Sit, Walk, Write: Nature and the Practice of Presence KURT HOELTING AND HOLLEY HUGHES October 24–26 (Fri eve–Sun) Learning Center
Poet and Zen meditator Jane Hirshfield believes writing a poem is an act of attentiveness. Through the experience, we learn to see more clearly with our full range of feelings and perceptions. The attentiveness that writing encourages is similar to the deep presence sought through meditation. Both rely on careful observation. Both move us deeply into the mind as well as the natural world. Experience a nourishing weekend with Zen meditation teacher Kurt Hoelting and writer Holley Hughes. We’ll combine meditation practice—both moving and still—with time to write
15 T $245, D $365, S $595
and ponder the works of several reflective authors. We’ll start each day with sitting meditation and Qi gong movement, share poems and short nature essays, then put our own thoughts into words following freewriting practices pioneered by Natalie Goldberg. Outdoors, we’ll enjoy hiking, meditation and gentle observations with Institute naturalists as a way to deepen our connection with the natural world. After healthy, organic dinners, our days will end with discussion and silent reflection. No meditation or writing experience is necessary.
360. 856. 5700 x 209
At one time, it was an ordinary expectation of elementary education that you would know something about natural history, so what happened? After World War I, and during the buildup to World War II, there was a stronger imperative toward the technological, primarily for the purpose of warfare and international competition. Natural history really began its decline in the universities. When Sputnik I was launched, so were all of the advanced math programs in schools. Universities wanted hotshot scientists who were doing molecular and biochemical work. Natural history was considered passé, hokey, unsophisticated and anecdotal. They were trying to make the science better, but they were throwing out the people who were the backbone of knowledge for the outdoor world. I think natural history as a part of academia has to some extent redeemed itself. There are a lot of closet naturalists in the universities— people who were able to have a foot in both camps. But what isn’t getting done? One big hole is disseminating natural history, at both the artistic and factual level, throughout the culture. And that is woefully important. I really do think that the root of not only the ecological crisis, but also many world ills, lies in our almost willful profound ignorance of the natural world.
www.nca s ca des .or g
©BRAD TUNINGA
Robert Michael Pyle
Robert Michael Pyle is a naturalist and author of many books including 2007’s Sky Time in Gray’s River. A longtime Institute instructor, Pyle is embarking on the first-ever Butterfly Big Year, in which he’ll identify as many of the 800 species in North America as possible in one calendar year.
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