community Archives - Earthaven Ecovillage

The Art of Receptivity

Jill Lacasse — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 16:58:06 +0000

There I am. Arms, back and legs sprawled out on the yoga mat, with a blanket over me, and a bolster under my knees. I would say this posture is as vulnerable as it gets. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide. Just my body, my mind, and the many sounds enveloping me. I hear the birds chirping in the distance. A sweet soft wind subtly liberates the leaves on their branches. Children laugh and dogs bark in the distance. And then come the instruments.

The sound ceremony begins.

As we drop into the presence of the moment, we enter into a deep space of receptivity. What I’ve learned is that this experience is called nada yoga — the art of deep listening. The art of getting out of our own way and getting quiet. It is the yoga of remaining open as a vessel to what wants to re-emerge from the past, what wants to come into the present, and what has yet to be in the future.

To practice this type of yoga, first, we must pause and take in our environment. Pay attention to the nuances and observe the interactions among beings. And then come back again and again. Only then can we approach our relationship in the most aligned way possible for all involved. You wouldn’t go up to a stranger and say “wanna get married?” It’s the same kind of thing. We need to court the creatures, the spirits of the land, and the ecosystem that is weaving this web on the foundation of the mountain, the ocean, the forest, and the river.

And when we say YES to allowing our environment to wash over us, we build rich and nourishing relationships with the beings in our energetic field and we allow our place and space to shape our experience and perspective in this life. We become healing agents for the earth and all that walk on it.

This is the dance of receptivity and action at its finest.

How can we use the power of receptivity to live and move in a way that supports the ecosystems of the land and people around us?

How can we choose to attune to our environments while also supporting our own needs and desires?

And how can we live in right relationship so that we become tuning forks for the earth and its creatures?

I encourage you to check out Place-Based Living, our new, self-paced online course that details the journey of Earthaven, moving from a consumer culture to a land-based, place-based life. This course looks at the geographic and cultural context for the Earthaven project, and then examines how creating Earthaven in this context influenced the building of our systems, including our homes, roads, agricultural fields, and power, water and waste systems.

I invite you to take a few minutes today to be still, to listen, to learn, and to respond from a place of attunement and connection to the people and land around you.

Your evolving tuning fork,
Jillian xx

The post The Art of Receptivity appeared first on Earthaven Ecovillage.

Jillian’s Experience Weekend Adventure

Jill Lacasse — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 17:07:07 +0000

“It is not easy to do what love requires, to abandon the security I have come to rely on. I decided to follow the advice of the Prophet Nike who said, ‘Just do it.’” – Fredd Lenn, Into the Heart of Everything

A churning in my soul and a restlessness in my heart signaled to me that I needed a change. I felt the strong call to move to a self-sustaining embodied community from my smaller spiritual community in California.

The three years I spent in Cali were a time of silent retreat and spiritual initiation. Now, I was craving to be warmly engaged with the world through relationships and contributing to a larger vision and mission in a conscious and deliberate way. My chapter was closing in California. I trusted in the void that was my next steps — the free fall of endless possibility.

Then I found Earthaven and felt pulled to register for the Earthaven Ecovillage Experience Weekend.

When I first arrived in Asheville and we were driving up to Earthaven, I could feel the crystalline energy of the Appalachian mountains, and so much joy and expansion filled my heart and body. Everything was screaming yes! I was pleasantly surprised by how Earthaven was literally in the middle of a forest! The land felt well loved, alive, and thriving compared to the crisp grassy land of California.

There were around 30 people at the Experience Weekend, including a large group who were thinking about starting an intentional community in Ohio. Little did I know that we were going to be creating our own ecosystem during the weekend and that I would connect on many different levels with the people there. I met some incredible people, and we shared stories, songs, visions, and our hearts. I felt an instant connection to the facilitators — NikiAnne, Farmer, and Becky — and their embodied essence and passion for Earthaven. It felt expansive to know that I could grow in this environment where body-based practices, grief and ritual, and connection to nature are celebrated and embraced.

I felt grounded and connected to the land through our hikes together from each neighborhood and I loved exploring the possibilities of how people choose to build their homes and live on the land. The food was delicious and prepared with such love and intention. I loved that the meals were inclusive of everyone’s dietary needs, and created from quality and sustainable whole foods, with some grown on the land. We went on a wild foraging walk with Dimitri; I learned all about the abundant native friends growing on the land and tasted their sweet and intricate notes. I gained knowledge about the building of eco-friendly homes, the governing system, how Earthaven has made consensus decisions for 27 years, and the history and stories of the people.

I knew I had found home when I felt a sense of belonging to this group of people who carried the ultimate vision of a regenerative culture that is receptive to the changing needs of its people and the land that is so cherished and honored. I felt my own growth edge would be challenged here and sensed the expansion that would come with being immersed in this level of connection.

All the stars aligned, you could say, and now I am working for Earthaven’s educational nonprofit two months in, steeping in the unfolding of rich relationships, and joyfully sharing my heart and gifts with the community. I feel so incredibly blessed that Earthaven has welcomed me with such open arms and willing hearts.

The Earthaven Ecovillage Experience Weekend is a great way to become immersed into an intentional community. It gives you a snapshot into what life is like at Earthaven if you decide to make the move. I highly recommend the Experience Weekend or Experience Week if you are interested in gaining a realistic understanding of the challenges of living in a community, as well as basking in the immense abundance and richness that come from building relationships and being together through all the facets of an ecovillage.

Upcoming Offerings:

Earthaven’s School of Integrated Living (SOIL) offers the Earthaven Ecovillage Experience Weekend twice this year: May 27-30 and October 7-10. There’s also a new Earthaven Action Week following experience weekend so you can extend your visit and interact more with the Earthaven community.

I look forward to meeting you there, and giving you a little taste of the embodied essence of Earthaven!

Much love,
Jillian

The post Jillian’s Experience Weekend Adventure appeared first on Earthaven Ecovillage.

Creating Community With Women

NikiAnne Feinberg — Sat, 22 May 2021 19:51:46 +0000

I first read Anita Diamant’s book, The Red Tent, back in 2007. A few years later, in 2012, at a women’s gathering, hundreds of us watched Things We Don’t Talk About: Women’s Stories from the Red Tent, which documented the growing movement.

There was clearly a great need to share, discuss, and honor our internal cycles in a safe and supportive environment. Since then, the movement has expanded all over the world.

A teacher of mine, ALisa Starkweather, often called the mother of the Red Tent Temple movement, lays out some guiding principles such as: Red Tents are a place for women of all ages and stages; they are focused on our journeys as women; they encourage non-directed time, they are ideally held near the new moon, and they act as an archetypal womb space.

At Earthaven, we’ve been so lucky to have Kaitlin Ilya Wolf guiding our Red Tent gatherings for more than a decade. Having a consistent resource for scheduling, decorating, facilitating, and encouraging women to get together once a month has been beyond supportive; it’s been transformative. And it naturally builds community among women.

Kaitlin speaking about Red Tents

Through SOIL, Kaitlin is now offering a four-hour online workshop on Red Tent Facilitation Training for women around the world who might want to start a Red Tent in their region. It’s being offered three times: June 5, September 18, and December 4.

I’m so thrilled that we are able to offer this kind of encouragement and empowerment to other women who want to experience the kind of community that we have here at Earthaven.

The post Creating Community With Women appeared first on Earthaven Ecovillage.