Holiday Walks and Dreams

One of my favorite walks at Dancing Deer Farm is the one that takes me all around the property. Never leaving the well worn track, you go up hills and into wooded dales. You can go over high plateaus -- where you always feel like you can see forever -- and through ancient oak forest. The sweet, brooding silence of those trees always humbles me: fate has made me one of their caretakers.

On a day when I’m alone with my dogs, just walking and thinking, it’s a walk of a good three quarters of an hour. Perhaps a bit more. That’s my morning exercise, plus it gives me an overview of what’s going on all over Dancing Deer.

Other days, when I’m walking with guests or friends or with my daughter or other members of my family, the walk can stretch into a much longer event, chatting and examining or maybe stopping for a bit and perching on a hillside or under a tree, enjoying a canopy of sky and the feeling of complete freedom I’ve never felt so exquisitely any other way or any other place.

This morning, as I did my usual circuit, dogs bounding ahead or falling behind, as is their wont, it occurred to me, as it sometimes does, that I am luckier than most. I’d just gotten back after being out of town on a family vacation, so I perhaps appreciated Dancing Deer even more keenly than usual. I’m lucky to have all of this natural beauty and wildlife at my doorstep. Lucky to be able to share this wonderful property with others and to learn, through that process, about their dreams and visions. And, by extension, I’m lucky to have all of you in my life.

May the joys of the season touch you and your family. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and dreams with us through 2010 and may your journey into the new decade be a sweet one.

Happy Holidays!

A (Not So Hasty) Retreat

I read recently that the Dalai Lama has said that “The ultimate factor determining whether we have a healthy mind and a healthy body lies within.”

Though there are several ways to take this, here’s what I get: our health and well-being are in our own hands, at least to a certain degree. In a world where so much is out of our control, this is one thing we can have some control over. We can get out and do the things for ourselves we’ve been wanting to. We can feed our spirits, our hearts and our souls. Feed them and nourish them by making choices that our both good for us and that make us happy.

To a large degree, that’s what the recent and ongoing creation of the programs at Dancing Deer have been about. I mean, here we are with this fantastic property that has so much to offer and we’re connected with a large number of deeply and diversely talented people. It did not seem like a leap to us to take the next step and think about what programs we could create that would make use of our wonderful resources to enrich our own lives and the lives of others.

For a while now, we’ve been contemplating just how to to do this, because all the elements were already there. It was just, then, a matter of arranging them in the sequence that would benefit the largest number of people.

And so here we are.

Though there are still some programs in the planning stage, the ones that are already being offered are terrific and fill several very specific needs. Here is a brief description of each of our current programs. Follow the links to get more information on all or any of them:

Yoga Retreat
Dancing Deer’s yoga retreats focus on sustainable and natural branches of wellness and attunement with the body. We offer weekend and week-long yoga retreats that include sessions with our resident yogis as well as time for self-exploration and retreat.

Hot Springs Retreat
Many people believe that natural hot springs have therapeutic effects that can relieve or restore health. At the Hearts Journey Hot Springs retreat, visits to nearby Franklin Hot Springs will a core part of your week with us, but not all of it: the emphasis is on healing and rejuvenation with ample time for self-directed reflection and learning

Personal Retreat
Combining elements of private retreat and farm stay in a completely natural and self-directed environment, your personal retreat gives you the opportunity for relaxation and reflection that we seldom allow ourselves in this fast-paced world.

Raw Food Retreat
Offering participants the opportunity to learn more about incorporating raw foods into their diet for detoxification and health while learning how to gain the maximum life force from your food, all in our beautiful farm stay environment.

For an overview, visit our Programs page. Interest has been high and spots are filling up incredibly quickly. If you’d like more information on any of the retreats, e-mail me here or call 805-769-6664.