Newsletters

From the July 2008 Newsletter

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT 

Greetings from the Cuyamungue Institute,

We have just completed the first workshop of the 2008 summer season, an introductory weekend with the "Dream Team" (Jackie Haworth, Rae LeCompte, and Stephanie Stephens), so named by their enthusiastic group of participants. The timing of this workshop aligned with the full moon and the summer Solstice, so the group celebrated and awakened the land with a moonlight session of rattling, drumming, and dancing. Four more workshops are scheduled this summer: Soul Retrieval, Certification Training for Instructors, and an Egyptian Masked Dance. Check out more information on our web site, www.cuyamungueinstitute.com.

The Dream Team are all board members, so we planned to hold our summer board meeting after the workshop. The two-day meeting is summarized later in this newsletter. Highlights include:

• Our second quarter financial report shows us operating with a healthy cash flow that has allowed us to schedule grading the road, maintenance on all the buildings, replacement of the aging computer, and establishing a savings account again.
• We have hired a grant writer to explore funding sources for enhancing the sustainability of our facilities as well as for developing new programs and resources.
• We are developing continuing education workshops for educators in the arts and for psychotherapists using sacred postures in their professional work.
• Expanding our online bookstore to include titles by certified instructor and well-known writer Barbara Hand Clow, as well as books on female shamanism and the development of the intuitive brain.

Special thanks from all of us to

JANET CARTER for her generous gift to the Cuyamungue Institute of a magnificent new energy-efficient refrigerator and a water-saving toilet for La Casa;

DAVID SHARP for lending us his engineering expertise, especially in advising us on maintaining our well and improving our water;

CHRIS FRY for maintaining our web site and delivering this newsletter to you every quarter; and

HOLLY SANCHEZ for her landscaping and gardening gifts.

As always, I am deeply grateful to FRANCES WILSON, our administrative director, who keeps everything operating smoothly. She is the friendly voice on the phone when you call to register, the person who promptly fills your bookstore orders, and the one who warmly greets you when you arrive at the Institute.

Congratulations to former board member, Judy Morse, whose poetry was recently published in the prestigious Santa Fe Literary Review. I am also pleased to report that Bear & Company/Inner Traditions will be publishing my book, Longing for Ecstasy: Reclaiming Sacred Postures as Spiritual Practice. It will be available early in 2009.

As you can see, the Cuyamungue Institute is thriving. Thanks to all of you for your interest and support. We look forward to seeing you at a workshop or hearing from you in our online discussion group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EcstaticBodyPostures. With best wishes,

Belinda
Belinda Gore, President

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The Ecstatic Experience
Healing Postures for Spirit Journeys
By Belinda Gore
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