Deepening relationships with self, each other and the natural world. 

hosted by Alexis Slutzky & Darrell Bob

Tuition: $900-$1350, sliding scale (includes six meals)
Deposit: $150 plus a Letter of Intention
Contact: Diana Kelly at contact@ojaifoundation.org; 805.646.8343 x 123

In this 10-day residential intensive, we live together in community in a semi-wilderness area, exploring the practice of living council—of speaking and listening from the heart—of being in right relationship with ourselves, our human community and the rest of the living world. With guest teachers and age-old, earth-based teachings, we embark on a pilgrimage—a time of mystery set apart to truly listen and authentically respond. Participants will experience deep solo time, community life and the daily rhythms of living with and caring for the land. You are invited to nurture and create alliances with the natural world, other change activists and your truest self.  Minimum age for participation is 18. Participants are responsible for bringing their own tent and food. Please contact us for more detailed information.

Focus areas and activities include:
Morning meditation

Beauty way work experience

Permaculture

Dream exploration

Ceremony

24-hour solo

Council in various forms

Wheel of Life teachings


WHAT IT IS:


This program is designed to integrate the social, environmental and spiritual aspects of the legacy and teachings of The Ojai Foundation (TOF). TOF has been a gathering place, a community of stewards and a beacon for the practice of living council for over 30 years. The Living Council Immersion has been created to share the fundamental teachings and ways of life that have been learned and cultivated over these decades. In these trying and transformative times, one of our primary tasks is to recover an awareness of the intrinsic relationship between the human being and the rest of the living world. In this residential intensive, we will explore this relationship – tending the land in the beauty way and doing deep inner work, entering the territory of the unknown, allowing the old to die away in order to make room for the new to be birthed. The world needs us to be in alignment with our gifts and passions, to understand that we have a unique and essential role to play in the unfolding of a new paradigm that fundamentally sees human beings as one node in the web of life. Many of us are called to this path or have been doing this work for a long time. This is a time of renewal, a time to deepen our practices and strengthen the network.



WHO WILL COME:
Come if … you have a desire to grow and learn and to deepen relationships to the earth, to ceremony, to your intuition and your gifts; come if you are ready to mark a time in your life for greater commitment to change, for the next phase of your journey, to renew and nurture yourself and your vision; come if you are a seasoned council facilitator ready to deepen your practice in a community of peers.  Activists, artists, mothers and fathers, students, teachers, healers, therapists, environmentalists, retirees, seekers—participants are of all ages (must be at least 18) and backgrounds — from urban to wild — and are holding a vision of a future where all people, creatures and life forms are honored and respected.



WHAT IS OFFERED:
Together we will explore the art and practice of council, speaking and listening from the heart. We will form a community where all contribute and learn from each other and the natural world. Topics will include: beauty way, medicine wheel teachings, permaculture and related projects, dream work, reciprocity, self-generated ceremony, meditation, and more—all while deepening our commitment and practice of care for self, each other and the land.




STAFF:
Alexis Slutzky is a guide through the inner and outer wilderness. She has over ten years of experience supporting individuals and groups in their emerging vision and authenticity by uncovering their inherent wisdom and connection to themselves and the natural world. Alexis has a background in natural building, yoga instruction as well as psychotherapy as a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, receiving her MA from Pacifica Graduate Institute in 2004. She has trained as a council facilitator with The Ojai Foundation and has worked as a leader with the TOF youth program for the past 12 years. The group process of council, sitting together to listen and speak from the heart, has deeply informed her work and life and she has facilitated numerous councils in a variety of settings. As well as partnering with other organizations, Alexis currently offers nature-based programming out of her private practice: The Flowering Earth.

Chief Darrell Bob, of the Xaxli'p Community, St'at'ime Nation, Lilooet, BC
Chief Darrell feels fortunate to have been raised by his grandparents on a small farm in Lilooet, BC with the teachings of the Old Ones and their language and knowledge of their way of life.   They had no electricity and everything was done by hand with a very small tractor which they also used for transportation at the best of times.   They had five gardens and many fruit trees and hay on their lands. This kept his family busy year around as they stored their fish for winter with his grandfather catching no less than 700 fish in a summer.

In 2006 Chief Darrell became a leader of his community  where he received his most significant teachings about the importance of the lands of his people.  He was taught to look at the whole territory when he made a decision and not just the narrow scope of an initiative. The Elders always reminded him that what you do to one you do to all which includes our Mother Earth!  "Being  stewards of the land, it is our responsibility to look after Her and nurture Her to the best of our ability so that She can continue to provide for us!"

In 2009 Chief Darrell, honoring a profound vision helped initiate the International Indigenous Leadership Gathering in Lilooet, BC. He has continued this gathering of indigenous spiritual leaders, Elders, healers and educators sharing their Sacred Teachings and Traditional ways with natives and nonnatives alike.  Each year this gathering has doubled in attendance reaching 2,500 people this year and planning on many more next year.

In 2010 thru 2011, Chief Darrell has also continued his leadership role at the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Roundtables supporting Ancient Indigenous Knowledge. With his deep connections to Mother Earth, humbly sharing traditional ways thru song, drumming and leading ceremonial sweat lodges, he has touched the hearts and spirits of many!!!