“It’s not happiness that makes us grateful but gratefulness that makes us happy.” – Br. David Steindl Rast
A note from Carl: Several years ago, when Erin and I were visiting Boulder, CO, we dropped in for a sit in the beautiful shrine room on the top floor of the Shambhala Center. At that time, the shrine room was left open all day so people could come in and meditate. The room was…
A note from Erin: Hello, friends! How’s your heart? This morning I’m feeling it all. Full. Raw. Grateful. Heartbroken. Overwhelmed. Spacious. Tender. Deficient. Humble. Humorous. Wary hopefulness. Inspired. I’m grateful there’s room for all of it. This morning I woke early, grateful to beat my kiddo’s awakening hour so I had time to meditate, to…
A note from Erin: I love to read books. There’s a gorgeous one I’m rereading. For one reason, simply because it’s so beautiful and also because I’ve gifted it to the participants in my Women Embodied group and want to read along with them. It’s called Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. She’s a scientist, a professor,…
A note from Carl Recently, I had a client come in for a first session. She was having difficulty and discomfort in her walking and wanted to figure out how to activate a certain muscle that she thought was at the root of discomfort. This type of request is quite common. Whether from one’s own…
The Encouragement of Light: September Ghost Ranch Retreat 2017
Friends, I’m dancing-in-my-chair thrilled to invite you to join me and my dear friend and guest teacher, Nan Seymour, for a one-of-a-kind retreat at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico this September. with Erin Geesaman Rabke, Feldenkrais, Embodied Life, & Meditation Instructor and special guest teacher Nan Seymour, River Writing Facilitator How Did the rose…
Success!
Wooohoooooo! We’re so excited!!!! Thanks so much for registering for the retreat! We can’t wait to share the magic of The Land of Enchantment with you. We’ll be in touch with more details as the date comes closer. Our Crystal Clear Cancellation & Refund Policy When you sign up for one of our courses,…
A note from Erin: Good day, friends! First things first. Are you aware of your body, right now as you read? Whether you’re reading on a computer or a phone, I wonder: could your spine be longer, so you sit or stand with dignity and ease and not all hunched over in email-posture? How’s your…
A note from Carl: Hi friends, To begin with, we wanted to invite you to save the date of March 17-19, as our dear friend and mentor, Russell Delman, will be in Salt Lake teaching on “A Safe Harbor in the Storm: How to be Lighthouse and Find Safety for Self and Others.” You can…
Hi friends, I’m so happy to be back from our sojourn in Southeast Asia, even though the air pollution in SLC is bad, even though the news is worse. It’s good to be home. I’ve started and restarted this newsletter half a dozen times – there being simultaneously so much I want to say, and…
A note from Carl A couple of weeks ago, when we arrived at the airport in Bangkok, I was moved by the presence of these giant, bad-ass protector statues that lined the terminal. In the few moments that I stood at their ginormous feet, they became a teacher for me. I felt a fiery presence in…
A note from Erin: Hi friends, We are sending you Happy New Year wishes from Thailand! I hear there’s a lot of snow back home, and here I sit in a warm, humid hotel room, listening to my son and others splash around in the pool 5 floors below as I type on my laptop.…
Looking for the Gold in 2016
A note from Carl: There is a teaching in the Buddhist tradition that goes: “Good in the beginning, good in the middle, good in the end.” In terms of meditation practice, this points to beginning a practice with a clear intention and motivation, then really showing up for the session, and ending and closing with a…
The Cheapest Room & What are You Feeding?
A note from Erin: One of the things I love about reading poetry on the regular is the way it bubbles up from my subconscious at such perfect times. Often, I’d rather hear from Mary Oliver or Rumi or Charles Bukowski or Joy Harjo or Mark Nepo or Pablo Neruda than my own neurotic worries.…
What to Remember When Walking Out The Door
A note from Carl: Each time I step out the door to go somewhere, I do a quick routine of a self pat-down. Wallet, keys, phone- and, if needed, sunglasses. The gesture is so automatic- my hands know the size and the shape of these objects, and if one is missing, I head back inside…
Rest in the Mess: A December Specialty
How suprising (or not) that this same topic is here for me again this week: Resting in the Mess. Maybe it was the way we had to rearrange the whole front room to accommodate our Christmas tree which led to the dining table being so covered in stuff we had to eat dinner on the…
Going to Hell & Finding the Ground
A note from Erin: In the Buddhist lineage I’ve been a part of for the past 20+years, it’s traditional to begin every session of every teaching with this invitation: “Please generate bodhichitta and in that spirit, listen to the teachings.” (Bodhichitta is the awakened heart-mind that is dedicated to the welfare of all beings.) I’d like…
The Genius Hides Behind the Wound + We Need You
I adore this perspective articulated by two guys I trust, Rumi and Carl Jung. The genius hides behind the wound. I’ve most often considered this insight as it applies in my personal life. Today, I’m thinking of it on a national level. The genius hides behind the wound. For many of us, this election and…
Fear & Love, The Perennial Choice
Words from Erin: I keep thinking of this line from that amazing song performed by Leslie Odom, Jr., imagining what Obama might be thinking during the pre-election days: “Let’s talk about fear and why I don’t bring it in here. It’s a dangerous word, it spooks the herd and we all bleed in the stampede.…
Finding A Life-Giving Relationship & A Sunday Gathering
A note from Carl: Several people that I had contact with yesterday compared their experience to how it felt on 9/11. A shock, a stripping away, deep fear, a crumbling…and under all of it, a profound love, a return to what is most important. While social media has been maddening for me during the election,…
Embody Gratitude With Me? An Audio Practice, A Poem, An Invitation
A note from Erin: Have you been waking in the night too? Or trying to avoid the news because it’s all just too much? The violence against native peoples in North Dakota; the mess that is Syria; warfare in Mosul; a black church burned; policemen shot while sitting in their cars; the election(!!) and all the…
3 Good Ideas
Last year I was listening to a talk by Tara Brach and I loved a point she made. She said she’d been around spiritual people of many persuasions over more than four decades, and she said what she’s seen is that more important than the specific path they’re following, it’s these three qualities which seem…
Women and the Body and the Very Hard Battle Roughly a month ago in an embodiment course my husband and I are teaching, a dear woman shared her experience. She said, “You know that quote that says, “Be kind, for everyone you know is fighting a hard battle?” Well, when you invited me to be present…
One Little Box
“There’ll be one corporation selling one little box It will do what you want and tell you what you want and cost whatever you got…. – from this song by Greg Brown Though Greg Brown wrote this song 20+ years ago, it’s spot on – though we seem to have 2 corporations and one little…
Birthday Musings, Community Sit, + Embodying Gratitude
A note from Carl: Yesterday I celebrated my 44th birthday. I love having a birthday in October. The natural introspection and self-reflection that comes this time of year, the beauty in letting go that is modeled by the crimson and golden trees in the canyons, and of course, the fact that almost every year Mary…
Questions to Haunt You (in really good ways)
A note from Erin: Today I want to share some questions I’ve been loving rolling around in my heart and mind, often as I walk. But first, I want to remind us of a favorite Jewish saying: “Why ruin a good question with an answer?” No answers are necessary, but perhaps, we could step through these…
On Armor
On the last day of a retreat I recently hosted with my lovely friend, Nan Seymour, in Santa Fe, I shared an invitation from writer and teacher Mark Nepo, from his gorgeous book, Seven Thousand Ways to Listen. On our last morning, after a 25-minute sitting meditation, we each went for a 30-minute silent walk,…
How to Know if You’re Moving Well: A Few Good Questions
A note from Carl: How do you know if you are moving well? For so many of us, we have lost that internal compass. In working with private clients and teaching classes around movement for the last couple decades, one of the most common questions that Erin and I hear begins with “How should I…”…
How you can go wrong with gratitude
A note from Erin: Happy first day of Fall! (Or Spring if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere!) My favorite season. I love the changing leaves, the harvest, the back to school vibes that got me to clean my entire desk yesterday. Most of all I love the obviousness of impermanence and the way it paints everything with…
Ease and Alignment in Sitting: A Special Offer from Carl for a 3-series
A note from Carl A couple weeks ago I wrote about my experience doing bodywork at a retreat with Will Johnson exploring the posture of meditation. The 3 series of hands-on Structural Integration sessions that we offered participants had such a profound impact on the ease, the uprightness, the liveliness and settledness of the people…
50 Pounds of Clay & My Brave Declaration (+ an invitation to make your own)
a note from Erin: My beloved friend and co-conspirator, the lovely Nan Seymour, shared a story with me last year when we were talking about the creative process. She shared a story of a college pottery class. Here’s my imperfect retelling: The professor divided the class into two groups. Each group got 50 pounds of clay.…