Beauty: Pilgrimage to the Soul
Begins: Saturday, January 21, 2012 12:00 noon (PT)
Ends: Thursday, January 26, 2012, 11:00 AM (PT)
Presentation Center, Los Gatos, California
Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life... Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.
- Rachel Carson (The Sense of Wonder)
Beauty awakens our personal and collective soul. "As soon as we choose Beauty" says John O'Donahue, "unseen forces … encourage us toward unexpected forms of compassion, healing and creativity." When we align with Beauty, we begin to embody harmonious relationships with all beings. Beauty evokes the Sacred and enlivens our lives.
We are currently in a time of creative, evolutionary change on our planet. In this seminar we will explore how Beauty informs our lives, communities, social engagement, and relationship to Earth especially during these chaotic times.
Our speakers will approach this topic through direct awareness, intellectual and philosophical exploration, through creative process, and story. Come to the seminar and meet the ITP community and begin to understand why we refer to our learning community as co-hearts!
Beauty and the Evolution of Consciousness
presented by Kat McIver
January 23, 2012
9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Day pass available (includes lunch)
Click the link to register online.
For the first time in history humans are aware that we are participants in and responsible for the conscious evolution of our planet. We have a creative urge to become more of who we are and to fully join in this evolutionary process. In this workshop we will explore, through discussion, movement, meditation, and clay, theories put forth by Barbara Marx Hubbard and Andrew Cohen as well as experience how we can move more fully and consciously from Source into our own essence allowing Beauty to be our walk/work in the world.
Kat McIver, Ph.D., REAT is an artist, expressive arts/spiritual guidance counselor whose work emphasizes the importance of the heart center. She believes the qualities of the heart - compassion, unconditional love, innate harmony and healing presence - forge a spaciousness for healing, both in ourselves and for world. Kat received a Masters degree in Spirituality from Holy Names College, a Ph.D. in transpersonal psychology, with an emphasis on creative expression and spiritual guidance, from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology where she has taught in both the residential and global program. She also teaches the arts as meditation course at Wisdom University. Kat resides in Asheville, North Carolina and is an active studio artist at Odyssey Center for Ceramics and offers private sessions and workshops in Conscious Creative Elderhood.
Beauty and the Cosmic Soul
Nancy Rowe with Susan O'Connell
January 22, 2012
9:00 - 11:30 am
I am that living and fiery essence of the divine substance...I shine in the water, I burn in the sun and the moon and the stars.
- Hildegard of Bingen
All living beings are connected. They are part of the circle of life within the Cosmos. Beauty awakens us to the wonder, awe, and meaning and informs both our inner and outer ways of perceiving our world. In this experiential workshop we will explore the notion of Anima Mundi and how beauty, creativity, and inspiration connect us to our own soul and to the Cosmic soul.
Nancy Mangano Rowe, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Global Program at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. She is licensed as a Mental Health Counselor and a Creative Arts Therapist. She is most interested in helping others to reconnect to Earth, to their imaginations, and to their creative, intuitive selves. Her devotion to Earth is expressed through her spiritual practice, in the retreats, pilgrimages, and workshops that she facilitates, in her writing, and photography. She is currently researching the spiritual connection with the natural world.
Journey into the Heart of Beauty
Susan O'Connell with Nancy Rowe
January 22, 2012
7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
- Langston Hughes
Beauty opens, expands, and deepens our experience of life. As we invite Beauty into our hearts we experience heightened awareness, re-enchantment and gratitude. We apprehend beauty through our intuition, senses, or through recognition of harmony, rhythm, balance or unity. In this workshop, we introduce cross-cultural concepts of Beauty and show that Beauty speaks through a variety of shades and tones. During this time, we will use image, poetry and authentic movement to explore the notion of "Beauty. " Please dress comfortably.
Susan O'Connell, MTP is a Global Faculty Mentor for the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. She also offers program and curriculum development consultation for The Spiritual Paths Institute. She has mentored heart-based leadership, peace facilitating public service, and creative collaboration. Her passions revolve around helping others to be in relationship with Earth recognizing that a heart sourced connection fosters healing. She bridges her affinity for the natural world, creativity and spirituality through nature photography, writing, imagination, and cultivating awareness of beauty.
Ethics and Aesthetics in the Work of Social Change
presented by Mark Gonnerman
January 22nd, 2012
2:00 - 4:30pm
How does engagement with beauty energize and sustain the work of social change? During our time together, we will explore this and related questions with reference to various social movements in the United States, especially the African-American Freedom Struggle, graffiti and culture jamming, and the Occupy protests that began in September 2011. Be prepared for participatory communication as we examine and enjoy the art of social change.
Mark Gonnerman, Ph.D. , chairs the Global Ph.D. Program at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, California. He earned his B.A. degree in history and philosophy from the Paracollege of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, the town where he grew up. After three years of peace education work in Hiroshima, Japan he returned stateside to complete an M.Div. at Harvard Divinity School and a Ph.D. in religious studies at Stanford, where he was awarded a Lieberman Fellowship for his research on American Zen.
Beauty With Wisdom Approaches To Life
Through Ch'an (Zen) Poems And Stories
Henry Poon
January 25, 2012
9:00 - 11:30 am
In this presentation, we will explore often forgotten "Wisdom Approaches to Life" through some of the most beautiful poems and enigmatic stories that have been channeled and transmitted through centuries of Ch'an (Zen) Enlightenment. We will review poetic literature from The Sutra of Hui-Neng to The Blue Cliff Record, discovering the inner beauty of both forms and formlessness, the outer sacredness of both sense and sensibility all around us. Through a meeting of simplicity and grace, we shall seek to mutually uncover each of our own "Pilgrimages to Our Soul."
Henry Poon, Ph.D., L.M.F.T. , has been the Chair of the Global Certificate, Master's, and Ph.D. Programs at ITP. He is presently a licensed therapist in California, and has been in the past a certified clinical psychologist and researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health in Japan. Henry is interested in the study, practice, and application of Self-cultivation as an integrative healing approach to wisdom, health, and wholeness. His goal is to inspire students and clients to actively transform in order to include a higher sense of integration and integrity in their everyday lives, helping to transmute mundane concerns into a sacred art of living.
