| Friday, March 6th - Experiential
Workshop
Creating Coherence: Heart and Intuitive Energy
Friday's experiential was facilitated by Dr. Francesca McCartney
and Shabda Kahn.
Since 1976, Dr. Francesca McCartney has worked
in the field of intuition as a medical intuitive in an integrative
health clinic, a pastoral counselor, author and educator. Francesca
synthesizes her thirty years of study in Eastern and Western spiritual
and healing arts into a multi-modality approach which grounds her
in respectfulness for the uniqueness of the individual. Based on
her educational studies, pastoral counseling, and medical intuitive
work, Francesca founded both the Academy of Intuition Medicine®
and Energy Medicine University. Dr. McCartney is the inaugural recipient
of a PhD in Intuition Medicine and also holds a PhD in Energy Medicine.
(Dr.
McCartney's website)
Shabda Kahn has been a disciple of Sufism since
1969. He is a direct disciple of Murshid Samuel Lewis (Sufi Ahmed
Murad Chisti) and worked closely with the great American mystic
Joe Miller. He is currently the Pir (Spiritual Director) of the
Sufi Ruhaniat International and the Director of the Chisti Sabri
School of Music. He is also a disciple of the illustrious Tibetan
Buddhist Master, the 12th Tai Situpa Rinpoche. Shabda spent 24 years
(since 1972) developing as a vocalist under the living guidance
of the late Pandit Pran Nath, the Master North Indian Classical
Vocalist, who planted the 800 year old oral transmission of Chisti
Sufi Vocal Music in the Western world. He is one of a handful of
Americans who have dedicated themselves to carrying on the legacy
of the treasure of North Indian Classical Vocal Music. Shabda is
also the Spiritual Director of the Dances of Universal Peace, worldwide.
Shabda travels throughout the world spreading the Sufi Message of
Love, Harmony, and Beauty. Shabda brings warmth, humor and clarity
in his efforts to help seekers on their Path to Awakening. (Shabda
Kahn's website)
We began the morning and afternoon sessions by breathing into our
centers, and breathing out to the welcoming embrace of our peers
and the benevolent, wide world. Bonds of friendship were made and
deepened throughout the day amidst the Dances of Universal Peace
lead by Shabda Kahn and Intuitive Energy Work facilitated by Dr.
Francesa McCartney.
Saturday, March 7th - Board and Circle Member Governance
Session
Creating Coherence: Seeding Sustainability
Saturday morning's program began with a healing invocation by board
member Sandra Hobson. Each person's voice imbued the healing circle
for the community members who we held in love, friendship, and care.
Board Chair Bill Sechrest offered his welcome and presented his
report, which included a brief history and a declaration that the
Institution is going back to its roots in research and education.
Addressing the issue of the land, he spoke of "the huge potential
on this property." He encouraged us to live in the experience
of the question: "What does the land want?"
Bill's address emphasized how the Institute of Noetic Sciences
is pausing to reflect on how we can be of greatest service in the
21st century. We are looking forward to our role more vitally than
ever before and how we can organizationally model what the times
are calling for today—coherence and sustainability.
With the Institute of Noetic Sciences' role in mind, Marilyn presented
the Institute's Coherence and Capacity Building Strategic Framework
as a means to engage an interactive dialogue with Board/Life Directors,
Circle Members, Member Council, and Staff.
Marilyn asserted that all of our work now is based on arriving
at a tipping point, a global need for a new paradigm. The dance
between the "I" and the "we" is moving into
our strategic framework. What is clear as the Institute moves forward
is the need for one brand and one website, a focused marketing strategy,
an institutional move from a department-based to a project-based
model, a commitment to balanced budgets, and to raising support
for research and educational products created from the Noetic archives.
Summing up, Marilyn directed our collective focus to the following
key elements of the strategic framework:
- Core message
- Outreach to our global community and to specific audiences
- Sustainability
In the afternoon, Executive Director of the Retreat Center, Cathy
Coleman, offered a report and strategic framework session that recounted
the Retreat Center's history and numerous successes in the last
five years, a period marked by healthy, profitable growth. Cathy
also presented an inspiring, comprehensive slide show highlighting
the Retreat Center and the organization's poem, which is the sacred
land itself.
The slide show included mission and vision statements in progress,
philosophical insights, development plans, recent accomplishments,
an impressive list of annual clients, and an extensive list of to-do
projects.
Cathy Coleman and Marilyn Mandala Schlitz then offered a Program
Integration session, which included questions from the audience.
In this session considerable sentiment for naming the Retreat Center
Earthrise was noted and recorded.
Again, should you have any questions about the Circle member program
and benefits, please contact Deborah Breitbach at dbreitbach@noetic.org,
Kathleen Erickson-Freeman at kfreeman@noetic.org,
or Robert McDowell at rmcdowell@noetic.org.
|
