The Feeling
- Has your life lost enchantment?
- Do you long for a deeper relationship with yourself, your planet, and your soul?
- Are you in the midst of a mid-life crisis?
- Are you ready for a sabbatical?
- Are you preparing for a gap-year and have begun to wonder why the world is so wonderful and such a mess, and, by the way, what is this life all about?
- Would you like to reclaim the gold in you that your parents, schools, partners, and employers had no use for?
- Are you worried about what will be left on this planet?
- Are you ready to stride deeply into the one, true life you can can your own?
- Do you want your vacation to be less like a beach retreat and more like a eco-tourist advance into the next phase of your own unfolding?
- Or have you given up hope for the planet, given up hope that you could find deeper meaning in life, given up on finding a numinous encounter that would lead you into your true place in the world?
- Or perhaps, you’re just skeptical that there is anything mystical at all in the world.
- Is it possible that what you really want is to live a soul-infused life?
The Need
- Your future and the planet’s future are unforeseen.
- Although we live in a time with great unknowns, and stare at a future both filled with possibility and peril, the future is not foreseen.
- The issues that we face as individuals and as a culture require a different consciousness than we have known.
- What we can and need to offer are the deepest wisdoms of ourselves – our own soul image and gifts.
- This wisdom and the uncovering of this image and these miraculous gifts are not supported by popular culture, nor are they to be found in our contemporary educational or religious institutions.
- In addition, they are absent in the office-based therapies and pharmaceutical-based prescriptions of the medical and psychiatric community.
Your Deep Wisdom And Gifts Are Found, However, When You Follow This Path
- ECO – Reconnect to nature
- PSYCHE – Encounter a being in nature or in a dream that mirrors your soul
- ARTISTRY – Begin to embody your unique soul gifts in the world
It may take your lifetime of joyful engagement to completely embody your gifts.
The Process
One can become an Eco-Psyche-Artist through learning and practicing Soulcraft (TM) skills and practices. The experience of soul encounter shifts the ego forever. This mythopoetic identity of soul is expressed in symbol and dream, archetype and myth. Your one true precious life is actually a life of mystery, enchantment, and service. Soulcraft (TM) practices have been collected and refined by Bill Plotkin, Ph.D. and his colleagues at the Animas Valley Institute and spring from wilderness rites, depth psychology, the poetic tradition, eco-psychology, indigenous peoples, and from the Wild Earth itself.
What Might Happen
- You might begin to identify and/or clarify your deeper identity.
- You might begin to listen deeply to all of the voices of your own Self.
- You might begin to free your wild imagination.
- You might begin to inhabit your wild and wonderful body.
- You might encounter the mythic genius of your soul.
- You might surprise the skeptic – and wouldn’t that be great!
The Places
Ojai, California is located 85 miles North of Los Angeles and 45 miles South of Santa Barbara. It sits 15 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by the Los Padres National Forest. Originally inhabited by the Chumash Indians, it continues to be a site of health and spirituality. Its “Mediterranean climate” allows for very mild winters.
Offerings here from October through May.
Other Program Sites
Boulder, Colorado frequently acquires top rankings in health, well-being, quality of life, education, and art. Just west of Boulder lie the majestic and powerful Rocky Mountains.
Offerings here in mid-May through October.
Nosara Costa Rica is located on the Pacific coast of the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica. It is a setting of beautiful beaches, diverse habitats, stunning vistas, dark jungles, and refreshing waterfalls. Nosara is teeming with wildlife, from the Morpho butterfly to the olive-green sea turtle, to the chirping hummingbirds and over 100 species of butterflies as well as innumerable plant species. It is also a center of healing and wholeness with practitioners of numerous spiritual and body practices. Both CNN and National Geographic named Nosara as one of the Top 10 destinations to visit in 2014.
Offerings here from January through March.