Dearest Friends,
Over the next couple months, we will be sharing words of wisdom and invitation from our 2019 summer retreat program presenters. We are hopeful that their words will bring inspiration to your lives, and clarify why retreat at the Feathered Pipe can be such a life-changing experience.
Today we are honored to share senior-level Freedom Yoga instructor Carie Garrett's beautiful thoughts on reclaiming one's innate sense of wonder and creativity.
“In many shamanic societies, if you came to a shaman or medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions: When did you stop dancing? When did you stop singing? When did you stop being enchanted by stories? When did you stop finding comfort in the sweet territory of
silence? …Dancing, singing, storytelling, and silence are the four universal healing salves.”
~Angeles Arrien, author of The Four-Fold Way & Signs of Life, from the foreword of the book Maps to Ecstasy by Gabrielle Roth
I love this quote and have been sharing it with my students for years. I find tremendous solace in the idea that something as simple as dance, song, story, and silence can be foundational in the care and feeding of our souls.
No study and striving are required to learn these things; they are innate and have been a part of us since we were children. I work with 4 and 5 year-olds and every day I see how these healing salves are woven into their world. Free movement and song is as natural to them as breathing. I’ve never once heard a child comment that they are too self-conscious to dance or sing, or that they just can’t. Stories fill their days in so many ways; in the classroom, on the playground,
in the song and dance, and even in the way they tell you about something they did or discovered. And the moments of silence are so sweet and natural. I can sit at a snack table with a child, saying no words at all, easily dropping into the comfort of deep, wordless presence.
 But somehow, somewhere along the way we stopped our dance, quieted our song, and closed our story. And we filled up moments of healing silence with incessant thoughts, constant talking, and never-ending noise; multi-tasking it all to keep it going faster and faster.
We’ve adulted the magic right out of our lives, squeezed out the spontaneity and freedom, and wonder why we feel so disheartened and dispirited and spiritually depressed.
This freedom that we long is a function of relaxing back into who we are, reclaiming our natural childlike free-flowing state of wonder and creativity. Freedom is a feeling of rightness that comes from an unplanned, creative experience of being completely in the moment, following its lead wherever it takes you. When we can become brave enough to say “yes” to it flowing through us, it completely feeds the soul. As a result, our true colors, the one-of-a-kind, beautiful
expression of The Divine that each of us is, comes to the surface and bursts open into full bloom.
Freedom Yoga is an excellent way to cultivate all of this. I share the quote because it accurately describes the aspects of my approach to Freedom Yoga that feeds my soul. Creativity, authenticity, and courage are at the center of my teaching. We get out of the heady thinking and drop down into the heart space of feeling. Being creative in this experience means we open to infinite possibilities in all we do (on the mat and in life), resting in not-knowing, letting go of advanced
planning, being present and open to Divine Flow, however that looks and sounds. Movement begins to become more dance-like, a fluid and flowing morph of inner guidance made manifest. What we say becomes more song-like as our voices open to speak our truth and sing our song with a newfound clarity and resonance. Courage and self-trust wells up in us and empowers us to tell our own unique stories, letting ourselves be seen, as we listen to others’ stories and see them, too. And the moments of
silent pause brings us back to a deep center, back to the magic of who we really are.
Consider joining me, June 22-29, for Soul Food: A Creative Celebration of Freedom and Authenticity. This is a profoundly empowering week, with lots of different experiences that will fill our souls to the brim and overflowing. Every day, in some way, we will dance, sing, listen to stories, and immerse in silence, letting these four healing salves help us to come alive. We’ll
meditate, have amazing group discussions, and explore various themes on the mat. We’ll get out of the box and give ourselves permission to color outside the lines. We’ll make art and do some journaling. We’ll chant on a mountaintop. We’ll laugh and cry and just be who we really are with each other. The ranch will hold its arms around us with its bursting summer solstice beauty as we slow down and experience The Divine in all we do. Dance, song, stories, and
silence…and a whole lot more. It’s going to be an incredible week.
Love & Light
Carie Garrett
P.S. Don't forget the Feathered Pipe Community Discount: Invite a friend(s) new to the Feathered Pipe and you both save $100!
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Meditation: The Art Of Listening Inwardly – Erich Schiffmann
For me, meditation in action—that is, in the midst of daily life—always involves the realization that this moment, right now, is absolutely worthy of my fullest attention. This means that “here” is where I am supposed to be, and that “this” is what I am supposed to be doing, and that “you” are who I am supposed to be with.
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The Essence Of Namaste – Nat Kendall
"Om. Namaste." I fold my hands in prayer, in reverence. The left palm meeting the right palm and a soft bow of my head. I show you that I come in peace so that you’ll lay down your weapons — be them words, actions or thoughts. My eyes meet yours and I see you. I see beyond your masks, judgments and projections. I see, you.
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Contact Us |
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Feathered Pipe Foundation
P.O. Box 1682
Helena, MT 59624
(406) 442-8196
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