Archive for the ‘Holistic Living’ Category
Christine Sedon: On a mission of Calmness and Common Sense
18/06/2022The Lost Boys Cafe, a Port in the Storm
17/06/2022John Sedon, owner of the Lost Boys Cafe in Hamilton NZ, has a stories to tell. He’s not just a cafe owner in tough times, he’s a confident, and maybe, even a healer of sorts. Hear his stories in these three segments.
Hopi Chief Comments on Our Times
10/09/2021Hopi Indian Chief White Eagle commented a few days ago on the current situation:
′′ This moment humanity is experiencing can be seen as a door or a hole. The decision to fall in the hole or walk through the door is up to you. If you consume the news 24 hours a day, with negative energy, constantly nervous, with pessimism, you will fall into this hole.
But if you take the opportunity to look at yourself, to rethink life and death, to take care of yourself and others, then you will walk through the portal.
Take care of your home, take care of your body. Connect with your spiritual home. When you take care of yourself, you take care of everyone at the same time.
Do not underestimate the spiritual dimension of this crisis. Take the perspective of an eagle that sees everything from above with a broader view. There is a social question in this crisis, but also a spiritual question. The two go hand in hand.
Without the social dimension we fall into fanaticism. Without the spiritual dimension, we fall into pessimism and futility.
Are you ready to face this crisis. Grab your toolbox and use all the tools at your disposal.
Learn resistance from the example of Indian and African peoples: we have been and are exterminated. But we never stopped singing, dancing, lighting a fire and rejoicing.
Don’t feel guilty for feeling blessed in these troubled times. Being sad or angry doesn’t help at all. Resistance is resistance through joy!
You have the right to be strong and positive. And there’s no other way to do it than to maintain a beautiful, happy, bright posture.
Has nothing to do with alienation (ignorance of the world). It’s a resistance strategy.
When we cross the threshold, we have a new worldview because we faced our fears and difficulties. This is all you can do now:
– Serenity in the storm
– Keep calm, pray everyday
– Make a habit of meeting the sacred everyday.
– Show resistance through art, joy, trust and love.
Hopi Indian Chief White Eagle
July 9th 2021
A Reminder from the Universe
30/06/2021
(*Now called Northwest Outward Bound)
I love it when spirit nudges us. Our family does an evening reading at our dinner table every night before eating. Without looking at the bookshelf behind me last night, I pulled a random book off the shelf. Then I opened to a random page, then I looked at a random quote.
It’s one of my favorite quotes:
“Believe me my young friend, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that is half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”
Kenneth Grahame.
This quote arrives just when we’ve put our Lake Wanaka Yacht Charters business “on pause” due to New Zealand border closures. The lack of tourists is “forcing us to live our dreams” and as we consider and possibly prepare to use the yachts in more of an educational role, for experiential adventures on Lake Wanaka. This is my first love anyway. As every passenger that’s gone out on the lake with me attests, they got more than they bargained for, regarding an experiential sailing experience. Once they get out there, my job, and mission, is to light up their eyes and soul by helping them connect to the wind, the water, the place and themselves, and of course have fun.
Here at Mountain Spirit NZ, we’ve been hooked on the “AirBnB drug” prior to our Covid lockdown, and now we’re advertising for domestic visitors to stay with us with a purpose in mind, whether to just have a digital detox, record some music in our piano studio, or take some yin yoga classes with Amanda in the yurt. We’re stepping out into our own possibilities.
Although I’ve run Mountain Spirit Institute in the U.S. where we’ve done tons of different programs ranging from experiential immersion on the Rosebud Reservation to a powerful New England tour of Peruvian folk music, creating our own space here in New Zealand, and inviting people to come stay with us is uncharted territory. But we’re enjoying the ride, with all its ups and downs.
The trick to being fulfilled and successful, (however you personally define success), is stepping out of the way, allowing the Universe/Spirit/God to help out, and importantly, look for those reminder signs when they pop up and recognise them as such, then of course, take action.
I just attended a powerful presentation yesterday here in Wanaka, New Zealand, by Lake Wanaka Tourism They’re our local tourism association. As you can imagine, like many of us in tourism here in New Zealand, they’ve been in on a path or re-inventing themselves. They’ve been working on a new branding program. I’ll write more on that in later in a separate post, as it deserves more time. But I have to mention here, about the power of timing, being at the right place at the right time, taking action when a crisis/opportunity presents itself and listening to spirit. Lake Wanaka Tourism is taking the bold steps to create a wonderful vision of post-covid “tourism” for operators, the land, community and visitors alike.
Here’s just a snapshot of some of the Lake Wanaka tenets going forward:
The Vision:
“Our aspiration is for the visitor industry to enrich this place, as well as the lives of the local community both now and into the future. To create mutual value for Whanau/whanui (which includes our families , our community, our visitors), and our whenua (our place and natural resources) and our economy.
“Values:
Guardianship for our people, our place and our plant; Inclusive and respectful; Living with a sense of balance; bold and free thinking.”
There are plans being put into place with a whole re-adjustment of what it means to be in tourism here in Wanaka, and fortunately, the leadership and staff at Lake Wanaka Tourism are taking on the challenge with heart and purpose. The future looks bright because there’s a proactive approach. I look forward to sharing more about LWT’s and the community’s plans going forward in future posts. I would say LWT is following their spirit course.
Back to the reading about messing about on boats. I can’t wait for the next sign to come down the road, and hit me with a spiritual 2×4. But for now, I thought I’d share this little nudge from Spirit.
Slowdown Post #14: Wood Chopping and Stackin
09/09/2020
Stoking up for the winter, Conner splits and Jess stacks, nearing the end of a few day’s farm workout plan. Poplar dries quickly, and is quick to light, but its only good for a fire starter. Hardwoods are best for the slow burn. WE debated whether to hire a mechanical splitter, but Conner was happy to have the workout, and since poplar splits so easily, it went fairly quickly. Nevertheless, as you can see, there was quite a bit to split and stack. Living off the grid has its advantages and having warm fires to heat the house is a big one, not to mention the cost savings! purenewzealand#newzealand#wanaka#lovewanaka#mountainspirit
Fulfilling our Mission, and Our Passion
15/08/2020
Before lock-down, here on the South Island of New Zealand, we were quite busy renting out our accommodation to AirBnB guests from all over the world. We enjoyed meeting people from Italy to the US, from China to India. Since lock-down, we’ve been getting
bookings from individuals and families here in New Zealand, who want a “digital detox”, or to reset their perspective on life. There’s a huge demand for going within, and reconnecting with one’s self, with others and with nature. Humbly, I think we do that well here at Mountain Spirit. We’ve been at it for a while and are excited to share our space and experience. Amanda offers wonderful and centering YinYoga classes. Randall offers re-connection through “solo’s”, sailing and other experiential activities. Randall worked with Outward Bound for many years, then a mountain guide in South America for Alpine Ascents International, leading climbers up peaks in Peru, Argentina and Ecuador and has landed in New Zealand. Amanda has studied yoga most of her life, and spent some months in India practicing and learning. She most recently has been training under Sarah Powers. Come join 
us if you’re so inclined to dive into your inner world. We’re at mtnspirit.nz
Slowdown Post #12: Apple Press v 1.0
12/08/2020
Jess and Conner rev up for our first round of cider making. This version had a few design flaws that was solved with our later version, which you’ll see soon. Mainly we had to beef up the cross beams because of the incredible amount of pressure exerted by the Toyota car jack. I also used sheets of thick steel for the top compressor plate, and bottom drainage plate. We did away with the Mitre 10 bucket, replacing it with a cut-off from some large thick culvert drainage pipe from a building site. It’s white and looks great. Since it was an offcut, it hadn’t been in the ground yet, so is usable for making cider. The storage contain top also has been replace by the beefy sheet of steel, also courtesy of the same building site, used with permission of course. @purenewzealand #newzealand #wanaka #lovewanaka #mountainspirit
Lockdown/Slowdown Post #9: Drying Berries!
06/08/2020
Rosehips and Hawthorne berries dry in the autumn sun. Pick before a frost and dry the rosehips berries, then use a food processor to break them up to make a tea very high in vitamin C. You have to watch out when picking rosehips as they have little stickers on them that can stick you! Use gloves and pick as many as you can. When making the tea, just steep and filter after grinding, then add a bit of honey.
#purenewzealand #newzealand #wanaka #lovewanak #mountainspirit
Lockdown/Slowdown Post #8: Micro Hydro Install
05/08/2020Drilling holes into a perfectly good micro-hydro intake box! Conner, our helper and wonderful person during lockdown helps me add anchor points which will help hold the micro hydro intake to the stream bed. It will take two pours of concrete to hold the intake in place, not to mention some bolts and chains anchored from big rocks in the stream bed, going under the cement. Only a 100 yr flood event will take this out.. if that we hope!
Lockdown/Slowdown Post #7: Micro Hydro
05/08/2020The Powerspout micro-hydro in action last spring during its initial trial run, when we had a running stream. During Lockdown, it was Conner’s and my job to build a more permanent footing and structure for this gizmo, and to secure the intake. More on that later…stay tuned. We’ll show you images and text of this hydro system, called the Powerspout, how we set it up, how the company configured the system to our water flow and drop, (called head) and how it works now that we’ve got water flowing in our stream. It’s the perfect dovetail to our solar. Tons of sun in the summer and tons of water in the stream in the winters.
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