In 1995, our founder Dr. Felicitas D. Goodman documented her wishes for the long-term future of the Institute and included this item:

 

 

In honor of our 30th anniversary and in keeping with Felicitas' wishes, we intend to open The Felicitas Goodman Memorial Library and our fundraising during the next year will focus on generating the financial resources to fund this project.  The first phase of the project will include:  

In this newsletter you will read about participants' experiences in the five-day teacher training that we initiated at the Institute in August.  The creativity and enthusiasm of the whole group made it an outstanding event and we set the template for a new and more clearly structured certification training process.  More news about that in the next newsletter!

 

My new book, The Ecstatic Experience: Healing Postures and the Spirit Journey, will be released by Bear & Company next spring and should be in bookstores (including the Cuyamungue Institute bookstore) by May 2009.  Next summer I will be offering a workshop, "Awakening to the Ecstatic  Experience," based on the book. As we enter the fall season and the time of harvest, may you each find time and space to reflect on your experiences of growth in order to harvest those seeds of wisdom.  May we all celebrate the rich abundance of our lives.

 

Many blessings to all of you, 
Belinda

 

Join us for the Summer Solstice, dancing and ceremony, teaching and sharing of community wisdom on the 30th anniversary of The Cuyamungue Institute. We became a non-profit corporation in the state of New Mexico on July 19, 1979, and it is time to celebrate all that we have been and are becoming. Bring ceremonial clothes for the Solstice celebration on Saturday evening and your talents and experiences to share during the gathering. We hope you will be able to join the festivities!

 

June 18 (Thursday, for dinner) through June 21 (Sunday noon), 2009

 

Cost:  $125 covers meals and accommodations at the Institute; hotel rooms are available at Buffalo Thunder Resort at an additional charge.

RSVP:  admin@cuyamungueinstitute.com or 888-248-8847

 

The first Cuyamungue Teacher Certification Training this August was a magnificent success!
 
Four of us met for a week of exploration, dialogue, study and trances. Belinda taught us the basic elements that are necessary to bring Ecstatic Body Posture experiences to students effectively, meaningfully, and safely.  We discussed how to create sacred space, prepare students, and present the posture rituals.  We also explored the importance of group dynamics, and deepened our understanding of Felicitas's teachings. We had many delicious sharing sessions and took turns practicing aspects of the ritual for each other.
 
Belinda's teaching was immensely generous and compassionate.  She modeled the power of being a transparent facilitator who never lost touch with individual needs or the group's energy.
 
We did ten postures from Belinda's new book, "The Ecstatic Experience: Healing Postures for Spirit Journeys."  I feel immensely privileged to have the opportunity to be on the vanguard of sharing these new gateways to spirit.
 
Our group was amazing.  Julie Nicol  Julie Nicol came from England and brought us awareness of the ancient ones from her land.  Marianne Carroll, from New York State, brought us her gifts of astrology and pictures of an ancient temple in Turkey which has statues of several postures.  Suzanne Roberts, from Maryland, brought us the vision of the next generation, as she has studied the postures since a teenager in Joan Scott's and  Judy Lazarus Judy Lazarus' group "Bones of the Future".  Coming from Vancouver, BC, I brought awareness of our bodies and teachings from the spirits of the Pacific Northwest.   We all had the gift and challenge of team teaching an introductory workshop to the rest.  This was terrific as we experienced how effective different teaching styles are and were able to try some creative additions to integrating the posture experience.
 
Of course, the main teachers and guides were the spirits who came to us in our postures and from the land - the spirits of the wind were alive, caressing and inspiring us with their dance.  Felicitas was present always, encouragingly appearing to us as herself and as buffalo in our walks, in the kiva and during trances.
 
Frances Wilson nurtured us with her delicious cooking and loving wisdom.  The weather was brilliant, each day filled with sun, wind, and the excitement of intense rains.  In the 9 years I have come to Cuyamungue, I have never seen so much green on the mesas, or water in the arroyos.   Each morning we greeted the sun, then continued our day in the kiva with breaks to eat, sleep, walk, commune with each other, and the presences that dwell on, in and above the land.  Cacti, stones, pinion, wildflowers, ravens, hummingbirds, lizards, and hares were only a few who made their presences known to us.
 
The vibratory energy of our time was enhanced by the dance of the sun and moon, which brought the extraordinary co-incidence of the full moon and lunar eclipse on August 16.  Though we were physically far from the events of the outer human world, this celestial event connected us powerfully to what is for me the underlying intention of all work with the postures - healing and transformation of life on earth and alignment with universal being.  It was clear to me that our journeys were celebrated by heaven and earth. In response, we gathered to co-create a moving and hilarious ritual on the edge of the mesa.
 
The opportunity to teach Ecstatic Body postures is a great privilege for me.  I am so honored to be a part of this community.  We are few, but through our active collaboration with spirit, we make an important contribution to our world.  The Tewa Prayer Belinda taught us declares the essence of right relationship of humans to the powers that create and sustain our lives.

O our mother the earth, O our father the sky,
Your children are we, and with tired backs
We bring you gifts that you love.
Then weave for us a garment of brightness,
May the warp be the white light of morning,
May the weft be the red light of evening,
May the fringes be the falling rain,
May the border be the standing rainbow.
Thus weave for us a garment of brightness
That we may walk fittingly where grass is green,
O our mother the earth, O our father the sky!
 
Tewa Pueblo Prayer

 

 

April 30 - May 10

*Teacher's Training and 
* Introductory Workshop:  "Awakening to the Ecstatic Experience" Belinda Gore 
 
IF YOU, OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS INTERESTED IN BEING A WORKSHOP VOLUNTEER IN 2009 CONTACT FRANCES - admin@cuyamungueinstitute.com