HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
WHAT PARTICIPANTS ARE SAYING....
"The greatest thing for me was that attending the retreats has become a life-enhancing experience for me. It has filled a very deep need within me to have a safe place for quiet, non-rushed, deep reflection. This experience has affected how I interact with the people in my life; professionally and otherwise. There is so little silence and time for reflection around me that I almost forgot how important that is. Now I seek opportunities to provide this not only for myself but also for others. What impressed me so much is that everything about the retreat is invitational. Everyone is respected for what they do or don't contribute. Everyone is allowed to take from the experience whatever suits them. There is no agenda, no fixing, no advice."
Agnes Leistico, california
" I honestly did not know what to expect from the retreat but I can tell you that it was a transformational experience for me. It helped put me back in touch with the most important things in my life. I can tell you that I am finding real joy in my work (and life in general) for the first time in a long time…..and I attribute that directly to the reflection I was able to do. So, will this retreat help women find more joy in their lives? Absolutely, resoundingly YES!! "
Cindy, south carolina first time participant, and registered for two more.
"What does circle (of trust-of leadership) mean to me? The experiences are transformational. The space provided for me to allow my inner teacher, my higher self, the true leader within me to show up is evidenced at every circle. It is there, in solitude and community that I discover, affirm, and celebrate my humanity and sense of belonging to this world. It is there that I challenge myself to be myself. It is there that my passion is refueled and that my belief that I can make a difference is intensified."
Erma from Atlanta
"It is good to see the State Department of Education looking in this direction! (The Courage to Teach direction) That could do more to stop the hemorrhaging of teachers out of the profession than about anything else they could invest in".
A state district superintendent
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ALL OF THE 2009 RETREATS WERE GREAT EXPERIENCES AND WE FEEL WERE WELL RECEIVED. ALL OF THEM WERE FILLED AND HAD WAITING LISTS. WE ARE SINCERELY GRATEFUL TO THOSE OF YOU WHO PARTICIPATED WITH
still learning, inc.
PLEASE JOIN US FOR 2010 PROGRAMS
DETAILS ARE BELOW AND MORE WILL FOLLOW.
LOOKING AHEAD TO THE
NEW YEAR!!
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The Journey to the Undivided Life:
RECLAIMING YOUR HIDDEN WHOLENESS through the HEALING POWER OF POETRY
A Retreat Bringing Together
Poetic Medicine with the Circle of Trust ® approach
with John Fox, CPT, and Sally Z. Hare, Ph. D.
September 10-12, 2010
Burlingame, CA -- ten minutes from the San Francisco airport
There is in all things an invisible fecundity, a dimmed light, a meek namelessness, a hidden wholeness. This mysterious Unity, and Integrity, is Wisdom, the Mother of all,
Natura naturans.
—Thomas Merton, Hagia Sophia
In this unique retreat, poet John Fox and teacher Sally Z. Hare come together to explore the intersection of their work. They invite you to experience a circle of trust, grounded in Sally's many years of working with Parker J. Palmer's Circle of Trust theory, and the healing power of writing, based in John's own work in poetry therapy.
Our innate wholeness is part of the gift of being human, but as Thomas Merton has written, it is often hidden or invisible. The pressures and hectic pace of our modern lives too often make it easier to see our brokenness than our wholeness - and we can even forget that it is there. Those of us engaged in organizational leadership, teaching, psychology, pastoral care, medicine and other service professions, in community service and social change, know the challenge of sustaining ourselves and our commitment to deeply held values and beliefs.
The more passionate we are about our work, the more vital it is that we take time to renew our own spirits-to reconnect with the wellsprings of our work in the world, our service to others. To go in the dark with a light is to know the light. To know the dark, go dark. --Wendell Berry
This circle of trust retreat is for persons from diverse professions: education, health care, psychology, law, philanthropy, religious/spiritual life, and nonprofit and community organizations. In this retreat the skilled facilitators will help create a quiet, focused, respectful space, in which the noise within us and around us can subside,
and we can meet stillness.'
Stillness is where you meet with the essence of things…
In stillness we can begin to let go of external voices, stereotypes, and clichés that crowd out original, personal and internal voices. Those discordant outer voices fade away in stillness. Stillness is a place of rooting oneself in a much larger field of being.
--John Fox, 'Finding What You Didn’t Lose'
In large group, small group, and solitary settings, we will explore the intersection of our personal and professional lives, making use of stories from our own journeys, as well as insights from poets and various wisdom traditions – and inviting our own writing and poetry to emerge.
ABOUT The Institute for Poetic Medicine
The Institute for Poetic Medicine is 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to “awakening soulfulness in the human voice.” We nurture and strengthen the human capacity to connect to Self, Other, Community, the Natural World, and the Divine. We offer public workshops, retreats, and professional programs in therapeutic, healing, medical, educational and pastoral settings, as well as veterans, at-risk and incarcerated young people, persons living with life-altering illnesses and mental health challenges.
ABOUT still learning, inc.
still learning, inc., is about renewing what we do by reclaiming who we are, in the world of work, the world of parenting, the world of family, the world of leadership. We are dedicated to the lifelong learning of teachers, educators, parents, business and other leaders through renewal programs in workshop and retreat settings all over the planet. For more information, see www.stilllearning.org.
WHEN and WHERE
The setting for the retreat will be the Mercy Center Burlingame, an internationally known conference and retreat center located ten minutes from the San Francisco airport. IN addition to the natural sanctuary of mature oaks and flower gardens, Mercy Center has a bookstore, a hand-built labyrinth, and lovely walking paths. You may want to come in early – or stay late to take advantage of the yoga, massage and healing touch offered by appointment with their experienced bodywork practitioners.
Our retreat will begin at 5 pm on Friday, September 10 and end with lunch on Sunday, September 12, 2010.
COST
Space is limited to 24 participants. Programs typically fill well before the deadline.
The registration fee for this retreat is $889 and includes EVERYTHING: all retreat fees, materials, private bedrooms, all meals, coffee and tea breaks. Please mail your check to still learning, inc, with the attached registration form to
still learning, inc,
p o box 14028,
Surfside Beach, SC 29587.
RETREAT LEADERSHIP
John Fox, CPT,
is the founder and president of the Institute for Poetic Medicine. John teaches at the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology, John F. Kennedy University, California Institute of Integral Studies and Holy Names University. John has introduced the field of poetry therapy to professionals in education, cancer support, spiritual/pastoral care, counseling, and arts-in-medicine. He has worked with people throughout America as well as in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Israel, Canada, South Korea and Kuwait. He is the author of Finding What You Didn’t Lose and Poetic Medicine. He is past president of the National Association for Poetry Therapy.
Sally Z. Hare, Ph.D.,
is a teacher and a learner. She is the Singleton Distinguished Professor Emerita at Coastal Carolina University, where she served for many years as Dean of the Graduate School and Continuing Education and was the founding director of the Center for Education and Community. During her Kellogg fellowship in the early 90’s, Sally had the chance to meet Parker Palmer as she was exploring the concept of community. Parker invited her to work with him as he created The Courage to Teach. Since that time, she has worked with the national Center for Courage & Renewal and facilitated COURAGE TO TEACH® and COURAGE TO LEAD® and CIRCLE of TRUST® programs in South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia, Oregon, Mississippi, Kansas, as well as Canada and Australia. Sally leads circle of trust retreats internationally with educators, physicians, community leaders and other professionals.
--Rita Dove, former U.S. Poet Laureate
For further information, please contact:
Dr. Sally Z. Hare 843-238-9291, sally@coastal.edu
John Fox 650-938-2717, john@poeticmedicine.org
CLICK HERE FOR APPLICATION OR GO TO rEGISTER PAGE
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CONTINUING IN 2010
Courage to Lead
June 22-23, 2009 SCASA, in partnership with the Center for Courage & Renewal and the Office of School Leadership, is offering an invitational Courage to Lead seminar at the Summer Leadership Institute. Based on the work of Palmer J. Parker, author of The Courage to Teach and A Hidden Wholeness, this national program fosters personal and professional renewal through seminars that offer the time and space to slow down and reflect on life and work. The Courage to Lead is a different approach to leadership development, rooted in the belief that effective leadership flows from the identity and integrity of the individual. Through this process called leadership formation, participants reflect on how their selfhood affects the way they relate to colleagues, their leadership tasks, their organization, and the world. The facilitator, Dr. Sally Z. Hare, has worked with Parker and the Center for Courage & Renewal for a number of years and has facilitated this work across the United States. She is Singleton Distinguished Professor Emerita of Coastal Carolina University and President of still learning, inc.
Sponsored by the Rainwater Foundation, twenty-five SC educational leaders have been selected to participate in Courage to Lead and the three seasonal seminars that follow in September, 2009, and January and April, 2010.
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HERE ARE SOME SAMPLES OF THE SUCCESSFUL RETREATS IN 2009
IN ATLANTA
IN SEPTEMBER
Reconnecting who you are with what you do!
Many of us in leadership positions in education, healthcare, community and social services came to our work with a sense of calling. Sustaining our commitment to work that is demanding and challenging requires time to renew our spirits and to reconnect with hope and inspiration that lets us bridge the gap between our realities and possibilities.
The Hidden Wholeness Retreat provides the opportunity for personal and professional insight, growth, and renewal. Experience individual solitude within a community that forms a circle
of trust to:
œ renew the courage to live in harmony with personal and professional values and integrity,
œ reflect and re-charge
œ gain clarity and balance with challenging work and life questions
œ support others with deep listening
œ celebrate gifts and acknowledge limitations
The Hidden Wholeness Retreat is grounded in the writing and philosophy of Parker J. Palmer and the work that he calls “formation.” Parker J. Palmer, founder of the Center for Courage and Renewal, created a unique approach to renewing personal identity, professional integrity and vocational vitality. He uses the term “circle of trust” to describe the space in which the noise within us—and the noise around us—can subside, and the voice of the inner teacher can be heard. To learn more, visit the Center for Courage & Renewal website.
The Hidden Wholeness Retreat is sponsored by Quality Assist, Inc., and supported by still learning, inc. It will be facilitated by Dr. Sally Hare. Sally is President of still learning, inc. and invites you to visit
location
The Inn at Serenbe, located in Palmetto, Georgia,is a “place to be serene” and an ideal location for the Hidden Wholeness Retreat. Serenbe is located less than 32 miles south of the Atlanta airport.The Inn at Serenbe is nestled on 284 acres of farmland with rolling meadows, horse pastures, and woodland trails. The warm Southern hospitality welcomes guests to a rustic setting comfortably furnished and equipped with all the modern conveniences. Guest rooms are uniquely charming and unpretentious.Visit their website, www.serenbeinn.com, for more information.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
IN OCTOBER!
Finding What You Didn’t Lose:
RECLAIMING YOUR HIDDEN WHOLENESS
through the
HEALING POWER OF WRITING
A Retreat on the OceaN
wtih
John Fox, CPT, and
Sally Z. Hare, Ph. D.
OctOber 30-November 1, 2009
Pawleys Island, South Carolina
some things have to be believed to be seen.
You have to know they exist –
or you won’t see them.
--Sally Z. Hare, I’ll Meet you in the Field: The Intersection of Education and Community
In this unique retreat, poet John Fox and teacher Sally Z. Hare come together to explore the intersection of their work. They invite you to experience a circleof trust, grounded in Sally's many years of working with Parker J. Palmer's circles of trust theory, and the healing power of writing, based in John's own work in poetry therapy.
Of course, we haven't really lost our hearts, our true selves, our sense of passion for our life and work. But the pressures and hectic pace of our modern lives too often cause us to stop believing - and we can no longer see what has always been there. Those of us engaged in organizational leadership, teaching, psychology, pastoral care, medicine and other service professions, in community service and social change, know the challenge of sustaining ourselves and our commitment to deeply held values and beliefs.
The more passionate we are about our work, the more vital it is that we take time to renew our own spirits-to reconnect with the wellsprings of our work in the world, our service to others.
the safe space of this retreat offers you the opportunity to glimpse your own hidden wholeness, to rejoin soul and role, to reconnect who you are with what you do. This is a creative endeavor that asks us to reclaim our deep voice and express what matters to us; or in the words of John Fox's poetic medicine, to awaken soulfulness in the human voice.
The safe space of this retreat offers you the opportunity to glimpse your own hidden wholeness by welcoming shadow as well as light, pain as well as joy. Here is a chance to rejoin soul and role, to reconnect who you are with what you do. This is a creative endeavor that asks us to reclaim our deep voice and express what matters to us; or in the words of John Fox's poetic medicine,
"to awaken soulfulness in the human voice".
This circle of trust retreat is for persons from diverse professions: education, health care, psychology, law, philanthropy, religious/spiritual life, and nonprofit and community organizations. In this retreat the skilled facilitators will help create a quiet, focused, respectful space, in which the noise within us and around us can subside, and we can meet stillness.
"Stillness is where you meet with the essence of things…
In stillness we can begin to let go of external voices, stereotypes, and clichés that crowd out original, personal and internal voices. Those discordant outer voices fade away in stillness. Stillness is a place of rooting oneself in a much larger field of being".
--John Fox, Finding What You Didn’t Lose
In large group, small group, and solitary settings, we will explore the intersection of our personal and professional lives, making use of stories from our own journeys, as well as insights from poets and various wisdom traditions – and inviting our own writing and poetry to emerge.
ABOUT The Institute for Poetic Medicine:
The Institute for Poetic Medicine is 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to “awakening soulfulness in the human voice.” We nurture and strengthen the human capacity to connect to Self, Other, Community, the Natural World, and the Divine. We offer public workshops, retreats, and professional programs in therapeutic, healing, medical, educational and pastoral settings, as well as veterans, at-risk and incarcerated young people, persons living with life-altering illnesses and mental health challenges.
ABOUT still learning, inc.
still learning, inc., is about renewing what we do by reclaiming who we are, in the world of work, the world of parenting, the world of family, the world of leadership. We are dedicated to the lifelong learning of teachers, educators, parents, business and other leaders through renewal programs in workshop and retreat settings all over the planet. For more information, see
www.stilllearning.org.
WHEN and WHERE
The setting for the retreat will be the Sea View Inn, located on Pawleys Island, SC, one of the oldest summer resorts on the East Coast. www.seaviewinn.com
John Fox, CPT, is the founder and president of the Institute for Poetic Medicine. John teaches at the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology, John F. Kennedy University, California Institute of Integral Studies and HolyNamesUniversity. John has introduced the field of poetry therapy to professionals in education, cancer support, spiritual/pastoral care, counseling, and arts-in-medicine. He has worked with people throughout America as well as in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Israel, Canada, South Korea and Kuwait. He is the author of Finding What You Didn’t Lose and Poetic Medicine. He is past president of the National Association for Poetry Therapy.
Sally Z. Hare, Ph.D., is a teacher and a learner. She is the Singleton Distinguished Professor Emerita at Coastal Carolina University, where she served for many years as Dean of the GraduateSchool and Continuing Education and was the founding director of the Center for Education and Community. During her Kellogg fellowship in the early 90’s, Sally had the chance to meet Parker Palmer as she was exploring the concept of community. Parker invited her to work with him as he created The Courage to Teach. Since that time, she has worked with the national Center for Courage and Renewal and facilitated COURAGE TO TEACH® and COURAGE TO LEAD® and CIRCLE of TRUST programs in South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia, Oregon, and Kansas, and leads circle of trust retreats nationally with educators, physicians, community leaders and other professionals.
We'll be waiting for you!
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TWO more SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED RETREATS OF 2009
THAnK YOU FOR ATTENDING!!
OUT OF WINTER, INTO SPRING:
The Courage tO
Live Undivided
A Retreat at the Beach
to Renew the Heart and Spirit
MARCH 17-19, 2009
during
The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce Canadian-American Days
and the soul keeps calling us to heal the wound."
--Parker J. Palmer
A Program of still learning, inc. and The Courage to Serve-Canada
Those of us engaged in teaching, medicine, organizational leadership, and other service professions, know the challenge of sustaining ourselves and our commitment to deeply held values and beliefs. The more passionate we are about our work, the more vital it is that we take time to renew our own spirits—to reconnect with the wellsprings of our service to others. In this retreat we will focus on the rejoining of soul and role, of reconnecting who we are with what we do. We invite you to join us
This circle of trust retreat for renewal for persons from diverse professions and those involved in community service and social change has been planned in conjunction with the 2009
Canadian-American Days in
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
http://www.myrtlebeachinfo.com/CanAmDays/
We will be meeting at the beautiful Sea View Inn, located on the Atlantic Ocean, on Pawleys Island, SC, 25 minutes from the Myrtle Beach airport.
Ifwe are willing to embrace the challenge of becoming whole…we cannot embrace that challenge all alone, at least, not for long: we need trustworthy relationships to sustain us, tenacious communities of support, if we are to sustain the journey toward an undivided life
…taking an inner journey toward rejoining soul and role requires authentic relationships, a rare but real form of community that I call a “circle of trust.”
—Parker J. Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness
In this retreat skilled facilitators, who have worked with Parker J. Palmer and are prepared by the Center for Courage & Renewal, help create a quiet, focused, and disciplined space—a circle of trust—in which the noise within us and around us can subside and we can begin to hear our own inner voice. In large group, small group, and solitary settings, we will explore the intersection of our personal and professional lives, making use of stories from our own journeys, and insights from poets, storytellers, and various wisdom traditions·
ABOUT COURAGE to SERVE CANADa
The Courage to Serve program in Canada, based on the work of Parker J. Palmer, was founded as the Courage to Teach/Lead Program in Southern Ontario. Renamed ‘The Courage to Serve’ in recognition of the many different roles in education, the program is also being offered to those outside the field of education who are seeking a trustworthy and structured process to examine the inner life questions related to integrity, community and leadership.
www.smcdsb.on.ca/cms/One.aspx?portalId=36&pageId=8180
RETREAT LEADERSHIp
Karen Connolly is the executive director of Courage to Serve Canada, a personal formation program designed to create an opportunity for those who serve in education, health care, social services and ministry to renew their minds, bodies and spirits.
Karen has served in education for 23 years. She has spent time as a secondary school teacher, chaplain, and vice principal. A significant portion of her educational career has been committed to adult education/formation. She has spent time as a pre-service teacher educator at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, and as a teacher in Provincial Teacher Religious Education Additional Qualification Courses.
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FOR MAY 2009 FROM
THE CENTER FOR COURAGE & RENEWAL
Welcoming the Soul and Weaving Community
May 13-15, 2009
• MenuchaRetreat Center
Portland, OR
One of the gifts we are given in a circle of trust is a chance to see how abnormal violence is. Here, under conditions that evoke “the better angels of our nature,” we experience our innate capacity to honor, not violate, the identity and integrity of others. And we witness the remarkable things that can happen—within us, between us, and beyond us—as we learn to relate to each other that way.
—Parker J. Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey towards an Undivided Life (Jossey-Bass, 2004)
A unique part of the retreat is the attention to “The Third Way” the last chapter in A Hidden Wholeness. “Violence of every shape and form,” Parker writes, “has its roots in the divided life, in that fault line within us that cracks open and becomes a divide between us.” In this retreat participants are invited to reflect on our learning in circles of trust about a “third way” to respond to the violence of the world, an alternative to the ancient animal instinct of “fight or flight”
A pre-requisite is prior attendance at an introductory Circle of Trust® retreat (or an equivalent experience such as attending a Courage to Teach® or Courage to Lead® retreat, or a Formation Principles & Practices Retreat. Alumni of seasonal Courage retreat series are welcome to attend this retreat.
We will be meeting at the beautiful Menucha Retreat Center, located on the south side of the magnificent Columbia River Gorge, 35 minutes from Portland.
Sponsored by the national Center for Courage & Renewal, this retreat will be led by national Courage & Renewal facilitators, Caryl Hurtig Casbon and Dr. Sally Z. Hare.
The Center for Courage & Renewal serves as the national office for a Courage Collaboration of some 160 skilled facilitators who lead local retreats and programs in 30 states and Canada. Over the past decade, 25,000 people have participated directly in Collaboration offerings, and the eight books associated with our work have sold over 750,000 copies.
RETREAT LEADERSHIP
Caryl Hurtig Casbon is an interfaith minister and writer, and has worked through the Center for Courage and Renewal since l998, setting up Courage programs serving educators, cross-professional leaders, and religious communities nationally and internationally. Caryl taught in and directed the CORE program for the Graduate School of Professional Studies at Lewis & ClarkCollege for 13 years, and is currently directing the group leadership development for the Sacred Art of Dying and Anamcara Programs for the Sacred Art of Living Center, in Bend, OR,.
Sally Z. Hare, Ph.D., is a teacher and a learner. Sheis the Singleton Distinguished Professor Emerita at CoastalCarolinaUniversity in Myrtle Beach, SC, and she is president of still learning, inc. She was the founding director of the Center for Education and Community. Before that, Sally served as Dean of the GraduateSchool and Continuing Education at Coastal. She has facilitated COURAGE TO TEACH® programs in South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia, and Kansas and leads formation retreats nationally with educators and other professionals.
The program venue is beautiful Menucha Retreat Center, located on the Lewis & Clark river trail on the magnificent Columbia River Gorge, 35 minutes from Portland. Space is limited to 24 participants. Programs typically fill well before the deadline. You will receive information and directions upon acceptance into the program.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU IN 2010!!!