Come along as I go on a spiritual retreat with my daughter for the very first time. We check into the sleeping pods at 1440 Multiversity, a beautiful retreat facility in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Scotts Valley, CA, then hike around the property, exploring its many trails and extensive kitchen garden, identifying many plants along the way. After an amazing dinner of locally-sourced foods, our 4-day program begins with Dr. Jayanath Abeywickrama, or Dr. Abey for short.
Dr. Abey is an Ayurvedic doctor from Sri Lanka. He comes from a lineage of 31 generations of unbroken traditional Ayurveda practice, which is one of the world's oldest, holistic, whole-body, healing systems. Developed more than 3,000 years ago in India, it’s based on the belief that health and wellness depend on a delicate balance between the mind, body and spirit. Dr. Abey is an influential medical doctor and has worked with the Health Minister of his country and a former Prime Minister of India. He teaches his methods to Western-trained doctors in Germany, the United States and other countries.
Rankema means full body and mindwork, which is exactly what we got on this retreat. Over a long weekend, we expanded our consciousness around mind, body and spirit. We found clarity on what we really want in life, and we learned to rearrange the energies all around us and within us, pointing them in that one direction that matters most for achieving our goals.
This is something we’ll need to continue practicing as we work toward our goals, and yes, we must work to achieve what we want. This isn’t about wishful thinking. But having your energies 100% aligned with your goals is a powerful force for getting you wherever you want to be, and from this retreat, I have better, deeper tools for staying focused.
The Rankema Retreat is a major fundraiser for Hela Bima World, Dr. Abey’s pure rice project in Sri Lanka, and sponsored by Shari Chase of Chase International.
Shari Chase met Dr. Abey by chance while touring the pyramids of Egypt. They got into a conversation about sustainable living, and Dr. Abey shared the story of his village. 10 years ago, people in his village were getting sick and dying of pesticide poisoning. Factory farming had taken over Sri Lanka, and this was the unintended result. Dr. Abey knew that rice could be grown naturally, according to the ancient ways, and he knew of 246 ancient rice varieties that had been saved that could be used as seed crop. He evangelized this idea, speaking and writing all over the country, but people were afraid it would fail and that they would starve. However, he convinced his village to try it, and it worked.
After hearing Dr. Abey’s story, Shari went to visit him in Sri Lanka to see for herself. In a world of GMO food-with gastrointestinal issues increasing everywhere, a dangerous reliance on increasingly homogeneous, hybrid seeds, and unsustainable farming models requiring constant chemical input-Shari saw the enormous value of his work and decided to support his efforts.
Together they formed a foundation to help the farmers replicate their success throughout Sri Lanka and beyond. These pure rice strains that the Sri Lankan farmers produce, grown sustainably and blessed and energized by those who harvest it, contain more nutrition and medicinal value than rice commonly available in the west. But this rice also represents something else-the very best of humanity, people working together, in harmony with the environment, toward a solid, sustainable, energized future with heart-driven resilience.
Hela Bima Rice Project: helabimarice.com/
Rankema Retreat: rankemaworldsum...
#spiritualretreat #1440multiversity #Rankema
3 окт 2024
