CLICK HERE to Download the Flyer/Application for the Fall 2008 Sacred Path Retreat

CLICK HERE to Download the Fall 2008 Retreat Flyer/Application for US Veterans

CLICK HERE to Download Dr. Johnson's Pre-Retreat Letter for Fall 2008

Next ManUp Practicum on Saturday, September 20

The focus of this new series is on Practical Mindfulness, which is the practice of being fully present within moment-to-moment experiences with relaxed, non-attached acceptance. Mindfulness training supports one’s ability to access the cognitive, sensory, somatic, and emotional elements of experiences in the present moment, thus enhancing one’s contact with spontaneous states of enlightenment. Cultivation of mindfulness facilitates the free-flow of creativity while engaging the wisdom of the heart. It fosters the ability to listen deeply with “beginner’s mind’ and opens up the possibility of moving beyond the limiting frame of self and other. Mindfulness training equips us to expand our perceived awareness of the nuances of the relational field in which we are always influencing each other.

The overall goal of this year’s cutting edge series of Mindfulness Practicums is to investigate how mind, brain and body work together in ways that enhance personal growth and healing, as well as to effect change on all levels by adding a larger philosophical and ethical context. Essentially these one-day events are opportunities for attention to Dharma, which is the basic ground underlying the contemplative teachings and practices which enlighten us to the transitory nature of all phenomena, including mental states. The willingness to be intimate with the mystical nature of one’s soul, in contrast with the mind’s tendency for attachment to the conceptual illusions about the world, allows us to more fully comprehend the distinction between self and selflessness. Our challenge today is how to find interior peace, compassion and wisdom within the heart of change as we engage with the exterior world.

Fees include lunch, morning and afternoon snacks.  Once again, the group will be limited to 20 participants, so reserve your space early.  The cost for the program is $150.  For more information, contact Rich Manners at (818) 888-8852 or jyngleman@sbcglobal.net.  If you use e-mail, please use “Colloquium” in the subject bar.  Rich can take your credit card info and reserve your spot.  You can also click on the “Events” page on the MCLA web site and download the PDF application/flier to complete and fax back in or send with your check, or just click here.

In brotherhood,
Stephen

REVIEWS OF JANUARY ManUp MINDFULNESS PRACTICUM

As men in our culture, we are so thirsty for a deep bond with our mothers, our fathers, our spouses and lovers, our children. Yet, we goose step through our existence thinking our worth can, and somehow should, be tallied on a balance sheet with an accountant’s pencil. Our culture supports us in going unconscious to our connection to the divine, our intuition, our broken hearts, and remaining so. The baby boom generation has forged its relationship with Iron John, in all its dimension and complexity, to the extent that it has done so, through the crucible of ostensible freedom of the late 60’s and 70’s. The post baby boom generations, it seems, are focused on simply making themselves a life. Yet, they too need to wake up to the metaphysical talents that lie within and should be touched and developed so as to fully realize one’s genetic potential.

So, what do I mean? What am I talking about? It is simply this. It is not enough for men to talk about self realization, love, relationships, life. . . . we must learn to employ ways of learning and knowing that do not depend upon the use and refinement of the frontal cortex of our brains. That is what the new practicum sessions led by Dr. Johnson are really about. Learning the practices that awaken our deeper wisdom, the non-linear centers of our being, and making them our own. Introducing the techniques that allow us to think with our gut and know with our heart. If all that seems airy-fairy, it’s because you’re in your head. Come and try a practicum. You will feel what our words cannot really express.

Our first practicum has come and gone, but like the tail of the wind, still remains. We welcome those men that want to take their practice of ways of knowing below the head level to new depths as we go through the remaining events this year. I believe everyone who was there this past week will agree that the experience is so worthwhile, and one that in many ways is beyond words. It is an example of the very special resources available to us through the Men’s Center.

-Mitch Roth

I have attended the great majority of colloquiums last year, and I must say in all honesty that the Practicum held on January 26th was a mammoth step above those, both in the content of the day’s teachings and activities and the willingness of the participants to let it all hang out and go with Dr. Johnson’s flow.

Rather than talking about problems, we entered into a world of practical solutions in the form of practices that would bring us into altered states of consciousness and help to clear the cobwebs from our thinking. We moved from a state of thinking to a state of being – and the men were willing to risk it all in their depth of participation. I have never seen so many men get so much out of the breath work in which we participated, and the meditation/Yoga worked wonders for centering ourselves.

The most exciting thing about the series of Practicums is that each one builds on the previous sessions, so that by the time the series ends, the men will have a great variety of tools on which to draw.
I look forward to seeing you all there!

- Rich Manners

REVIEWS OF MAY ManUp MINDFULNESS PRACTICUM

Thanks so much for the enlightenment and the crash course you provided. In my present situation, I really needed it. I guess I was at the right session to learn about aloneness and the importance of stillness in everyday life. Sometimes we forget about the basics of living, and the Practicum was a wonderful way to bring everything back into balance.

Looking forward to the July session!

Be well,
- Jamshid Daneshgar

Although it happens infrequently and then all too briefly, I can occasionally put myself fully into the present and become completely engaged in what I am doing. That is, I can be mindful. I have practiced meditation for several years, albeit with limited success, but the constant demands of my four kids make finding a quiet moment and restful place nearly impossible. So it became clear that I needed a more practical way to connect with my inner self. Stephen's mindfulness Practicums have helped me learn how to develop this vital ability: a practice that has literally given me back my life, a life aside from my past, and aside from my "story." These Practicums have helped me connect with a much more powerful source of peace than I believed possible. Just as importantly, they have given me a chance to learn these skills in the company of truly inspiring men. I have attended every Practicum and always leave with much more than I bring.

- Eric, single father of four

REVIEWS OF JULY ManUp MINDFULNESS PRACTICUM

The July Practicum brought together some men who have been taking these Practicums with some that never had. Nevertheless everyone benefited from the mix of the 20 or so participants.  One of the men, one that I brought, is named Curt.  Curt has been home from Afghanistan now for 17 months.  He came home a few weeks short of his tour of duty because his wife of 15 years committed suicide.  I had breakfast with Curt this morning.  He credits his time spent with us in the Practicum with a breakthrough regarding the pain surrounding the issues involved in his loss and in his life.  I am, of course, happy for Curt.  I know I’ll see him in other Practicums and up on the Mountain in October.  But, the energy of his grief touched a place in each man attending the July event and helped open the gates that so often remain shut, blocking our work and our joy.

Curt, though, was not the only catalyst in the group, not at all.  Another ingredient in the soup that makes each meal of “men’s work” unique was the hurt and betrayal and the ultimate reclaiming of our right to innocence that was contributed by another man.  I don’t have permission to use his name, so I won’t.  But, his issues were rooted in early childhood sexual abuse.  The path to growth for all of us illumined by his presence at the Practicum was not the result of the specifics of his issue, but rather by our common need to deal with defenselessness against the betrayal of trust and the confusion engendered.  Although never sexually abused myself in childhood, I was abused by an older brother and not protected by my mother, or by my father, for that matter.  The experience of defenselessness and betrayal of trust and the resulting confusion were just as real for me, and were triggered by my sharing of the process of this man.

By now, I have assisted Stephen in lots of these events.  Yet, I shared with the group that this was the first time that I absorbed so much of the energies of those participating that I had to sit down on a chair by myself and weep.  This still was not enough of a clearing, and I felt compelled to go into a rebirthing process myself just to be able to go on.

One of our cats likes to come into our bed at night and in the morning.  Maggie the cat, my wife tells me, “LOVES me.”  Well, I don’t know about that.  But, she does often and almost immediately flip onto her back and expose her belly to me and luxuriates in the belly scratching that follows.  I mention this because I appreciate the profound trust implied.  Cats don’t like to expose their bellies because in that position they are most vulnerable.  The work we do in these Practicums, and on the mountain during our retreats, is like that.  We expose our bellies to each other and experience a level of vulnerability and trust that is extra-ordinary, as that word is literally defined.  Although sometimes scary and sometimes painful, it is also the most elevating experience I can by choice invite. 

For those in our community that don’t take full advantage of the opportunities presented by Dr. Johnson’s work, and the work of the Sacred Path community, I urge you to “drink your fill.”  Don’t deprive yourself and your loved ones of the benefits of the work.

Namaste

Mitchell Roth

First of all, I must say that it was indeed an honor to be able to assist in some way the men who attended the July practicum.  The level of courage shown by the participants was to me absolutely stunning. Half of the 20 participants were new, and yet there was no hesitation in their participating full-bore in the activities. I believe that the willingness of one of the men in particular to be totally open to his wounds and pain in the Sacred Breathing exercise was a catalyst to the others in feeling safe to reach down into themselves and come to grips with their own torment. The profundity of these processes was truly remarkable.

For me, the subject of the day’s focus, that of refraining, hit the nail on the head. The process of refraining is, in short, to recognize my reflexive reaction to a person or situation, and instead of just going along with it, to stop and analyze my feeling and thinking, and to refrain from making the usual negative response. Instead, I would take the time to think: will this action be of service to me? Will it be of service to the other person? Will it help or hurt the situation? Then I would consciously react.

In my life, I have always felt unseen and unheard, so when someone cuts me off in traffic or unthinkingly says something that triggers my wound about not being noticed, my usual reaction would be to fly into a rage. The process of refraining really cuts into this gut reflex, and probably for the first time in my life, I have a tool to help me stop this process that, at the very least, eats into me, and at the worst, provokes a dangerous situation between me and the person by whom I feel wounded. I don’t mean to say that it works every time, but at least I try to bring it into play when I become conscious of the trigger being pulled. Each time it works, I become more confident that it will work the next time I need it. These tools we are being taught are so radically different because they offer a real hands-on solution to so many things in our lives that ordinarily would set us off.

-Rich Manners

The application is part of the .pdf; download it, fill it out and send it in.