I give workshops and residential retreats in different areas of the country, both from my own initiative as well as at the behest of others. Upcoming workshops/retreats will also be listed on the Events page.
Completed events below: for upcoming events, to Events
CONNECTING WITH THE SPIRITS OF THE LAND
Hosted by the Grayson Co. VA permaculture community.
6-9pm, March 17, 2017, 108 Courthouse St. Independence, VA. Open to all; donation basis.
This is a talk aimed at the interests and needs of those who are committed to working with the land in a sustainable, harmonious way that takes into consideration the needs of the whole and not only human needs. There will be a presentation of the fundamentals of contemporary shamanism, the value of learning basic shamanic journey skills in order to communicate effectively with the land and all its constituents and elements, and time for a few experiences of journeying into non-ordinary reality in a natural, sonic-driven altered state in order to make contact with some beings of the unseen world.
MEETING THE COMPASSIONATE SPIRITS: Deepening your trust, love and resources
Closed group, Feb. 19, 2017. Open group, Feb. 25th, 2017
10am-5pm Sliding scale, $115.00-135.00
Listening Center, 35 South St. Barre, MA
This day long immersion in essential shamanic practice will give you the opportunity to meet and cultivate a council of Helping Spirits who constitute the navigational foundation of contemporary shamanic work. In addition to meeting and attuning to a power animal needed by you at this specific time, you will also meet and work with a wisdom teacher suited to you current needs and temperament; a Gate-Keeper who manages the portals of your perceptual sensitivities; a Body Protector who maintains the safety, integrity and sovereignty of your physical and subtle bodies; and an ancestral ally to help you cultivate the desired strengths of your biological lineage as well as release any inherited obstacles to your most authentic self-expression.
These allies will give you a fundamental assortment of resources with which to learn to cultivate your personal inquiries and reliably deepen your experience of expanded consciousness as well as of your divinity in the most loving and affirming ways. No prior shamanic experience is needed for this gathering. Once you have attuned to your council of Helping Spirits, we will work with ways to create effective and precise inquiries and learn how to implement into our daily lives the great beauty, balance and empowered humility the compassionate spirits have to share with us.
Please bring with you the following:
- an eye cover of some sort
- something comfortable to lie down on
- something to take notes with
- a small item meaningful to you to share on the altar if you wish
- water bottle
- a bag lunch. Water, hot teas and snacks will be provided
I also ask that you refrain from wearing any perfumes, essential oils or any other scents as we will be gathering in an enclosed space and will do our best in a fragrance-neutral environment.
There will be a post-workshop private Facebook page available for our group upon which you can post comments, observations, questions, etc. for the benefit of the group or yourself, and I will be responsive to your posts as supportive follow-up is critical for this endeavor to be of most benefit for you.
Entering into a contemporary shamanic practice is all about relationship and it requires similar efforts and qualities that any enlivening relationship does, i. e. transparency, deep listening, presence, openness, beginner's mind, vulnerability, dedicated time, respect, sincerity, patience, a willingness to make mistakes, forgiveness, humility, compassion for oneself, a sense of humor(very essential!), and a willingness to embrace change. As with most endeavors, a shamanic state of consciousness and the relationship with the Helping Spirits bestow their greatest gifts over time and with dedicated practice. It will evolve as you do for Spirit is never static; always dynamic and fluid. So please feel free to come and dip your toe in these waters to see if this is something that calls to you. Please feel free to ask questions at Contact Me
Shape-shifting, Sensuality and Slowing Down: Connecting with the Spirits of Nature
COMPLETED
A 4-day residential gathering. Registration limited to 12 participants
Location: A beautiful cabin on 20 private acres in Berkley Springs, WVA
November 10-13, 2016: I encourage participants to try and arrive after 3pm on Wednesday the 9th and leave before noon on Monday the 14th.
This retreat will focus on ways we can shift from simply exerting our will in how we live, work, love and create on the Earth---however well-intentioned---to the practices that allow us to work and live harmoniously with the wise and loving Spirit of Mother Earth. The practices and perspectives learned and the spirit allies connected with will give you the ability to discover what creations are being called for from you to support overall planetary balance at this crucial time; what your best resources are to invite that balance; how to perceive and support true human needs with the needs of other life forms; how to trust with equanimity that you belong here and can flourish when working in loving cooperation with the source of all Life; and how to really LISTEN WELL!
This will be a deeply immersive and experiential gathering. To support this deep diving in, our gathering is being lovingly hosted in an intimate cabin on 20 private, quiet and wooded acres in Berkley Springs, WVA. Please come as refreshed as possible as we will be exploring and working deeply for most of the time we're together. We will be starting each morning by 8AM for a greeting to the day, followed by an hour of private time for breakfast, etc. There will an hour mid-day for lunch, an hour early evening for dinner, and evenings after dinner will be times for ceremony and initiations. Although these are long hours time wise, they will often be refreshing and some of these times will be spent quietly and with a peaceful, inner intent and focus.
No prior shamanic experience is needed.
I ask participants to refrain from any trance-inducing plant medicines, rec drugs, or alcohol during the gathering.
I don't like to give too much away about what we'll exactly be doing as I hope to meet with your "beginner's mind" and not too many preconceived expectations. However, I also realize that you'll wonder just what you might gain from coming. To address that here is a bit to know:
- you will gain some classical shamanic spirit allies that enable you to work with upper and lower world explorations as well as the somewhat more varied middle-world terrain, which is the home of most nature spirits.
- you will receive gifts of power, protection and spiritual presence from these allies and learn how to relate to them with integrity, dignity, vulnerability and mutuality.
- you will receive important healings that help you navigate non-ordinary reality with more trust, curiosity and power.
- you will begin to learn what your unique medicine is and how to express it effectively and maintain it with care.
- you will begin to learn how to track your doubts and distrust; how to recognize and move beyond personal agendas and biases.
- you will explore your own personal energetic signature in non-ordinary reality and start to learn how to discern that of others.
- you will learn how to increase or decrease your empathic, perceptual portals---your spirit gates---in order to have the greatest clarity for what the helping spirits are conveying to you. Too little empathy and you will be in your mind and full of doubt and judgement; too much empathy and your own feelings and history will cloud your receptivity and objectivity.
- you will look for the first thread of how your ancestral lineage affects your relationship with the Earth, your body/mind/spirit/feelings, and work with benevolent ancestors to begin clearing your lineage of what's no longer working and creating ways of honoring your ancestors and invoking their presence and help.
- you will have a precious opportunity to encounter whatever sense of grief is separating you from a fuller joyful presence in your body and between you and the nurturing spirit of the Earth in a way that fully honors your path and is deeply supportive and dynamically healing. This opportunity will help your senses expand and soften so that you're more sensitized to the language of earth beings and not distracted by the very real but more transitory level of earth suffering.
- you will explore the intimate language of your own body, of your senses and how they correspond to your emotions, to your spirit and how those correspondences rise into creative urges and how to be most intentional with that process.
- and you will engage in very beautiful, loving, helpful relationships with being of the Nature kingdom
Registration Information:
Registration costs include meals and lodging, two post-retreat individual supportive phone calls for whatever is needed(healing/integration/information, etc.), and four weeks of active guidance for integration after the gathering by way of conference calls and recordings. Participants will also be invited to a private community Facebook page for sharing our shamanic experiences and continuing to explore together.
Standard registration is $725; $200 deposit due before November 10th.
There will be options to pay in three post-deposit installments (total of 4 payments). Deposits are due by November 10th. They are non-refundable unless your request for a refund makes me laugh. For any concerns and/or questions about costs/payments, please go to Contact Me. I will be creative and responsive about alternative installment payment plans with those who are serious and committed.
artist: Cathy McClelland
Meeting the Compassionate Spirits:
Completed
Westhampton Beach, New York
August 27, 2016 3-7pm Donation based
In all cultures across the world for tens of thousands of years, people have experienced being able to connect with benevolent beings of what is called the "unseen" world--whether you call them spirits, energies, or aspects of consciousness--for effective guidance and healing. These beings take on many different forms; sometimes a power animal like Bobcat, Raven, or Bear; other times some kind of teacher in human form like a Buddha, Osiris or Mary; a Freya, Pan or White Buffalo Calf Woman. Other times these beings come as archetypes, tutelary deities and compassionate entities of the Earth, like a fire element, gnome or tree spirit, depending upon what is needed by you at the time. In shamanic terms we call these beings Helping Spirits or Compassionate Spirits. Connecting with them, and receiving the great love, beauty, power and affirming companionship that comes from that relationship is your birthright and an ability everyone has coded deep inside.
Learning how to connect with these magnificent, powerful beings is a great gift and can give you the means to create a much more meaningful, graceful and fulfilling life where you fully recognize and accept the inherent wonder and magic of your own soul and of your true belonging and purpose. These helping spirits will also help you to perceive and appreciate exactly where you are in the moment, without needing to strive to be better or different. From this place of acceptance, sovereignty and love, your life comes into greater balance, awareness and creative joy on all levels. We need this for our own sake, and the world today especially needs each of us to live, choose and create from this loving, inspirited joy as well as from a deep acknowledgement of our connection to all life.
This gathering is an introductory talk designed to give you a sense of what this practice is about, help you navigate your questions, doubts, hopes and interests; and will conclude with an experience of what it's like to go into a natural trance state and begin the process of meeting the compassionate spirits that are there to be your allies in life.
Divine Embodiment: The Sensual Evolution of Your Spirit
May 19th, 6-9pm, May 20, 10am-8pm, May 21, 10am-5pm, 2016
artist: Eve Bessendorf
$285.00
Grayson Co. VA; Contact me for directions
This gathering will help you fall ever more deeply in love with your very human body as a source of trust, joy, wisdom, pleasure, grace, communication, power, understanding and intimate connection with the rest of life. We'll explore sensory based ways of re-envisioning our bodies to be our greatest ally: we'll experiment with different ways of communicating with the vast, communal consciousness of our bodies and how to recognize and trust what is received. We'll consider the genetic, environmental and conditioned belief patterns that have formed how we experience, view and relate to our bodies and our innate intelligence and then create ways to heal what is no longer supportive while cultivating inspiring, joyful and balanced ways of living as the beautiful and wondrous beings we are.
Throughout our time together you'll have many opportunities to connect with your own great nature, your personal spiritual allies, the spirits of nature, the ancestors and other benevolent beings of the unseen world. This will often be done through the method of the shamanic journey, but we'll also combine the shamanic journey process of inspiration and guidance with other ways to inquire, heal, create and learn. Some of these will likely include working with breath, movement, music and sound, envisioning, creative expression, meditation, inspired dialogue, intimate encounter with self and other, and ceremony.
For this gathering I am limiting the space to women only. If there is future interest, I will be happy to do otherwise for those who are comfortable exploring some of the issues around trust and intimacy in a mixed gender group.
Some shamanic journeying experience needed for this gathering. Please contact me if you're interested in this gathering, have no shamanic journey experience, but do have a tested, reliable process for communicating with what you relate to as the spirit world that can integrate comfortably with drumming and the shamanic process so we can decide together if it would be a pleasing fit.
The Immanent Kingdom: Your Soul's Home
July 2016
2 days, 10am-5pm; $235.00
Boone, NC
Second in a series of building core shamanic skills, this gathering continues where "Meeting the Compassionate Spirits" leaves off. In this workshop you'll become familiar with the landscape of the Middle World, which in shamanic terms is the unseen aspect of the world we live in. You'll gather some new allies that empower you to work with middle world dynamics. Those being:
- Gatekeeper: This helping spirit helps you maintain the integrity of your spirit gates, the portals of your energetic perceptions. Your gatekeeper also is a translator in that s/he can help you have clarity about what you receive in a journey, even if you don't understand a language or image, etc. Your gatekeeper will also help to maintain your personal boundaries.
- Body Protector: Your body protector is just that; an ally who merges with you and maintains the safety and boundaries of your physical and subtle bodies. This enables you to move in the middle world with your sovereignty intact while also helping with the equilibrium of your nervous system
- Emotional Body Protector: Your emotional body protector maintains your empathic receptivity to a degree where you can maintain understanding and compassion but where you do not become personally activated by what you might experience in a journey. Sometimes there are experiences we witness in non-ordinary reality (NOR) that can trigger our own pain, or elicit responses of shock, disgust, anger, etc. Your emotional body protector knows you, and will know how to help you maintain a loving sense of safety and care while you are journeying.
- Power Place: Your place of power is a crucial ally for all your journeys. This is a "place" in non-ordinary reality from which you begin most of your journeys and it is where you feel completely at ease; stimulated while also relaxed; alive, curious, and deeply connected to your essential nature and to your helping spirits.
- Benevolent Ancestor: Regular attunement to one of your ancestors who mastered a good life and a good death will increase your radiance and equanimity as you move within the Middle World so you can relate from a position of sovereignty.
With these new allies as part of your council of Helping Spirits we will then meet some of those beings with whom we share this planet; the nature spirits, devas, benevolent fae, the hidden folk, elementals, animal spirits, etc. We'll learn how to make contact with them, how they envision us living in harmony with them, and how we can evolve together cooperatively and creatively. We'll stick our little toe---briefly!!-- into our relationship to the construct of Time, as well as explore our relationship with the sun, moon, stars and with the living, radiant heart of Mother Earth. As we do this, we will continually set an intention to explore NOR from the question "Who Am I?" as well as ask for help in maintaining our balance, mindfulness and spiritual power amidst rapid and profound changes.
The Shamanic Journey
April 16-17th, 2016 10am-5pm
Jefferson, NC
$210.00
This is an introductory shamanic journey exploration in which you will have deep opportunity to sensitize yourself to an altered state of consciousness induced by drumming that is known to help create a theta brain-wave state. Shamanic explorers the world over have used this state to enter what is now called non-ordinary reality or NOR (thank you, Carlos Casteneda). This is also known as the Dreamtime and is a state of great creativity and heightened perceptions of energies that are beyond what our physical senses usually accommodate. This is also considered the spirit realm and in this realm it is possible to connect and communicate with spirit guides for guidance as well as balance and healing. These spirit guides, or helping spirits, may take the shape of a power animal, like Bear, Otter or Raven. Or they may come as a wisdom teacher such as Buddha, Osiris, Pan or White Buffalo Calf Woman. They may come as ancestral beings from your biological or spiritual lineage, or as elementals such as Fire or Water, a gnome or slyph; and they may come as nature beings such as a tree spirit or mountain deva. They will come in whatever ways are necessary for your energetic matrices to be shifted in the direction of wholeness and in ways that bring you the qualities you need at the time and in ways you can relate to.
During this workshop you will be guided to seek a power animal, a wisdom teacher, an ancestral ally and an elemental to stabilize you during journey sessions. You will also journey to discover your place of power in NOR, a place where you feel a deep sense of magic, safety, inspiration and peace. Once you've spent time learning about what kinds of power are being restored to you and have the opportunity to integrate these qualities, you will then be guided to work in pairs to find allies for each other, journey together to agreed-upon places, and to create strong, concise inquiries for exploration. You will also learn how to participate in the creation of ceremony to connect with the spirit of the Earth and discover what your emotional template is for that connection and how to support yourself and the circle through languaging intent, blessings and gratitude and creating an altar.
Please bring:
- a mat or something comfortable to lie down on
- something to cover your eyes
- a water bottle
- a bagged lunch for each day; teas and snacks will be provided
- something to write with
- something meaningful to you to put on the altar that you will take home and also something you feel connected to that is natural and bio-degradable to leave outside as a gift to the Earth (tobacco, cornmeal, sage, flower or birdseed, leaves, flowers, sticks, rocks/gemstones, etc.)
- drum or rattle if you have one
- curiosity
IGNITING THE SACRED TRILOGY: BODY/MIND/SPIRIT
Photo: Joan Sunday
With composer/shamanic practitioner Chris O'Brien
This two-and-a-half-day workshop, October 17-19, 2014, will explore the nature of being fully human through the intentional engagement of our Sacred Trilogy: body, spirit and mind. Using original, spirit-inspired music that has been intentionally composed to help expand consciousness and connect you with your own powerful inner knowing and landscapes, as well as core shamanic techniques, we will explore embodiment, connection to our spirit, and the skillful use of mind. This experiential gathering will include elements of movement, sensory-based intuition, feeling, envisioning, and intimate encounter with your true self and each other.
By first becoming present with and rooted in our bodies, and then welcoming our spirit, we will create a foundation of being and original intelligence. This experience helps you invite the realm of your dreams and visions into your body and daily life, and can root you in deeper receptivity for healing. From this place, we can then intentionally engage the mind as an ally aligned with our true sense of self and deeper purpose to complete the Sacred Trilogy. This final step shifts our core motivation from analysis to knowing, from concern to conviction, and fosters a committed focus for conscious self-expression.
This is an opportunity to connect with, truly appreciate and integrate the aspects of your being in the right order: body, then spirit, then mind. To learn more about why this is important, read below Music as Medicine and also Body/Spirit/Mind. Rising and evolving from the ground of sensual experience, it will also be an opportunity to discover or refine your essential purpose, and what the sources of vitality and inspiration are in your daily life.
Prepare yourself to be moved in evocative and unusual ways through the creative matrix of soul songs; to feel the beauty of your being as your body and emotions respond to the shimmering invitation of the music; and to emerge altered and filled with the uncontainable mystery of your original self as well as an illuminated path for all your possibilities. Prepare yourself to touch deeply those places within that so rarely receive the recognition and tending they deserve. No plant medicines will be used. We will use music as the medicine.
Whether you are new to shamanic work or very experienced, you are welcome to this gathering. It will be an embodied, joyful and open exploration of who we really are, and what our natural intelligence and wisdom has to share with us. We'll come together in a sensually rich and beautifully tended space on land that is inspirited and deeply supportive of powerful, intimate work. Each day you'll receive the benefit of staying connected to each other and maintaining the flow of our journey together while also eating sumptuous, healthy meals prepared for you; having periods of rest and integration; and revitalizing yourself through the spirit of Nature so present in this location.
We are excited for this time together and look forward to sharing in this powerful and life-shifting work.
Friday, Oct. 17th, 6-9pm; Saturday Oct. 18th, 10am-9pm; Sunday, Oct. 19th 10am-4pm
Location: Nederland, COGorgeous, private meditation retreat space overlooking Rocky Mt. ranges
Cost: $350.00 includes meals, drinks and snacks. (2 dinners, 2 lunches) $100.o0 deposit by Oct. 10th
MUSIC AS MEDICINE:
The fact is, music stimulates and nourishes parts of our brain that are inaccessible through language and typical thought. In recent years, neuroscientists have begun using music to treat the effects of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, depression, stroke, and other brain conditions. Think about how you feel at a concert, listening to your favorite song, or watching a movie with an amazing soundtrack. It’s powerful.
In the shamanic experience – or in the trance states of other practices – there’s a distinct transition from ordinary states of consciousness to non-ordinary states. For the experienced journeyer, making that transition is a shift that is practiced and cultivated through disciplined repetition. But for the newer journeyer, and even many old-timers, that shift can be blocked or challenged by the conscious mind or, if you will, the “ego.” That’s the voice that says, “You’re making this up,” or, “You’re not doing it as good or as right as everyone else,” or "What's for dinner tonight?" Thanks a lot, ego!
The magic and medicine of music is that it actually bypasses much of that ego noise, and stimulates and activates parts of the brain that are connected to expanded states of consciousness. Music also stimulates and nourishes our body and spirit in indefinable and amazing ways. Using music in sacred ceremony with intention profoundly increases engagement with the deeper parts of our physical, emotional, spiritual and mental selves.
The pieces Chris has composed for this workshop are inspired by spirit, and purposely designed to have simultaneous tonal, harmonic and rhythmic components that help us easily transition into that journey space; to achieve and take residence in an expanded state of consciousness. It is in this state that the mystery of knowing, seeing, healing and discovering that resides in our spirits and bodies can unfold in us, unobstructed (or more so) by the ego mind.
BODY-SPIRIT-MIND
The conventional phrase: Mind, Body, Spirit, is a wonderful gesture towards integration of the three main elements of being human. Yet, it is a little backward. Placing the mind first puts the filter of the ego – or elements of the ego such as fear, desire, hope, comparison, insecurity, distrust, greed, lust , envy, uncertainty, etc. – first, making it the lens through which all other experience is assimilated and defined.
To come into your Sacred Trilogy, the body must come first. This is our magic, our blessing, our physical intelligence which is alive with the ancient wisdom of the earth and the ancestors, and is the mysterious container that holds both the Spirit and the Mind. Then, embodied, we can powerfully call in spirit, connect with our higher or true self, and come into alignment with our natural expression of being without defining it through convention, fear or desire.
Once in this place, the Mind can be a powerful creation tool. The Mind is a wonderful creator, and as a servant of our truth an irreplaceable ally. But as the independent decider of our destiny, it can be a difficult and misleading master. Bringing the Mind into the mix deeply rooted in Body and Spirit allows us to engage in Conscious Dreaming – finding our underlying truth and purpose; as well as having the wherewithal to manifest these in our lives.
Through shamanic practice, music, guided meditation, body expression, personal encounter, and with the assistance of your helping spirits, peers, the instructors and your own spirit, we invite you to awaken your Sacred Trilogy of Body, Spirit and Mind.
This weekend gathering is an experiential journey, full of possibilities for deeply engaging sweet, intimate and powerful aspects of yourself and each other; and its shape will coalesce around your own unique knowing, openness and guidance.
ABOUT CHRIS O'BRIEN:
Chris O’Brien is a shamanic practitioner and composer. He creates soundscapes and rhythms designed to help expand conscious awareness of the mystery, and guide and drive the shamanic journey.
Chris has a long-time meditation practice, has been practicing Native American spirituality for more than 20 years, and has worked with many shamanic teachers and guides. Some of Chris’ teachers and trainers include:
· Malidoma Some
· Julie Kramer
· The Foundation for Shamanic Studies
· Elliott Cowan
· Alberto Martinez
· Steve Roach
· Byron Metcalf
· Reggie Ray
· Geshe Dorji Damdul
· HH Dalai Lama
· Many Native elders and teachers
· The Earth
· Spirit