2005 Retreat: Space, Place and Grace

Once again we enjoyed another magical retreat at Westerbeke. This year's program, Space Place and Grace- the Art and Science of Feng Shui was presented by Diane Bush, RN, MPH who owns the Creative Connection. Diane taught us the basics of the Black Hat Sect method of Feng Shui, giving us practical applications to use at home and work. Recognizing the skeptics among us, Diane allowed plenty of leeway for individual interpretations and personalization.

She taught us how to use Feng Shui principles in a modern way, not just with the same old tools used by the ancients. We learned that we already have a lot of the wisdom of Feng Shui in our own hearts and minds and should learn to trust our own intuition. Intention forms the key to success in Feng Shui. When we create an intervention in the spaces, we should have firmly in mind the outcome we intend. I have heard from several gals since the retreat that they feel they benefited greatly from the program and considered the presentation a great success.

Saturday night we enjoyed one of the most rousing entertainment programs ever. Katherine Cruise's gorgeous and talented cousin, Betsy Flood entertained us with her fabulous "belly dancing", and then shared with us the fascinating history of the true meaning of "belly-dancing". We learned that originally women of the Middle East and northern Africa shared this special dance among themselves to "dance" infants into the world. The motions of the dance strengthened the muscles used in childbirth and helped create a painless delivery. What a wonderful and joyous way to welcome a child into the world! The musicians also shared the history of their instruments and stories of how they came to this unique art form. Then we joined in by donning glittering costumes that Betsy brought and learned dancing moves to the beat of that incredible music. We even had a chance to try out the wonderful drums. It was a special night.

The art project went along with the Feng Shui theme, teaching us the importance of balance as we attempted to create our own Calder style mobiles from wire, colored paper, and found objects. Leslie Allen and Nan Croley brought beautiful examples to look at and model our pieces after. As always, the results impressed everyone with their variety, elegance, playfulness and creativity. I'm sure several of us ended up with nice pieces to hang in our living rooms. Thank you, Leslie and Nan!

On a tragic note, we learned Friday night that Andrea Walhof's husband died of a heart attack on Friday afternoon after Andrea had left her home in Truckee for the retreat. Andrea's husband was 47 years old, had no history of heart problems (at least that he shared with others), and left Andrea with 2 teenaged children. The group circulated cards for signing and Janet sent a letter of sympathy and support to Andrea with the group's signed cards from the retreat. Together we all walked the labyrinth in support of Andrea. I hope that she felt the prayers and good wishes that we were concentrating in her and her family's direction. As all that energy emanated from the center of the labyrinth, we all felt the bond that we share and realized the tenuous hold that we have to this world and everything in it.

Galen Cranz reported that she is assisting at U.C. Berkeley with the management of Sigrid Rupp's bequest of a bi-annual semester's research position for a woman practitioner, and will keep us up to date with its progress. Galen is doing her best to make sure the funds are not diverted from Sigrid's intentions. Janet Crane tells us that we did OK with the finances: covered our costs, provided a small number of scholarships and created a modest surplus for special needs. Thank you very much Heather Sprague for taking on the job of managing the money, and agreeing to do it again next year. Thank you, Janet Crane for being our fearless leader once again. It was another unforgettable retreat in a long series of memorable retreats.