THE 7TH ANNUAL TRACKING WONDER
RETREAT FOR CREATIVES
OPEN & NOURISH
THE MYSTERY BOX!
March 11-16, 2012 (Sunday to Friday)
at the historic Mabel Dodge Luhan House
SPECIAL TOPIC: That's why we're gathering in such a stunning place this March. To live in those questions and more. I don't have all the answers. But I do have the equivalent of mind flashlights and mind mirrors and a cadre of other tools that you'll be free to use for your own creative insight, output, and momentum.
Your creative mind is a mystery box waiting to be opened.
But you know what? It's dark and unpredictable in there.
Feisty emotions and inclement moods.
Layers of gray fret smothering technicolor images & insight.
If you can even open it, the mystery often vanishes like vapor, and you don't know what to do with all the stuff that comes up and out.
Wouldn't it be amazing if you not only could open that sparkly box at will but you also could find your way around in there so you'd know what's worthy of your project and what needs to go to the recycling bin?
And what if you could develop a few nifty, easy methods and routines to help you "do something" with all of that mystery? Actually nourish your creative mind, take consistent action, and complete something?
You're going to love this retreat if you're ready to delve into your creative space, open your mystery box, and nourish it by tracking wonder.
Tracking wonder is mindfulness + delightful surprise + creative action. Who doesn't want that?
Join us at the house where Georgia O'Keeffe, D.H. Lawrence, and Ansel Adams convened.
• Learn first-hand how wonder - interest + joy + delightful surprise + reality check - opens us like a window, befriends us on the creative journey, and engages our own tribes.
• Discover tools to fall in love again with your open, focused, fluent mind.
• Discover how the body, breath, & emotions can become creative partners from vision to re-vision.
• Use tools of perception for serendipity.
• Develop regular but non-rigid creative rhythms to sustain you through a project.
ACTIVITIES:
• Optional early morning yoga sessions.
• Experiential YOGA AS MUSE™ & Tracking Wonder sessions that weave embodiment with creative process & productivity.
• A Tracking Wonder Field Guide to keep you alert in mind and surroundings.
• My mini-raps on craft, right know-how, shaping the mind & time organically, and more.
• Choices of structured solitary "create time" and/or structured creative collaboration & cross-pollination.
• Optional share-aloud sessions using simple, effective feedback methods.
• Optional evening sessions including meditation, discussions on creativity, and a group dinner out one evening.
• Culminating Wonder Cabinet event of participant readings & showings.
Smart study is integral to creative flourishing, so we'll study works and examples of a few creatives. You will have free time to walk to the Taos Plaza or hike in the Taos Ski Valley or walk-n-talk with a new friend or visit the Taos Pueblo. But the key focus is your creative practice and momentum.
Ultimately, you will return home with a full tool belt to keep your creative momentum flowing.
View the slide show from last year's retreat. Check out the photos.
WHO SHOWS UP? (aka, IS THIS REALLY FOR ME?)
I know. You don't want to drop this money and devote this time only to show up among a bunch of people you don't connect with. Here's who shows up: Down-to-earth people who want to get honest with their creative process. Professional creatives who need a sweet kick in the cushy tushy or space and tools to explore "the next thing." People who haven't opened their Mystery Box in years but are curious. Yoga newbies and yoga teachers. People with pain who want to move through it to creativity. People who want to be inspired by and inspire other creatives.
Know this: Within the first ten minutes of our first dinner together, we're at the same table. We all really become beginners of sorts again.
Inevitably, everyone who shows up wants sustained focus and lots of structured and unstructured time to work on a project - a book, a business idea or venture, stories, poetry, photography, crafting. Although many of us are writers, this retreat holds ample space for cross-pollination to happen among writers, photographers, entrepreneurs & solo-preneurs, crafts persons, and other visionaries.
CAN I REALLY AFFORD THIS?
Good question. I don't know your circumstances, but I suggest you check in. Treat your fee as an investment in what matters most - the ultimate responsibility to your creative self. And I take that investment seriously. I won't waste your time or money.
Please know that a good half of your fee goes to the Mabel Dodge Luhan House for their outstanding food, facilities, and accomodations.
And given that you receive tactics, strategies, experiences, and knowledge that you just cannot get anywhere else, the $700 or $800 "tuition" you pay for around 36 hours of creative guidance is, well, a steal. That rate would buy you about 4-5 hours with me privately. By the way, any assistant positions & scholarships go first to members of THE YOGA AS MUSE FACILITATORS TRIBE.
EASY SIGN UP & REGISTRATION:
Follow the easy steps below, or call us at 845-679-9441,
and we can walk you through the simple online registration process
(Sorry, we cannot take credit card information over the phone).
Download the Registration Form (PDF)
By Mail
Please print, fill out, and mail the registration form along with a check for the appropriate amount made payable to Center to Page, LLC at 156 Upper Whitfield Rd, Accord, NY 12404.
Online (credit card or check)
Please fill out the registration form, and use the PayPal system below.
Note: Please be sure to add 3% to your PayPal payment.
RATES:
You can pay in three smaller installments or you can save money and pay once:
3 payments of $595 by October 15, November 15, and December 31.Special Subscribers Discount if registered in full by July 2: $1440.00
Early-Bird Special if registered in full by September 30: $1540.00
Cost after Septemeber 30: $1690.00
Add $200 for one of the limited single rooms in Juniper House.
Add $330 for one of the limited single rooms in the Main House.
Fee includes dinner the first night, delicious catered breakfast and lunch the next four days, and breakfast the last morning; tasteful double lodging - some with working fireplaces; all tuition; and all materials & "journey goodies." Gluten-free and vegan diets are easily (and deliciously) accommodated.
CANCELLATIONS:
Cancellations made 90 days of the retreat will be refunded 100%. Cancellations made within 90 to 45 days of the retreat will be refunded 50% or will receive a full credit for a future CenterToPage retreat. Cancellations made within 45 days of the retreat can not be refunded.
THE SCHEDULE:
Drop me an email or check back for the updated schedule - it will be the best ever!
THE DIGS:
THE MABEL DODGE LUHAN HOUSE is the place in Taos to explore your creativity. A renegade New York socialite, Mabel Dodge left behind city comforts to carve her creative path on the Taos arroyos. She and her lover Tony built the charming "adobe farmhouse" that we rent for your retreat. Some of you will sleep in rooms where Georgia O'Keeffe, D. H. Lawrence, Ansel Adams, and other creative luminaries rested their spirits.
In March, the last hints of winter fading, the house is quiet. We often have the whole space - minus the delightful staff - to ourselves. The Mabel Dodge chef extraordinaire will pamper us with her renowned breakfast buffets and lunches. Inevitably, spring weather greets us.
Available rooms will vary according to retreat size, but register early to request your favorite room.
Don't fret about double lodging, though. We'll put night owls with night owls, the quiet ones with quiet ones, and so forth. A few private rooms will be available at an extra cost, but previous participants with roommates often leave with a new friend.
PACKING TIPS:
What to bring
• notebook, pen, laptop (if you wish)
• material for your respective medium
• camera
• comfortable clothes for movement
• walking shoes
• clothes for temperatures ranging usually in the sunny 50s and 60s
(Check the weather, though!)
• an inspiring book
• anything you're working on that you want to develop or share
(not required)
• copies of the common readings
• a flashlight
TRAVEL MADE EASY
Fly into Albuquerque Airport, rent a car or take a shuttle directly to the Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos, or drive. We will send detailed information that will make your travel a cinch. Upon request, we also can try to hook up travelers for shared rental cars.
However, do be sure you arrive before 5 pm on March 11 and plan to leave no earlier than 11:30 am on March 16.
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