" . . . we were blessed with the opportunity to honor Summer Solstice during our Wise Woman Solstice program - guided by the incredibly gifted healer Sarah Salter-Kelly.  It was a powerful weekend of celebrating our femininity and an opportunity for profound transformation.

This weekend we found ourselves surrounded and assisted by the forces that lie in nature.  In the sacred setting provided within and around the Sheiling Mountain Lodge, we worked closely with the Divine energies within and surrounding us.  As a facilitator, Sarah has a wide range of spiritual skills and tools at her disposal, including (but not limited to) journeying, meditation and sharing circles.  She is also a truly gifted ceremonialist and shared her gift with us through both water and fire ceremonies.

This celebration, this experience, truly captured what Essential Life Series is all about: Awareness, Co-creation and Expansion.  The synchronicity of the water dragon being our theme (or mascot!) and the fact that the weekend revolved so heavily around both the water and fire elements speaks to this connection.  I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Sarah and to each and every one of our Wise Woman participants for creating and holding a space for such amazing healing and transformation to occur!

We call the crew who stays around the Lodge during the day the "Home Team".  This team changes from day to day, depending on what's going on in the wild world.  The last few days the Home Team have been REALLY productive and having a lot of fun changing the place up a bit.  :o) 

A HUGE THANKS to all of the crew for swinging hammers, digging trenches, pulling wire, using saws, planting gardens, cooking delicious food, and making special water deliveries!!  Your effort and assistance is GREATLY appreciated!

We are looking forward to the Greenhouse soon producing food and also the Gazebo soon holding Sacred Space!! 

YIPPPEEEEE!!

We are SO SO honored and excited to be able to announce and fully support Maren Hasse's new project, FIERCE Integrity.
From Maren's website: www.marebarenecessities.com:

"FIERCE Integrity: A Course in Living your TRUTH What does Integrity mean to you? 

Wikipedia has this to say about Integrity:

Integrity is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions. Integrity can be regarded as the opposite of hypocrisy,[1] in that it regards internal consistency as a virtue, and suggests that parties holding apparently conflicting values should account for the discrepancy or alter their beliefs.
This definition is all well and good, but what does it mean to live with Integrity?  Well, for me, living with Integrity means living your Truth -- in thought, word and deed.  It means living authentically... something which I am passionate about.  Living with Integrity can help you to ‘close the gap’ between who you think you are and who you really are.  Once you begin to live with FIERCE Integrity, it will help you to connect with that ‘voice in your head’, it will help you become more aware of the language that you use and it will help you to get in touch with the ‘why’ of your actions.  

I am inviting you to sign up for a course in Integrity.  A course in which you will have the opportunity to wake up each day and commit to living your truth... all day, every day.  Sounds simple enough right?  Well, why don't you give it a try!"

Way to go Magnificent Maren Hasse!!  We Love you and are Proud of you!!

It's incredible really, even though the base elements for each of the yoga retreats are the same - refreshing atmosphere, beautiful nature, nutritious and yummy food, interesting conversation, and of course, yoga - each weekend is so diverse thanks to the people who come and share.  This was a beautiful weekend of sunshine, peaceful candlelight yoga with live drumming, flow classes, yoga workshop by the creek, guided meditations, pushing boundaries of body, spirit, and mind during a deep and restorative YIN class, and connection with some truly inspiring women!

What some participants had to say:

"I came to this workshop in hopes of going deeper in my yoga practice and was pleased to have my expectations for the weekend not only met, but exceeded.  What a beautiful place of peace and love this weekend has been.  A true blessing."

"Thank-you for sharing your Authentic Selves with us!"

"Maren & Darcie are a wonderful team of facilitators with so much love and acceptance for everyone; take whatever you want from the weekend, it's alllll good!  Thank you both so much!"

In our day-to-day life we strive to embody Yogic Life as the combination of body, mind, and spirit.  We love to share this life with others and appreciate how open, honest, and inquisitive each of the retreatants were during the weekend.  Truly humbled and honored!

Namaste

P.S. We are also grateful to our dear friend, Jody Goodwin-Mills, for the amazing photography! www.jodygoodwinphotography.com

What an AWESOME weekend!  We are so honored to have Bradley Krause and Doug Horne come share their Unconditional Love, Wisdom, and Experience with us! 

So much learning and sharing!  We learned how to open and share sacred space with the Four Directions of the Medicine Wheel as well as Mother Earth and Father Sky.  We shared in 3 different fire ceremonies with influence from different teachings and different cultures around the world.  We each created our very own Kooya, power stone, to assist with healing of ourselves and others.  We each received an intense healing session to assist us to release the energy behind some of the issues which are no longer serving us.  We also received the skills necessary to be able to offer healing to others in our lives.  We embodied the Spirit of animals and birds in the surrounding nature to assist us to call on their power and wisdom in our everyday lives.   We were introduced to some of our plant allies as a reminder that often what we require for physical healing is in our own environment (and yes! that does include dandelions!)  And most importantly our Nordegg Family continues to grow!

Here's what some of the participants had to say:

"This course in Shamanism was such a gift in my life, in ways that I am not even sure that I fully understand yet.  Over the course of the weekend, I was able to learn new tools, rituals and ceremonies that will serve to deepen my spiritual practice.  I feel blessed to have shared this experience in an amazingly beautiful, natural setting with a group of wonderful people.  Thank you to Bradley and Doug for facilitating a truly AWESOME course!"

"I came without expectations and left feeling extremely fulfilled.  A beautiful place with wonderful food and heart centered people!"

"Absolutely amazing people, thank-you for your warm-hearted welcome!"

"I received so many blessings this weekend I am brimming with gratitude and joy!  I am honored to have share in so many sacred teachings which were made accessible by the wisdom and openness of both Brad and Doug.  I appreciate their confidence in each of us and our natural abilities, as well as the opportunity to provide more structure to my spiritual growth and practice through ceremony and ritual.  Thank-you also to my fellow participants who were so open, trusting, and assisted to create a sacred place of Love!"

We are honored that Brad and Doug felt so at home in this beautiful setting, so at home that they've promised to come back!!  We'll be picking dates, hopefully in the near future, for another Intro to Shamanism course as well as Intuition & Journeying.

Many Blessings,
The ELS Crew

The Essential Life Series officially launched this past weekend with ‘Flow Yoga for All’, a yoga workshop facilitated by Maren Hasse and Darcie Duffin.  It was an amazing weekend, but don’t just take our word for it, have a look at what the participants had to say about it: 

• Wow!  This was a fabulous getaway.  Perfect in fact.  Thank you so much for all of your love and energy.  I have taken my practice to a new level and would highly recommend Essential Life to anyone who wants to recharge their batteries.
• The best thing I have ever done for myself!
• An amazing experience!  I laughed, I cried, and experienced life to its fullest.  So grateful for the most spectacular weekend EVER!
• It was a wonderful weekend to recharge and feel connected - with myself, others and nature.  Thank you so much Maren and Darcie!

As a facilitator, I feel honored to have been a part of the opening weekend of the Essential Life Series.   The experiences of the past weekend served to re-affirm for me how important this Series is.  Everything about the weekend, from the setting, the healthful, abundant, tasty food, the opportunities created for sharing and discussion, the hikes through the forest, the guided meditations, and of course, the yoga, worked well to create an atmosphere conducive to relaxation and personal transformation.  I can hardly wait until I am back in Nordegg to co-create another great experience for a new group of shining souls!  ~ Maren Hasse

What an inspiring way to kick off the Essential Life Series!  Beautiful relaxing candle light yoga, insightful conversation, peaceful wanders through the woods and around the lake, a yoga workshop to deepen our practice, guided meditations to connect with ourselves and each other, and of course, the delicious nutrition.  I am honored the participants felt so safe and comfortable with us and the lodge they were able to let go, relax, and take great care of themselves.  So rewarding for all involved!  I am so looking forward to the continued evolution and unfolding of Essential Life and to share with all those who choose to come experience expansion with us! ~ Darcie Duffin

Don't miss out on our next yoga workshop - happening on May 25-27, 2012.  Come on out one and all!