Mt. Kailas Sacred Pilgrimage and Kora - 30 Day Tibet Pilgrimage
Asia ( 8/11/2012 - 9/09/2012 )
International Pilgrimages

John's description of this extraordinary expedition style retreat is as follows: "Our pilgrimage is to one of the most sacred mountains in the world, Mt. Kailas in Southwestern Tibet. This is THE Sacred Mountain to the Tibetan Bon, Tibetan Buddhists and Hindu Tantrikas. Our circumambulation (kora) around Mt. Kailas includes a pass well over 18,000 feet. This trekking part of the pilgrimage is rigorous, and only those who have conditioned themselves by spending time at higher elevations thoroughly beforehand should consider coming.

One very unique aspect of our Kora will be making a series of solo meditation retreat and vision quest camps to each of the four directions, as we do our walking pilgrimage around Kailas. If we have the time, and everyone's health holds up, I plan one to three nights of solo mountain retreat (vision quest) at each of the four direction stations to the south, the west, the north and the east. We will probably be the first contemporary Westerners to do this style of deep retreat at Kailas.

If possible, all those considering joining us should be of very good health and spend at least several weeks to a month at an elevation of 11,000 feet or above immediately before the pilrimage to help prepare for the thin air of the Tibetan Plateau.

Although difficult and demanding, this 30 day journey promises a profound immersion in the deepest levels of Source. The teachings given during the pilgrimage will support this extraordinary opportunity for recognition of our fundamental True Nature."

Although this program is open to all who have prepared well internally and externally, a number of John's senior Advanced Awareness Training students will also be joining in this powerful pilgrimage.

Cost: To be announced
Teacher:
John P. Milton

Nature Quest on Espiritu Santo Island, Sea of Cortez, 7 Day Program
Mexico ( 2/21/2013 - 2/27/2013 )
GaiaFlow
International Pilgrimages
NatureQuest
Qi Gong Training
Sacred Passage

Immerse yourself in a sacred journey to Baja California's wild, beautiful Espiritu Santo Island, a World Heritage Trust Bio-Reserve in the luminous Sea of Cortez. This Nature Quest will be the Way of Nature's first program at Espiritu Santo Island and in the Sea of Cortez. We will also spend time in the lovely historic town of La Paz (The Peace), the capital city of Baja California del Sur. Our Nature and Source Awareness Training will be based in this tropical, dramatically beautiful coastal area. The La Paz area contains natural oasis' of tropical gardens with palms, mangos, papayas, bananas and citrus - local gardens will provide us with our own fresh fruit and the local Cortez Sea will support us with delicious local seafood during John's Awareness Training, before and after the coastal wilderness solos.

This program's Nature and Awareness Training will share extensive teachings on John's universal 12 Principles for Natural Liberation: a direct path to enlightenment that honors the essence of all the world’s great liberating traditions. He will also teach practices that open profound connections to Source Awareness, Nature and the Elements. The integrated solo time allows for a great deepening of these practices and will be a heart-opening and soul-enlivening experience.

Your solo is on a secluded beach, often in a beautiful cove enclosed by hills, bluffs and mountains. People are visited by friendly whales and dolphins during their solo. Bird life abounds, and a sparkling Sea of Cortez inspires communion with the depth of your Being. Watching the sunsets from these secluded beaches is incredible. From each solo site, clear skies stretch out over the vastness of the Sea and Sky - opening your Heart and merging your Spirit with sky and ocean's spaciousness and light.

Guides: John P Milton, Jennifer Menke and Brad Kahland
Teacher: John P. Milton

For pricing, more program information and to register, contact: jenniferbmenke@gmail.com

Costa Rican Pacific Coast - 12 Day Sacred Passage Solo Quest & Nature Retreat
Central America ( 3/07/2013 - 3/18/2013 )
GaiaFlow
International Pilgrimages
NatureQuest
Qi Gong Training
Sacred Passage
Tai Chi Training

Come explore the depths of your true nature in relationship with one of the most beautiful wilderness areas in Central America. This 12-day, all inclusive, Sacred Passage has been uniquely designed to bring you into deeper communion with inner and outer nature in order to facilitate greater vitality, purpose, and authenticity in your life.
The program begins with 3 days of awareness training, followed by 7 days of solitude in nature, and concludes with 2 days of integration. This awareness training will include instruction in qi gong, tai chi, Gaia Flow and sensing awareness practices along with uniquely designed teachings specific to the group. The intent of the awareness training is to give participants the tools to deeply relax and come into a heightened state of awareness. These tools can also be drawn upon during the solo time. The wilderness solo gives you the opportunity to let go of everyday distractions, stress, and social identity, while bringing rejuvenation, relaxation, and an authentic expression of self. During this time you will have the support of beautiful and pristine wilderness to help you cleanse, invigorate and enjoy the exploration of self and creation. Upon re-entry from the solo immersion we guide you through a unique integration process so that you may bring the gifts received from this experience into your everyday life.
In the 30 years these programs have been run, participants have found their experience to be rejuvinating, deeply transformative and insightful; many report experiencing positive changes in their careers, relationships, and personal lives. The Sacred Passage and other Way of Nature programs have shown that when we relax and become present to the great mystery of life, our lives become enriched with beauty and an experience of profound harmony.
To register and for more information please contact jenniferbmenke@gmail.com and info@sacredpassage.com

Price (Transportation to and from San Jose, organic meals, and lodging included):
Double room occupancy - $2,547
Private room occupancy - $2,797
Scholarships are available

Early bird discount of $200 if you register before February 1, 2013.
Receive $100 off if you bring a friend

Teacher: John P. Milton
Guide: Jennifer Menke

Chiricahua Mountain Wilderness - 10 Day Sacred Passage Quest Retreat
Arizona ( 3/29/2013 - 4/07/2013 )
Sacred Passage

The Chiricahua Mountains are one of North America's most beautiful and biologically diverse areas. Elegant trogons (a close relative of the Mayan quetzal bird), raccoon-like coati mundis and dwarf deer may greet you in your wilderness quest camp. Golden butterflies, abundant bird life, and rich forests surround your solo camp with one of the most biologically-diverse and abundant environments in North America.

This location in the Southeastern region of Arizona is one of The Way of Nature’s favorite base camps and Nature Quest destinations. The lush old growth canyon forests and cool streams adorn the landscape where an ancient volcano erupted 27 million years ago. Today this remote wilderness is home to golden eagles, trogons and even coatimundis. Doing a solo wilderness retreat here has provided support for many people seeking greater creativity & clarity, renewed energy and a pathway for their life purpose to open. Many report a feeling of liberation from suffering, leading to a more peaceful, fulfilling and tranquil life. Working with the 12 principles of The Way of Nature, participants will learn to quiet the chatter of a busy mind, relax and open their hearts to the gifts that nature provides. If you are physically or emotionally exhausted and cynical, dealing with the rapidly changing world, you will enjoy the opportunity to renew your energy, revive your spirit and restore your hope. A Sacred Passage is the perfect antidote for “Nature Deficit Disorder”!

During your training and alone time you will have the opportunity to learn powerful and practical ways to transmute old patterns and habits. You will enjoy 6 nights and 7 days with no cell phones, no reading, writing or distractions during your solo. Just you and the glorious gifts of contemplative and energy practices, surrounded by the magnificence of Nature. Participants emerge from this experience refreshed with a radiant and joyful new vitality to meet life’s challenges.

John has discovered ancient stone meditation seats throughout this ancient vision quest valley, which he will teach you to use during your Awareness Training. Numerous individuals have accomplished profound spiritual openings with the help of these primordial shamanic sites. A beautiful stream flows past most of the the solo quest sites, lush with large ponderosa pines and alligator juniper. Nearby cliffs provide soaring views, lifting the spirit towards Source.

Our private base camp cabins', constructed of local stone, are located next to the Chiricahua Wilderness Area; they provide a superb, comfortable support for The Awareness Training with full kitchen, refrigeration, shower and camping facilities. A lovely stream flows through our retreat center, making stream bathing possible, and deep pine forests surround us - filled with ideal locations for our outdoor Awareness Training prior to your solo quest. This Chiricahua Mountain Range is one of the most remote, pristine and beautiful areas in the American Southwest.

$1440 fee.
Guide: Led by
John P. Milton

Colorado's Celestial Sangre de Cristo Mountains - 12 Day Sacred Passage Quest Retreat
Colorado ( 5/23/2013 - 6/03/2013 )
Sacred Passage

Journey to one of North America's most powerful and ancient sacred places, Crestone and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Our alpine skies are vast, clear and spacious. No pollution mars the mountains or our lungs. The Sacred Passage group training and solo sites are very easy to access with a short walk at 8500 feet. Towering above our solo camps are five 14,000-foot summits that lift above the land here - a dramatic mountain panorama rivaling the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. Lovely groves of large ponderosas, aspen and cottonwood line the mountain streams; open savannahs of juniper and pinyon pine wash right up to the base of the mountains. Higher up, forests of bristlecone pine, spruce and fir clothe the slopes below the rugged, cliffy peaks. During your Awareness Training and solo you share the land with mule deer, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, pronghorn antelope and beautiful black fox squirrels. Bird life abounds and Eagles circle above. A large, beautiful stream flows for more than a mile across our private, protected land where we do Sacred Passage. The stream flows crystal clear and provides superb, revitalizing drinking water for all of us.

In the late 1970's, John P. Milton moved to Crestone and was the intitial discoverer of the ancient stone meditation seats that fill the land here. An estimated two thousand such sacred stone meditation seats cluster on the Sacred Land Trust area, the largest aggregation of such sacred sites in the world. Working with Threshold's Sacred Land Trust Project, The Way of Nature is fund-raising to preserve these extraordinary sites in perpetuity. Meanwhile, those of you who choose to do Sacred Passage Awareness Training and Nature Solo here are the beneficiaries; beneficiaries of deep immersion in the Sacred View that is profoundly supported by this amazing land and its stone seats. These special sites have been used for millenia of vision questing, ceremony and prayer. Your pilgrimage here to do Sacred Passage is part of that great lineage of the Land.

Native peoples trace back their vision quests and sacred ceremonies here for over 15,000 years. Our Sacred Land Trust land is also trying to preserve the majority of these ancient and sacred vision quest sites, as well as a large kiva and courtyard complex. As mentioned above, when you do your Sacred Passage here, you join with those who have entered the Sacred Way on this land over many thousands of years. Almost everyone who comes to do a Sacred Passage feels the powerful joy and opening of Spirit that this place offers. Give your good heart to Mother Earth and Great Spirit; receive an incalculable blessing.

$1800 fee.
Teacher and Guide:
John P. Milton

Brazil, July 2013: Offering three inspiring programs: First Official Way of Nature International Guide Training & Certification Retreat in Bahia; A public 8 Day Nature Quest in Bahia; A 2 Day Weekend of Natural Renewal near São Paulo, Brazil
South America ( 7/06/2013 - 7/28/2013 )
GaiaFlow
International Pilgrimages
NatureQuest
Qi Gong Training
Sacred Passage
Workshops and Custom Retreats

Join us in this inspiring second offering of John P. Milton’s Way of Nature Programs in Brazil. Former Sacred Passage participant, Christel Scholten, former getWild Sweden participant, Henrique Vedana, Marina Minari, Karina Tatit and Eduardo Vitale are organizing these teachings. Three programs, in collaboration with The Way of Nature, are being offered: an introductory Weekend of Natural Renewal July 6-8, a longer Nature Quest July 16-24 open to all who are interested, and the first of a series of Way of Nature International Guide Training Programs July 13-28. These guide training programs are designed to certify guides to better serve the numerous Way of Nature groups now growing rapidly in many parts of the world.

The Weekend of Natural Renewal will be an introduction to the Way of Nature Experience with two half-day afternoon safe solos in Nature - combined with two half-day morning trainings that emphasize The Way of Nature's Six Core Principles of Natural Renewal, “sensing” practices to refine and deepen connection to outer and inner Nature, John's creative movement system called GaiaFlow, and Qi Gong energy cultivation work. Overnight camping is an option, but not required. This program will be held in the State of São Paulo, approximately 2-3 hours from São Paulo.

The Nature Quest begins with two days of Awareness Training, followed by 4 days of solo and a day and a half of Re-entry Sharing and “Bridging Back” Training at the conclusion. This program will be held in magical state of Bahia using Castelar da Alvorada, a retreat facility of great natural beauty, as the basecamp (www.castelaralvorada.com/en) in the heart of the Chapada Diamantina (Diamond Plateau). Before becoming a park, many diamonds were found in the earth here. This is a place of great beauty, where nature is still pure and preserved. It is located near many of the natural attractions of the Chapada Diamantina National Park, such as the breath-taking Fumaça Waterfall, just 5 km from the Capão Valley. Doing a solo wilderness retreat here provides support for those seeking greater creativity & clarity, renewed energy and opening a pathway for life purpose. You will cultivate the 12 principles of The Way of Nature and learn Qi Gong, T’ai Chi and meditation practices outdoors. Participants will discover how to relax, become fully present, quiet the chatter of a busy mind, and open their hearts to the gifts that Nature provides. Participants will emerge from this experience refreshed with a radiant and joyful renewed vitality to meet life’s challenges.

This First Way of Nature International Guide Training & Certification Retreat is a 15 day immersion designed to serve those interested guiding and introducing Natural Renewal programs in their home region. This program includes guide training in the 12 principles of The Way of Nature, Experiential sensing and refinement, GaiaFlow, Qiqong, T’ai Chi and meditation; our training emphasizes the support and guidance of individuals in Way of Nature Programs with an emphasis on the Natural Renewal Program. Students will participate in a 7 day wilderness solo providing first hand experience in seeking inner silence, “sensing” and spiritual cultivation in preparation for guiding. You will receive comprehensive training on: 1) the key components of the Natural Renewal Program, 2) re-entry sharing and 3) preparation for reintegration and application. You will receive the benefit of three coaching sessions with John Milton after the program (to be paid for separately). This program will also be held in the beautiful state of Bahia (see above for the Chapada Diamantina description of the location). We highly recommend you also attend the prior Weekend of Natural Renewal program near São Paulo, however it is not a requirement for this training.

Fees: Fees: Weekend of Natural Renewal – USD 650, Nature Quest – USD 1150, International Guide Training – USD 1650. All prices include fees, food and lodging. Participants are responsible for transportation to the venue.,
For more information contact Christel Scholten at: saopaulo@reospartners.com
Guide: John P. Milton
To enroll, email: saopaulo@reospartners.com

Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Colorado - Long Mountain Retreats: 28 Day Intermediate Awareness Training or 44 Day Advanced Awareness Training
Colorado ( 8/02/2013 - 9/14/2013 )
Advanced Awareness Training
GaiaFlow
Intermediate Awareness Training
NatureQuest
Sacred Passage

This summer's Intermediate and Advanced Awareness Trainings include powerful, Heart-opening 28 or 44 Day deep solos and personalized Awareness Trainings. Because these Trainings are such profound transformational processes, John recommends that only those consider doing the 44 Day Advanced Training who have completed most of last five years of Advanced Training Sessions with him. Those who have completed the earlier two cycles of Advanced Awareness Trainings with him are also welcome to apply. These two programs are essential components of The Way of Nature's Guide Training, certification and licensing for both NatureQuests (the 28 day solo) and Sacred Passages (the 44 Day solo).

John's Awareness Training time is integrated into both the 28 and 44 day mountain retreats. John will include weekly personalized training with each individual doing either mountain retreat.

Preparation for the powerful 44 Day retreat should include deep cultivation of all the practices taught during the five years of prior Advanced Awareness Training. This spiritual training and practice should include our past work done in Dzogchen, Bon, Buddhism, Taoism, Tantra, Native American Way, Shamanism, Vedanta - and the special training given to open the deeper levels of the Twelve Principles of Natural Liberation.

This 44 Day Mountain Retreat is an essential part of the Advanced Awareness Training.

Those interested in doing either the 28 Day Intermediate Training, or 44 Day Advanced Training Solos this year, (both are normally held in Crestone during mid-summer), should contact John directly to make special arrangements this year. The 28 Day Retreat is open to all who have done at least one full Sacred Passage with John. The 44 Day Mountain Retreat is open to all who have previously done the 28 Day Solo Retreat or the equivalent, and completed a substantial amount of the Advanced Awawreness Training Programs. John reserves the right to determine whether you are properly prepared for the deep transformational processes of either Program.

Allocating ideal space for the long mountain retreats, solos and vision quests are challenging since good long-term sites are limited, and we will be offering both 28 Day and 44 Day Awareness Training Retreat Programs. Therefore, be sure to contact us as soon as possible if you want to do either the 28 Day or 44 Day Retreat this year.

Both the 28 Day and 44 Day Mountain Retreats will be carried out in dramatically beautiful higher elevation mountain areas, between 10,000 and 12,000 feet. Surrounding peaks often lift to over 14,000 feet. Native peoples trace back their vision questing and sacred ceremony in these same places for over 15,000 years. Doing our longer Intermediate and Advanced Awareness Trainings here will join you with those who have entered the Sacred Way on this land over many thousands of years. This sacred land offers profound communion with Mother Earth, birthing of powerful joy and a deep, opening realization of Source Awareness itself.

$2700 fee for the 44 Day Program.
$2250 fee for the 28 Day Program
Teacher and Guide: John P. Milton

Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Colorado, Sacred Land Sanctuary - 16 Day Advanced Awareness Training - Open to All of John's Students
Colorado ( 8/03/2013 - 8/18/2013 )
Advanced Awareness Training

Our summer 2013, 16 Day session of John's Advanced Awareness Training will be held in one of North America's most powerful and ancient sacred places: Crestone and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of Southern Colorado. This Advanced Training will be open to anyone who has done at least one Sacred Passage with John before, or equivalent nature-based meditation retreat work with another teacher. Both Advanced Awareness Training Cycles 3 and 4 are encouraged to attend this AAT Summer Retreat.

The Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Sacred Land Sanctuary and Crestone are among North America's most powerful and ancient sacred places. Our alpine skies are vast, clear and spacious. No urban pollution mars the mountains or our lungs. The Way of Nature group training and solo sites are very easy to access with a short walk at 8500 feet. Towering above our solo camps are five 14,000-foot summits that lift above the land here - a dramatic mountain panorama rivaling the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. Lovely groves of large ponderosas, aspen and cottonwood line the mountain streams; open savannahs of juniper and pinyon pine spread right up to the base of the mountains. Higher up, forests of bristlecone pine, spruce and fir clothe the slopes below the rugged, cliffy peaks. During your Awareness Training and solo you share the land with mule deer, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, pronghorn antelope and beautiful black fox squirrels. Bird life abounds and Eagles circle above. A large, beautiful stream flows for more than a mile across our private, protected land where we do the Advanced Awareness Training. The stream flows crystal clear and provides superb, revitalizing drinking water for all of us, where we do our eight days of solo and eight days of Advanced Training.

For deepening our study and training together, this protected land is ideal.

In the late 1970's, John moved to Crestone and was the initial discoverer of the ancient stone meditation seats that fill the land here. An estimated two thousand such sacred stone meditation seats cluster on the Sacred Land Sanctuary area, the largest aggregation of such sacred sites in the world. Working with Threshold's Sacred Land Sanctuary Project, The Way of Nature is fund-raising to preserve these extraordinary sites in perpetuity. Meanwhile, those of you who choose to do the Advanced Awareness Training and Nature Solo here are the beneficiaries; beneficiaries of deep immersion in the Sacred View that is profoundly supported by this amazing land and its stone seats. These special sites have been used for millennia for vision questing, ceremony and prayer. Your pilgrimage here to do Advanced Training is part of that great lineage of the Land.

Native peoples trace back their vision questing and sacred ceremony here for over 15,000 years. An ancient indigenous name for this place is "The Corridor of Visions." Virtually all of the Advanced Training is done within the area of the "Sacred Land Sanctuary" (also known locally as "Gaia Sanctuary") just north of Crestone.

This summer we will emphasize a variety of themes:
 a special Advanced Awareness Training on Shamanism - shared in a way that will be accessible to all who come, from beginners to experienced shamanic practitioners. The liberating aspect of shamanic training we will explore focuses on how to deepen the experience of the connection-communion-union-mandala-resting in Source Sequence as the foundation for accessing liberating shamanic wisdom. John will also teach much more deeply on the system of Sacred Movement that is unique to the Way of Nature: GaiaFlow. He will also share a unique form of North American Geomancy and shamanism based on the ancient meditation seats and "power places" of the Crestone area; we will learn how to cultivate universal energy and spiritual insight with the support of these extraordinary sacred sites. Other themes that will be explored include: Taoist energy cultivation and inner alchemy practices for physical longevity and spiritual realization; and cultivating Advanced meditation practices from Taoism, Dzogchen and Vedanta to help realize Primordial Awareness, the unchanging Natural State that is the very root of our Being. To assist in this, the third text on "Enchantment" from the great Tibetan Master Longchenpa's "Kindly Bent to Ease Us," will be the main focus of our Source Awareness Study Group for this retreat.

$2500 fee.
Teacher: John P. Milton

Way of Nature Canada, British Columbia Leadership Nature Quest, at Ittatsoo Bay
Alaska and Western Canada ( 8/08/2013 - 8/13/2013 )
NatureQuest
Organizational Training

The Way of Nature Canada is offering an innovative leadership Nature Quest program that guides participants through a unique Awareness Training focused on cultivating the authentic leader within.

Set in pristine coastal wilderness, home to bald eagles, orca whales, and spirit bears, this program will also allow one to let go of everyday distractions and rediscover their inherent interconnection with all living things. Participants will have the opportunity to find clarity of purpose, rejuvenation, and an opening of the heart through group instruction, solitude, and this powerful setting in the natural world.

This unique experience is a starting point to understanding the complexity of the collective systems we live and work in. Through this process, the leaders’ inner wisdom and creativity naturally blossom, providing deep insight and inner guidance. This program will provide the tools and the context for this potential to unfold and ripple into one’s life and organization beyond the program immersion.

Guides: Jennifer Menke and Kent Williams

Cost: $1595.00

Colorado's Celestial Sangre de Cristo Mountains - 12 Day Sacred Passage Quest Retreat
Colorado ( 8/22/2013 - 9/03/2013 )
Sacred Passage

Journey to one of North America's most powerful and ancient sacred places, Crestone and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Our alpine skies are vast, clear and spacious. No pollution mars the mountains or our lungs. The Sacred Passage group training and solo sites are very easy to access with a short walk at 8500 feet. Towering above our solo camps are five 14,000-foot summits that lift above the land here - a dramatic mountain panorama rivaling the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. Lovely groves of large ponderosas, aspen and cottonwood line the mountain streams; open savannahs of juniper and pinyon pine wash right up to the base of the mountains. Higher up, forests of bristlecone pine, spruce and fir clothe the slopes below the rugged, cliffy peaks. During your Awareness Training and solo you share the land with mule deer, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, pronghorn antelope and beautiful black fox squirrels. Bird life abounds and Eagles circle above. A large, beautiful stream flows for more than a mile across our private, protected land where we do Sacred Passage. The stream flows crystal clear and provides superb, revitalizing drinking water for all of us.

In the late 1970's, John P. Milton moved to Crestone and was the intitial discoverer of the ancient stone meditation seats that fill the land here. An estimated two thousand such sacred stone meditation seats cluster on the Sacred Land Trust area, the largest aggregation of such sacred sites in the world. Working with Threshold's Sacred Land Trust Project, The Way of Nature is fund-raising to preserve these extraordinary sites in perpetuity. Meanwhile, those of you who choose to do Sacred Passage Awareness Training and Nature Solo here are the beneficiaries; beneficiaries of deep immersion in the Sacred View that is profoundly supported by this amazing land and its stone seats. These special sites have been used for millenia of vision questing, ceremony and prayer. Your pilgrimage here to do Sacred Passage is part of that great lineage of the Land.

Native peoples trace back their vision quests and sacred ceremonies here for over 15,000 years. Our Sacred Land Trust land is also trying to preserve the majority of these ancient and sacred vision quest sites, as well as a large kiva and courtyard complex. As mentioned above, when you do your Sacred Passage here, you join with those who have entered the Sacred Way on this land over many thousands of years. Almost everyone who comes to do a Sacred Passage feels the powerful joy and opening of Spirit that this place offers. Give your good heart to Mother Earth and Great Spirit; receive an incalculable blessing.

$1800 fee
Guide: John P. Milton

Nepal Pilgrimage - 16 Day Pilgrimage & Advanced Awareness Training Retreat
Asia ( 10/26/2013 - 11/10/2013 )
Advanced Awareness Training
International Pilgrimages

This sacred journey to Nepal will emphasize the study and cultivation of Tibet's and Nepal's Dzogchen Teachings, from both Nyingma and Bon sources, - one of the most profound paths to full Liberation available on Earth. Our practice will be integrated with pilgrimage to many sites sacred to Dzogchen practitioners, both Bonpo, Kagyu, Gelugpa and Nyingma. Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) and Yeshe Tsogyal spent much time here, and considered many valleys in the Nepalese Himalaya to be some of the region's important sacred "Hidden Lands." Many great Bon Dzogchen masters cultivated profound recognition of the Natural State in Dolpo's (central/west Nepalese Himalaya) vast wildernness areas. During our last Advanced Awareness Training Retreat in Sikkim's Himalaya Mountains in the Spring of 2007, we completed pilgrimage to many sacred caves, mountains, lakes, rivers and valleys to do deep practice. We will continue this sacred tradition on this extraordinary 2012 pilgrimage and Advanced Training to the Nepalese Himalaya with John. The retreat will be open to all who have completed at least one major Way of Nature Programs with him as the teacher, such as a Sacred Passage, Nature Quest or Advanced Training Retreat.

Nepal is gifted with many of the world's greatest sacred mountains, such as Sagarmatha(Everest), Annapurna and Dhaulagiri. These spectacular, massive mountains are over 26,000 feet high. Nearby Kanchenjunga at over 28,000 feet translates as "Five treasuries of the Great Snow." Many have tried to capture its presence in words, for example, here is a quote from the book Everest, The Challenge: "Kanchenjunga is the very queen of mountains. The view of it from Darjeeling is the finest in the world. No other can compete with it." In sharing an experience in his mountain cave from his last Nepalese solo mountain retreat overlooking Kanchenjunga, John Milton noted: "this great sacred peak lifts One's eyes into the vastness of the sky, where form itself dissolves into rainbows..."

This Pilgrimage and Advanced Awareness Training will be focusing on powerful methods to recognize Primordial Source Awareness. The openness, spaciousness and clarity of sky, combined with the stillness,silence and powerfully spacious spiritual presence of the Himalayan Mountains will be a tremendous support to our practice here.

John will select the precise itinerary for this pilgrimage several months prior to departure; he will develop the route and program in consultion with the Pilgrimage Planning Group mentioned below; the Pilgrimage Planning Group will be voluntarily composed of members of the pilgrimage group doing the program. This AAT will include a solo mountain retreat in the Himalaya Mountains, with food, water, and shelter provided by local Nepalese guides, sherpas, cooks and porters trained by John. Food and gear will also be transported with the help of local mountain porters. In the 1960's, 1970,s and 1980's, John lived and worked extensively in Nepal, helping set up National Parks, Wildlife Refuges and forest preserves. During this time, he studied with a number of Himalayan Masters from Buddhist, Hindu, Tantric and Shamanic lineages. He has also led and taught numerous mountain retreats in many different parts of the Nepal Himalaya.

$1440 fee for contributions to Fellowship expenses & John's Teachings. Meals, housing & transport will be organized by a self-selected AAT Pilgrimage community group.
Teacher: John P. Milton

Flinders Island, Australia 10-day Sacred Passage
Pacific Basin ( 11/08/2013 - 11/17/2013 )
GaiaFlow
International Pilgrimages
NatureQuest
Qi Gong Training
Sacred Passage
Tai Chi Training

Sponsored by The Way of Nature - Australia, this Sacred Passage Awareness Training teaching and solo experience will be conducted on pristine privately owned land on Flinders Island, a magical, and completely unspoiled place in the Bass Strait, north of Tasmania, Australia.
The verdant, lush setting, with mountain water streams running through, is bounded by national parks and the ocean and situated at the intersection of powerful Ley (energy) Lines that reach across our planet. Mount Strzelecki soars to the East, and the land opens out to the Bass Strait and magnificent sunsets to the west. Wildlife abounds – Flinders Island is home to between 5 and 15 times as much wildlife as the rest of Tasmania and the Australian mainland. You will be joined by wallabies, wombats, wonderful birdlife, and much more.
Join us for 10 days of reflection and growth, immersed in nature, supported with contemplative practices from ancient eastern and indigenous traditions.
The full program takes 10 days, the first and last days being traveling days. The first two days of teaching include learning about the Way of Nature, based on John’s book, Sky Above Earth Below, as well as Qi Gong and contemplative practices that will be of benefit in the following days.
Flinders Island is easily accessible by plane, via Melbourne or Sydney.

Listed dates are tentative. Please contact Way of Nature Australia (info@wona.org.au) for current updates.

Guide and Teacher: John P. Milton

For more information and pricing, please go to http://www.wona.org.au/retreats or email info@wona.org.au

Sacred Island of Bali - 16 Day Advanced Awareness Training & Pilgrimage (Open to all)
Asia ( 11/23/2013 - 12/08/2013 )
Advanced Awareness Training
GaiaFlow
Intermediate Awareness Training
International Pilgrimages
NatureQuest
Qi Gong Training
Sacred Passage
Tai Chi Training
Workshops and Custom Retreats

Join us on a 15 day Advanced Awareness Training and Pilgrimage to magical, sacred Bali. Our teacher and guide, John Milton, has led pilgrimage and done spiritual practice here over many years. The extraordinarily friendly people of this amazing Hindu island culture have preserved one of Southeast Asia's most deeply spiritual ways of life. We will immerse ourselves deeply in Bali's ceremonies, sacred temples and incredibly beautiful landscapes. Our Balinese friends will share their secrets to opening a life of harmony, ceremony, beauty and sacredness in every step.

In addition, John will teach his carefully-developed system of Qi Gong for health, for revitalization, for building powerful life force and for spiritual development. Qi Gong, which is a major foundation of Chinese health care, is easy to learn, safe for all ages, and fun to practice. John will also teach on Taoist Internal Alchemy - a spectrum of powerful practices for spiritual illumination at the heart of the Taoist Path. Additional teachings on Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu will complement the strong immersion in Taoist cultivation at this retreat. John will also share meditations from his extensive background training in the meditation practices of many traditions. With John's 12 Principles for Spiritual Cultivation as our guide, each day we will devote at least three hours to learning and cultivating complementary forms of Qi Gong, Advanced Taoist Yoga, Dzogchen, Tantra and practices from other meditation systems.

Devotional cultivation of the path to the Divine Feminine will be an important part of our Bali Retreat. This will focus on honoring of Kali, Durga and Bagalama through ceremony, prayer, mantra and meditation as part of our deep exploration and cultivation of the Divine Feminine.

John is keeping this pilgrimage-based Advanced Retreat open to those new students who are either joining the Advanced Awareness training for the first time, to students who have done training or Passages with John before, and to those wanting to experience deep Pilgrimage on this extraordinarily sacred island.

With the help of the rich tradition of spiritual teachers from Bali, we will also delve deeply into the ceremonies, practices and modes of spiritual cultivation of the remarkable Balinese People. In particular, we will discover the Balinese mastery of bringing the Sacred View into every aspect of everyday life - and explore how to create this spiritual harmony in our own lives, wherever we are.

$1600 Fee for John's Teaching
(meals, housing & land transport costs shared upon request)
teacher: John P. Milton

Baja California's Wild Pacific Coast - 12 Day Sacred Passage Quest Retreat
Mexico ( 1/23/2014 - 2/03/2014 )
Sacred Passage

Immerse yourself in a sacred journey to Baja California's wild, beautiful Pacific Coast. We will also spend time in the lovely historic town of Todos Santos, the "Santa Fe" of Baja California. Our Nature Meditation and Source Awareness Training is based at our lovely "La Via Natural" Retreat Center adjacent to Todos Santos. Our retreat center is set in the middle of a natural oasis of tropical gardens with palms, mangos, papayas, bananas and citrus - these local gardens provide us with our own fresh fruit and local food during John's Training before and after the coastal wilderness solos. The Awareness Training provides extensive teachings on John's universal 12 Principles for Natural Liberation: a direct path to enlightenment that honors the essence of all the world’s great liberating traditions. John will also teach on Shamanic, Taoist and self-liberation practices that open profound connections to Source Awareness, Nature and the Elements. The solo mediation retreat time allows for a great deepening of these practices.

For those who would like the option of staying in nearby Todos Santos during the Awareness Training part of the Retreat, we can help you with local accomodations in our three recommended facilities; Hacienda Todos Los Santos Guest House Inn, or The Todos Santos inn - both beautiful and elegantly appointed accomodations in the heart of Todos Santos near our La Via Natural Retreat Center. A clean, charming more budget-minded option also centrally-located is Hotel Maria Bonita. For those desiring to camp, our beautiful campground at La Via Natural is available at no additional cost for the Sacred Passage Retreat. We have showers and a lovely private campground shaded by palm trees. La Via Natural is only a 5 minute easy walk to town and many fine local restaurants. The beach is an easy 15 minute walk from our retreat center.

Your solo is on a secluded beach, often in a beautiful cove enclosed by hills, bluffs and mountains. Most people are visited by friendly whales and dolphins during their solo. Bird life abounds, and a powerful ocean inspires communion with the depth of your Being. Watching the sunsets from these secluded beaches is incredible. From each solo site, clear skies stretch out over the vastness of the Pacific Ocean - opening your Heart and merging your Spirit with sky and ocean's spaciousness and light.

Your Nature and Awareness Training before and after the solo is deep and soul-enlivening. This Training will share extensive teachings on John's universal 12 Principles for Natural Liberation: a direct path to enlightenment that honors the essence of all the world’s great liberating traditions. John will teach extensively on Shamanic, Taoist and Himalayan practices that open profound connections to Source Awareness, inner and outer Nature and the Elements.

$1800 fee.
Guide & Teacher:
John P. Milton

Whale Encounter Pilgrimage, Magdalena Bay, Baja California - 5 Days, Exact Days To Be Announced
Mexico ( 2/05/2014 - 2/08/2014 )
International Pilgrimages

Over the years, many on Sacred Passage in Baja California have experienced the wonderful presence of gray whales passing their solo sites. This year we honor these amazing beings with a special five-day guided trip to Magdalena Bay. In the warm and protected waters of Magdalena Bay, gray whale calves remain in close contact with their mothers while they grow large enough to migrate north. A surreal landscape of huge sand dunes and desert mountains surrounds this whale nursery, providing a dramatic backdrop as we witness these wise beings roll in the sea, spyhop, and tend to their young. Huge numbers of migratory birds, and dolphins also congregate here. Magdalena Bay is ranked by the World Wildlife Fund as one of the nine most important coastal habitats in all of Mexico.

We will enjoy a guided bay tour in small skiffs with many chances for an unforgettable close encounters with magnificent gray whales. It is not unusual for the whales to come quite close to the boats. We will also paddle kayaks through mangrove estuaries rich with wildlife, and explore towering sand dunes along miles of unspoiled beaches. Brad is an experienced ocean kayaking guide with extensive experience leading kayaking journeys in many of Baja's bays and lagoons, and in California's Monterray Bay and Tomales Bay.

Our comfortable base camp is situated on a secluded beach, and the trip price includes all base camp food and cooking, camp set-up, walk-in tents with sleeping cots and sleeping bags, camping showers, and helpful naturalist guides.

Evening guide-led talks about the whales and wildlife of the area will broaden our perspective. John will teach on GaiaFlow, Qigong and the Way of Nature's unique Nature Perception Awareness Training process as a way of deepening and integrating our meditative communion with the whales.

Transportation from Todos Santos or La Paz by van is included in the trip price.

Cost: $1250.00

Guides: John P. Milton, Brad Kahland & Jenny Menke

Baja California's Wild Pacific Coast - 12 Day Sacred Passage Quest Retreat
Mexico ( 2/06/2014 - 2/17/2014 )
Sacred Passage

Immerse yourself in a sacred journey to Baja California's wild, beautiful Pacific Coast. We will also spend time in the lovely historic town of Todos Santos, the "Santa Fe" of Baja California. Our Nature and Source Awareness Training is based at a our lovely La Via Natural Retreat Center near Todos Santos. The town is set in the middle of a natural oasis of tropical gardens with palms, mangos, papayas, bananas and citrus - these local gardens provide us with our own fresh fruit and local food during John's Training before and after the coastal wilderness solos.

For those who would like the option of staying in nearby Todos Santos during the Awareness Training part of the Retreat, we can help you with local accommodations in our three recommended facilities; Hacienda Todos Los Santos Guest House Inn, or The Todos Santos inn - both beautiful and elegantly appointed accomodations in the heart of Todos Santos near our La Via Natural Retreat Center. A clean, charming more budget-minded option also centrally-located is Hotel Maria Bonita. For those desiring to camp, our beautiful campground at La Via Natural is available at no additional cost for the Sacred Passage Retreat. We have showers, simple cooking facilities, and a lovely private campground shaded by palm trees. La Via Natural is only a 5 minute easy walk to town and many fine local restaurants. The beach is an easy 15 minute walk from our retreat center.

Your solo is on a secluded beach, often in a beautiful cove enclosed by hills, bluffs and mountains. Most people are visited by friendly whales and dolphins during their solo. Bird life abounds, and a powerful ocean inspires communion with the depth of your Being. Watching the sunsets from these secluded beaches is incredible. From each solo site, clear skies stretch out over the vastness of the Pacific Ocean - opening your Heart and merging your Spirit with sky and ocean's spaciousness and light.

Your Nature and Awareness Training with John P. Milton before and after the solo is deep and soul-enlivening. John will share extensive teachings on his universal 12 Principles for Natural Liberation: a direct path to enlightenment that honors the essence of all the world’s great liberating traditions. He will also teach extensively on Shamanic, Taoist and Dzogchen practices that open profound connections to Source Awareness, Nature and the Elements.

$1800 fee.
Guide & Teacher: John P. Milton

Macchu Picchu and Sacred Peru & Bolivia
South America ( 3/22/2014 - 4/06/2014 )
International Pilgrimages

This 16 day special retreat will be The Way of Nature's first Pilgrimage to Macchu Picchu and some of the great Sacred Mountains, Valleys and cultures of the Andes Mountains. John was an early explorer (1965) of the wild canyons mountains surrounding Macchu Picchu and its downstream territory. He also did one of the earliest National Park Plans for Machu Picchu. He was the first western explorer of the upper Cutibereni Watershed and an extremely remote part of the Vilcababamba Range. His expedition also revealed the discovery of some of the world's highest waterfalls. (John was also also an early explorer of the river systems of east-central Peru, traversing the core of the Peruvian Andes by on foot and by river. He explored most of the Cutibereni, Apurimac, Ene, Tambo and Ucayali Rivers on a small balsawood raft he tied together with jungle vines with three local Native American friends from the Campa tribe).

On this sacred pilgrimage we will include ceremony, practice and meditation at some of the Andes' most sacred sites and mountains. We will also learn Andean spiritual and energy practices from indigenous Quechua and Aymara Shamans during our extraordinary journey.

During this retreat, John will emphasize the mutual exploration of shamanic energy and spirit/soul cultivation techniques from both the shamans of the high Andes, the Bonpo Shamanic practices of working with the elements from Tibet and the Taoist traditions of China - particularly emphasizing Qigong and T'ai Chi. The integrated exploration of these three mountain shamanic paths should be a unique, remarkable process.

More details on this superb pilgrimage will be forthcoming later in 2013.

Fee: To be announced
Guide and Teacher:

John P. Milton

Moab and Canyonlands, Utah - 12 Day Awareness Training, Meditation Retreat & Sacred Passage Solo
Arches and Canyonlands-SW USA ( 4/10/2014 - 4/21/2014 )
Sacred Passage

This 12 Day Awareness Training, Sacred Passage Solo and Meditation Retreat will bring our AAT Community together in one of the world's most beautiful and spectacular natural areas .

Beautiful red, white and orange slickrock canyons, waterfalls, extraordinary rock arches and other stone formations create one of our favorite places to enter the Sacred Way. You experience a land that evokes visions of dinosaurs and ancient beings, whose shapes are echoed in the formations of the canyons. Explore the numinous qualities and distinctive energies hidden within the radiant red rock canyons, pristine waterfalls, exquisite natural arches and stone spires of this spectacular region.

Part of this retreat will build on the Dzogchen transmissions John has provided in earlier Retreats. He will emphasize teachings from the great Dzogchen master, Longchenpa. This teaching holds some of the purest teachings of the Way of Natural Perfection. John will also teach on a series of Dzogchen practices to clear, open and empower our right, left and central channels. Half our teaching time will be devoted to both of these extraordinary Dzogchen Teachings.

The retreat will also emphasize some of John's teachings on Taoist Internal Alchemy. He will select from some of the following: Opening the Micro and Macrocosmic Orbit Circulations, Fusion Practice, and a new series of Qi (Chi) Energy Cultivation practices that help with the conversion from Jing to Qi, from Qi to Shen (Spirit) and from Shen to Wuji. Overall, the Advanced Awareness Training emphasis in 2008 and 2009 will include a significant emphasis on cultivating Internal Energy through a series of esoteric yet very practical both Taoist and Dzogchen techniques.

Daily T'ai Chi for Enlightenment training on form will also be included. Also, daily "Sensing Hands/Push hands' practice will be taught. John will also teach on the linkages between these Taoist practices and Tibetan Buddhist, Bon, Native American, and Dzogchen teachings and practices.

We will also go deeper with Teachings on GaiaFlow, and refining how the principles of T'ai Chi and Qi Gong Training apply to deepening GaiaFlow practice. John will also share his series of dyadic (two-person) practices that he designed to realize Source in each other, as well as in Oneself, in close relationship. This series of practices could be described as interpersonal Dzogchen, with an applied continuing view of Source as the basis for all relationships and their changes.

There will be four days of wilderness solo to cultivate these advanced practices during this retreat. The whole focus is on the teachings and the chance for individual meditation retreat practice in the solitude of the wilderness.

All are welcome to attend this retreat.

This Retreat will embrace the vast spaces and natural luminosity of Utah's Canyon Country. The land and John's unique training will integrate to support the special practices he will be teaching - an inner cultivation that will help us to recognize our Primordial Awareness that underlies all Being.

$1440 fee.
Teacher: John P. Milton

Canyonlands River Journey, Utah - 12 Day Redrock Canyon San Juan River Pilgrimage & Advanced Awareness Training Retreat
Arches and Canyonlands-SW USA ( 4/24/2014 - 5/05/2014 )
Advanced Awareness Training
GaiaFlow
Qi Gong Training
Workshops and Custom Retreats

This AAT is open to anyone who would like to participate; although this is an Advanced Training, the level of the training will allow anyone interested in these themes to participate without difficulty. Teachings will focus on John's unique GaiaFlow movement system and on how to cultivate the shamanic approaches to working with the elements of water, wood, fire, stone (metal), earth, and space. We are excited to announce we have recently obtained our official river permit for this limited access wilderness river. This is the first time we have integrated a spectacular river pilgrimage with our Advanced Awareness Training Process. The lower San Juan River Canyon is a land of bighorn sheep, peregrine falcons, and soaring redrock cliffs that lay bare many million years of geologic history. This dramatic canyon feeds directly into the upper Grand Canyon matrix and has very similar views and perspectives. We will float through time and space on a grand scale. This river is one of the major tributaries of the Grand Canyon. In summary, our voyage supports the opening of vast inner and outer space as we flow through the redrock terrain. The journey is outfitted with river rafts, and the river rating is beginner to intermediate with full instruction and support for beginners. John, who has run the entire Grand Canyon in a life vest and rowboat, will be assisted by river guides who have experience with this river, including Brad Kahland. We will balance on-water time with time in beach camps for teachings and fellowship. The middle of the training will include a 4-night red rock canyon solo to cultivate and ground the teachings. Space is limited to 10 participants for this exceptional journey, and advance reservation of river permit and rafting equipment is required, so please register by April 1. Because we have only recently won our difficult to obtain BLM lottery permit for our ideal chosen dates for the San Juan River trip, we must now pay for the exact number of participants by March 25; we have booked some extra still available spaces for latecomers so please complete your bookings with us as soon as possible. Thank you!

For those of you who have already booked this pilgrimage, please contact Sheila at our main office and send in your full river trip fee to paypal ASAP - we need to hire the assistant guides, rafts, duckies, life vests, cooking facilities, and other equipment by no later than late March, so your funds are needed to accomplish this.

On this sacred pilgrimage we will include ceremony, practice and meditation. We will also learn spiritual and energy practices from a wide variety of sources during our extraordinary journey.

During this retreat, John will emphasize the mutual exploration of shamanic energy and spirit/soul cultivation techniques from both the Tibetan Bonpo Shamanic practices of working with the elements as well as from the Taoist traditions of China - particularly emphasizing Qigong and T'ai Chi. The integrated exploration of these shamanic paths should be a unique, remarkable process. John will also emphasize the practice of GaiaFlow, a liberating system of movement unique to The Way of Nature.

For full details on this superb pilgrimage contact Brad Kahland at: bmkahland@gmail.com.

Fee: $1440

Logistics Coordinator: Brad Kahland

Guide and Teacher:

John P. Milton

Sourcing Conscious Leadership built on Developing Presence
Europe ( 5/17/2014 - 6/25/2014 )
Organizational Training

Vi erbjuder en kurs i Conscious Leadership built on Presence tillsammans med vår partner John P Milton – the Way of Nature.

This special organizational program is designed to help leaders and organizations to develop high levels of conscious leadership.

When this process is utilized in a whole team of people working together within an organization, significant additional benefits often arise. Group teamwork skills are often dramatically enhanced and natural leadership capacities are supported. Also, those who have gone through our wilderness solo and Awareness Training process usually report major improvements in the ability of a team or individual to handle stress. In summary, John and The Way of Nature and Goran's Naturakademin learning Lab have designed a unique, comprehensive series of Awareness Training practices that support:

Improving teamwork,

Developing natural leadership skills,

Significantly opening creative insight,

Learning powerful stress reduction and relaxation skills, and

Refining proficiency in developing ecologically sustainable products, practices and organizational processes.

”In the end, we concluded that understanding presence and the possibilities of larger fields of change can come only from many perspectives – from the emerging science of living systems, from creative arts, from profound organizational change experiences-and from directly understanding the generative capacities of Nature. Virtually all indigenous or native cultures have regarded nature or universe or Mother Earth as the ultimate teacher. Few times in history has there been a greater need to rediscover this teacher.”
-
Presence, page 12 by Peter Senge, Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski and Betty Sue Flowers

Our Program will be conducted in the Baltic Sea's beautiful Stockholm Archipelago, the biggest archipelago of Sweden, and among the biggest archipelagos of the Baltic Sea; over 24,000 islands, islets and rock reefs make up this extraordinary sea tapestry. Thousands of years ago, massive glaciers carved this breathtaking geological island display. Each individual will do their Nature Solo part of the Program on an isolated island, with eagles, deer, and many species of ducks and herons as their closest neighbors. Many great artists, such as Strindberg, Didring, Nerman and Svensson have spent time on these islands in the past, as a powerful means to access deep levels of creative insight.

For more information and to register contact Goran Gennvi:
Telephone: +46 8 716 3677
email: gennvi@naturakademin.se

Sacred Earth Conference - Historical Calender Document
Colorado ( 5/19/2014 - 5/21/2014 )
Workshops and Custom Retreats

THIS HISTORICAL DOCUMENT IS INCLUDED HERE FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN OUR MAY 2008 SACRED EARTH CONFERENCE - WE HOPE TO HOLD ADDITIONAL GATHERINGS OF THE SACRED EARTH CONFERENCE IN THE FUTURE.

This Inaugural Gathering in Crestone, Colorado is sponsored by our Way of Nature Fellowship, Crestone-A Sacred Earth Journal, Native American Research and Preservation, Inc. and Manitou Institute as well as Floracopea and Native Landscape Solutions. The Conference will be held at the main auditorium, Colorado College Campus in Crestone. Beginning monday morning (May 19) at 8 am, this unique three day gathering will include a special concert presentation by Paul Winter and members of his Consort of their new, 2008 Grammy-Award winning album: "Crestone." The Conference will unfold over the three days (ending after an evening presentation on shamanic sound healing by John P. Milton on wednesday, May 21) in Crestone and will focus on how to identify, commune with, and preserve our Planet's Sacred Lands. We will explore how differing cultures have each found ways to relate to the Earth as Sacred. Our Gathering will give special focus on Sacred Places and Sacred Sites in Nature. Particular emphasis at this initial sacred Earth Conference will be on the Sacred Sites of the upper Rio Grande BioRegion. At future conferences, we hope to host similar gatherings focussing on other critical bioregions of this Sacred Earth. In this spirit, we are fortunate to have Martin Gray, who will present a showing of his extraordinary visual journey through the world's sacred places.

Other presenters include: Hanne Strong's overview of the planet-wide status of sacred lands, Maria Valdez Mondragon on the sacred view of the Earth within the Hispanic Community of the Upper Rio Grande BioRegion, Lorain-Fox Davis' Native American prayers and ceremonies, Nick Standing Bear's presentation on protecting sacred sites - particularly in the Upper Rio Grande area, Peter May's sharing on home rule as a powerful way to protect sacred lands, Earth Café sessions led by Paul Shippee on how to protect the Earth as Sacred, Margaret and Ernie Wilkinson's views on grassroots education in wild Nature as a means to protect wild sacred land, and Kenny Frye's presentation on Rock Art in the San Luis Valley. We will also have presentations by Leigh Ann Phillips, Susan Pierce, Zita Xavier, Mike Snovak, Naomi Lake, Peter May, John P. Milton and David Crow - who will share on ways to work with meditation, energy cultivation, prayer, sacred sound, ceremony, natural oils and flower essences to deepen communion with the sacredness of Mother Earth. We will also be inviting contributions of ways of prayer, ceremony, and meditation to commune with Nature's sacredness from the Native American, Christian, Hindu, Tibetan Buddhist, Tibetan Bon, Taoist and Way of Nature interfaith traditions.

John P. Milton will present on The Way of Nature's approaches to meditating and cultivating universal energy with Nature as partner, teacher and Loving Mother. The role of our local Sacred Land Trust initiative will be shared as a powerful model for communities elsewhere to safeguard and honor local sacred lands as community "churches, temples and synagogues of the Earth." John will also give a presentation on his discoveries of stone meditation seats from around the world, and reveal their role in bring humanity back into greater harmony, balance and spiritual communion with Gaia and local BioRegions

The registration fee is $50 for each day of attendance.

Sami Traditional Reindeer Mountains,Sweden - Advanced Awareness Training in one of Europe's Last Wildernesses
Europe ( 6/07/2014 - 6/15/2014 )
Advanced Awareness Training
GaiaFlow
Intermediate Awareness Training
International Pilgrimages
NatureQuest
Sacred Passage

Co-sponsored with The Way of Nature by Goran Gennvi and Sweden's Naturakademin, this special Nature Retreat is designed to provide an Advanced Awareness Training accessible to Africans, Asians and Europeans. This is the first in a series of special Advanced Training Retreats planned abroad over the next several years. We are also blessed by the support of Reidar Nordfjall, Kerstin Angantyr and the Great Sami People who have generously provided their wild traditional Sami Reindeer Range for part of our training and solo retreats.

This powerful awareness Training will explore a variety of ways to deepen the experience of Unity with all life.

Building on the Pathfinder's pioneering training, John P. Milton will teach a variety of principles and practices that lead to the direct experience of inner and outer Nature as Sacred. Many of these practices are rarely taught in modern society, so this Training provides a unique opportunity to learn them. They provide all who learn them with powerful "keys" to open the Heart and experience oneness with Nature. They also ground the experience of recognizing pure Source Awareness as the ultimate foundation of all perceptions and all of Nature, both inner and outer.

As Pathfinders, we will learn the GaiaFlow Sacred Movement system as a means for experiencing communion with all life through Nature-connected, flowing postures. We will also learn how to develop Natural Mandala Awareness through a deep exploration of relaxation techniques, presencing and the refinement of sensing exercises. Visualization practices and Ceremonies to honor The Sacred Circle (Sphere) will also aid us as Pathfinders. We will go deep into dyadic (two-person) exercises (both moving and stationary) to dissolve the usual personal barriers to non-dual awareness. Lastly, we will cultivate profound ways to safely purify, refine, amplify and store universal energy. In The Way of Nature we follow three interconnected Pathways to Unity and Liberation: the Pathway of Universal Energy, the Pathway of the Open Heart and the Pathway of Awareness. The spontaneous unification of these three Pathways leads to full Liberation. This Advanced Awareness Training will cultivate all three Pathways at a deep level.

One of the goals of this training is to deepen the process of "Pathfinding," and to help support the training and certification of new guides in the global growth of Nature Quests, Sacred Passages, Rites of Passage and Vision Quests.

For more information and to register contact Goran Gennvi:
Telephone: +46 8 716 3677
email: gennvi@naturakademin.se

World Nature Quest: 9 Day World Nature Quest & Way of Nature Guide Training, in Sweden's Samiland
Europe ( 6/07/2014 - 6/15/2014 )
GaiaFlow
Intermediate Awareness Training
International Pilgrimages
NatureQuest
Qi Gong Training
Sacred Passage
Tai Chi Training
Workshops and Custom Retreats

This 9 Day Nature Quest GuideTraining, led by John P. Milton and Goran Gennvi, includeses a Naturequest Solo and Meditation Retreat in one of the world's most beautiful and spectacular natural areas .

This 9 day Nature Quest marks Sweden's yearly participation in the second World Nature Quest process. World Nature Quest is designed to be held simultaneously around the world in different ecoregions, sharing training, re-entry and concluding celebrations. The concluding celebration will be part of our re-entry from solo time on the last evening of the program. That evening and the following morning will be devoted to sharing, worldwide, a giving of thanks back to Nature and Gaia for the support of all life As to location, this Retreat will embrace the vast spaces and natural luminosity of the traditional Sami back country. The land and John's unique training will integrate to support the special practices he will be teaching - an inner cultivation that will help us to recognize the Primordial Awareness that underlies all our Being._This 9 Day Awareness Training, Nature Quest Solo and Meditation Retreat will bring our AAT Community together in one of the world's most beautiful and spectacular natural areas - A perfect location for Sweden's participation in this global event.

In order to connect deeply with the dozens of other groups gathered around the world for this simultaneous retreat, at sunset of the final day we will gather for Earth-centered Tonglen and Rainbow Light Meditations. In the early morning, ideally at sunrise, on the final morning, we will perform the Eleven Direction Ceremony in a spirit of Thanksgiving from our species to Mother Earth for all She has done to nurture and support all of life, including human existence.

Before the solos, some of the John and Goran's Awareness Training will focus on the "Sensing" Practices that are essential to deepening and refining One's experience of connection to, and communion with, all life. A second part of this retreat will help establish direct recognition of pure Source Awareness. John will build on the Dzogchen teachings that he has provided in earlier Retreats. As a key resource, John will emphasize teachings from the great Dzogchen master, Longchenpa. Longchenpa’s teachings hold some of the purest teachings on the Way of Natural Perfection. John will also teach on a series of Dzogchen practices to clear, open and empower our internal energy channels. Half our teaching time will be devoted to both of these extraordinary Teachings.
The retreat will also emphasize some of John's teachings on Taoist Internal Alchemy. He will select from some of the following: Opening the Micro and Macrocosmic Orbit Circulations, and a new series of Qi (Chi) Energy Cultivation practices that help with the conversion from Jing to Qi, from Qi to Shen (Spirit) and from Shen to Wuji. Overall, the Advanced Awareness Training emphasis in 2008 and 2009 will include a significant emphasis on cultivating Internal Energy through a series of esoteric yet very practical both Taoist and Dzogchen techniques.
Daily T'ai Chi for Enlightenment training on form will also be included. Also, daily "Sensing Hands/Push hands' practice will be taught. John will also teach on the linkages between these Taoist practices and Tibetan Buddhist, Bon, Native American, and Dzogchen teachings and practices.

We will also go deeper with Teachings on GaiaFlow, and refining how the principles of T'ai Chi and Qi Gong Training apply to deepening GaiaFlow practice. John will also share his series of dyadic (two-person) practices that he designed to realize Source in each other, as well as in Oneself, in close relationship. This series of practices could be described as interpersonal Dzogchen, with an applied continuing view of Source as the basis for all relationships and their changes.

There will be four days of wilderness solo to cultivate these advanced practices during this retreat. The whole focus is on the teachings and the chance for individual meditation retreat practice in the solitude of the wilderness.

All are welcome to attend this retreat.

For more information on the broader World Nature Quest event, go to: http://worldnaturequest.org/

For more information and to register contact Goran Gennvi:
Telephone: +46 8 716 3677
email: gennvi@naturakademin.se

Vermont Fall Colors Nature Quest - 9 Day NatureQuest Training Retreat & Nature Solo
Eastern North America ( 10/11/2014 - 10/19/2014 )
NatureQuest

Join our special Vermont Fall Colors Nature Quest Program. This exceptional 9 Day Nature Quest is held at the peak of fall color in northern Vermont. The solos will be held in spectacular solo camp sites in a beautiful wilderness area; the sites are far enough apart to assure privacy, but close enough together to assure mutual support and community if needed. The NatureQuest Training will be held nearby at Jan Bodendorf's lovely farm near Hardwick, just west of St. Johnsbury.

Our Nature Quest Programs are designed to allow a deep Nature Retreat experience, while still keeping the time away from home limited to a single work week and the weekends on either side. The program begins with a full travel/arrival day on saturday October 3 and finishes sunday morning, so that people can return home by sunday evening. The NatureQuest Training Retreat covers four days, two days before the solo and two days after. The Nature Quest Solo lies in the middle, with the solo starting late monday afternoon and finishing early friday morning.

The NatureQuest Training will include a comprehensive training in John's unique '12 Principles for Natural Liberation." This Training includes sharing a range of practices that support the opening of these principles in your body, heart, mind and soul. The Nature Quest solo time is a time to enjoy and celebrate the beauty of the Fall with all of life. The Training's creative principles and practices help you go deep with this profound immersion in inner and outer Nature.

$1188 fee
Guide & Teacher: John P. Milton

St. Francis and the Way of Nature Pilgrimage & Nature Retreat
Europe ( 10/19/2014 - 10/25/2014 )
International Pilgrimages

Bart's recent description of our unique retreat:

"After a literally wonderful Sacred Passage in Crestone Colorado, summer 2011, John and I had an inspiring conversation about my experiences during the solo. One of the other things I mentioned was that I have organized and facilitated several retreats in Assisi (It) inspired by the life and work of Saint Francis of Assisi. We discovered that we both are great admirers of Saint Francis.
This was the moment we first considered giving a retreat together in Assisi (It). And now we want to let you know that we have decided that this unique retreat is going to take place, starting Monday October 1st and ending on Sunday October 7th 2012."

"Saint Francis (1182 – 1226) and the Way of Nature:

Saint Francis lived in a period as turbulent as our present days. There were many radical changes on an individual as well as on a societal level. Similar to Saint Francis we pose ourselves essential questions and we encounter turning points. To stay connected to his Source he frequently went into the woods and the mountains for a solo period to pose himself so called ‘slow questions’ such as:
• What is really essential in my life and work?
• What are the basic values I want to build my life and work on?
• What is it that I have to do in the here and now?
The way Saint Francis coped with interacting events made him a colorful man. Determined, convincing and joyful he looked for answers and found them. More than once this brought him to important turning points in his life. He was an absolute master of living with form and formlessness. The value of Saint Francis’ message has proved to be permanent. That’s why we westerners find inspiration by the mystic, Saint Francis. Where John is the founder of the Way of Nature, we might call Saint Francis the godfather."

"Program:
John and I are working on the program at the moment. It will be an integrated mixture of ‘the Way of Nature’ teachings and the retreats I have facilitated in Assisi before. The program will contain:
• Meditations
• Open-ended inquiries
• John's 6 core principles of Natural Liberation
• Visits to holy places where important turning points in the life of Saint Francis took place
• Solo’s in nature: connecting inner and outer nature
• Silent walks on Franciscan paths

Saint Francis had a very strong connection with nature as demonstrated in the Canticle of the Sun, also known as the Laudes Creaturarum (Praise of the Creatures). It is a religious song he composed shortly before he died and it is believed to be among the first works of literature, if not the first, written in the Italian language. The first time the Canticle was sung in its entirety was by Saint Francis and Brothers Angelo and Leo, two of his original companions, on his deathbed.
The Canticle of the Sun in its praise of God, thanks Him for such creations as “Brothers Wind and Air”, "Sister Water", "Brother Fire" and “Mother Earth”. Saint Francis also often referred to animals and plants as brothers and sisters to Mankind. There are beautiful stories about how he related to animals. A good example is the story of the wolf of Gubbio."

"Accomodations:
A voluptuous landscape fixed at the heart of the country, hill tops adorned with century-old towns and villages, rich in agriculture and tradition, is Italy's green beauty, Umbria. We are exploring good places to stay at the moment, close to the city of Assisi."

St. Francis' "Canticle of The Sun" summarizes the heart essence of this retreat:

"Most high, all powerful, all good Lord!
All praise is yours, all glory, all honor, and all blessing.
To you, alone, Most High, do they belong.
No mortal lips are worthy to pronounce your name.
Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and you give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in his entire splendor!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars;
in the heavens you have made them bright, precious and beautiful.
Be praised, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,
and clouds and storms, and all the weather,
through which you give your creatures sustenance.
Be praised, My Lord, through Sister Water;
she is very useful, and humble, and precious, and pure.
Be praised, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom you brighten the night.
He is beautiful and cheerful, and powerful and strong.
Be praised, my Lord, through our sister Mother Earth,
who feeds us and rules us,
and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.
Be praised, my Lord, through those who forgive for love of you;
through those who endure sickness and trial.
Happy those who endure in peace,
for by you, Most High, they will be crowned.
Be praised, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death,
from whose embrace no living person can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin!
Happy those she finds doing your most holy will.
The second death can do no harm to them.
Praise and bless my Lord, and give thanks,
and serve him with great humility."

Description, cost and booking details to be listed soon. Hosted and taught jointly by Bart Schalkx and John P. Milton.

To view a series of Bart's wonderful photos taken at Assisi, go to Photo Gallery at the top banner of this website and open "Europe," then the Assisi section.

For more information contact: bartschalkx@home.nl