainted with who it is that runs the inside show. How many layers of conditioning go into the personae that we see in the mirror? What has the one we call “I” adopted from the family rules, childhood trauma, social norms, gender and racial archetypes? This will be a gentle, move-at-your-own pace exploration, using silent meditation (sitting, walking, eating) plus yoga, writing, movement, and group sharing to tease out the strands of our habitual responses and see what is true and what is simply familiar.

Because of cancellations, we still have a few spots available in this retreat. Registration will close at the end of May, however.
Cost: by dana (the Pali word, meaning donation). No one is ever turned away from meditation events for lack of funds, if there is space available. This is a Buddhist tradition.

Retreat Registration Form

Beginners welcome, full meditation instructions offered, by Joy Fox

For those of you who haven’t the time or inclination to do a longer retreat, one day is still a powerful opportunity to “stop” the movie, remember to breathe andpractice the basic meditative techniques of Vipassana/Insight meditation. Lunch will be served.

Pre-registration required by Wednesday, June 18th

Cost: dana/donation
Retreat Registration Form (pdf)

Yupp, it’s the same date as Dharma day, except later on. One could possibly attend both of these events.

Bring your dancin’ gear, your favorite CD’s (sky’s the limit; anything from Flamenco to African to ballet!) and a vegetarian potluck dish to share, for after dancing. Instruments are also welcome.

Some of you may remember a couple of decades ago we used to meet for dancing at Wattle Hollow followed by a potluck sharing. It was magical and it is missed.

Join us – 5:00 p.m. dancing, potluck supper around 7 p.m.

Sea World

For all of you who’ve been begging me to play in the mud again this year (i.e. demonstrate the alternative building technique with mounded adobe, known as cobbing), this is your
opportunity.

We’ll start constructing the extremely whimsical “Art House” walls, next to the Sea World cob building.

Cost: $80 includes meals and lodging

Retreat Registration Form

Hafiz, a great Sufi mystic, wrote:

We cannot truly know God and accept His love,
Until we learn to forgive the dream.

We will be exploring the dreams we have tucked into our collective psyches, and our individual ones, too:

*If I am very very good, nothing bad will happen to me.
*I’ll meet my true love and live happily ever after.
*My loved ones should love me unconditionally.

Through silent meditation/witnessing the mind, making inquiry, writing and sharing, some of these myths may be uncovered and discarded, if it’s time…. to allow more freedom and acceptance and ultimate happiness in our lives.

More details coming….

Retreat Registration Form

Anna Cox, founder and director of 'Compassion Works for All'

We are blessed again, to have this wonderful teacher, Anna Cox, come up from Little Rock, where she counsels maximum security and Death Row prisoners, among her many functions.

Anna Cox is a practicing psychotherapist in Little Rock, Arkansas. She is also a trainer, lecturer and consultant on psychotherapy, meditation, the expansion of consciousness, subtle healing, death and dying, living spiritual lives and lives of compassionate service. She offers talks and workshops that encourage individuals to conceptualize their life as a spiritual journey rather than as an ordinary life of accomplishing goals that promise worldly happiness.

A practitioner of Vajrayana Buddhism since 1980, Anna has lectured and taught classes extensively on Buddhism. Anna helped to found the Ecumenical Buddhist Society in Little Rock, which supports a variety of Buddhist traditions by bringing lineage masters from around the world to offer teachings and retreats.

Since 1993, Anna Cox has offered volunteer psychotherapy and spiritual counseling, group psychotherapy, and meditation classes with incarcerated individuals on and off death row in a maximum-security prison. She has written and published the free monthly newsletter, Dharma Friends, since 1997. Anna Cox also presents lectures frequently on the abolishment of the death penalty in Arkansas and in other states.

For over twenty years, Anna has traveled the world extensively in pilgrimage to holy sites of all religions, places of human suffering, and to places of great transformation. Anna feels deeply that ours is one human family and that no one should be excluded.

Cost: $125, includes meals and lodging. You may also offer dana (Pali word for “donation”) to Anna for the teachings.

This retreat fills early, so please register soon.

Retreat Registration Form

Once again, Still on the Hill and Jack Williams will bring their creative genius back to inspire us, and coax the inner muse out from its hiding place. This retreat fills up quickly, every spring and autumn. ~ Joy

Jack Williams and Still On The Hill

October 26-28, 2012 – Music Workshop Weekend

Spend three days in the Heart of the Ozarks
and experience an eclectic, organic approach to creating music
in a provocatively creative atmosphere.
A weekend of musical exploration and growth.

Registration fee of $250 per person
includes rustic lodging, healthy gourmet meals, and…

* An intimate concert by Jack Williams and Still On The Hill
* Nature walks
* Open mics, song swaps, quiet time to write and create
* Inspiration and camaraderie
* Catering by Chef Tuesday
* Work

Space for the weekend is limited to 20-24 people – if you are interested please don’t wait to sign up. For more information or to make your reservation, contact Judy by phone at (205)572-0056 or email judysmith221@gmail.com

More info available at www.jackwilliamsmusic.com/retreat.html