Initiatory Training

Art and Spirit Workshop: Tap your Creative Vision & Voice.
Here’s a chance to explore art and your creative vision on a new level. We will combine Ecstatic Trance spirit journey sessions with various art exercises in this CI workshop. The Artists & Spirit program is an opportunity to explore, expand, and document our ritual posture experience with sketching, painting, sculpting and other visual art mediums.

Art sits at the center of our work at the Cuyamungue Institute. It is through the artwork of the ancients that the Ecstatic Trance Postures have been preserved and communicated through the centuries. Ritual Postures activate our creative center, and stir the dialogue with the Soul. Taking the the imagery encountered during our spirit journey experiences with the Ecstatic Trance Postures as inspiration for artistic expression is a rewarding exercise on many levels. Artists are finding new layers of meaning in their experiences. We’ll explore how tapping into our creative joy and “flow state” is enhanced through work with Ecstatic Trance postures. Basic Art materials provided. You may bring additional materials for collage.

Local Event: July 11-14 Santa Fe International Folk Art Market
Location: The Cuyamungue Institute – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Initiatory/Initiation?  Initiation can be a loaded term with nuanced and multiple meanings, as many powerful concepts are. In the context of Ritual Postures, we use the term initiation to denote the transition from the known into the unknown. Initiation marks one’s entry into the larger realm of mystery. ——>  Article with a more detailed description

Advanced initiatory Training… Join Us.

The Initiatory Advanced program is designed for those who have completed a 3/4 day introductory workshop and are ready to explore the next level of Ecstatic Trance Posture experiences. It involves extended training in advanced Ecstatic Trance Postures and principles.  This initiatory advanced program includes postures which have been been carefully selected to advance our ritual posture practice.  Participation can also be applied to meeting requirements of the Instructor Certification program.

This intensive workshop is for the advancement of the work of Dr. Felicitas D. Goodman and the Ecstatic Trance Posture Method. This is the revival of an ancient practice of consciousness expanding, spirit journey experiences using sacred postures, derived from ancient artwork the world over. This expanded state of consciousness is achieved through a relatively simple, safe, and teachable method with over thirty years of verified safe use; the evidence points to over thirty-thousand years of use.

PHASE II is dedicated to those Individuals who have completed a introductory workshop by a certified instructor of the Cuyamungue Institute. Here we delve deeper into the practice pf Ritual Postures with a series of  “advanced” postures to further develops awareness, comprehension and to engage with the archetypal wisdom of the unconscious mind.

The completion of an introductory workshop and Initiatory Training Phase one has given you the foundation to expand your experience. You will take part in ritualized postures that accelerate your connection with the spirit world. You will experience advanced forms of divination. You will continue the deep experience of healing.

In addition to specific postures to deepen our experience, training at this next level includes something very ancient, and very important: these are traditional shamanic initiations necessary for the maturing of a practitioner.

Shamanic initiations are sacred times when a practitioner’s relationship with the spirit world is deepened. These are times when the understanding of oneself grows as one is more fully opened to the world both seen and unseen. Initiations are experiences that solidify the practitioner’s deeper understanding and provide the breadth of necessary experiences that a maturing practitioner must have.

One of the wonderful experiences of this practice is to see one’s existence in the context of a universe unified not just in its physical state but also in time. Time is not just a linear condition of loss and gain but a collective experience that unifies all time into a singular moment of “here, now, and forever.”

Enjoy the Benefits – This body-wisdom is based in our physiology, which naturally and easily responds to this simple alternate state induction. As tested in the lab, this includes a decrease in stress hormones and an increase in the well- being endorphins as well as a dramatic increase in the DC voltage of brain activity, and an increase in theta brain waves whilst still in beta, resulting in a conscious “waking dream” experience. Each posture has its own range of visionary experiences. This workshop will cover healing, divination, spirit journeying, and more. In small group sessions, we will learn and practice the Ecstatic Trance Posture Method, journal our experiences and share with the group.

Participants will learn how to continue their home practice, with the tools needed.
We will continue to provide guidance for your home practice.

Learn and practice the Ecstatic Trance Posture Method
This workshop is for those with or without previous experience in this work. Here are some of the benefits:

  • Elevated perception and vision
  • Enhance communication
  • Reduce stress and tension
  • Inspire ecstatic feelings of oneness with other people, nature, the universe, and God
  • Alter perception and consciousness in alignment with your intentions
  • Awaken creativity
  • Aid in memory and concentration
  • Focus the mind in the present
  • Have positive immune system responses
  • Create group cohesion
  • Foster emotional processing
  • Support peace of mind, feelings of comfort, and release of anxiety
  • Reduce feelings of isolation
  • Healing

Benefits of Group Training – “Can’t I just practice this on my own?”
We have found the coherence from sharing the posture experiences with others makes it personally and socially more powerful. Any gathering that is for the purpose of studying and encouraging paths of spiritual unfoldment can be good for you. We come together in a group and share an intention, or even simply share ritual together, we discover a sense of connectedness that is very powerful. Together we share with you how to de-clutter your mind, (bringing your “monkey mind: under control) gain focus, reap health benefits and reduce stress. While this practice may seem deceptively simple, there is tremendous benefit in having direct instruction and working in a group. It is our experience that we expand the benefits of this practice when we have the support of a community. After group instruction, it then becomes much easier to enjoy the future benefits of this technique on our own.

Feedback: What Participants are saying.

Date: Arrive July 16th afternoon/early evening. Workshop ends at noon, July 20th

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Cost: $495.00 – Food and lodging inclusive ($525.00 after May 15th)

**SPACE IS LIMITED** Contact us for more information and to reserve your place. Contact us

Articles on The Ecstatic Trance Posture Method by Laura Lee:
Reflections on Introducing the Ecstatic Trance Posture Method
Opening Doors on Many Levels

PLEASE NOTE: 
Do not use Ecstatic Ritual Postures or the Cuyamungue Method as a replacement for medical care… MORE INFO

Course Instructors: Paul Robear & Laura Lee

Paul Robear – President of the Cuyamungue Institute.
Paul has developed a life long appreciation of the teachings of indigenous Elders who share ancient wisdom with spiritual insight, providing practical solutions for modern cultures and technologies. This led to the discovery of the Ecstatic Trance Postures. As a student, Paul worked directly with The founder of the Cuyamungue Institute , Dr. Felicitas Goodman – A highly regarded expert in linguistics and anthropology who re-dscovered this ground breaking research into expanded states of consciousness using ritual body postures. As a practitioner of the Ecstatic Trance Posture Method since the early 90’s, Paul has been deeply affected by the profound nature of the experiences which led to his desire to support the work by accepting the role as Institute President and Executive Director.

Paul discovered the magic of playing native flutes more than 20 years ago., This has lead to acquiring his own distinctive style whilst retaining the spirit of the tradition. As Paul began playing the native flute, the lure of the ancients proved irresistible. Says Paul “It became immediately clear that this is an instrument one is to use with reverence and with prayerful intent.” Within the his ritual practice, Paul uses flute as a gateway both to enter the alternative reality and to the return while providing a smooth transition and establishing greater comfort of “Walking between the Worlds.”

Laura Lee – Board Member of Cuyamungue Institute.
“I was captivated by all she had to say,” says Laura Lee, of her first meeting with Dr. Goodman, over the phone, during an interview for her nationally syndicated radio show. “I have long been interested in finding my own indigenous roots, and in tapping into a natural way of achieving the expanded states of consciousness. And here she was offering immediate and profound solutions. She talked of ‘psychological archeology’, of experiencing the worldview of our ancestors by altering the physiology, as they had done, to tap into an expanded state of awareness. She explained this as ‘body wisdom’, an innate, in-built legacy of our nervous system — so different from belief systems and human constructs, which I am wary of, of how the world should be. Felicitas then sent me a booklet that explained how to do this on my own. I had an experience that demonstrated without question that this was real, that here was a way to continue, safely, easily, and ‘on demand’, the spontaneous mystical experiences I’d had since childhood. Soon Paul and I were heading to Santa Fe for workshops at the Institute, and further interview with Felicitas. The surprise is that these experiences are an easy, natural part of who we are, and not so ‘out there.’ I felt I’d come home! And now I’m paying it forward, working with the outreach effort to bring this, universal a method as it is, to all who resonate with it.”