2009

SENEGAL, West Africa

Participants can chose to financially sponsor or work hands-on in building life-giving water wells.

Service & Music
Led by Vijali Hamilton & Edie Hartshorne
January/February

An unforgettable journey to the village of Ziguiinchor to help build wells, create potable water, or just enjoy the warmth of the local villagers. Boat trips, fishing, birding. Spacious rivers, delta and gorgeous ocean beaches. Travel by fishing canoe or taxi to Abene, the beautiful seaside village known for music festivals, djembe and dance teachers. Perfect place for: drumming, meditation, dance & nature trips.

INDIA

NIA at Auroville
with NIA Teachers Danielle Woermann, Sabine Zweig & Philippe Beaufour
January 17-27

NIA (and yoga, Indian dance, tai chi, aikido, Pilates, horse back riding, surfing) between coconut trees, sandy beaches and dolphins. Founded by Sri Aurobindo this international spiritual community has been supported by UNESCO since 1968 and is recognized as the only internationally endorsed ongoing experiment in human unity. Concerned with sustainable living and future cultural, environmental, social and spiritual needs of humankind.

BAJA, MEXICO

Sea Kayaking and Whale Encounters
with RiverGuidess Adventures
February/March, dates TBA

These 6 to 8-day tours include the best of Baja. Enjoy close encounters with gray whales in their birthing waters on Magdalena Bay. Then relax at a secluded eco-retreat center on the Sea of Cortez. Sea kayaking, snorkeling, hiking, horseback riding, hot springs, evening fire circles, delicious food ... It’s all here! Facilitated programs with music, movement and more.

UTAH

Sacred Colorado River, Canyonlands
Cross Cultural Initiation into the Sacred Feminine
Led by Vijali Hamilton & Mary Rockwood Lane
May 11-17

In ceremony with our Navajo, Ute, and Hopi neighbors explore the higher feminine through, music, poetry, dance, and art. The sound of water, soaring eagles, sacred red earth, plateaus and vistas will be our teachers. This empowerment will support us in returning to our communities carrying our deepest visions into action.

PARIS

A Tour of Parisian Courtesan Haunts
with Susan Griffin, poet, essayist, playwright and screenwriter
June and/or September

Spend a week in Paris with acclaimed writer and thinker Susan Griffin, named by Utne reader as one of a hundred important visionaries for the new millennium.

Inspired by Susan Griffin’s The Book of the Courtesans, A Catalogue of Their Virtues* , explore cafes in the 9th district, Baudelaire’s salon and neighborhoods of some of the most illustrious muses who inflamed the hearts and imagination of our most celebrated artists. Often born to poverty, unlike most upper class women, courtesans were free to mingle with men, attend salons, frequent cafes and artist’s studios, speak openly about forbidden subjects and were privy to an education rare for their gender. Many became accomplished as poets, novelists, philosophers, wits, painters and performers. Courtesans invented the can can at the Moulin Rouge and presented celebrated acts at the Folies-Bergère. Explore the real Paris and see where they helped to influence and shape the sensibility of modern literature, painting and fashion. (Madame de Pompadour, Marie du Plessis, Coco Channel and more)

Madame de Pompadour, a commoner elevated to the aristocracy by Louis XV who he made her his official mistress and patron of the arts

Jeanne Duval, Baudelaire’s Haitian mistress who inspired his poetry.

Coco Channel, who said, “I was able to start a high fashion line of couture because two gentlemen were outbidding each other over my hot little body”

Susan Griffin’s work has been translated into 17 languages and is taught in colleges and universities internationally.
NEA, Macarthur Grant, Emmy award recipient
Pulitzer Prize, National Book Critics Circle Award finalist
NY Times Notable Book of the Year
Commonwealth Club’s Silver Medal for poetry

Bibliography

* The Book of the Courtesans, A Catalogue of Their Virtues adds a new dimension to our understanding of sexuality, women’s history and the evolution of Western art and literature. It explores the effects of beauty, seduction and the mysteries of the erotic energy at the heart of both charm and power.

Wrestling with The Angel of Democracy: On Being an American Citizen. explores the role democracy in America has shaped both her life and her consciousness.

A Chorus of Stones - A radical revisioning of the nature of war and gender.

 Woman and Nature - The classic work that inspired eco-feminism.

The Eros of Everyday Life -The profound connections between religion and philosophy, science and nature.

What Her Body Thought - A compelling account of the interplay between illness, story, meaning, and the soul.

Sustainable Business Alliance
www.sustainablebiz.org

Green Yoga Association - Practice Lightly on the Earth
www.greenyoga.org

www.studiorasa.org
info@studiorasa.org

Marissa@studiorasa.org * 510.704.0379 © 2006

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