International Holistic Centers Gathering Archives - Page 2 of 4

Wandering Dao Qi Gong School

April 11, 2012 by Centers' Gathering Leave a Comment

Daniel Li Ox, the founder of Wandering Dao, will be attending the 2012 Gathering at the Findhorn Foundation. His main goal has always been to make self-healing and alchemical practices accessible to westerners. In the ‘9os he founded Tao Quebec, a Qi Gong School in Canada, which changed name for Wandering Dao Qi Gong School when he left Canada to teach on the road.

After 25 years of practices and deepening his knowledge of the traditional system and of the teaching methods that suits better the western mind, Daniel reorganized the system in a very practical way without compromising the traditional training. For more details about the Outreach Program he would like to bring forth click here.

[Read more…]

Exploring Holistic Education – The Value of Service

April 9, 2012 by Centers' Gathering Leave a Comment

COMPONENTS OF HOLISTIC LEARNING

By Dave Till and Christine Lines

This is the eleventh article in our series on Holistic Learning, to read the introduction and view the other components to follow please click here.

11. The Value of Service

Service is an integral part of an holistic life and even within communities that focus on the spiritual, the value of service needs to be reinforced and encouraged.

The path of selfless service is an ancient and well-respected tradition that needs to have its place restored in the modern world. The word seva comes from the Sanskrit root, sev, meaning to “attend” or “to go towards.” Seva is generally understood to be “service” and one way to look at seva is simply as volunteer service, and in the case of a community, this could mean cleaning the kitchen after a shared meal, caring for the garden, or the offering of professional services such as bookkeeping or architectural skills.

In the community of the Findhorn Foundation, the concept of service is called ‘love in action’ and this is one of the three founding pillars, the other two being inner listening and co-creation with nature. ‘Work’ departments are called service departments instead and a mixture of education and service is common for most guests at Findhorn. [Read more…]

Exploring Holistic Education – Spiritual Practice

April 2, 2012 by Centers' Gathering Leave a Comment

COMPONENTS OF HOLISTIC LEARNING

By Dave Till and Christine Lines

This is the tenth article in our series on Holistic Learning, to read the introduction and view the other components to follow please click here.

10. Spiritual Practice

If individual spirituality is acknowledged as the leading edge of the holistic process, a spiritual practice becomes invaluable.

Regular meditation, excursions into nature, singing, dancing, yoga, writing or parenting can all become a spiritual practice. These are practical methods of cultivating an awareness of the higher self, and can be quite different to a religious practice that may depend on a belief system and strict rules.

Dave Till shares, “I use my own creative writing, poetry and performance as part of my spiritual practice. Other people may use gardening or listening to music. The spiritual self is alive and well if it is acknowledged and we take time to listen to the wisdom it shares. Better still, if we acknowledge that the spirit has a role to play all day long in everything we do, then we create the basis for a truly holistic life.” [Read more…]

Exploring Holistic Education – Meditation and Attunement

March 28, 2012 by Centers' Gathering Leave a Comment

COMPONENTS OF HOLISTIC LEARNING

By Dave Till and Christine Lines

This is the ninth article in our series on Holistic Learning, to read the introduction and view the other components to follow please click here.

9. Meditation and Attunement

In a holistic community, meditation is an essential way to connect with our spiritual nature and move beyond the mental and emotional realms, into a place of inner silence and stillness.

Meditation and attunement are daily practices within the Findhorn Foundation, both in the service departments and in the guest programmes. There are daily meditations in the main sanctuaries morning and evening, held by community members, before and after work.

Most departments begin the morning shift with a short sharing or check-in, followed by a brief attunement, which is almost like a ‘mini meditation.’ The attunement is an opportunity to pause and connect with how we’re feeling in the moment, to connect with each other, and expand our awareness into the spiritual nature of life. It can also be an opportunity to focus on our intentions for being together, the project or the task at hand, and bless the day ahead. People often comment on how much more smoothly the day unfolds when it begins so consciously. [Read more…]

Findhorn 2012 – Exploring the Topic of Eldercare

March 19, 2012 by Centers' Gathering 1 Comment

One of the hot topics of community life is eldercare and we will explore this during the 2012 Gathering. Here we introduce you to members of the Findhorn Foundation who have been invited to join the participants and engage in the discussion.

Stan Stanfield, a long-time member of the Foundation, has been involved in a wide range of its educational activities, including focalising the Education department. He is a friend of Ralph White, co-founder of the Holistic Centres Gathering, from their time in Cluny Maintenance in the 1970’s. Stan has recently written his memoirs about his life on the spiritual path and at the Foundation, which will be published by Findhorn Press in 2012. An active member of the Cluny family and beyond the age of retirement, Stan will share his thoughts on the role of elders within the community. [Read more…]

Divination Foundation

March 15, 2012 by Centers' Gathering Leave a Comment

The mission of the not-for-profit online community Divination Foundation (DF) is to explore, develop and promote spiritual technologies, to demonstrate the use of spiritual tools that help people be in harmony with their higher selves and, in a very practical sense, make the right moves at the right time, for the benefit of both the individual and the collective.

The Divination Foundation educates based on decades of research on ancient spiritual traditions; advises individuals and institutions on how to make visionary decisions that are in alignment with timeliness wisdom; teaches people how to execute such decisions to manifest their profound desires; and generally supports the greater cultivation of wisdom, courage and love. [Read more…]

Findhorn 2012 – Staffing and Volunteers

March 12, 2012 by Centers' Gathering Leave a Comment

During the 2012 Gathering we will explore a variety of topics, including staffing and volunteers. The following members of our community have been invited to join the participants and each session is co-created by all involved, sharing experience and learning from each other.

Monica Bohni, is focaliser of the Spiritual and Personal Development Team and involved in our staff intake programme LEAP (Living Essentials Apprentice Programme) where people apprentice and learn the ways in which we live together here at Findhorn. [Read more…]

News about the 2012 Gathering

March 7, 2012 by Centers' Gathering Leave a Comment

It’s now only two months until the International Holistic Centres Gathering – The Network of Light – an occasion when many different centres, often from different cultures, speak openly, honestly and warmly of their experiences, lessons, hopes and concerns. In this way, we deepen our sense of the worldwide movement towards holistic, spiritual and ecological awakening, and find inspiration and community in the often hard won wisdom of others.

Invitations have been sent far and wide and we now have participants coming from communities and holistic centres in the USA, (including Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington and New York), Canada, Spain, Greece, Denmark, Poland, Russia and India. They represent a diverse range of spiritual traditions, business models and environments, one a remote retreat centre, another completely off the grid, and a third located in one of the busiest cities in the world! [Read more…]

Findhorn 2012 – Fundraising and Manifestation

March 5, 2012 by Centers' Gathering Leave a Comment

We will explore various topics during the 2012 Gathering, including fundraising and manifestation. Members of the Findhorn Foundation have been invited to join the participants to share their knowledge and experience, and learn from the exchange of ideas and information. Each session is co-created by all involved and promises to be an interesting and interactive meeting.

Debbie Herron originally worked in rural and inner city community development specialising in regeneration. She then lived on the Isle of Erraid, one of the most beautiful of all the Hebridean Islands off the West Coast of Scotland, to learn more about living simply and sustainably in community. [Read more…]

Findhorn 2012 – Governance and Decision Making

February 29, 2012 by Centers' Gathering Leave a Comment

During the 2012 Gathering we will explore the topics of governance and decision making and the Chair of Management of the Findhorn Foundation has been invited to join the discussion. Each session is co-created by all involved and is an opportunity for participants to share their experience and learn from the exchange of ideas and information.

Ana Rhodes Castro has been living and working in the Findhorn Foundation since 1994. Ana has been a member of the Central Management team over the last seven years, six of those spent being responsible for the area of Spiritual and Personal Development. This comprised of internal trainings, conflict facilitation, supervision and other internal structures that support the Findhorn Foundation to function gracefully and efficiently at an individual and collective level. [Read more…]