Re-Dreaming the Second Half
of Life
A weekend Retreat
Adapted from The Second
Half of Life, Opening the
Eight Gates of Wisdom, Angeles
Arrien
Friday,
Sept. 25 - 27, 2009
Friday 7 - 9:30 p.m.
Saturday 12 - 9 p.m.
Sunday 12 - 5 p.m.
Explore
the 8 Gates of Wisdom
in the Second Half of
Life (as
adapted from the book
and teachings of Angeles
Arrien, Cross Cultural
Anthropologist) through
storytelling, movement,
dreams, creative expression,
writing explorations,
inquiry and reflection.
Discover meaning and magic
in this most potent time
of life when creativity
and generativity can flourish
and we can be the humans
we are called to be.
See website for more details.
www.pennyallport.com
Cost: $195.00
Early bird paid in full
by August 30th, 2009
$165.00
Alumni of the Year Long
Program
$165.00
Email for reasonable and
close accommodations if
coming from out of town.
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Pioneering
Spirit
Entering my new life here on the Sunshine Coast I find myself among a growing group of what I would call "pioneers". Young people stewarding the land and life through conscious and sustainable living, birthing practices and community.
For thousands of years, agriculture, and the way of life that came with it, have governed our movement (or lack of), food growing, eating practices, birthing experiences and life. Our health and growing environmental challenges are a direct reflection of the separation we have to the earth and the body.
Agriculture created fertilizers for quick and large growth and in it's wake required strong pesticides to kill the super bugs that arrived with such practices in disharmony with nature. The soil was left depleted and unfertile and so the Pioneers would move on to other lands.
When I think of pioneers, I have visions of covered wagons and people who picked up from where they were living and opened their sights on new visions of possibility on the horizon.
There is another kind of pioneer birthing itself all over the world. The Pioneering Spirit of paying attention and listening to the earth and life right where we are and taking slow and conscious steps towards a more sustainable way of being with the planet, her creatures and each other.
These pioneers are not interested in looking elsewhere for a better life, but rather settling in and discovering what is under their feet right here. Soil is the first ingredient of a good garden. In Permaculture they say you "don't feed the plant, feed the soil".
Bill Mollison, the founder of Permaculture is a pioneer, unpaving the way for others as he offers what he has discovered in the rainforests of the world. He offers an invitation into a "permanent culture" that honors all of life from the micro - organisms in the soil to humans.
Some indigenous cultures believe the highest intelligence is with the plants, then the animals and then humans. If the soil is before the plants, perhaps we need to consider the soil as one of our greatest teachers in the journey on Earth.
Agriculture is interested in quantity and speed. Today's pioneers are interested in quality and sustainability in nature and life.
There is another kind of Pioneer Spirit growing among us. There are those who are also discovering the body as a living organism of intrinsic intelligence and are tapping into this wisdom that carries billions of years of memory including that of microorganisms, plant life and our elemental and animal ancestors.
The soul, oops - soil we are cultivating is deep in the interior of the body and the new frontiers that we are discovering are beyond what we have dreamed thus far.
Pioneers are explorers, innovators, leaders, and trailblazers who are discovering a new ground of being in this experience of human life. The earth and human body can no longer tolerate being treated as objects to be controlled, manicured and manipulated for our short term gains.
Our bodies need to be reclaimed from the medicalization of our birth and industrialization of our minds. The soil of the body is the new frontier.
Blessings of the autumn and the season of harvest. May the bounty of the soil you tend nourish and sustain you,
Penny
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The
Re-enchantment of
the Body, Movement
and Life
with
Penny Allport
Is
An Invitation:
to
LAND in the rich
well of mystery
we call a body.
to
BREATHE new life
into cobwebbed corners
and forgotten spaces.
to
SWIM in the fluid
formative waters
of unconditional
love,
to
find STRENGTH in
gentle and creative
ways,
to
break the ENCHANTMENT
(SPELL) of cultural
beliefs and ideas
about the body and
health that keep
movement, life and
breathe from flowing
freely,
to
REMEMBER the pleasure
of being born human,
and
to DEEPEN awareness
in the place of
most presence -
the body is always
HERE!
Through explorations
in Yoga, Continuum
Movement, Perceptual
Inquiry and questioning
long held beliefs
about what it means
to be a body, have
a body and be an
embodied human,
we discover the
blessings of "working
in" rather than
"working out". Awareness
in the body offers
us new resources
and invites creative
possibilities for
health and vitality
to express themselves
in the body, movement
and life.
Note: As I will
be out of town for
two weeks in October
I have created two
separate Fall/Early
Winter sessions.
Should you wish
to sign up for both
there is an early
bird discount/offering.
See below.
Sunshine Coast Students
- see below for
dates of Fall Classes.
Autumn
Session
Recovering
the Pioneering Spirit
in the Body
Pioneers are explorers,
innovators, trailblazers
and creators.
The original Yogi's
were explorers of
consciousness in
the mystery of what
we call a body.
The body, explored
as a living activity,
rather than an object,
can offer us fresh
possibilities for
health, vitality
and creativity to
express themselves
in the body, movement
and life!
We take our practice
into daily life,
where ordinary,
everyday moments
become the portal
for new experience
and positive change.
Wednesday
9:30 - 11:30 a.m.
September
9 - 30th, 2009
4
weeks - $100.00
Thursdays
9:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Sept.
10 - Oct. 1, 2009
4
weeks - $100.00
Where:
Pioneer Church,
Corner of No. 3
Road and Steveston
Hwy., Richmond
Evening Class -
Note new Time and
Location!!
Wednesdays
7 - 9:00 p.m.
Sept.
9 - 30th, 2009
Phoenix
Arts Studio, (previously
Village Yoga Studio)
First Avenue, Steveston
Early
Winter Session
Theme: Movement
in Stillness
Stillness in Movement
"It
is the nature of
stone to be satisfied.
it is the nature
of water to want
to be somewhere
else." Mary Oliver
Explore these two
natures in the body.
Recover strength
and fluidity, gravity
and grace, stillness
and movement.
Wednesdays
9:30 - 11:30 a.m.
October
21 -Dec. 16, 2009
(no class Nov. 4)
8 weeks - $200.00
Thursdays 9:30 -
11:30 a.m.
October 22 - Dec.
17, 2009
(no class Nov. 5)
8 weeks - $200.00
Where: Pioneer
Church - Corner
of No. 3 Road and
Steveston Hwy.,
Richmond
Evening
Class:
Wednesdays 7 - 9:00
p.m.
October 21 - Dec.
16, 2009
(no class Nov. 4)
8 weeks - $200.00
Note Different Location!!!
Where: Phoenix
Arts Studio, First
Ave., Steveston
To Sign up and pay
for BOTH SESSIONS
in full by August
26, 2009 - pay $275.00
plus gst.
Call Penny at 604
803 4607 or email
pennyallport@gmail.com
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Sunshine
Coast Classes
Mondays
9:30 - 11:30 p.m.
September 14 - October
5th, 2009
4 classes / $100.00
(come with a friend
and two come for
$175.00)
Theme:
Recovering the Pioneering
Spirit in the Body
To meet the changes
and challenges of
life at this potent
time, we are being
called to recover
our pioneering spirit
and be explorers
again on the edge
of creation.
Exploring in embodied
ways we find ourselves
swimming in the
rich soup of creation
unfolding new possibilities
for movement, health
and creativity to
express themselves
through us at this
time.
To register call
Penny at 604 885
4663 or pennyallport@gmail.com
Early Winter Session
to be offered at
a later date.
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Women
at the Well of Mystery
2010
This
year long gathering
will begin again
in January 2010.
Women between
the ages of twenty
and forty are
invited to
meet once a month
on Sunday afternoons
to explore and
inquire together
the mystery of
being human on
the planet at
this potent time.
Each month offers
an embodied practice
of awareness for
daily living and
time to integrate,
deepen and reflect
in a group of
pioneers on the
edge of discovering
what it means
to be a Women
at the Well of
Mystery.
This period in
our lives is considered
to be a time of
"gathering medicine".
This class is
an opportunity
to land, deepen
and integrate
in the body all
that you are gathering.
Our unique medicine
is in every gesture,
breath and creative
offering we bring
to life.
The world needs
your medicine.
Two retreats are
optional during
the year to deepen
and rest in the
arms of Mother
Nature at Penny's
Dream Lodge on
the Sunshine Coast.
The explorations
are based in Penny's
twenty-five years
of inquiry and
sitting in the
well of mystery
with women of
all ages. 2010
dates to be announced.
Call as space
is limited.
Gatherings take
place in Vancouver.
(Sunshine Coast
group will meet
one evening per
month.)
"Penny
offers a safe
place to explore
and integrate.
She takes us back
to a precious
time where meeting
at the
well was a time
of discovery,
offering and partaking
in a sisterhood
far beyond the
materialism of
today. This
group has given
me support, laughter,
love and encouragement
to take my seat
at the well."
Participant, Women
at the Well 2009
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