Exploring Community

Exploring Community – where to settle?

I was feeling unsettled last week about not being settled in a home. After some reflection and Avatar practice, I realized I can feel settled wherever I am. We also don’t need to find a “home” right away; we make our home anywhere. We are looking forward to having a continuous place with enough space to meet our needs, probably a 1 BR to start, and definitely with a kitchen.

Before we left on our cross-country trip, we met with our New Culture community in VA and brainstormed characteristics of the community we would like to live in. Here are some of the topics, with a brief status on where we are. Kule and I are both looking for places with great spiritual community (sangha) and to develop our offerings of spiritual counseling and personal growth facilitation. The last two items (Aliveness and Purposeful Contribution) was added by us during our trip; it has left me feeling excited about where I am.

Climate – We want a climate that allows for passive solar and mild temperatures, to get away from dependence on fossil fuels. We love the Pacific northwest, and in the winter it is rainy and cloudy, making for less sun. We are drawn to Santa Cruz, CA and Ashland, OR for climate, so far. Port Townsend, WA and Nevada City, CA also look like great options with a lot of solar and rare snowfall. The Redwood forest in Santa Cruz is magical.

Water – There is plenty of water in the Pacific northwest and in the Sierras. That is a consideration for us, for sustainability. I don’t need to live right near the ocean as long as I have mountain streams and lakes. (Having said this, I do feel at home near the ocean, having lived near it my whole life!)

Transportation – Portland, CA Bay area and Seattle all have great transportation within the cities. Bike paths are everywhere, particularly in Portland and Eugene – if you live in the city you don’t need a car. Orcas Island is beautiful, but you really need a car to get around the island; this is true for the hills of Santa Cruz (Ben Lomond and Boulder Creek) as well.

City Size – Eugene is a cool small city with great accessibility, a sense of community (very friendly), and great street music and community markets. Santa Cruz is also a manageable city and right on the ocean. Portland has a great layout with its neighborhoods, but I wouldn’t choose to live right in the city in Portland, Seattle, or the Bay area. Ashland, Oregon is more like a town, very comfortable and worth more exploration than the ½ day we had there, although it is a bit pricey. We definitely want to live more in the country, but living on the edge of a city or in a country-like city dwelling is an option, perhaps in Eugene or Ashland where it is more affordable than CA.

Intentional Community – Would we share land with others? Perhaps. We have yet to find an intentional community we would jump to move into. We visited some with wonderful organic gardens, and I would love to be part of that. It definitely must be dedicated to personal growth, personal responsibility; spending time doing the Forum training in the Ganas community in NY has made that clear for me. So far Eugene strikes me as a town that has great community. We will continue to explore some ICs and co-housing on the west coast. We like the idea of shared resources and community center space. Spiritual loving community is important to us, and we are finding this in virtual networks in Santa Cruz, Eugene, and Marin areas. UC Santa Cruz has a degree in consciousness!

Music and Arts – I of course am gravitating to exploring cities and areas with great music and arts. Eugene and Santa Cruz have great opportunities for music jams and kirtan, as well as Marin county. I plan to get my sound healing gigs going here as well!

Food Growing – Organic gardening and permaculture are plentiful in the northwest and northern CA, with year-round gardening in greenhouses. Costa Rica is year-round; we plan to visit there in the spring. It was wonderful to spend a little time at Lost Valley, a permaculture education center; we plan to spend some time there in December.

Dedication to Sustainability – The Oregon areas we visited appeared to be the most dedicated to sustainability, with major town goals (such as Ashland) to reduce carbon footprint and fossil fuel usage, and promote buying local. The homes in Eugene are old and many are not equipped for low oil consumption; solar heating is not available most of the year, unfortunately.

Cost – California (especially the Bay area and coastal areas) is still expensive; Oregon is generally more affordable, although Ashland is like new California. I could see living closer to the city to get established, and then moving out more rural later on. Sharing property with others should be the least expensive path, but there is lot of work and it takes savvy to do it right; I’ve been reading Diane Christensen’s book Creating Community, an important primer on legal, social, and logistical advice to make a community work. We’re not ready to consider that now; it could change if we find the right combination of people and place, perhaps Costa Rica or other places in Central America are options for the least expensive place to live. Living in a more expensive place would make sense if money can be made easily doing what we love to do in a “retired” fashion.

Aliveness – I felt the aliveness and community resonance most in my experiences in Eugene and Santa Cruz, with a brief into to Marin County (Sebastopol and San Rafael). Orcas Island is also magical, with a much smaller community that does not always commit to doing things together. It is definitely an inspirational place, like a retreat center for me. One thing that I discovered the other day that is key to my aliveness is being able to be fully myself, with my Argentine blood, in an area that embraces diversity. New England has challenging for me, with its WASP culture.

Purposeful Contribution – I believe this another critical element in finding a home. Where can I feel I am making purposeful contributions in my life, to serve the world in some way and experience completeness and peace about who I am? I want to be inspired to play music with good musicians tuned into Spirit and record CDs. My primary goal is to get my book Messages from Jason published, along with his photography and getting his music out into the world. This could easily lead into a new path of spiritual counselor and channeler. Kule is looking to launch his personal growth facilitation practice. We both want to build community and facilitate Zegg Forum and other rich group practices.

I received a big insight about purposeful contribution yesterday on the plane from San Francisco to NY to complete our Forum training:

We build community; we aren’t necessarily looking for the perfect one. What gets us excited is to create community (home) wherever we are, and to assist others to do the same. We have been involved in many wonderful virtual communities, and have hosted gatherings at our home, so we are used to being in community without living with people full-time. I’m leaning toward finding the right culture, the right area in which we feel most alive and that inspires us to do more community building.

I will write more about this in a later article about Building Community. Kule and I are currently in NY doing a training on Zegg Forum to have another tool to help build community!

Santa Cruz, CA - 10/15-22/10

2000+ yr Granfather tree - 250 ft tall!

Santa Cruz is a cool place. We immediately loved the redwoods, the ocean, the old hippie-ness, the relaxed style, the diversity, and the center of consciousness exploration. We could see ourselves hanging here for a while, and we might be back in November after some more explorations north along the coast of CA and Oregon.

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I feel at home being near the ocean. The Pacific is wild and cold, and a great place for kitesurfers (see video – they fly!) A visit to Natural Bridges gave us not only a pretty coastline vista but also a not-to-be missed visit with thousands of monarch butterflies who winter over in the aromatic eucalyptus trees and feast on the local milkweed.

Nature is beautiful here. The walk among and inside the giant ancient redwoods was magical, and we got to hang with our buddy Rob who moved here from Gloucester 5 yrs ago; he loves it here.

Rob introduced us to Ahuti and Svargo, who rented us their backyard cabin in the redwoods. It was a retreat space for us, greatly appreciated after being on the road for 2 months. This one-week stay was the longest in any place since we left Ipswich, and it was a great temporary home. Ahuti is an acupuncturist and Svargo teaches zen art (http://www.svargozen.com/); they are long-time meditators and Osho disciples. We enjoyed getting to know them and following tips from them and Rob to get to know the area.

We went to an art show of a friend of Ahuti and Svargo, a woman named Coeleen Kiebert who lost her son several years ago. We talked about our grieving and her spiritual insights, and she showed us the sculptures she did to assist her in that process. Her latest series is the Bardo Navigators, whimsical characters outfitted in navigational equipment to move through the Bardo after death and before the next life.

Santa Cruz is a new age center, and that also makes us feel right at home and also inspired. We hung out for an afternoon with 80-year old silent Baba Hari Das at the Madonna Center on a Himalayan-style mountain and joined a ritual at the Hanuman temple.

Peggy Black's Water from 300+ sacred world places

We met an ex-surfer spiritual teacher named Moki, and reunited with Kule’s friends and NVC (Non-Violent Communication) leader Kelly Bryson (and his partner Torrie), as well as famous sound-healer and spiritual channeler Peggy Black (http://www.morningmessages.com/) who I knew through NESHRI (now Sound Healing Network).

I could see myself doing more sound healing and music here as well as networking for my book and getting Jason’s photography and music out there. Kule is also looking forward to launching is personal growth facilitator practice. This town has a graduate degree in consciousness!

Our next stop was Sebastopol to reunite and perform with Christine and Kem of our old healing music ensemble Bluegate, and to reunite with Kule’s friend Dakini from Sufi Abode days. We will post more about Marin county area in the next post….Now on the way to NY to do a training on Zegg Forum, a great tool to build community, something we love to do!

Truckee, Lake Tahoe, Nevada City, CA – 10/9-14/10

Visiting my brother Al and his family in Truckee, CA rounded off our “brothers visits”, having visited all of our brothers on this cross-country trip. It’s been a joy to hang with my nieces Mia and Talia, as well as Al and Nancy in their beautiful log home in ski country near Lake Tahoe.

Our first day we did some bumpy 4-wheeling through Tahoe National Forest to Crystal Peak to pick quartz crystals. It was a treasure place for the girls, and for me, I must admit. A beautiful view and picnic as well.

The next day Kule and I ventured into the forest exploring back-country roads, an old railroad bed, and Boca Lake.

Lake Tahoe was our destination the third day. We drove around the lake and enjoyed the views of Emerald Bay and Eagle Falls.

Sunsets are always beautiful at L. Tahoe.

Al took us on a hike at Donner Lake, where I took in a very quick swim in the cool water, and Kule did some rope swing. We had the place to ourselves; we refrain from posting photos of our birthday suits.

Thanks, Al, Nancy, Mia, and Talia for a great time! We will probably be your neighbors soon, someplace out on this beautiful west coast.

On our way to Santa Cruz we wanted to see Nevada City; it has a good climate and deciduous trees, reminiscent of some old mill towns in New England. This was a big mining town during the gold rush. Al suggested checking out Malakoff Diggins, home of hydraulic mining for gold, that was eventually shut down because it destroyed downstream farmlands. I felt the emotion of seeing the earth destroyed and cheering the court decision to shut it down.

Malakoff Diggins

Hydraulic Monitor

Kule got gold fever and panned in the creek where gold still exists today. He did find gold, fool’s gold (pyrite)!

When the mines shut down N Bloomfield became a ghost town; it is a museum today, and we got to  explore the general store and stay in an old cabin for the night. We took a spooky moonlit walk through the woods, making noise to alert the bear, and visiting the old school house, church, and the diggings.

Our haunted cabin

N Bloomfield ghost town today

Another gold mine in Nevada City is Ananda Village, a 800 acre village dedicated to the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda. We had a short tour and wonderful meditation here, and hope to return soon to explore this village and the community more later. Thanks to our tour host Krishna Das for the opportunities to exchange powerful blessings. We also heard more about Grass Valley, a neighboring town, as a potential place to live in spiritual community. More to explore....

Crater Lake, Ashland, Mt Shasta, Lassen Volcano – 10/7-9/10

Leaving Lost Valley, Oregon, we drove through beautiful Willamette National Forest (“oh, we can ski near Lost Valley”). Our destination was more natural beauty, to two places I’d wanted to visit for some time – Crater Lake, Oregon, and Mt. Shasta, California.

Crater Lake was stunning. It was a meditation being with the deep blue colors of the lake. It was windy and chilly that day, and as we drove around the lake we ended up in cloud-covered peaks, at moments wondering where the edge of the road (and the shear cliffs) might be.  The Pinnacles at Crater Lake is a fascinating area, with hollow tubes that are solidified remains of steam vents created from volcanic activity.

We drove that evening to Ashland, Oregon, home of new age authors Neal Donald Walsh and James Twyman. It is a charming small town with a 800 acre forested park and sweet hills. The food co-op tells of a cool community dedicated to sustainability. We had a short time here, enough for a morning walk after breakfast and a mid-day nap at the lake before heading to Mt Shasta, but we definitely want to check this town out more for potential living situation.

Lake in Ashland

Mt. Shasta is seen 50-100 miles away, so we got to hang with the mountain from various vantage points.  Arriving at 4 PM, we chose the Panther Meadows trail, a place of sacred ritual by the indigenous and new age visitors. This is truly a sacred mountain. Kule and I had special meditations here at the headwaters; I wrote about my experience connecting with Jason, and being with his flying eagle energy, in “Merging with Jason” at www.jasonmichellefoster.blogspot.com

Mt Shata Meditation at the headwaters

Lassen Volcano

En route to Truckee, CA to visit my brother Al’s family, we got a tour of the Shasta Lake dam and its osprey inhabitants, and drove through Lassen volcano national forest.

We are digging the west, and celebrating making it to the last west coast state in our journey across our nation, California!



Oregon - Portland, Eugene, Lost Valley IC - 9/27-10/6/10

Oregon is awesome. We have been enjoying the tail end of the sunnier months here, before the overcast rainy season starts and goes until June.  I can understand why locals deal with less sun, when the tradeoff is lush magical rain forest, fertile valleys, and abundant waterways.

We started out our journey in Oregon in the cities of Portland and Eugene.  We were immediately impressed with the great public transportation, bicycle use/paths and bike-friendliness, and other awareness of sustainable practices.  We stayed with friends we met through our culture network that we met in Seattle the first weekend of our  arrival in the northwest.

It was great to hang out with Ross and Joanna in Portland and to check out some of the funkier artsier neighborhoods as well as the beautiful oriental gardens. Coming from Orcas Island, the high city energy was a bit much for us, and we gravitated toward hanging out in the beautiful Japanese garden on our arrival.

The gardens were extensive, peaceful, and very zen. Again, we were impressed with the city’s attention to green space and good energy. We got a great view of Mt. Hood!

Dining in Portland is fantastic, and we got entertained along the way with some creative art, including a decorated vehicle on Mississippi Avenue.

Our second day, after orienting ourselves to the city and doing some needed errands, we gravitated toward the Chinese garden. It was like walking through paintings, the place was exquisitely and authentically designed to be a piece of art. We also enjoyed a traditional and timeless (i.e. long and relaxed) tea ceremony, sampling different teas from China.

 

 

 

We visited the Baghadad cinema, where they filmed “What the Bleep, Down the Rabbit Hole” (above).

In Portland we visited the intentional community of Tryon, a permaculture education center with a sweet children’s school and some agile goats and friendly bees.

Oregon is home to creative building of small structures, such as the icosa hut (icosahedrons – 10-sided domes) that can be raised easily and inexpensively for singles and families.

Maitreya intentonal community, Eugene

We moved on to Eugene, where we stayed with our friends Bodhi and Cordy in their home that invites healing workshops. It reminded us of our home in Ipswich, only bigger and older (classic Eugene). Bodhi gave us some great tours of the university and the surrounding areas. We visited the intentional communities of Maitreya, Hearticulture, and Maya’s small community with icosa huts.  We shared pancake breakfast and music jams with Reba and other friends at Hearticulture and made friends with the pigs.

Our Eugene friend Bodhi

Our Eugene friend Tara at her husband David's restaurant - great food and great nusicians!

We attended an art walk where we got to see some great galleries and Kule’s friend from 30+ yrs ago Sufi Abode community, Tara, and her husband David play in their Accordions Anonymous band (video below). They also have a folk band called Red Pajamas where they perform their own compositions. We enjoyed our music and dining connections with them!

We also enjoyed the great street food and awesome young street musicians; my son Jason would have enjoyed meeting these creative young people.  The Saturday market is the biggest and best organic produce and creative crafts market I’ve ever experienced; it was a joy to taste the food and hear the highly talented street musicians (including a young man playing the marimba like Jason used to do).

We got a chance, finally, in nearby quaint and hip town of Corvallis to meet Lawrence Cole (associated with new culture and the Port Townsend Ecovillage) who does a wonderful song concert, where participants weave in and out, connecting with each other on the floor singing different parts.  We thought of our friend Michael O'leary in Gloucester, MA leading wonderful songs.

We could see living in Eugene with the comfortable-size city, creativity, sustainability awareness, and cool friendly people. It’s a town of young and old hippies and “cultural creatives”, and we felt right at home.

Lost Valley Permaculture Educational Center

Lost Valley Madrone Trail

It was hard to leave our friends in Eugene, and it made it easier to move into Lost Valley, where we stayed with our friend Melanie, who we met through Bodhi. Melanie is working on bringing more spiritual community to Lost Valley, and she invited us to offer a Non-Violent Communication (NVC) mini-workshop (by Kule), a Zegg Forum demonstration, and a sound healing circle. The facilities at Lost Valley are wonderful, and the land is magical. I wrote about a spiritual connection I had there on my other blog www.jasonmichellefoster.blogspot.com

We got tours of the gardens, the trails, the creek and swimming hole, and the educational and lodging facilities at Lost Valley. We also sat in on one of their regular community meetings, a sacred circle with a forum for open communication. We plan to return to Lost Valley in Nov-Dec to spend more time on this precious land, practice being in community and sharing our gifts with them, and learning more about permaculture.