I was talking with a friend today about how we do email communication. Both of us tend to start out with the left brain approach and immediately put down the crux of the message. It might be, “Can we meet Tuesday at 9 re: the new brochure”. Then we go back and think a bit about the person to whom this is going. Is this really all that I want to communicate to this person?

Possibly, this really is all that needs to be said. This person might be someone I don’t know personally and whom I have never met. Or, they might be someone that I know values brevity and likes to get to the point as they have 500 emails per day to read through. In these cases, and possibly others, I might send that exact message, yet I would have considered the best way to connect with the other person. Therefore, in addition to the information being expressed, I am also expressing concern for who they are.

In most cases, I find that there is something to be added to the basic information. Perhaps I back up and start out with, “Greetings Robby, How did you enjoy the dance you were planning to go to on Friday? See anyone there that we know?”. Then start the second paragraph with, “I’ve got some ideas on the new brochure that I’d like to share with you. Can we meet Tuesday at 9 in the Board Room?”

If this person is a new contact that I have no personal relationship with, then I might start with, “Hi Ted, I really enjoyed meeting you yesterday and talking about your company’s 4 color printing capabilities. I’ve spoken to my boss and Susan is excited about the ways you can help us professionally promote our company. Would you be able to meet with me Tuesday at 9 in my office to discuss the layout of our new brochure?”

Again, I am going beyond the information that I want to share to give consideration to who this person is and how I might relate to their heart as well as their mind. This is all about connection. Connection is all about relationship. Relationship is all about Life!

When I lived in a small village in Ghana for two years, I learned that it is impolite – or, actually, unthinkable – to meet someone and immediately start talking “business”, even if that is your stated reason for meeting. Greeting is mandatory and some time needs to be spent relating as people before you begin to talk about any business. In our Western world, this may be thought of as inefficient and a waste of time. Is it, really?

When two people “connect” with each other, they begin to create an atmosphere of cooperation, trust, and respect. Once this atmosphere is generated and maintained, it is much easier to come to agreement and be of like mind. Have you ever tried to work with someone with whom you had no connection – no feeling of trust and/or joy? Each step of the process feels like wading through 3’ deep silly putty! Resistance comes up easily and agreement is hard to get to.

Efficiency or connection? Not a valid question. No need to make a choice. With connection comes efficiency, so take the time in your communication to really consider the other person and the best way to communicate with them. You will bless them and yourself at the same time.

Larry Pearlman is a personification of the evolution in consciousness that recognizes that spirituality and the material world are not mutually exclusive. While working 32 years in corporate America, Larry also offered spiritual perspective in study courses. In addition, he has taught courses in “The Art of Creative Living” and serves as a faculty member for “The Opening” – an 8 day experiential class in discovering your full potential. Larry hosted a radio show, “Opportunities”, in Phoenix emphasizing participation in the business world from a higher state of consciousness. He recently served in the Peace Corps in Ghana for 27 months and currently resides at Sunrise Ranch.

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Efficiency/Connection – Can We Have Both?

Some thirty-five years ago on a warm summer evening I was present as a very wise man lectured on the theme, “Bless Your Circumstance.”

It was the most simple, yet profound, prescription for personal and planetary healing I had ever heard, and I endeavored from that point forward to make it the theme of my own living.

He said there is no circumstance, no matter how difficult and painful, that we are incapable of blessing. What he had in mind implies more than simply giving thanks, although that is a necessary first step. It involves actively receiving the circumstance, loving it and taking life-enhancing action in relation to it. He said that when this is done, whether it involves an ill condition in the body, frustration at work or a person with whom we’re angry, the condition loses its sting and is integrated into the larger creative process that is steadily at work conforming all activity on earth to the universal whole.

Circumstances of all kinds come to us continually for the sole purpose of being blessed. They come for no other reason. This is why we are here. This is our natural mode of function. Our bodies, minds and emotional facilities were specifically designed to be conduits of blessing. When they fulfill this function they are healthy and that health spills over to bless the immediate environment and the world beyond.

However, as we well know, the usual response to troubling circumstances is a curse rather than a blessing. When Job in the Old Testament lost his home, family and all of his earthly goods and was reduced to sitting on the ground in agony day after day nursing the sores and boils all over his body, his wife advised him to “curse God and die,” i.e. curse your circumstance, curse life and be done with it. And indeed if Job had followed her advice he would have died and much would have died with him, perhaps even his wife. But because, even in his anguish, he maintained an attitude of thankfulness and blessed his circumstance, his health, wealth and family eventually were restored.

How strong the inclination is to curse our bodies when we get sick. “Damn this cold. Damn this headache. Why is life torturing me this way?” In this foul mood we extend the curse to those around us. Then, beguiled by an ad promising immediate relief, we often fight the symptoms with harsh chemical concoctions and other invasive procedures, treating the disease and the body itself as enemies to be subdued. No wonder, despite all the advances in medical technology, health worldwide continues to deteriorate and disease is more rampant than ever.

This whole combative approach, based as it is on cursing the body and doing battle with disease, is fundamentally flawed. Fortunately new treatment modalities are emerging as alternatives to hard-line allopathic tradition. In what some healers refer to as “vibrational medicine,” including such techniques as attunement and Therapeutic Touch, the emphasis is on blessing the physical capacity and its corresponding chakra system. The body is regarded as a friend. Its signals (including pain) are welcomed, lovingly listened to, blessed.

This promising change of approach in the world of medicine has its counterpart in the field of psychotherapy, where the importance of encompassing and integrating the “shadow self’ is acknowledged by many therapists and spiritual advisors. Why not apply it to every field, indeed to every facet of human behavior? Can we not unconditionally welcome and bless all physical discomforts and pains? All feelings of anger, grief, depression and fear? All the “evil spirits” that lurk in the dark caverns of the mind? All the tyrants and terrorists, manipulators and marauders that inhabit our world? Can we not unconditionally welcome and bless even death itself, thereby depriving it of its terror? Yes to all of the above, and how relaxing and restorative this would be to ourselves and the Earth.

I understand that the state of Hawaii officially blesses all new public facilities and infrastructure projects upon their completion. This sign was posted at the beginning of a new blacktop highway: “This road not yet dedicated—proceed at your own risk.” Any time a blessing is withheld, we proceed at our own risk; the creative current through body and mind is blocked and disease and disintegration begin to set in. So, quite obviously, it is wise, if only for the sake of self-preservation, to keep the blessings flowing.

“Bless your circumstance.” What formula for individual and collective healing could be so simple yet so powerful? For many years, almost every night before retiring, I took a mile walk around my neighborhood, silently offering a blessing to each home I walked by, to each car, to each tree, to each bush, sometimes pausing to direct the current of blessing through my hands towards something in which I perceived a special need. It is easy to cultivate the habit of blessing everything. It soon becomes second nature, maybe because it is actually our first nature. It is what we were built to do, and neither we nor our world will feel well until we are doing it continually. Every circumstance comes to us to be blessed and no circumstance can resist that blessing.

Jerry Kvasnicka, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, has had a varied career as a youth minister, a radio news reporter, a writer and editor for several magazines and journals and a custodian with the Loveland, Colorado school district. He has lived at the Sunrise Ranch spiritual community in Loveland for twenty-four years. He can be reached at jkvasnicka@emnet.org.

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Bless Your Circumstance: A prescription for personal and planetary healing

The land was thirsty. We all felt the heat pushing against the soil. On this particular afternoon, when the sun sailed high over the ascending, red loam, a group of interns and their guides ventured out above the field for what seemed a routine water pipe shift.  Great Mother pleaded for the clouds to break with rain-scented threads of hasty air.   We echoed her call.

Despite the heat and dust that streamed past us, we managed the pipes and fastened them quickly, working efficiently with our two wise teachers well at hand. Soma, the older of the two, a kind and grinning man trained in many native traditions, overheard the interns babbling exchanges about water, land and the mention of “rain dancing”.   Swiftly, the eager-eyed teacher spun around to greet the unexpecting faces of his students, exclaiming “would ya’ like to do a rain dance?”  His smiling words infused the group with delight as they all bounced at the notion! “Yeah!” cried the group like chattering birds.  Just as rapidly, the spirited guru turned toward the lower field, waving his hand like the Pied-Piper.   “Well follow me then,” he bellowed happily.

As the modest group circled up, the atmosphere gradually tilted toward a slower ebb of denser lowland air. The wise man instructed the throng to place their right foot into the circle, rocking back and forth, arms bound around one another in an explosive oscillating rhythm. He clapped his hands in a steady drumming.  “AYUN MAPU, AYUN MAPU,” he sang into the swirling space where magic mixed over the grasses.  “AYUN MAPU, AYAN MAPU,” the circle replied, sending the song into the rising shafts of ether.  Again, the teacher sang and the circle resounded, until their words exploded like a fire pressed by wind, crackling up into a now turbulent wind which came crashing in around them like a broken levee.

First one drop, then a smattering of splotches came bolting down from the torn patches of sky and sun as the circle expanded and  contracted in a dervish of momentous song. The rain fell, the dance had worked, and their eyes were alive with the truth of this. And still they danced, more furiously, the wind puncturing between their torsos in a frenzy of atmospheric chaos! “AYUN MAPU, AYUN MAPU,” again they harmonized in earthen pitches against the fury of the water churned air.

Laughter and elation broke out among the amazed circle of amateur shamans and their two guides! They ran to the shelter of Soma’s pick-up truck, yelping with surprise, curling themselves up in the comfort of the bed against the breaking winds and rain.  As they drove away, dust skirting the horizon behind them, they felt deep awe observing triple rainbows on the field where they had just held space, sacredness, and perhaps even wisdom. The Great Mother seemed pleased. Later, I discovered, upon inquiry to Soma, that the words we spoke meant: “Honor the Earth, Give Thanks to the Earth.” An incantation from his travels in South America. The Earth, you may find, always rewards our gratitude with moments just like these and, of course, triple rainbows! (Hats Blowing Away)

Aaron “Colors” Jones

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Dancing the Dust Away

It has to end somewhere. It has to end sometime.
It can end here. It can end now.

Like a horse running rampant with no one at the reigns,
The servants have their way with the house
While the owner’s kept in chains.
Spring free! Break out!
Let it all hang out.
Be the Master! Be the King!
Be the greatest you’ve ever been.
Put thy house in order and reclaim the throne,
Be ye not afraid to stand alone.
No more idly sitting and watching from the side,
Wondering what if, yet having never tried.
Be the person you’ve always wanted to be,
Standing strong like a mighty oak tree.
Too much time spent boxing my shadow,
Fighting to grow, seeking to know.
When the light is outside, the shadows exist.
Ownership given away, and a lesson is missed.
When the light is inside, the shadows are gone.
My nights become short as my days become long.
Stepping out, standing up, Waking from my slumber.
Moving toward what’s real, up and down, over and under.
Choice and Commitment, the Law and the Way.
Love, laugh, live, listen and pray.

Gary Goodhue is an author, actor, poet and spiritual aspirant. Gary has been exploring universal success principles, personal development and spiritual concepts for most of his life. He has studied at the School of Metaphysics, as well as teaching classes and serving as branch director for one of their sixteen school centers. He was also involved with the Community of Light and is currently living at Sunrise Ranch, headquarters of the Emissaries of Divine Light. He is involved in their Full Self Emergence Program and serves in multiple capacities on the ranch and in the community. He works within different departments and also has started participating in the EDL ministry program, sharing spiritual truth and reciting original works of poetry, as well as writing blog articles for the website. Gary is looking forward to deepening his relationship with the Emissaries and serving in greater capacities as the spirit of love expresses through him into larger levels of manifestation and experience.

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Time’s Up

One day I sat pondering…… Is there another way to connect to God that I have yet to imagine?
How do I/You connect to God?

Some of my favorite ways to connect to the Beloved are morning and evening walks. Meditation, prayer, divine listening to my heart, to nature, to music: all still my mind. I connect to God attending services and being in the FSE program at Sunrise Ranch. Movement, especially dancing works for me. Doing something with someone that is the first time for each of us opens me to my innocence. Sharing a peaceful meal, a picnic can be a feast with God. Smelling lilacs, feeling the warm sun or catching a snowflake on my tongue – these truly are some of my favorite things. Listening to a rooster crow welcomes me to God’s dawn. Wishing on a star or catching a firefly is a kiss that tucks me in at night. God lives in poetry, art, and music. Gratitude for the cosmos, the world, my family and friends increases my connection to God.

There aren’t enough words to express how I/We connect to God. It is more a question of how practiced am I at connecting to God. How creatively present can I be?

One day my sons called asking if I would like a djembe drum for Christmas. The idea intrigued me. I thought back to the Heart Beat Drum Festival here on Sunrise Ranch last year. I recalled borrowing a drum and magic happened. I love to dance with the Beloved, a true portal for me. Now, would it be possible for me to drum with the Beloved? A novel idea and I was up for it. In order to be practiced, I committed to drumming as a personal spiritual practice.

That plan just plain didn’t work! When I wanted to drum, it wasn’t a good time for my housemates to hear me make noise, for that is all I was making. Drumming quietly didn’t seem to cut it. Spirit couldn’t hear me and I was totally disconnected. I wanted to hear a collective drum beat.

Time for plan B! I shared my desire to learn to drum with my Creative Field Small Group and found interest! Another member in my group, Larry, had drumming as his personal spiritual practice as well. We made a commitment to drum once a week for an hour.

In the beginning it was just Larry and Linda. We listened to tapes and practiced reading drum music. We listened to our own creative rhythms. We had fun. We also spread the word. A month later we are making God’s music with our fellow brothers and sisters on the ranch. Last week we encompassed beginners as well as experienced drummers, elders to children. Our drum circle grew. Magic happened!

Percussion and voice joined us. Thank you Robby, Denye, Uma, Alice, Laurie, Caroline, Rachel and her precious children and of course Larry for having the same personal spiritual practice, the faith that drumming is Spirit.

It is truly amazing when collectively we turn our faces to the Beloved.

Linda is a retired Special Needs School Teacher. Her mission in teaching was to provide the space for each student to see their magnificence rather than what was perceived as wrong.  While living in rural Maine, she held spiritual retreats. Her peaceful cottage by the sea was a perfect place to be shared with others.  Here she provided a place to be still and encouraged all to see the wonderful one within.  In March of 2011, she moved to Sunrise Ranch in Loveland, Colorado and enjoys sharing time with parents in Maine and sons in Colorado.  She entered the Full Self-Emergence Program at Sunrise Ranch.  She also studies with her spiritual teacher Megan Don.  Going on pilgrimages and walking in the shoes of the Mystics has helped Linda to find her innocence and let go of the stories of past experience.  In 2011, she was blessed to visit The Findhorn Community and the island of Iona in Scotland.  Linda loves travel, both in person and via photography via her brother’s God given talent and vision on chuckhaupt.com.  When she isn’t on the Front Desk in Guest Services at the Ranch you will find her moving-dancing, hiking, drumming, or swinging in her hammock “with the Beloved”.

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Connecting to the Beloved Through Drumming

It is Springtime at Sunrise Ranch!

There has been an intoxicating fragrance filtering through the air at Sunrise Ranch. The apricot blossoms are in full bloom, radiating their beauty and reminding us of our capacity to appreciate with all of our senses.

What is blossoming in your life? We are all inherently creators—what are we creating internally and externally in our worlds? How refreshing to stay focused on allowing the creation to take form without attachment to what it should look like. What is life bringing to us?

What a gift it is to our worlds to express gratitude. There is creative potential in giving thanks in all things. New growth and opportunities surround us wherever we are on this planet—spring in the north or autumn in the south.

There are many workshops here over the coming months that offer unique tools and experiences. Click here to review our calendar, and perhaps discover an opportunity that will fit for you.

There will be a showing of the movie Thrive with a live Q & A and solutions session with producers Forest and Kimberly Gamble. We will also be hosting retreats led by outstanding authors and trainers: Anodea Judith, Daniel Odier, Martin Hahn, Dave and Erina Cowan, Monica Corrado, and Rue Hass.

The Attunement School at Sunrise Ranch will be hosting three Days of Attunement: April 7^th, June 2^nd, and August 4^th. This will be a time for people who are new to attunement—a form of energy work that focuses on the endocrine system—as well as those who are familiar with attunement.  Join us for one, two or all three days. We are continuing with our monthly Healers’ Jamboree, sponsored by Sunrise Ranch, which is building a community of holistic practitioners and those interested in the healing arts.

Warmly,

Jacqueline, Shareen, Susan and Oren

Easter Sunrise Service

Sunrise Ranch

Little Chapel Hill

6:40 a.m.

(breakfast available in Pavilion at 7:30 a.m.)

All are welcome!

Please let us know if you plan to attend

by phoning the Sunrise Reception Desk at (970) 679-4200 / (877) 786-0078

Dowsing Beyond Duality…Change Your Mind and Change the World

Saturday and Sunday, March 31 and April 1, 2012

Are you tired of the struggle? Do you desire peace, happiness and abundance for yourself and others?

Join International Teachers and Authors Dave and Erina Cowan for two days of “Soulful Dowsing” with pendulums. This class focuses on the power of the mind, unmasking the world of illusions, healing relationships, and facilitating “paradigm shifts” to achieve greater clarity and awakening to true Self. Emphasis is placed on dowsing as a tool for creating “space” in which Miracles are seen.

Unwind All Limitations and Discover the Power Within!

“We need not seek Love, but seek to find the obstacles we have created which obscure Love’s presence.” ACIM

What Can You Do with Soulful Dowsing?

Access the incredible Power of your Mind to positively affect energy and matter. You will get “up and running” as a proficient “Soulful Dowser,” which involves using a pendulum to bridge the Conscious and Super-conscious Mind to reveal hidden limiting beliefs. This is followed by using clear intention and allowance to shift patterns and create new experiences. What can be achieved?

• Release unconscious life-limiting beliefs and heal relationships
• Time travel and change your past, present and future experiences
• Shift physical, mental and emotional limitations
• Gain clarity in career and personal life choices and optimize true abundance
• Clear mental clutter to make room for Grace to flow in…

Blue Sun Energetics is Accredited by The Natural Therapies Accreditation Commission

For more information and for future events: www.bluesunenergetics.net

This class can be applied to becoming a Certified Spiritual Dowser. Check our website for information about the Cowans’ new book, Dowsing Beyond Duality, now ready for pre-order at amazon.com.

Tantra Praxis in Your Daily Life with Daniel Odier

April 5, 2012 – 9 am through April 9, 2012 – 2 pm

Register now for Accommodations

Daniel Odier teaches Kashmiran tantra from the Kaula tradition in accordance with the transmission he received from his master, the yogini Lalita Devi. This lineage goes back to the Mahasiddhas, and in particular to Matsyendranath, author of the Kaulajnananirna tantra. This old-age tradition, closely linked to the Shivaism of the Indus valley, teaches a form of yoga which has virtually disappeared. It is a practice in three parts which unites sitting meditation with movement. It is a discipline which is both easy to understand and hard to master as it introduces a spatial awareness on three planes: that of the body, the mind and the emotions. The workshops are mainly dedicated to this practice. Visualization exercises are added to intensify the spatial awareness experienced through the dance of Shiva as well as the yoga of touch, which is an integral part of the dance. Time is also allowed for questions and answers. For further information on registering for this retreat, go to The Event Facebook Page

Daniel Odier became a disciple of Kalou Rinpoché in 1968. He followed his teachings and received the Mahamûdra transmission. Pursuing his earlier interest in Chan (the Chinese zen of origins), he studied the correlation between Tantra and Ch’an, inspired by the work of the Chinese hermit Chien Ming Chen, who he met in Kalimpong in 1968.

Some years later, in the Himalayas, Daniel followed the teachings of his Kashmiri master, the yogi Lalita Devî, who also gave him the Mahamûdra transmission as well as some of the most profound mystical teachings of the Pratyabhijnâ and Spanda schools of the Kaula tradition.

Daniel taught Tantrism and Buddhism in several American universities before founding the Tantra/Chan centre in Paris, in 1995. In 2000, he disbanded this centre in order to encourage independent practice, and today he gives workshops and seminars throughout the world.

The Opening April 13-17, 2012

The Opening is an ancient method of partnered contemplation (dyad) combined with modern

communication techniques that allow you to delve deeply into the truth of who you are.

Not who you think you are or what others have told you you are, but who you were actually

created to be. It is a journey of amazing discovery so profound and life changing it must be

experienced.

One thing is for certain, you will have great insights into the real you that will transform your

relationship with the world around you.

There is no philosophy, no religion, no special teachings, just you and the discovery of your true authentic self. It’s that simple.

Here are some of the many benefits you can expect after you attend The Opening:

• More success in all areas of your life, including your business

• Move through your limiting beliefs with grace

• Wonderful clarity on your life’s purpose

• More confidence in all situations

• More passion in your everyday life

• Experience joy as your natural state of being

• How to create deep connection with your loved ones

• Discover the deep inner peace already within you

• Greater understanding of what’s important to others

• How to be more fully received by others

• And much, much more

Your life will take on a whole new meaning and your influence on the world will be much

greater.

What does this growth opportunity cost?

At the Opening we guarantee your satisfaction and instead of having you pay the $1997 for

tuition up front, we invite you to come as our guest. Only after you have completed the 5-day

program will we ask you to contribute towards your experience. But instead of paying us back,

look at it is a paying it forward for others to be able to experience this profound program. You

decide how much value we have created for you and contribute accordingly. It’s up to you. Not

many companies will give you that kind of guarantee. We do!

I repeat, the tuition is our gift and you contribute the amount you feel is equal to the value you have received from attending “The Opening” experience.

All you pay for up front is your food, lodging and logistics at a very reasonable $597 USD.

The benefits you gain at The Opening will create massive, positive change in your life. In fact,

if you do not receive at least one significant benefit, we will give you a full, NO questions asked

refund for your food and accommodation as well. All you have to do is complete the 5-day

program.

It’s All About You!

Rest assured, our world-class staff will support and take care of you while you focus

completely on you. Our goal is to help you discover your truth so you can live a more fulfilled

and purposeful life.

Imagine the possibilities!

Don’t delay and register online at Setting Hearts Free

Martin Hahn

President and Lead Facilitator

Thrive Movie Showing Plus LIVE Q & A with producers Foster & Kimberly Gamble

Thrive is an unconventional documentary that lifts the veil on what’s REALLY going on in our world by following the money upstream—uncovering the global consolidation of power in nearly every aspect of our lives. Weaving together breakthroughs in science, consciousness and activism, Thrive offers real solutions, empowering us with unprecedented and bold strategies for reclaiming our lives and our future.

Interviews inThrive

Duane Elgin, Nassim Haramein, Steven Greer, Jack Kasher, Daniel Sheehan, Adam Trombly, Brian O’Leary, Vandana Shiva, John Gatto, John Robbins, Deepak Chopra, David Icke, Catherine Austin Fitts, G. Edward Griffin, Bill Still, John Perkins, Paul Hawken, Aqeela Sherrills, Evon Peter, Angel Kyodo Williams, Elisabet Sahtouris, Amy Goodman, and Barbara Marx Hubbard.

Thrive Solutions Meeting

What on Earth does it take to thrive? Join Foster and Kimberly Gamble here at Sunrise Ranch on April 14th as they discuss with the audience what each of us can do to use our unique gifts and how we can collaborate with others, to create the world we want to live in. We already have what it takes to thrive. Now is the time to get together and discuss what actions we can take, or what choices we can make, even just in the way we think about things, to make a difference!

We are at a critical turning point in human history. The path we are on is leading toward a global police state. We must change direction, but how? What are the guiding principles that would lead to freedom from war, hunger, and domination? How do we work toward a world where no one is violated or coerced in any way? These are the kinds of questions you can explore in this solutions section. This also is the place to discover what you can do to bring about change. You can check out inspirational success stories, find suggestions for quick, effective everyday actions, and study strategies for transformations at the national and global level.

A Weekend of GAPS™ Cooking in Loveland, CO

Got food allergies? Autoimmune Disorders? Brain fog? Leaky gut? AD/HD? Autism Spectrum? Spend a weekend with traditional food chef and Certified Nutrition Counselor Monica Corrado learning all the cooking techniques you need to help bring your child or yourself to balance through food!

A Weekend of GAPS™ Cooking in Loveland, CO, April 20-22, 2012

The GAPS™ (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) healing protocol reverses allergies and brings children and adults on the Autistic Spectrum, with Asperger’s, AD/HD, dyslexia and dyspraxia to balance. It heals digestive distress, from constipation and Irritable Bowel Syndrome to colitis. It also heals auto-immune disorders. In fact, nearly every physical symptom in the body can be traced to a gut in need of healing.

Have your questions answered! Experience for yourself the lively exchange for which Monica is so well known…and go home with the knowledge you need to confidently cook these nourishing foods for yourself and your loved ones!

Healers’ Jamboree ~ Sharing Circle – April 22, 2012   4 – 7PM

Also: May 20, June 17, July 22

Are You a Holistic Provider or Do You Have a Desire to Learn More About the Healing Arts?

This night is for you! Bring your loving presence, your lightness of heart and your healing modality to share. If you are new to the healing community and feeling your spirit being called in this direction, we invite you to come learn more and enjoy the experience of our circle of sharing during the monthly Healers’ Jam!

This is to create a supportive community by assisting one another:

• By taking care of ourselves and being better able to take care of our clients
• Educating those interested in the healing arts who may not be practitioners, and helping them to connect with practitioners and upcoming workshops
• Creating a network for cross-referring clients
• Creating new friendships
• Having FUN!

We have had many different types of practitioners join us since we began hosting the Healers’ Jams in January, including attunement, body massage, sound therapy, Access Consciousness™/Access Bars, Life Divine, chiropractic, Reiki, scalp massage, shakuhachi flute meditation, Egyptian healing rods, holistic nutrition, dancing and body movement (this was a lot of fun!), life coach, spiritual brain integration/negative program release, dowsing, energy healer, clairvoyant, empowering children, nurses, caretakers, yoga, biofeedback and reflexology.

We are looking to have some fun stations set up for the next couple of months and we are welcoming your ideas…here are a few that are in the works—creativity station for inspiring the artist within, 20-minute presentation sessions, dancing, holistic nutrition, cooking for well-being.

Bring your business cards and upcoming workshop flyers, as this is a great opportunity to network!

This is a free event…to share your experience and talent and a favorite dish for the potluck.

Register today!

Make Friends with Yourself

A Tappers Gathering Retreat with Rue Hass and Julie Spangler

at Sunrise Ranch near Loveland, Colorado, US

April 27-29, 2012

Befriend your body

Befriend your personality

Befriend your spirituality

A Chakra Weekend Workshop

This weekend workshop gives you both experiential and intellectual tools for understanding the complete chakra system within your own body and psyche. Come prepared to both learn about the chakras and move your own energy into new places.

On Saturday, focus on opening and stabilizing the lower three chakras of the seven-layered Chakra System. Often misunderstood by ascension-oriented New Age philosophy, we ignore these chakras at our own peril. In doing so, we lose our connection to our bodies and the earth, to each other, and we lose our power to make change. This work reclaims the essential foundation of the Chakra System by focusing on the elements of earth, water, and fire.

On Sunday, rise above the challenging work of the lower chakras, and journey through the upper chakras to open yourself up to love, light, and liberation. This workshop focuses on letting go of old patterns so that we can move forward into the future. In exploring chakra four, we use yoga stretches, breath, and meditation to expand our capacity for love and connection. In chakra five, we use sounding and chanting to open our communication and creativity. In chakra six, we explore our inner vision and learn some basic psychic skills. And in chakra seven, we explore the mysteries of our own consciousness through connection to the divine within and without.

Investment: EARLY BIRD: $295, sign up by 3/30. $325 by 4/13. Full price: $345. Sign up now to save!

If you would like to learn more about our events, please contact Daphne Bramlett at 877-786-0078.

We welcome you to join our groups on Facebook and Meetup.com to get current information on events that are happening at Sunrise Ranch.

Link to Meetup.com group Spiritual Events at Sunrise Ranch: http://www.meetup.com/Spiritual-Events-at-Sunrise-Ranch/

Link to Sunrise Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/SunriseRanchSpiritualRetreatCenter

Subscribe to the Sunrise Ranch Calendar

If you would like to subscribe to our calendar, and your calendar program supports the iCalendar format, use the following link to create the subscription.

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Sunrise Ranch is an event center that offers programs for renewal, learning, and transformation. It’s an ideal venue for your personal retreat, workshop, conference, or wedding!  The Dome at Sunrise Ranch is a beautiful 400-seat venue located west of Loveland, CO, near Masonville.

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Post from: Sunrise Ranch

Sunrise Newsletter April 2012

Torrential rains and flooding in China and Thailand, record snowfall in Alaska, Texas and Oklahoma burning up with drought, hurricanes and tornados vicious enough to kill hundreds and destroy major sections of cities, history-defying extremes of temperature. What is going on with the weather? Why these imbalances and extremes? Has Mother Nature lost her sense of fair play or simply gone wild?

Many environmentalists and scientists put the finger on global warming and “greenhouse effect,” in which the sun’s heat is trapped in the atmosphere by various “greenhouse” gases, mainly carbon emitted by smokestack industries and coal-fired power plants. Some meteorologists point to ocean currents in the Pacific—El Nino (warm) and La Nina (cool)—that trigger atmospheric disturbances capable of displacing the jet stream. The result can be flooding in South America and drought in Southeast Asia or, as in 2011, in Texas.

Some scientists as well as politicians still deny global warming and insist that the climate change we’re observing is entirely the product of natural cycles or evidence of an impending ice age. This despite the massive melting of artic ice and the gradual disappearance of glaciers around the world. Can anyone seriously believe that the staggering amount of carbon dioxide we pump into the air every year from power plants, automobiles, airplanes and many other sources has little or no effect on the atmosphere and climate of this planet?

So while a growing number of scientists now embrace the basic mechanism of global warming the jury still seems to be out on the extent to which it is responsible for currently observed climate changes. And while ocean currents undoubtedly do affect wind and cloud patterns on land, what accounts for the fluctuations in these currents? In short, what is the underlying cause of these and all the other physical phenomena associated with global weather?

It is customary to dismiss all destructive weather-related events as “acts of God.” But why would a supposedly beneficent being be interested in dishing out such suffering to human beings, not to mention the torment visited upon the planet? So are we to conclude that violent weather is purely random with essentially no underlying cause? I believe there is a cause, and whenever there is violence of any kind on earth, it can always ultimately be traced back to one source: human beings.

For example, earthquakes reflect major shifts in the structured patterns of thought held in human consciousness. They are destructive because human beings generally won’t release their rigid ideological and religious mindsets until the tension along the brain’s fault lines becomes overwhelming. Tornadoes and volcanic eruptions mirror the turbulent emotions in human consciousness—the irrepressible spasms of jealousy, resentment and ethnic hatred that frequently explode in wanton violence and murder. Floods represent human thought run amuck; the truth (water) is so diluted by human interpretations and distortions that it overflows the banks of natural control and design. Widening temperature, wind and precipitation extremes mirror the extreme length to which human beings increasingly go to get what they imagine they want. Drought and searing heat reflect the intensification of the power of love (fire) as the earth moves into a celestial context where the impurities in human consciousness are burned away. In other words, there are no destructive “acts of God,” just the resistance and senseless acts of human beings out of alignment with universal law and purpose. We impose our own violence on nature, then complain about it. How ridiculous!

Seeing that weather climate is a product of human emotional climate, it follows that climate change requires a change in the climate of human consciousness. Clearing clouds in the sky requires clearing clouds (conditioning) in my inner sky. Calming global atmospheric disturbance involves discovering and abiding in the great calm within myself, letting the atmosphere of my expression convey peace into the world.

You and I are custodians of the earth, including nature and the weather. As a school custodian for ten years I came to realize the importance of maintaining a clear and life-enhancing atmosphere in the school, not just good air ventilation but good vibrational ventilation, and much of this had to do with the quality of atmosphere in my own consciousness. The earth, one might say, is our school building and our custodial responsibility requires the consistent expression of the highest and finest qualities of character to sustain and elevate the atmosphere in this “school of living.”

The sun is currently at what is called “solar max.” Some very strong solar flares have recently been observed and some have impacted satellite transmissions and other communications systems on earth. Could these coronal ejections be the sun’s attempt to tap us on the shoulder and urge us to defrost the rigid structures, and otherwise change the climate, in human consciousness so that the earth’s climate is brought back into harmony with the universal order?

It has been said that “the earth is reserved unto fire.” This could be the equivalent of hell fire in which global warming turns the planet into another Venus where green-house gases have raised surface temperatures to nine hundred degrees. Or if human beings cast off ego identity in favor of identity with the creative fire of divine love at every person’s core, then the possibility exists for the earth to be returned to the beautiful, pristine garden it was created to be. The choice is ours.

Jerry Kvasnicka, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, has had a varied career as a youth minister, a radio news reporter, a writer and editor for several magazines and journals and a custodian with the Loveland, Colorado school district. He has lived at the Sunrise Ranch spiritual community in Loveland for twenty-four years. He can be reached at jkvasnicka@emnet.org.

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The Weather We Take is the Weather We Make

What does it mean to be a parent? I know many people do not consider themselves parents. However, if you think about the fact that we are all interconnected, and we each affect each other, then you could consider that we are all parents in this global family of humankind. Uranda talked about this interconnectedness: “Our lives are interrelated and our influence upon one another is far more meaningful than most people realize. We cannot live to ourselves alone. We are members of the world family- humanity.” It is with that thought in mind that I invite you all into the world of parenting.

“It takes a village to raise a child.” Let’s think about that wonderful cliché. The truth in that statement is that the whole village IS raising that child, whether they are conscious of it or not. Every interaction affects the child. In the first few years particularly, they are sponges just soaking up every thing they see and hear; and not only that, but also what they feel. The atmosphere of the environment is very influential on the child. Uranda continues, “Few human beings pause to think about the vibrational factors which they are imposing upon one another. The influences, the subtle essences in atmospheres of life which cannot be readily measured but they are at work all of the time.” I see evidence of this in my life, when my children reflect my moods back at me, holding up a mirror to show me exactly how I’m influencing them.

So when you take a look around at the everyday things in society, it is no wonder that there is a decrease in morals and values in our children today. What are the messages they are bombarded with every day, living in the technological age. TV, radio, video games and the Internet are advertising a material-centered, self-centered world. Violence is very commonplace. Commercials and advertising are teaching the children that life is about getting what you want, looking good, and that buying things or eating junk food will make you happy. External fulfillment seems to become the purpose in life.

One of the biggest problems I see is with the economy. One parent’s income used to be able to provide enough for a family to live comfortably. Now both parents are forced into the world of employment, working long hours and struggling just to make ends meet. When they get home they still have to cook dinner, clean up, get the kids bathed and in bed. Parents who are too exhausted to spend quality time with their children end up plopping them in front of the TV, or giving into the guilt factor and give the child whatever they want. They are trying to “buy their love or happiness” with material things to make up for the lack of quality time spent. They don’t want to discipline their child with the little time that they do have to spend with them. The two-parent income has destroyed the connection between parents and children, and we again see those same messages of materialism and external fulfillment.

I am so grateful to have found a way out of the “rat race” here at Sunrise Ranch. I am so blessed to be able to have a balance of both worlds. How many people do you know that can spend all 3 meals a day as a family? How many parents do you know that get to spend some of their work hours doing childcare for their own children? How many families do you know that get to live and work in an environment where spiritual values are a top priority? It is truly a blessing that I have found a home where I can see to it that my children are raised in the best way I know how.

In the book Whole Child/Whole Parent, Polly Berends expresses parenthood as “the world’s most intensive course in love. We are not parents merely to give or get love but to discover love as the fundamental fact of life and the truth of our being and thus bring it into expression. And so parents and children, children all, we embark on this journey together.”

It is in the “vibrational factors” that we do the most teaching. The most learning does not occur in books. We have to love and respect the essence of who our children truly are and treat them accordingly. So I encourage you to take these things into consideration in all your interactions, as we are all interconnected, and here together as a global human family.

Camp Director- Stephanie Powers

Stephanie Powers is a mother of two and has over 19 years of experience working with children, including serving as Program Coordinator at the Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii and leading the Childcare Program at Sunrise Ranch. She has completed her Montessori teacher certification and coordinates Youth and Farm Programs at the Ranch. This will be her fourth year as Director of Camp Sunrise.

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Post from: Sunrise Ranch

The Spirituality of Parenting

As creator beings, we are constantly creating the reality that we experience in each of our moments.  This is a universal truth and can be observed to whatever degree we are willing to take responsibility for our lives.  This can sometimes be a very difficult thing to do for it is quite easy to fall into blame or identifying as a victim, putting that responsibility on someone or something outside of ourselves. We have all had many different experiences where something happened to us that seemed wrong or unjust or simply did not fall into the realm of what we wanted.  We all have an individual history of experiences that we have lived through and we all share a common history of experiences that have occurred throughout humanity’s past.  We have a personal and collective story that has served to shape how we see ourselves.  Depending on how strongly we identify with different parts of this story, this is a major factor in how we define our individual identity.  And our identity, or how we see ourselves, is critical in beginning to understand how it is that we are creating the reality that we experience.

The creation of our experience of today is heavily influenced by our yesterday, and the creation of our experience of tomorrow is heavily influenced by our today.  This is why we have the experience of the past repeating itself.  If I think I know myself to be a certain way because of what has happened to me in the past, or a particular pattern of how I have always responded to a specific situation that happens to me, then I have locked myself into a certain way of being.  I have identified with my personal image of Who I Am as being a certain someone, or having a certain something that just happens to me outside of my control.  This then becomes the expectation for oneself.  This sets up a reality matrix that pulls that something into your experience and you play out a pre-programmed paradigm for how you will respond or react to your outer environment.  You have created a box that limits the amount of new, expansive experiences you can have.  You expect the same things to happen to you that you are identified with, that which has already and always happened to you before; and you expect yourself to do the same things or be the same ways as you have before, because that is what you have locked onto and identified yourself as.

This can occur with as many examples as you can imagine, however it is usually only the ones that cause complications in our lives that stimulate us to go looking for change.  If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it; but if it is broken, then don’t keep repeating a broken pattern.  We define whether or not something is broken by how well it works for us and gives us what we want.  Whether our habits or experiences seem to be broken or not, if we keep experiencing the same things then we are still faced with the same issue; we are still caught in a loop of repeating experiences and therefore limiting our access into the full realm of possibility.

This is where the imagination comes into play.  The imagination lives in the realm of possibility.  As long as we are solely operating from the memory and identified with our story from the past, we are destined to live in a limited way based on what was, rather than what could be.  Our present experience of what is continues to be colored by what we have known before and that is what we set up as an expectation of what will be.  When we can let go of what was, all of our preconceived notions of who we are and how the world treats us, and realize the Truth, then we are on the path to creating new and expansive realities and can identify with ourselves in new and expansive ways.

What is this Truth?  We are unlimited beings with unlimited ways of identifying and knowing ourselves.  The world reflects back to us what we project into it.   You reap what you sow.  The people and happenings in our personal world exist as reflections for us to better know ourselves in relation to it.  We can choose how we see ourselves and how we see the world around us.  We are fully self-responsible for the creation of our experience and that creation is dependent upon the perspective we choose to operate from.  We are never victims and only fall into the illusion of believing we are if we allow it.

Letting go of the story means taking individual responsibility for being an intentional creator of your life and giving up the boxes and limitations of what is possible based upon the past.  It means basing your expectations of what can happen from your imagination rather than your memory.  It means opening up to the unlimited nature of who you are and what is possible for you.  As more of us do this individually within ourselves, the more that we will see this transformation happen also on a collective level.  We are the ones responsible for changing the world we live in and that can only occur by changing our own personal world that we are constantly creating every day.

Gary Goodhue is an author, actor, poet and spiritual aspirant. Gary has been exploring universal success principles, personal development and spiritual concepts for most of his life. He has studied at the School of Metaphysics, as well as teaching classes and serving as branch director for one of their sixteen school centers. He was also involved with the Community of Light and is currently living at Sunrise Ranch, headquarters of the Emissaries of Divine Light. He is involved in their Full Self Emergence Program and serves in multiple capacities on the ranch and in the community. He works within different departments and also has started participating in the EDL ministry program, sharing spiritual truth and reciting original works of poetry, as well as writing blog articles for the website. Gary is looking forward to deepening his relationship with the Emissaries and serving in greater capacities as the spirit of love expresses through him into larger levels of manifestation and experience.

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Letting Go of The Story

Oh the places I go………………

There are places I go in my mind. There are places my feet take me. My emotions can take me on a merry-go-round.

At Sunrise Ranch there are many places to go. I can walk up the steep incline to Moon Rocks or saunter to the Reservoir. I can carry my djembe drum to the Fire Pit by the Rim Rock. I can do a walking meditation on the Labyrinth.

When I let spirit guide me it is amazing the places I go.

I could live at the Farm, at the Gables, at the Garden House, in the 4-Plex, in a Condo, Orchard Cottage or the Hobbit House.

I can eat at home, in the Pavilion or the adored Yellow Kitchen. I can munch an apple with the children of Sunrise Ranch or walk to our neighbors store and buy popsicles. On our way back to the ranch we can see how many children it takes to hug a tree to see how old it may be.

Oh the places I go……….

I can vacuum the dome, wash lettuce in the kitchen, work at the front desk, or be on childcare. I can weed the garden, be a greeter for Sunday Service and serve refreshments after a concert. I can walk to work, to class, to meals, and to visit a friend. I can go to class in the Aspen Room or Rim Rock Room. I can go for an Attunement in the Sanctuary. I can chant in the Little Chapel.

Oh the places I go……………

I give thanks every year, every month, every day, every moment for living in this beautiful valley.

I give thanks for my brothers and sisters here. I create a sacred agreement and I learn to count on my fellow beings.

Oh the places I go…………………

I bless this sacred valley, the earth and the food we grow here, the cattle and chickens that graze here, the buildings that house us and the sky that graces us with incredible sunrises, sunsets, rainbows, rain showers, snow blizzards and clear views of the celestial city beyond.

Oh the places I go……………..

Linda is a retired Special Needs School Teacher. Her mission in teaching was to provide the space for each student to see their magnificence rather than what was perceived as wrong. While living in rural Maine, she held spiritual retreats. Her peaceful cottage by the sea was a perfect place to be shared with others. Here she provided a place to be still and encouraged all to see the wonderful one within. In March of 2011, she moved to Sunrise Ranch in Loveland, Colorado and enjoys sharing time with parents in Maine and sons in Colorado. She entered the Full Self-Emergence Program at Sunrise Ranch. She also studies with her spiritual teacher Megan Don. Going on pilgrimages and walking in the shoes of the Mystics has helped Linda to find her innocence and let go of the stories of past experience. In 2011, she was blessed to visit The Findhorn Community and the island of Iona in Scotland. Linda loves travel, both in person and via photography via her brother’s God given talent and vision on chuckhaupt.com. When she isn’t on the Front Desk in Guest Services at the Ranch you will find her moving-dancing, hiking, drumming, or swinging in her hammock “with the Beloved”.

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Oh the places I go………………