I am hard at work finalizing the Shakti schedule for fall. I don’t think I have ever received this many proposals before: it is exciting! Once the details are finalized, the amazing Carolyn will create event and registration pages to showcase the talent within our community. These events and classes are in addition to the new Shakti Badge Program which is launching this fall too. Needless to say, there should be plenty of ways to engage, to learn, and to have fun. I cannot wait to share the calendar with you!
Because I need to attend to the behind-scenes work, I am offering a fun ritual as opposed to a longer article this week. As always, take what you want and leave the rest behind.
Looking forward to engaging, learning, and having fun with you this fall!
Last weekend Shakti in the Mountains had a tent at the Meet the Mountains Festival in Johnson City, TN. Our purple tent was situated near Boone Lake at Winged Deer Park: the perfect location to catch a breeze. We had Cleo Hankins giving free chair massages and Amanda Chapman offering a free Forest Bathing Walk. It was a pleasure reconnecting with folks I haven’t seen in a while as well as meeting new people who were interested in joining our community. I want to thank everyone who helped us set up, break down, and staff our tent. It took a village and I am very grateful to: Cleo, Amanda, Janna, Jil, Judy, Laurie, Allan and Liam – you made festival participation possible.
As part of Shakti’s participation at the festival, Amanda and I presented on The Mental Health Benefits to Being in Nature. I learned a lot of interesting facts about the current mental health status of Americans as well as reasons to spend more time in nature. For those of you who could not attend the presentation, I am sharing the information here. Consider this article a permission slip to go outside and be.
Thank you to all the people who contacted me last week and shared their excitement about the upcoming Shakti Badge program – I am excited too! I am happy to report that the Shakti Badge Team is already writing the descriptions and the criteria for the fall badges, which will be unveiled at our Fall Equinox Celebration (September 22). Save the date, bring a dish to share for the potluck dinner, and be ready for some nerd fun!
As some of you know, licensed therapists are required to earn continuing education units (CEU’s) in order to maintain their license. In my quest to earn CEU’s, I chose to learn more about executive functioning, specifically strategies for improving attention, memory, and self-regulation. I am only a few hours into the 18-hour course, and I have already learned so much.
Because so many of us complain about feeling distracted, I wanted to share some course highlights with you…
For over a year, some of us involved in the Shakti’s School of the Lost Arts have been tossing around the idea of a Shakti Badge program. You know, like the Girl Scouts or Boys Scouts, but cooler. ;) After months of thinking about it, a group of us met last week to start hashing out a program. We are in the middle of sorting out the details and building the infrastructure, however, I am happy to report that we plan to launch by this fall. Woot!
Why a Shakti Badge program, you may ask?
Happy Lugnasad or Lammas! Today marks the halfway point between summer and fall: a day where we in the Northern Hemisphere acknowledge the days have less light and the first harvest is celebrated.
Our ancestors celebrated this midway point with feasts and rituals, in part, to address their underlying anxiety around getting the harvest in before the first frost. The push to harvest and preserve food before cold weather came was motivated by winters where there was not enough food to sustain families. Praying for a good crop, with the time to bring it in, was a common practice. Rituals which acknowledged the precariousness of life were opportunities for people to come together in community and feel less alone in their worries and fears.
Shakti in the Mountains recognizes these worries and fears continue albeit with a modern slant…
