At this moment we’re in a pretty awful mess. Pretending otherwise is insanity. At the same time, I see a lot of people doing good work.
Many are discovering sacred medicines. Perhaps the mystery makes no mistake and the reason that sacred medicines are coming into the light is because we humans are ready to wake up. Let’s raise the bar and guide one person at a time responsibly and in right relationship, so anyone who is called can take part and no one should feel left out. There is a place for each to take one step toward healing and growing. Let’s lean across divides and join hands with help of all the forms of human potential movement practices we have available.
Root and Bloom Institute is not just a dilapidated building undergoing an extensive remodel—it’s an initiation. What should have been a spring opening, is now anOctober 1st soft launch.
The delay emerged from between various Berkeley building department divisions—a myriad of obstacles and no one person guiding the process. At the eleventh hour of the six month delay we were unsure whether we could keep going. Then, just as I thought we could not stretch any more, nor string expectant renters and workshop leaders along any further, I was listening to an audio book by Malidoma S. describing the initiation ritual his tribe put him through at age twenty-one. He couldn’t use any of the skills he’d learned and he knew survival was not certain. When emerging from the initiatory otherworldly dimensions, he found he had gained a new kind of confidence that prepared him to be a leader.
Being pushed to my limits without the context of a cultural initiation has been confusing and depleting. As I’m emerging on the other side, I’m reminded how the universe creates the right size tests for us. Seeing obstacles as our personal and collective initiation rites is not only important, it’s necessary if we’re to wisely tend our soul, community, and earth.
My take-aways so far: 1) Everyone is doing their best, without exception; 2) Don’t do big things alone; 3) Pause often and notice the helping hands
All the while… the new brick and mortar is drying… conversations about what trainings will return to the building, and how apparent gaps in offerings might be bridged, have been ongoing. The healing arts landscape has changed during the five years that the building has been shut down. As a culture, we seem to be embracing healing with the help of sacred medicines at a rapid pace. This needs to both be encouraged and also slowed down to the speed of the nervous system and trust. Traditional trainings are confronted with the possibility that their method may later be applied to sacred medicine work. For some trainers this can be daunting, but if clear boundaries and expectations are set, trainings can evolve along side our changing culture, and everyone can benefit.
Besides the already well-loved trainings, RBI invites the next generation of experienced practitioners to come forward and innovate ways to offer foundational skill building to the next generation of students. I am hopeful that a scholarship program can be devised to support both familiar trainings and new ones that move at the edge of evolution. I’m also excited about creating a referral service that connects those searching for therapies with practitioners.
The next newsletter will follow soon to announce a lineup for first offerings at RBI starting in October.
In the meantime there is one offering close to my heart I’d like you to consider joining at Sacred Stream in Berkeley, July 17-19: The Four Gifts of Chaos, by Matrixworks and Hakomi trainer, Mukara Meredith, and other seasoned teachers.
With love,
Joko
P.S.: my name change, from Jo to Joko stems from my dharma transmission last year in a zen koan lineage I’ve practiced for fifteen years. The meaning of Joko is, accumulating good. Why make a fuss about this? Arguably the psychedelic movement of the sixties is what brought zen to America. Now perhaps the current psychedelic movement could use a bit of contemplation and slowing down, so the mystery can be better understood.
