TREES & RIVERS 3RD LEG :: A Blog

13-16/12/2018

We were in Stiersbach, for the first time for 11 years (so someone said). Fortunately there are new owners - Wolfgang & Anya - who were helpful & charming and very friendly too. So for a start, that was 'new'!

But then everything in this Meeting was new, from the very beginning. The teachings were mostly through words, but words that penetrated the participants, that led to many exchanges with them, and also to new kinds of explorations. Many people remarked about this - it's all new! new! new!

Sadhan writes: The space you, with your beautiful, clear guidance and sharing, brought me/us into a state just unlike anything felt before. To bring us into these states through words was just amazing! This time I tasted a state of being that I never experienced before. Words cannot express my gratitude fully, so my heart sings and tears come.

Yes, this time there was no direct energywork with the participants till 1st session Sunday morning, but the words expressed and what they pointed to, resulted in transformations.

Larida, who takes care of all the recordings (there were 7 talks and exchanges this time) writes: In the sessions I had moments of pure clarity. It was like being above the sea. I was asking myself, what is it? I never had this feeling before in this way. So on one hand the most exquisite state to be in. On the other hand the most boring state, no more dramas. Thanks for these great days together, something new arose.

Shanti writes: Connecting to the universal energy I can be anywhere, doing just about anything or simply nothing. All equal and nothing in particular is needed. Then I'm simply free.

So yes we cruised through the days easily together, very lightly, and we hit a new wind and things happened to many that have never happened before. It was like being in a new land, with new features - and therefore new responses and experiences - and views too as to what matters both now and ultimately.

Another feature was the unity of opposites. Beginning with the Zen Master's quote: When speech and silence are both unexpectedly Ch'an (a quote that has haunted me over many many years). Ch'an is the original word for Zen, and Zen means, apart from the Teaching, perfection.

And in this group, an equal oneness came between Action and Stillness. In one session, with soft music playing, there was such a variation among the participants in response - some sitting alone, a few sitting in small groups, one or two lying down, others standing without movement, some with, and the movements among those were both strong and soft, and yet it was clear to me that the whole room energy was in a state of Oneness, a single collectivity. A unity. Wonderful. No separations at all.

Cicera writes: Where there is nothing, there is everything.
A great discovery! She also wrote about this session: The last session Saturday felt like Christmas to me. Heaven is a place on earth. And we have the choice to live it.

Cindrilla from the Czech Republic (there are four from there on the Course) writes: Thank you a thousand times for the beautiful time we had together, I feel now that I am on the right path. She goes on to offer to translate one of the books into Czech, in response to the recent Newsletter (as others have done too - so far mostly into German).

And finally, as I assured them at the end of the Q&A, that, as always, there was there with us, the presence of the Uninvited Guest. Whose contribution is always enormous, if largely unknown.

At the end of a seminar I never have questions anymore, it's as if they disappear into space...so the only thing I can do is to thank you again for being present here and spreading the love. Manuel

Sarito writes: I feel like I walked through a washing machine this weekend. Now I'm looking at the washing - all mixed together, upside down, wrinkled, and I don't even know if it's clean. But it doesn't really matter. Thanks to you and T&R I have seen the light at the end of the tunnel and I have said Yes to my life.

I remember your story about a painter who was invited to the emperor's castle to paint a whole wall with nature and at the end, the painter disappears into the picture. It used to irritate me, where has he disappeared? Now I can see it. Thank you. Irani

So it's a great course, this Trees & Rivers, down to earth, as the name promises. And still two more legs to go in 2019...

Coming up first now will be the Winter Festival, with many of our regular lovers, and some new, always a celebration, and if it's as usual - then almost an all-night disco on the 31st, for the brave, the energetic, and the tireless!

We kick off the New Year at the end of January with WOSP, here at UNACHO - it will be my pleasure too!

Then we are in Bremen in Feb, after a spell with OPT7, then Prague at the start of March and then at the end of March a new 2nd annual group in Belgium, in Leuven as usual. And so into April - and from then on, see our schedule on the website.

Specially of course, and not so far ahead, we head for Corfu again with a great new venue. On this wonderful island that added so much to our visit there last year.
Then in July the new OPT8 starts (The Laughing Buddhas), followed by, in October, my new Special Course (for special people!), code-named Coming Home, something which of course I hope happens for all those joining up.

LotsofLove
Have a Great Xmas
and of course a Super 2019!
Michael