With 85 million cases and counting, the COVID-19 pandemic has redefined our personal and professional lives. Everything, from our daily routines and work ethic to dietary habits and mental well-being, has felt the impact of living an isolated life devoid of human interaction.

If you have been feeling stressed out, depressed, or anxious in the last few weeks, you are not alone. There are millions of people who are experiencing the same paradigm shift in their lives due to COVID-19. The good news is that there is a remedy you can rely on – mindfulness. Many of us are familiar with this practice through our deep connection with holistic education and as we embark on 2021 we offer this resource as a supportive reminder.

By Yvonne Cuneo

At 26 I left Sydney to travel the world on my own for a year. I had left a marriage which I had wanted with all my young, innocent and needy heart, because I was restless, starved of something unnameable, and hungry to put myself out there to explore the infinite possibilities of life. My father said I had read too many books; he was probably right.

I didn’t realise that apart from the one small bag I took with me, I was carrying much excess luggage from a childhood rife with tension, hostility, and a lack of tenderness and love, a malnourishment of an emotional and spiritual kind. That luggage, which contained unconscious defiance, recklessness, unfathomable pain and a hungry hungry heart, remained locked and bolted for some time.

At 38, and two relationships later, I was living the life I thought I wanted. After a year in Cairo, then in Dubai, New Orleans and Aberdeen, I had an international lifestyle with endless travel, shopping trips to exotic locations filling my home with beautiful artefacts, excitement, adventure, a lively social scene and a healthy body. I had done an Experience Week at the Findhorn Foundation and found a temporary calm and some hope for a world I had given up on as violent and cruel. I felt safe and fed in some ways but was dependent on constant movement and tension to feed a gnawing emptiness.

Sunday, November 15th with David Raithby & Jennifer Hilton

Even before COVID-19, people talked about anxiety as a growing challenge for themselves and others in their life. With COVID-19, almost everybody has experienced some level of isolation, uncertainty, overwhelm, and what might be called helplessness, all of which are the hallmarks of anxiety.  

This 5-hour event, ‘Anxiety and Beyond’, hosted by The Haven addresses the current high level of individual and societal anxiety and, more importantly, explores how we can go beyond  anxiety into transformative and life-affirming understandings and actions. 

Explore a truly unique and fulfilling perspective on anxiety, while offering valuable information, vital connection with others, practical and usable “take-home” tools, and a mix of creative, embodied and experiential learning opportunities. 

Published by kind permission from the Retreat Center Collaboration (RCC).

In a recent RCC Community Call with Jenyng Wu, we explored the work of retreat centers through the lens of JEDI — Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

Let’s take a closer look at the collaborative design process and our collective takeaways coming out of the call. If you weren’t able to join us, we invite you to explore the JEDI Wheel and take note of elements you might apply at your retreat center or allied organization. Check it out!

What is Art of Dying?

The Art of Dying Institute, an initiative of The Open Center, is dedicated to fostering an engaged community of practitioners; researchers & scholars; educators; front-line innovators; partners; and investors to address the need for a cultural awakening around the theme of death and our mortality, how we die and the consequences for how we live. Join the 25th Anniversary Event Oct 31 and Nov 1st 2020.

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Celebrating 25 Years of Exploring the Western Mystery Tradition: October 23-27

For the first time in its 25-year history, The Esoteric Quest — one of the leading global conferences on Western Esotericism — will be held as a digital summit. This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the anniversary conference will take place online for The Open Center’s first-ever Virtual Esoteric Quest and you’re welcome to immerse yourself in the journey.

This five-day event will bring together the world’s foremost experts, writers, artists and scholars for an interactive online experience exploring the lost or half-forgotten spiritual history of the West through lectures, musical performances from Iceland to Occitania, breakout sessions and much more. Join us for an immersive, virtual journey through history and across the world, as we go deeply into the wisdom traditions of the West, including: [Read more…]

By Peter Wrinch.

It was August 15th. That was the day that the full reality of the pandemic hit me full force. It was then that I realized that we are in this for the long game – virtual connections, physical distancing, limits to gathering, frequent hand washing, and masks. It seems obvious now with a number of provinces actively talking about being in the second wave, but at the time it was a revelation for me.

If we are in it for the long game, the question becomes: How do we maintain resilience? [Read more…]

During this unprecedented time, there is a critical need for wellbeing support for changemakers who are dealing with the major challenges and pressures of social change work. In response to that need, our friends at The Wellbeing Project have created a space to connect changemakers with wellbeing practitioners: Wellbeing Connect.
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