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By Cindy O’Dell Ever since the Victor Wooten Workshop last week at the Haven, a one-line song has been playing in my head, “Is that pepper or mouse poo on my eggs?” By most standards my musical effort inspired by the two-day session on creativity and music, would hardly measure up, especially when my next lyrical impulse is about furry little bums. But according to Victor, that one small line is the beginning of a song that already exists. I just have to step up and find it. So, I’m gonna find that song even while I’m writing this. Cause if it does exist, I should be able to find it anywhere, right? So, when I get the hits, I’ll let you know by putting brackets around it. I’ll feel pretty pleased with myself if I can pull this off considering I’d never even heard of Victor Wooten and his approach to creativity until a month earlier when, as one of Haven’s registrars, I began booking people into the program. Apparently, a day later, I was an expert. Mostly, I just listened to the overwhelming admiration of each and every caller for this bass-playing guy I’d never heard of. I went to the workshop because, for once, it was scheduled during the work week on my days off and I had to admit I was creatively blocked. Or blocked creatively which sounds less creative and more accurate. I was one of five participants without a musical background in a group of ninety players of every kind of instrument. Victor talked about a kind of peripheral vision that opened the room up, and he created space for everyone, including our guardian spirits, a kind of back up band. Action, he explained, undertaken for the benefit of others has a better chance of success because at least two sets of guardian spirits will be working in union. Playing that groove. Continue reading Play that groove: A writer’s inspiration from the Victor Wooten workshop → Places on Victor Wooten’s March 2–4 workshop are filling fast. If you want to attend, sign up soon! Victor gave a short and very interesting interview about the workshop on Nanaimo’s CHLY Radio a couple of days ago. By Ellery Littleton This article presents a summary of some of the basic ideas of Ira Progoff’s “Intensive Journal Process,” and includes a very brief outline of one of his extensive journal-writing exercise cycles: 12 Entries. Ellery writes: “The first Intensive Journaling workshop I attended in 1981, was two weeks long, 9 to 5, five days a week. At first, I didn’t think I could possibly write about myself for two weeks; at the conclusion of the workshop, I realized I had barely scratched the surface.” Ellery Littleton teaches several programs at The Haven. His next is Writing up a Storm: Haiku, March 6–7. *** Long before there were analysts’ couches, encounter groups, gestalt, bodywork, and the myriad other approaches to personal growth and transformation, people who wanted to search for meaning and perspective in their lives often wrote their thoughts, feelings and dreams in a journal. Particularly among creative people – from Leonardo da Vinci to Anais Nin – journal-keeping has historically been a vehicle for releasing tensions, resolving conflicts, working through crises and connecting with the intuitive inner self – the “person within the person,” as philosopher/psychologist Ira Progoff described it, who can be the source of so much sound guidance and wisdom – your best counselor and spiritual advisor, in fact. Continue reading Life Examined – The Progoff Intensive Journal Process → By Susan Clarke I am on my way home from the annual Faculty meeting at The Haven. It is a long trip with added frustration this year due to Olympic security in Vancouver. I had thought I would not make it. Now heading home, tired and weary from the travel I am very grateful I made the effort. I have been engaged with The Haven for over twenty-five years. I’ve been through all of the core programs a few times, been leading programs for over a decade. I worked, lived there and in many ways grew up calling The Haven my home. Yes, arriving there many years ago thinking I was dying, I was given something to yearn for when I didn’t really believe I had any good reason to live. So it’s easy on a personal level to know why The Haven is home. But it goes beyond personal for me. I was reminded in many ways this weekend not just why I love The Haven but also why I truly believe the place is special and needs to always be there. I won’t cover everything, but I will address two key reasons I think more people need to know about The Haven. This year’s meeting provided some back-to-the-basics stuff for those of us who are long-time leaders. We started the first afternoon breathing with a partner. Doesn’t get much more basic then that. Fifteen minutes later I was reminded of how such a simple experience can be so transformative, grounding and connecting. We then spent the next few hours taking the time to speak frankly, honestly and deeply with each other. These conversations were one on one. Some short, some longer. Again I was reminded of how easy it is to avoid being open and honest. Yet, when structure and time is provided, defenses I didn’t even know were present drop. I not only discover the person sitting across from me, I rediscover myself. Continue reading Why I Love The Haven → By Gwen Ewan & Cathy Wilder Recently several of us had an experience that reminded us how privileged we are to have been exposed to a way of working with people that is effective, and, even though we have been doing it for 25+ years, is now described as ‘leading edge’. We are privileged to have been trained, at the Haven, in the approaches and methods taught and practiced by Ben Wong and Jock McKeen. In early December 2009, we attended the five-day Evolution of Psychotherapy Conference in Anaheim, California. This conference is put on by the Milton Erickson Foundation every four to five years. Over 7,000 people attended in 2009, and the 50 or so faculty of the Conference read like a who’s who of therapy, sociology and personal growth. Faculty this year included Deepak Chopra, Marsha Linehan, Salvador Minuchin, Harville Hendrix, Michael Yapko, Dan Siegel, Irv Polster, Otto Kernberg and John and Julie Schwartz Gottman. Continue reading Evolution of Psychotherapy Conference 2009 → Victor Wooten is the author of The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth through Music and is described by many as the finest bass player alive. We’re very excited to announce that Victor is coming to The Haven March 2–4 to lead a workshop for both musicians and non-musicians and give a concert in the Phoenix Auditorium. Workshop and Concert Details: The concert is on the evening of March 4. Tickets will go on sale shortly. Workshop participants will be offered a discount on the ticket price. To register, contact our Registration office by email (registrar@haven.ca) or phone (1 877 247 9238 ext 1) or register online. Find out more at victorwooten.com
LeighAnn Vaughan first came to The Haven in 2005 for Shadow Play with Linda Nicholls. She describes it as a ‘life-altering’ experience. Mostly, she realized in those few days a potential for connection and relationship she had never thought possible. From then on, she says, there was no turning back. However, it was not until 2009 that it became financially possible for LeighAnn to do more programs at The Haven. With her primary relationship disintegrating and with a young son to look after, she was determined not to repeat the same familiar patterns in her life. She applied for and received bursaries to do Come Alive and Living Alive Phase I. As a result, she says, she has been able to integrate a huge amount of learning into her life, to her own benefit and in her relationships, especially with her son.
She has worked out practical, creative ways to help her son through difficult times. Together they are learning about it being OK to feel sad or angry, for example, without having to get rid of or change anything, and how they can remain connected to each other in these experiences. The very process of applying for a bursary was an important experience for LeighAnn. She had become very isolated in her relationships and in her community. Reaching out for help was a risk and took courage – in her past, asking for things had been dangerous. When Rose Hunter, The Haven’s Bursary Fund Manager, contacted her to say she was delighted to offer a bursary, LeighAnn says it was like someone reaching out a hand to her when there didn’t seem to be other hands to hold. To her it was a message that it was OK and safe for her to tell her story and express her life. Today LeighAnn remains committed to herself and her son, working with her ex-partner on joint custody, and beginning to find new connections in a community where she had previously felt isolated and alone. “The Haven taught me it was safe for me to reach out to connect,” she says. “I was touched back every time I found enough courage to reach out. This was the beacon of light The Haven shone through the darkness that surrounded my life. I cannot overstate the importance of this support in my life.” Please Donate to The Haven Foundation We recently welcomed a group of helpers on the second Haven Unplugged. They did a huge amount of work around the property and enjoyed some great evening sessions led by members of Haven faculty. Many thanks to all, and enjoy the slideshow. Thanks to Don Hutton, Kathy Morris and Steve Shears for the photos. Shirley Cameron attended a recent Singing Soul: Improvisational Acapella led by David Hatfield at The Haven. We participants were a diverse group with different levels of experience and musical skills and all voices were heard, welcomed and appreciated, all experiences and growth supported. Some of you jumped right in and others, like me, lagged behind watching how it went for a while. David chose exercises that led from simple group experiences to all out improv – singing, voice, sound, musical, weird, exciting, eerie, melodic, beautiful, groovy, raunchy. We learned to listen to each other, truly listen, with our minds and bodies in order to join in expressing ourselves through vocal percussion, movement and joyous noise. Continue reading The Singing Soul → |
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