This is what Esalen looks like....

Well, it's day 5 already...i know all the bones below the waist...calcanius (heel bone), ischium (hip bone) etc. it's been fun, totally experiencial learning which i like. Yesterday we got to give our first 30 minute massage, very lovely. It's interesting how different people give such a different massage experience and hey we are all learning how the heck to do it right.

Here are some photos of the grounds of esalen, so you can have a sense of this place, it's hard to get the beauty onto photos but here's a try. The first pictures are of the dining hall, gardens, view from close to my room. The last picture is the building where i am staying. it's all good.

Esalen at Big Sur: Day One

Images: 2010 km's driven, the scent that comes into the car when driving through grove after grove of eucalyptus trees (divine), the coastline so steep, so beautiful, so stunning, breathtaking and just when i thought i cannot drive another km, there was the little sign by the side of the road: Esalen.

24 hours ago i didn't know 22 other students, two amazing instructors who have been doing this work here for 40 years. I needed to get reaqauinted with this beautiful place, the cliffs, the ocean, the baths, the warm sunny days, the monarch butterflies on their annual migration. Ok, and then there is the food, it is OUTSTANDING, TOTALLY OVER THE TOP AMAZING....such abundance, gardens dripping with food, so so so much beauty in food.

I arrived and found my accomodation, met my roomate the lovely Kelsi from Monterrey, CA. We are both into sleeping so we are a good fit. Had dinner then had our first session which consisted of the usual communinty building who's here...you know the drill.

Today i woke early, went for a bath, went for a walk, went for divine breakfast, then to class where we did this cool movement process that took 3 hours exploring the body, skin, organs, muscles, connective tissue etc. Dancing in front of Jovan having him watch my bones move was an interesting experience of trust. This place is that open. :)

This afternoon we pulled out the massage tables and did our first step in learning the process of esalen massage. It's very much based on slowing down, using your intuition to find out what a person needs, and following a loosely structured process for what to touch and when. I share a short massage with Brigitte from Germany, yes there are people here from all over north america and europe, i'm one of the foreigners and so glad to be Canadian.

Went to church on Sunday at Glide, so so so amazing and alive, i hope to be able to go to SF on one of the days off to have some church, it's what i most miss in this place, a chance to really put this all into perspective through the lens of my faith. I just have to find that for myself here and perhaps it will arise in unexpected places. I keep imagining what some of you would think of this place, it really is so different than our common "retreat" experiences. There are so many riches here in people, place and spirit that i am looking forward to being a part of. The 28 day part seems quite long right now, i'm trying to be in the moment and haven't yet cracked open the anatomy colouring book....there will be alot to learn.

Much love and prayers to you all.

Gas, Food and Lodging

It really is all about that: gas, food and lodging. Wow, i have driven over 1500 km in 3 days and i'm tired. I was tired when i started this journey down to Big Sur. The drive down the coast has been longer but so worth it, amazing scenery, unbelievable at times, my jaw has dropped numerous times along the road. Tomorrow I leave this nondescript hotel in Bodega Bay, about an hour and a half from San Fran and drive into the city for Church at Glide. I'm about ready for some seriously loud jesus gospel rocking out extroverted worship. Bring it on. Then i drive for another 2 hours down the coast to Big Sur to settle in and start the programme.

Thanks for all your well wishes and prayers, which i hope will continue, keep them coming!

More details to come from Massage school :)

Mom gave me Chip to take with me....so you'll notice his presense in some of the photos along the road...they are mostly for my wacky family who has a communial pet stuffed chipmunk who is commonly found in compromising positions...you may find it funny. this one is chip at haystack rock in cannon beach, oregon.

Transparent

Transparent

As though through gauze, you live.

Only a thin layer in front of a deep open place.

Bearing your scent and history and your truth.

The pieces that were barriers, are cast aside, flowing away.

Your inside and your outside, transparent now.

All dieties, all saints, even Jesus, pays attention to this kind of courage, this true beauty.

A border thin like gauze, barely there remains.

Tranfiguring all over the place, remants of shapes shift.

Drift down covering notions of what you were supposed to be.

Revelation through a thin layer.

You show it, well.

birdsong

trolling for voters, watching the crash, dollar worth nothing, panic and flash.
the lines going downward, the pending gloom, changing accounts, signs of doom.
Fear not, for in the midst of shuddering, lurching, banks out of control, remember that there are a million birds who are singing right now, the sun will still rise tomorrow and creation shakes her head and laughs at our greed.

inspired

ok, so i've been inspired by a fellow poet, wanderer and artist and new dear friend.
the blog is taken up again, and perhaps this is a way to stay in touch with friends and family during my sabbatical. I will be on sabbatical Nov. 16 till March 1 after serving for 9 years on the BC Conference Staff of the United Church of Canada....yes!

now it's time for learning massage at the esalen institute and writing poems and learning spanish and travel.

Slowly, slowly, they return, to the small woodland let alone:

Great trees, outspreading and upright,

Apostles of the living light.

Patient as stars, they build in air

Tier after tier a timbered choir,

Stout beams upholding weightless grace

Of song, a blessing on this place.

They stand in waiting all around,

Uprisings of their native ground,

Downcomings of the distant light;

They are the advent they await.

Receiving sun and giving shade,

Their life’s a benefaction made,

And is a benediction said

Over the living and the dead.

In fall their brightened leaves, released,

Fly down the wind, and we are pleased

To walk on radiance, amazed.

0 light come down to earth, be praised!

-by the great poet: Wendell Berry