IONS Retreat Center News
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The Retreat Center launches its first fundraising event, Art, Wine, and Spirit Benefit on Sunday, September 13th from 4-6:30 p.m. Please join us for a festive afternoon. You can register in advance and pay at the door ($35).

Event fee and silent auction benefit the sustainable development of the Earthrise Retreat Center at the Institute of Noetic Sciences.

Featuring:

  • Keynote Speaker: Mike Grgich, Grgich Hills Estate
  • Exquisite Food prepared by the Earthrise Kitchen Staff, paired with biodynamic and organic wines
  • The Sacred Beauty of Inner and Outer Worlds, the art of Sondra Barrett and Sam Hoffman

Please register in advance and pay at the door ($35).

 

Events

 

August 27 - Monthly Dinner Series featuring local vineyards and wineries
September 13 - Retreat Center Art, Wine, and Spirit Benefit

Noetic Sciences Workshops

August 14-16 - Nine Gates Mystery School weekend: Explore the Teachings of Ancient Wisdom
September 18-20 - Working with Fields of Consciousness: Practical Strategies for Group Leaders with Chris Bache, PhD and guest Dean Radin, PhD
September 25-27 - Mindful Motherhood: A Meditation and Yoga Retreat for Pregnant Women with Cassandra Vieten, PhD
October 9-11 - Extraordinary Dreams: Working Creatively with Dreams in Your Life Practice with Fariba Bogzaran, PhD and guest Patricia Garfield, PhD
October 24-25 - Circle of Stones: An Autumn Retreat for Women with Judith Duerk, MS
October 30-November 1 - Integrating with Your Shadow: Connecting with Your Guide with Ralph Metzner, PhD
November 20-21 - Clear Mind Wild Heart: Finding Courage and Clarity through Poetry with David Whyte

Monthly Dinner Series, from 5:30-8 p.m. on campus here in Petaluma for dinner, with guest speakers. ($35, please register in advance and pay at the door.)

 
 

Sippin' on Top of the World
Join us on Thursday, August 27th for an amazing roundup of speakers, featuring gourmet foods, biodynamic wines made with organically grown grapes, and the art of Sondra Barrett and Sam Hoffman. Guest Speakers include:

Please refer to Art, Culture & Consciousness below to learn about Sondra's Barrett's work.

Please refer to What's Cooking for our reception and dinner menu.

$35.00 includes reception, wine, and dinner
Please register in advance and pay at the door.

Funding Opportunities

 

We hope you'll join us on Sunday afternoon, September 13th, for an afternoon sampling great foods, organic wines, networking, building community, and benefiting the Earthrise Retreat Center's sustainable development. ($35 contribution for an enjoyable afternoon.) See details at the top of this issue.

Hot tub and Yoga deck
This is one of our highest priorities to develop in the immediate future. Our retreat groups need this for relaxation and connection, as well as for personal wellness. There are some groups who will bring their retreats to Earthrise only if we build a hot tub. We need to build this so they will come! Please consider helping this project come to fruition with any size contribution. Contact Robert McDowell at 707-779-8215.

Donate now.

 

Client Clips

 

On Jean Houston's Mystery School
By Robert McDowell

On a May weekend, Jean Houston's West Coast Mystery School convened for its second session of 2009 at the IONS Retreat Center we who work here affectionately call Earthrise.

This was my second visit to Mystery School, and like the first in October 2008, every moment felt like delicious magic. Whether it was sitting mesmerized as Jean or Peggy riffed brilliantly on the significance of the Mayan Calendar and Persephone's voyage to the Underworld, or bonding with others as the group broke out in dance or song in the West Room, or fanned out into the forest on a drizzly day to offer healing blessings to our trees (some battling Sudden Oak Death), every sacred moment gave flesh and feeling to the concept of Social Artistry.

The transformative work that takes place at Mystery School is truly profound, and it accompanies and empowers everyone as we exit the weekend and return to our daily lives and work. At Mystery School we learn how to make a difference, both small and large, and so participate in saving this blessed planet we inhabit.



 

A big Thank You to our July Retreat Center clients!

David Spero
Friendly Favors
International Association of Yoga Therapists
Monroe Institute

New Leaf Paper
Rockwood Leadership
Rosen Method Body Work
Tathaastu
Traditional Healing
Veriditas

We host retreats, workshops and client events on an ongoing basis throughout the year at the Retreat Center. Please click here to see our detailed events schedule.

 

What's Cooking?

 

August 27 Dinner Salon
Sippin' on Top of the World
Reception and Dinner Menu

Appetizers

  • Ceago Vinegarden 2007 Syrah Rose
  • Smoked Salmon and Smoked Ahi Tuna
  • Blue and Cream Cheeses
  • Garlic Crostini

Main Courses

  • Ceago Vinegarden 2006 Cabernet Franc, Del Lago (100% cab franc)
  • Jeriko Estate 2006 Pinot Noir
  • Patianna Sauvignon Blanc
  • Paella with Peppered Chicken and Seafood
  • Vegetarian Red Pepper and Asparagus Paella
  • Green Salad with Seasonal Vegetables from Earthrise Garden on Campus
  • Beautiful Rosemary Bread

Dessert

  • Ceago Vinegarden 2007 Late Harvest Semillon
  • Lemon Meringue Cupcake

All wines served are made with certified biodynamic grapes.

 

Art, Culture & Consciousness

 

Reflections
By Sondra Barrett

It has been incredible to show my work at IONS for many reasons—the Retreat Center space is exquisite and the people are wonderful. Having the images paired with the amazing Hubble photos is a constant reminder of how beautiful our world is.

And even more compelling are the proofs of "inner knowing." At both the reception and the dinner salon I started my oral-visual presentations with three images related to taste—something sweet, sour and a wine. These are images from the microscope. Typically 90% of the folks 'know' which is which. There are even people who correctly 'know' the red from white wine. And if there are skeptics reading this, the images aren't those in the exhibit.

I posit that our sensory language may have roots in our molecules. And people's knowing seems to support that idea. Encouraging people to discover more of their inner abilities through the art from science certainly supports the mission of IONS. It has been an honor to be part of this great exploration.


Community News

 

The Garden at IONS
Excerpt from the Gardener's Almanac
by Bryan Singleton

I'd like to catch up on what has been happening in the IONS Garden since I started working in January of 2009. First things first: there was a lot of clean-up and maintenance to be done, and since it was winter a good time to catch up. I started with pruning back dead growth on all the lavenders, roses, grapes, and assorted fruit trees and raspberries, and then removing dead annuals from the previous season, old sunflower stalks, tomato, squash, calendula and cucumber vines. I turned over the soil and uprooted the many weeds that had taken root in some of the beds. I transplanted and moved a few trees, an apple and a fig to better locations.

One thing that I felt needed to be done was to move the composting outside the garden as the old system was not really easily accessible for the proper composting of the kitchen waste which at times has been on the order of 100 to 150 gallons per week. Also I wanted to free up space in the garden to create more growing beds, and make it more aesthetically pleasing. It has now been moved to a flat spot above the back patio closer to the kitchen with much more room to create compost, and I now have at least two active piles going at any given time.

After the major clean-up, I started planning for the spring and summer by planting seeds in the greenhouse to later transplant out to the garden. I planted scarlet runner beans, zucchini, pumpkin, butternut squash, sunflowers, kohlrabi, nasturtiums, basil, borage, cilantro, and cucumbers. I also planted sweet corn, arugula, lettuce, Swiss chard, radishes, and a variety of heirloom tomatoes directly in the garden. Most of these have been planted in the new upper garden which I created in March when Randy rented a roto-tiller to create a place for the new labyrinth. I was able to use it one day and turn a large swath of the upper garden, which was previously grass, into some nice raised beds, incorporating an old brush pile into a large mound which is now covered in pumpkin vines and corn stalks.

 
 

The lower permaculture-inspired garden is mostly devoted to perennials, fruit trees, berry bushes, herbs and flowers while the new upper garden will mostly be annual vegetables we can serve in the retreat kitchen. We have been able to contribute squash, chard, cucumbers, kohlrabi, cilantro, parsley and a lot of other herbs and flowers to the kitchen and I anticipate much more to come!

In between all these activities, I have been redoing the drip system, repairing old leaks, and expanding it into the upper garden. In March we were fortunate to host a group of six garden interns from Green String Farms in Petaluma for a half-day to help with sheet mulching, cutting back the vetch cover crop, spreading compost, laying out cardboard, and covering it all with a nice layer of wood chips. In exchange they enjoyed a delicious lunch and a copy of Global Mind Change, by Willis Harman.

The strawberries and raspberries were especially prolific this spring after a good amount of compost and organic fertilizer applied in early spring really kicked in. The gophers remain a constant challenge, and of course keeping the gravel path clear of weeds and volunteer kale, chard, and the ever-present calendula flowers is something that greets me daily.

It looks as though we may have a good crop of seedless grapes this year, and the table and chairs under the grape arbor is a great place to hang out in the shade. There have been a lot more retreat-goers visiting the garden and asking questions about what's planted there and spending time there. Sometimes I even send them home with a cutting, or seeds they've collected.

Feel free to visit the garden any time. Pick a strawberry and relax under the grape arbor!

Contact Us

  Lisa VanderBoom 707.779.8224
events@noetic.org

The Retreat Center at the Institute of Noetic Sciences
Located on 200 acres of beautiful rolling hills just 25 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge, we offer meeting facilities, cuisine, and accommodations for 5-120. Our clients offer educational programs, workshops, and retreats, with a broad focus on health, personal growth, and transformation. We also welcome weekend workshops and retreats for small groups (fewer than 25). Many programs are open to the public.

The Institute of Noetic Sciences is a nonprofit membership organization located in Northern California that conducts and sponsors leading-edge research into the potentials and powers of consciousness—including perceptions, beliefs, attention, intention, and intuition. The Institute explores phenomena that do not necessarily fit conventional scientific models, while maintaining a commitment to scientific rigor.

 
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  www.noetic.org/retreat.cfm
101 San Antonio Road, Petaluma, CA 94952
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The Institute of Noetic Sciences is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that depends on and gratefully accepts your generous financial support.

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