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The Temagami Experience uses the music and rhythm of drumming to relax people and take them back on a journey of self discovery. The drum journey is a traditional approach used by millions, for hundreds of thousands of years. The drumming allows our unconscious to tap into images, dreams, sounds and feelings. This information comes from outside of our known experiences.
Past participants talk . . . about the drum journey:
Workshop pseudonyms have been used
to respect participants' confidentiality.
"The drum journey went through my body. It was very powerful. Without knowing it or expecting it, a little movie began rolling. I was not controlling it. It was a series of images. They all involved nature, water, movement and changing distances." Heartful
"I remember lying on the floor of the teepee with my eyes closed. A drum was beating. I could feel its strong and unrelenting pulse deep within my chest. I was sinking slowly into the ground’s embrace. I breathed deeply . . . moved back in time, searching for an ancestor – a grandfather – I’d never known. His face flashed before me. I saw kindness and understanding in his eyes." Balance
The sweat is the oldest known continuous ritual on the planet. It brings together water, air, fire and earth to create a sacred environment that opens people up to the guidance of the spiritual world. It makes you feel both vulnerable and connected to yourself and gives participants a chance to look deeply at themselves and at their lives. The Temagami Experience also uses the sweat as a mechanism for bringing people together and building community.
Past participants talk . . . about their sweat lodge experience:
"I remember my mind being completely empty following the sweat; there were no extraneous thoughts. I was totally focussed on a specific point in my body. I had an incredible strength that was just focus. I felt solid, there. I felt aware of the unity of everything. I was present in the moment – without past history or future. As a result, I feel more acutely aware now than ever before." Kabril
"When the water was poured on the rocks, all vestiges of ego disappeared within seconds." Bones
"The sweat was a cleansing of all the poisons I had taken in and never released. I got rid of years of anger and hurt. The tears that flowed I couldn’t control or stop. I just let it happen. It was what I needed to do. I appreciate that cleansing and will never forget it. Had I not had that experience, then I wouldn’t have been able to talk about my issues with the community." Infinity
The goal of the long dance is to dance authentically what your emotions are. We have no better machine for understanding our emotional selves than our bodies: they express everything we feel.
Past participants talk . . . about the long dance:
"During the long dance I learned one of the most valuable lessons of my life. It gave me the ability to move without watching, without being self-conscious. Life can sometimes be like watching yourself doing a bad impersonation of yourself. After half an hour, you start to become free. If you can be free in your body, this freedom applies to other areas of life." Catch and Release
"People create artificial boundaries for themselves: ‘this is how I move,’ ‘this is what I’m capable of.’ The bottom line is that given enough time or the opportunity, we can break these concepts of ourselves. We’re all changing all the time. Dancing is the metaphor of that change. It teaches us the possibilities of what we can do – pushes you to that limit." Bones
"During the long dance I tried to search for answers. I was in the zone. I felt every emotion you could feel: happiness, anger, sadness, love, friendship . . . I let myself go – let my emotions go wherever the dance took me – into wonderful and hideous places." Running Bear
The natives view the vision quest as an opportunity for people to look themselves in the eye. Traditional societies for thousands of years have contemplated questions in nature. Today, most people don’t take 15 minutes to be with themselves and they avoid questions such as ‘who am I?’ or ‘what is my vision of my own life and the future?' Every question you may have can be answered if you quiet yourself in nature. In Temagami, people are sent out into nature to re-focus. Those who stay open to what comes will be given a clear irrefutable picture of what’s going on.
Past participants talk . . . about their vision quest experience:
"The vision quest is an incredible opportunity to be with one’s self. We rarely take hours not thinking, solving, planning – just being. When we do this it is life changing. It’s about centering. Stuff emerges from the unconscious and gives us a sense of meaning. We’re so tuned out from it when we’re sitting there playing a video game. We’re in a ‘doing mode’ not in a ‘being mode.’" Catch and Release
"We never stop in our office and say: ‘How are we doing?’ ‘What am I doing that’s getting in the way?’ or ‘What do I need to change to be more effective for the team and for myself?’ The vision quest gives us a chance to go out with questions." My Time
"I got a gift of a day in my life – being able to be in a day, moment by moment period. It was such a gift to experience a day like that." Heartful
"The name I had chosen as my pseudonym is the name of a powerful Indian goddess – a warrior, who represented the fullness of what it is to be a woman. During my vision quest, I crowned myself as this goddess. I was finally able to accept myself for the person I am and can be. After all the years of people telling me I should accept myself, I finally felt able to." Kabril
Wednesday, August 22 to Friday, August 31, 2007
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