Aug 3rd – 11th, 2012. Seven Day Wounded Healer Summer School Retreat

Register here
This workshop led by C Mikkal Smith, Ph.D., will enter into the Wounded Healer work, the Nekyia, which is the crux of the Shamanic Initiation and the path of individuation. We call this event Wounded Healer School because it is an initiation into the shamanic way of life and practice (and service). Through intensive work on ourselves we derive a personal data base of experience to draw upon in our professional healing work, and service.The technical focus will be on Sacred Breathwork, in the context of supporting shamanic practices: sacred ceremony, shamanic journeying, archetypal journeys, trance dancing, shamanic counseling, with dyads, group processing, and multiple presentations by those in the apprenticeship program. Apprentices will get some experience with facilitating or co-facilitating.

Plenty of free time, and a couple days at the Lake Michigan beach are structured into the week. Half the presentations will take place during the first visit to the beach, and the second half the next time. The rest of the week will be rich in shamanic journeying, shamanic counseling, and sacred breathwork.

If you are not in certification program, it doesn’t matter. The entire week is immersing ourselves in the depths of shamanism with Jungian insights to guide our experiences in non-ordinary states, using archaic techniques of ecstasy. The presentation topics will include very interesting material on shamanic cartography, death and rebirth, spiritual crises and emergencies, relevance of the hero’s journey and rites of passage, ritual process and leaderhip, shamanic and archetypal journeys, shamanic counseling—a rich diet. Some individuals, not able in certification program, will come in for just a couple of days for the sacred breathwork and healing.

Cost for the week is $550.00 plus food costs, and perhaps sharing of beach parking fees. Cost for those just coming for 2 days is $250.00 as in a standard workshop.

Meals: We will do this just as if we are on Manitou, where each buy our own food. The tuition does not include food. We eat a breakfast, can be oatmeal, cereal, breads or fruit. Bring whatever you care to for that. We will discuss food at the beginning to the workshop. Normally we purchase camp meals from Lunkers for the evening meal, and have light lunches. Area restaurants will also be available, and two night we will eat at restaurants around Lake Michigan after our day at the beach. We may choose to buy camp food as usual, or to pool our money for groceries for simple dinners. We will discuss all this on Saturday morning. Also, those of you who would like to cook a dish and bring would be very welcome. On breathwork days, our meal timing will be the same as in workshops, with allies eating first, and journeyers eating after their journeyes.

Swimming Pool: We may adjust our breathwork schedule to times of day when it is cooler. We will have a swim pool that Rhonda is generoously bringing available to cool off and refresh on the hot days or after sweat lodge.

What to bring:
Those in the certification program will need to have a special journal for this and subsequent workshop to write down and integrate workshop material. This will become a reference book for years of your practice a head, so purchase a nice one that resonates with you heart and shows respect to the work. Only stuff regarding shamanic initiation and training goes into it. All other participants should also have a journal or notebook.

Other items you will need.
At least two pens, different colors preferred (e.g. blue and black)
Tent
Sleeping bag and pillow
Flashlight
Insect repellant
Swim suit
Long socks
Sandles
Beach shoes if you want
Drums, rattles, flutes, guitars…
Journey mat if you have

SCHEDULE

FRIDAY
Sacred Fire & Story Telling
Purification Lodge
Orientation for the Week -Mikkal
Shamanic Journey

SATURDAY
Fire Talk: Mikkal will share his Amazonian Experience and Ayahuasca Ceremony
…and compare this with sacred breathwork.
Assessment of your current knowledge
Review of the principles of Shamanic Counseling
Dyad Practice
Group Discussion of Dyads

Sacred Breathwork I

SUNDAY
Group meeting Nekyia Talk and Shamanic Journey
Shamanic Counseling & Dyads
Sacred Dance
Sacred Breathwork II

MONDAY
Lake Michigan All Day—lots of free time to connect with the Elements of Wind and Water. There will be a group process of the previous evenings breathwork session. –half of the apprentice presentations will be shared. We will take our drums and rattles, and a jamb box for some ceremony on the beach, and sacred dance, dance of the spirits, etc. We will picnic at the beach, and perhaps stop at an area restaurant after sunset—bring some cash for that.

TUESDAY
Archetypal Journeys: For Empowerment and Insight
Dyad processing of the journeys and anything else you want to process

Sacred Breathwork III
Sacred Breathwork IV

WEDNESDAY
Morning Fire Talk
Group Process

Free day-time to connect with the plants (Earth-Element) and Fire.

Sacred Breathwork V
Sacred Breathwork VI

THURSDAY
Lake Michigan II. Group Processing of Breathwork. Second half of Presentations.
Plenty of Free time to connect with wind, water, and journal and play.
Picnic and Restaurant planned afterward.

FRIDAY
Fire Talk
Shamanic Journeying
Assessment II & Followed By Group Discussion
Discussion of Training and experience for the coming year, and of what you will need to learn and master to be ethically certified at the independent and level.

Sacred Breathwork VII
Sacred Breathwork VIII

SATURDAY MORNING
Group Process and Closing Circle.