Posts Tagged ‘ecospiritual psychology’
01/04/2010
Llama with Cordillera Blanca in Background
Below is an excerpt from someone asking a question, who will most likely be joining us on a Peru: Machu Picchu/Cordillera Blanca combo trekking program in 2011.
Dear Randall,
Here are a few of my thoughts and ideas and questions as I have started to read about Peru and hiking and Machu Picchu.
I think we would like to have a day where we could do some type of community service so we could give back to the people and the country.
Yours,
Nancy C.
Shamans, Peru. Circa 1997
Dear Nancy,
Excellent, glad your thinking along these lines.
Additionally, as you know, we are a unique educational organization – a hybrid, or cross between a guide service, an experiential educational org and a holistic learning center on the fly.
So if you and the other participants are willing to step out of their comfort zone, try new things and be willing to let the place, the mountains, the people and the experience change you, then it will be a good fit.
I get the feeling you and your friends fit this description. See you soon for an orientation.
Randy
Tags:Comfort Zone, Cordillera Blanca, ecospiritual psychology, Experiential Education, Jorge Martel, Llamas, Peru, Shamans, Spiritual growth, Trekking
Posted in Experiential Education, Inbox, MSI News, Peru | Leave a Comment »
02/08/2009
By R. Richards
In the next few weeks I’ll be journaling the Peru 2009 Cultural Immersion program which lasted 14 days. I won’t chronicle every day but the most important highlights of our experience.
We had 7 participants: Sally R. and her husband Scott S., Gail and Hal B. of Sunapee NH, newlyweds Tim Y. and Amy G. and Betsy S. of Grantham NH. Most were teachers which made for good dynamics. On our first day in Cusco, we hiked up to Sacsayhuaman ruins. After walking the great walls, we had a little meeting as the sun set, setting the tone for open communication and willing to stretch outside of one’s comfort zone. The group all agreed they’d give it their best shot. That night we had dinner at the Retama where Guillermo is the music director of his band Chimu’s/Chimu Inka and plays there almost nightly.
Guillermo plays "Quena" flute at Moray
After a night in Tika Wasi in Cusco, we headed for the Chinchero and the fascinating agricultural terraces of Moray. Here, Guillermo took out his flute and played, setting a surreal tone in the ruins. You could hear the music echo through the terraces below. Then there was a hair-raising ride (not so much much for me, I’m used to the heights) to the Inka salt pans just before the sun set, then off to Anna’s pension. Many thanks goes to Julio of Personal Travel Service for setting up our ride with Ernesto and the Mercedes bus plus all tickets and other logistics in the Sacred Valley.
Anna's Family, Guillermo & Ernesto
It had been a few years since I’d seen Anna when I stayed at her pension for night. It was good to see Anna again, her daughter Katey and her other daughter who had been in Italy for four years, who I’d not yet met. Anyway, we all settled in nicely, the participants heading off to stay in nearby homes, down the street. We’d all met up for dinner at Anna’s though. Although it was a bit of a switch from the four star Hotel Antigua in Lima, everyone adjusted well to Anna’s where we’d be basing ourselves over the next few days. Below is a short clip as we arrived at Anna’s. Ernesto our knowledgeable driver, Anna, her godchild, daughter, and Guillermo are featured.
Tags:1- Video Posts, Anna Sequeros, cultural immersion, Dexter Randall Richards, ecospiritual psychology, espiritiential education, Experiential Education, Guillermo Seminario, Holistic Living, Julio Aquila, Mountain Spirit, mtnspirit.org, Ollantaytambo, Personal Travel Service, Peru, Spiritual, Sunapee, Sustainability
Posted in 1- Video Posts, Experiential Education, Mountain People, Peru, South America, Spiritual, Sustainable Living/Communities, Traveling | Leave a Comment »
05/07/2009
Reconnecting with a Mentor
By R. Richards, MSI Founder
Screen Shot of "American Bedouin"
According to an excellent 2007 Aljazeera Feature video, Erga Rehns has been living the life of a Bedouin in the desert with the Bedouin tribes of Wadi Rum for seven years. I’m not sure if she still does though. I’ll have to do more research in order to contact her again. The last, (and first) time I saw her in person was in 1981, when we first met at her little art studio and home in Obidos, Portugal.
Some people are lucky enough to be a primed for a turning point in their young lives, and come across just the right person at the right time that poses questions, and challenges one’s view of the world – who plants the seed for a paradigm shift. Most people aren’t’ aware they’re ready for that change, until years later, when they realize the shift was primed by those mentors. (more…)
Tags:Aljazeera, Alta Utah, American Bedouin, Chiusa Italy, Dexter Randall Richards, ecospiritual psychology, Erga Rehns, Ex Patriots, Experiential Education, Holistic Living, Jeanne Pickett, Klausen, Living abroad, Luciano Cappella, Martin Strolz, Materialism, Mentors, Mountain Spirit, Mountaineering, mtnspirit.org, New Hampshire, New Zealand, Obidos Portugal, Peru, Simplicity, Spiritual, Strolz GmBH, Strolz Ski Boots, Sud Tirol, Sunapee, Sustainability, Travel, Utah
Posted in Conservation, Environment, Film/DVD, Holistic Living, Inner Work, Inspirational People, Leadership, Power of Place, Spiritual, Sustainable Living/Communities, Traveling | 10 Comments »
27/06/2009
Decisions, Decisions – Motorhomes or Going Light
" Capt'n Fast und Light"
Huge motorhomes rumbling down the Motorways and Interstates are proof that humans have entirely too many non-renewable resources at their disposal. What it takes to move these beasts of burden one kilometer in energy could light the two lightbulbs in my yurt for a week. OK, I actually owned a motorhome when living in Sedona Arizona, as an alternative to apartment living. We’d drive out into the desert at night and base there, while I led trips for Sedona Adventures. And yes, we drove it to Washington state, fully loaded for the Outward Bound summer season. If a motorhome is one’s main residence, it may be “going lighter” on the planet, (I think) – Maybe lighter than owning a MacMansion. If, however, it’s one’s vacation mode of travel, please read on. (more…)
Tags:12 volt showers, Captain Vancouver, Conservation, desert living, Dexter Randall Richards, ecospiritual psychology, Experiential Education, fuel ecomony, going light, Holistic Living, hot showers, Motorhomes, Mountain Spirit, Mountaineering, mtnspirit.org, Natural resources, New Hampshire, New Zealand, Outward Bound, Peru, pulling boats, Spiritual, Sunapee, Sustainability, Utah, vans
Posted in Conservation, Environment, Sustainable Living/Communities, Traveling | Leave a Comment »
16/06/2009
Bob Stremba
M.S.I. VP/Board member and fellow spirit adventurer Bob Stremba, EdD, is heading for Oregon and Washington State tomorrow to take a bit of time off between semesters running the Adventure Education Department at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. He’s also headed north to climb on Mt. Hood’s southern route again. He’ll be climbing the route with fellow board members of the Association of Experiential Education. Over the years, Bob has also summited Mt. Rainer twice, as well as Mt. Baker and Mt. Adams.
After his trip to the Northwest, Bob will be flying to Russia where he’ll be going into classrooms, facilitating group team building initiatives for Russian students. When I asked how his conversational Russian was coming along, he said he’ll have a translator. However he is working on the written language a bit, I assume so he can write a bit on blackboards and flip-charts. Stremba applied for, and was selected to be the lead (and solo) facilitator for this program. At program’s end, Bob will finish in western Russian – which is only a two hour train ride to Finland, so he figured he might as well leave Russia from the western border. If we’re lucky, we’ll get some updates on this blog during his travels. We wish him the best on his program and further travels to Finland after program’s end.
Tags:Association of Experiiential Education, Bob Stremba, Dexter Randall Richards, ecospiritual psychology, Experiential Education, Finland, Holistic Living, Mountain Spirit, Mountaineering, Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainier, mtnspirit.org, New Hampshire, New Zealand, Peru, Russia, Spiritual, Sunapee, Sustainability, Utah
Posted in Experiential Education, Focus on MSI People, Leadership, Mountain People, MSI News, Traveling | Leave a Comment »
07/06/2009
Tolle & Carrey Headline “The Global Alliance For Transformational Entertainment”
Eckhart Tolle, Jim Carrey and Friends Opt for Consiousness-Raising over Lakers
By Los Angeles Times writer James Rainey
Some might say that spirituality and Hollywood go together like sensitivity and pro wrestling.
- Eckhart Tolle
But that’s just the kind of habitual/stereotypical thinking that more than 500 entertainment industry types vowed to vanquish at a conference Thursday night as they came together for the first meeting of the Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment (GATE).
Spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle and movie star/seeker Jim Carrey headlined the more-than-three-hour session at an auditorium on the Fox lot in Century City. Along with singer Melissa Etheridge and several other speakers, they urged their colleagues in film, television, music and other media to transcend the tawdry and mundane with higher-minded fair.
It must have been important to those packed into the meeting. They missed the Lakers’ opening championship-round game to be there. (more…)
Tags:Dexter Randall Richards, Eckhart Tolle, ecospiritual psychology, Experiential Education, Groundhod Day, Holistic Living, Jim Carrey, Los Angeles Times, Mountain Spirit, Mountaineering, mtnspirit.org, New Hampshire, New Zealand, Oprah Winfrey, Peru, Power of Now, Spiritual, Sunapee, Sustainability, The Global Alliance For Transformational Entertainment, Utah
Posted in Books, Holistic Living, Inspirational People, Leadership, Spiritual, Sustainable Living/Communities | 2 Comments »
07/06/2009
Is there a link between Frozen Woolly Mammoths and Pole Shift?
When I first read parts of John White’s 1980 book, Pole Shift, what left an indelible mark on me, was reading the link between the green veggies found the stomachs of frozen woolly mammoths and possibility of relatively rapid shiftings of the earth’s magnetic poles called “pole shift”. Then again, maybe I didn’t read correctly, as the excerpts from an old nhne.com article indicate below, where White is interviewed by David SunFellow.
- Pole Drift
I’m not well versed on the subject, but from what limited knowledge I do have on the subject, I find the the correlations interesting. Also, the way that the poles are “drifting” more every year, (also according to NASA scientist turned author/mystic Gregg Braden) has my attention. According to Braden, airports are having to repaint their runway compass coordinates so often, that some have stopped the procedure. (Check out his books, two of which are The Isiah Effect and Awakening to Zero Point.)
Pole Shift Torpedoed by Author
By David Sunfellow
When John White first published “Pole Shift” in 1980, his book sent re-affirming shocks waves through the earth changes community. Many (including this reporter)
- White mentions Mammoths
believed White’s book “proved” that Edgar Cayce, and a host of others, had correctly foreseen a global catastrophe that would destroy much of the planet along with major portions of the human race. White’s book was particularly powerful because it was written by a man with serious professional credentials and, perhaps more importantly, because it seamlessly wed modern scientific data with contemporary psychics and ancient myths and prophecies. While White refused to say in “Pole Shift” that he was absolutely certain that a pole shift was coming, he left no doubt that he thought one might strike sometime near the year 2000.
Now, however, White has publicly said that he doesn’t believe there is going to be a pole shift — at least the kind of cataclysmic variety envisioned by Cayce, Gordon-Michael Scallion, and others. (more…)
Tags:Apollo 14, David Sunfellow, Dexter Randall Richards, ecospiritual psychology, Edgar Mitchell, Experiential Education, Frontiers of Consciousness, Frozen Mammoth, Holistic Living, Institute of Noetic Science, link to pole shift, Mountain Spirit, Mountaineering, mtnspirit.org, New Hampshire, New Zealand, nhne.org, Peru, Pole Shift, Spiritual, Sunapee, Sustainability, Utah
Posted in Books, Climate Change, Environment, Glaciology | 1 Comment »
23/05/2009
Christophe Pelet, Blogger extrodinaire in NZ's S.Alps
Christophe Pelet from France, shares images and word of New Zealand with heart.
A fellow traveler and volunteer hut warden at *French Ridge, *Frenchman (*coincidence? Maybe not) Christophe Pelet has become a good friend of ours. In fact he’s been hanging here in Auckland before he heads back to France. He’s been traveling New Zealand since late 2008 and been writing a great blog. But it’s in French so you’ll have to sharpen your French reading skills. He’s one of the best photographers I’ve seen, the images he creates through the lens of his camera are stunning and moving.
Author's niece and nephew with Christophe Pelet
So it’s worth a visit just for the photos. There’s tons of history and background on all sorts of New Zealand aspects, as well as good commentary on his *”Wwoof“ing experiences. *(World Wide Opportunities On Organic Farms)
See Christophe’s Blog where his most recent entry is called “The Top of New Zealand.
Tags:adventure travel, Blogs in French, Christophe Pelet, Dexter R. Richards, ecospiritual psychology, Experiential Education, France, Holistic Living, Mountain Spirit, Mountaineering, mtnspirit.org, New Hampshire, New Zealand, Organic Farms, Peru, Randy Richards, Spiritual, Sunapee, Sustainability, travel photography, wwoof
Posted in New Zealand, Sustainable Living/Communities, Traveling | Leave a Comment »
16/05/2009
From New Zealand to Utah, From Alaska to New Hampshire – Ice bergs to Honeycombs
It’s called calving, when a glacier’s edge dramatically breaks off. Many cruise ships take the tour along Alaska’s shores. From Seward and other harbors along the coast, one can sign on for a daily round-trip to get up close views.
Perito Mereno Glacier, Argentina
The dramatic Perito Mereno Glacier in Argentina’s Southern windswept Los Glaciares National Park has many visitors.and is possibly the most famous rivers of ice in the world because. It was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1981. Amanda and I stopped at Tasman Lake in New Zealand’s Mt. Cook National Park to see the floating ice bergs in the grey-green water thick with rock flower. We hiked up to the top of an old terminal moraine and saw the bergs as the sun was setting.
White Pine Lake, Utah
More than a few times, I’ve jumped into such frigid waters, after a run or back country mountain sleep, just to wake me up. While at University of Utah, when I was still learning about the mountains, I did an overnight up White Pine Canyon in the late fall and jumped into White Pine Lake near Snowbird. A few minutes later, it had a skim of ice on it. That’s chilly, but there were no icebergs or calving going on, just shivering.
Lake Tasman, Mt. Cook
The Tasman Glacier regularly claves ice bergs but the evening we were there it was calm and each iceberg gave us a show of *“petreflections” of various sizes and patterns.
When the ice goes out in Lake Sunapee, NH, the reader may be curious to know that there usually aren’t big ice bergs. Then again, I didn’t grow up on the west side of the lake, where the whole lot piles up on a windy afternoon leaving dramatic piles of ice, as if the town dump truck and just deposited its backlog for the winter. On the east side of the lake, we observe the ice gradually thinning from the spring melt, and as it thins, darkens to almost a black. It turn into “honeycomb ice” we call it, where its transformed from the meter-thick solid sheet that runs the whole lake, to fragile, loosely held together elongated splinters that fall apart when scooped up in your hand. Those of us that grew us as kids along the shore of a lake will know what I mean. Daily we watch the progression.
*Petreflections Galore
Official Ice Out day is declared when Artie Osborne can take his boat from the north tip at George’s Mills to Newbury, some 10-13 miles distant without obstruction. To my knowledge, he still makes the trip, and in the process, closes the informal town bets for the season. Go swim in an ice-berg filled lake sometime. It’s the right thing to do.
Author’s Note: Also see my earlier entry on largest iceberg breaks off of Tasman Glacier in 100 years.
*Petreflections: A term coined by Kathy Lowe. See her link above.
Tags:adventure travel, Alaska, Argentina, Arthur Osborne, Dexter R. Richards, ecospiritual psychology, Experiential Education, Georges Mills, Holistic Living, Ice Bergs, Kathy Lowe Bloch, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Los Glaciares National Park, Mountain Spirit, Mountaineering, Mt. Cook National Park, mtnspirit.org, New Hampshire, New Zealand, Newbury NH, Petroflections, Randy Richards, Sunapee NH, Sustainability, UNESCO, Utah, White Pine Canyon
Posted in Environment, Glaciology, New Zealand, Power of Place, South America, Traveling | Leave a Comment »
15/05/2009
R. Richards and A. Hamilton at Mt. Cook, NZ Ceremony set for 30th May near Auckland
Executive Director Randall Richards is getting married to Amanda Hamilton. Randy 51, is a native of Sunapee New Hampshire, USA, and Amanda, 40, born in South Africa, who has been living in New Zealand for a number of years, are planning a simple ceremony at the end of the month. Neither have been married before, nor have any children.
It took their mutual friend Lizbeth Asserhoj from Denmark, living in Copenhagen, to put them together. Richards knew Asserhoj from travels in Peru, and Hamilton first met her in Australia, and later traveled with her in India. Lizbeth thought the two would get along, and went so far as to invite Richards on the India trip in hopes the two would cross paths and hit it off.
What started with some emails and Skype video calls, soon developed into a trip to New Hampshire, USA for Amanda, and month later, a trip for Randy to NZ. The two will be having the ceremony on the 3oth of May at Piha Beach near Auckland, New Zealand, Amanda’s twin sister, mother and friends will be present. The two will also plan celebratory gatherings in the U.S. when they eventually return.
Ceremony on N. end of Piha Beach, NZ
Both are lovers of the mountains. Hamilton has been a ranger for the Aspiring National Park for the last few seasons on New Zealand’s South Island, and has enjoyed trekking in Nepal, the Alps and other areas. Richards has been climbing, skiing and mountain guiding most of his life.
Tags:adventure travel, Amanda Hamilton, Dexter R. Richards, ecospiritual psychology, Experiential Education, Holistic Living, Hut Ranger, Mountain Spirit, Mountaineering, Mt. Aspiring National Park, mtnspirit.org, New Hampshire, New Zealand, Peru, Piha Beach, Randy Richards, Spiritual, Sunapee, Sustainability
Posted in Holistic Living, Mountain People, New Zealand, Spiritual | 1 Comment »
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