www.GoNaturalAwakenings.com
through a completely different lens.” As examples, she cites neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander, who recounts his near-death experience in his bestselling book, Proof of Heaven, and neuroanatomist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, author of the bestselling memoir My Stroke of Insight. Taylor’s 2008 TED talk was ranked the nonprofit’s second most-watched for the past two years. Both of these cutting-edge thinkers have given presentations at Omega, which, like at Esalen and Kripalu, helps bring ideas and practices that
Courtesy of Omega Institute for Holistic Studies
Courtesy of Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
growing interest in diverse dimensions of yoga, dance and “authentic movement” for healing, addiction recovery, releasing trauma and energy medicine. Psychotherapist and yoga teacher Stephen Cope, founder and director of the Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living, the Center’s yoga research department, notes that many guests first come to Kripalu “… as a result of some form of suffering. Then they engage in a period of self-exploration—perhaps learning some form of contemplative practice to help them manage themselves more effectively. Almost always there is a turn outward, back toward the world, and a longing to bring the healing power of contemplative practice into their own domain.” Once someone has experienced the benefits of contemplative practices such as yoga, meditation, breathing and other healthy lifestyle routines, notes Cope, a powerful aspiration typically arises to share these practices and perspectives. “These practices all lead to a sense of union, relatedness and sameness with others,” he says, “and this burgeoning consciousness of sameness compels us to share what we’ve learned.” In Rhinebeck, New York, the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies offers similar self-empowering and reflective opportunities. Dr. Stephan Rechtschaffen and Elizabeth Lesser founded Omega in 1977 as a “university of life.” Through working with prominent Zen masters, rabbis, Christian monks, psychologists, scientists and others, Lesser has found, “By combining a variety of religious, psychological and healing traditions, each of us has the unique ability to satisfy our spiritual hunger.” Based since 1981 in a former camp on a lake with more than 100
buildings on 200-plus acres, Omega hosts more than 23,000 guests in up to 500 programs between mid-April and October, plus special programs in Costa Rica and New York City. Director of Rhinebeck Programs Carol Donahoe notes the rising interest in workshops on dietary cleansing, detox and juicing, such as “Reboot with Joe Cross: A Jump Start to Health and Weight Loss,” led by the filmmaker of Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead. Personal transformation and mindfulness programs led by teachers like Jon Kabat-Zinn, Saki Santorelli, Florence Meleo-Meyer, Byron Katie and Pema Chödrön are perennial favorites. “As humans, we continue to be fascinated by the big questions in life,” observes Donahoe, “like, ‘Where do we go when we die? Who are we if we are not our thoughts?’ People seem particularly drawn to hearing about it from those that have always lived their lives in a left-brain, logical way, and then come to believe the unexplainable through an extraordinary life experience, and now view the world
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