Category: Winter Meditation

A Serene Weekend of Kindness

January 13-15, 2023

The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, Highlands NC

3 Day/2 Night Package (Friday through Sunday)

Bunk House (shared room up to 4 people) $180.00

Lodge or Duplex Cabin (double occupancy) $200.00

Single Occupancy (private room) $320.00

For All Rooms add Mandatory GSV program fee $35.00

Register Now!

Dear Siblings,

Winter at The Mountain is a magical experience. The air is crisp, the atmosphere is serene, and all of nature is in repose. Long dark hours in retreat from life’s commitments create space for reflection. The Mountain beckons you to come, let go, and be in the moment.

You are invited to join us for a weekend focused on serenity and kindness. We will spend one evening by the fire, in our jammies, sharing inspirational short stories. We are also planning a workshop creating elder beads and time with meditation stones.

As you consider our Winter Meditation theme, is there a workshop or experience your heart leads you to offer to our group? If so, please let us know by contacting Doug Emerson at [email protected] or Bill Harris at [email protected]. Thank you!

Financial assistance, in the form of scholarships, is available. The financial assistance application submission deadline is December 30. Our hope is that anyone who resonates with our mission and community, and who has a desire to attend, can join us at our gatherings. To that end, we offer financial assistance through the Raven Wolfdancer Financial Assistance Fund. Please go to the
Financial Assistance page on the Gay Spirit Visions website for more information about financial assistance (scholarships) and for a link to the GSV financial assistance application form. Remember, the financial assistance application submission deadline is December 30.

Please note that GSV currently plans to follow the CDC Covid policy in effect at the time of the gathering.

Registration is now open via the GSV website, so please join us. Register early so that The Mountain will know how many cabins to heat up! Private rooms are available on a limited basis.

Doug Emerson and Bill Harris,
GSV 2023 Winter Meditation Co-Conveners

Register Now!

Working with your Locus of Control

January 14 -16, 2022

Virtual

Registration Closes Tuesday, January 11

Dear GSV Siblings and Brothers,

There is still time to register for the Gay Spirit Visions 2022 Winter Meditation. Registration closes Tuesday, January 11. Click here to register.

Even though we all ache to be together in person again, we are excited to share through Zoom a powerful, sacred, and heart-connected experience with people all over the world — many of whom could not attend were it an in-person gathering.

In 2021 we focused on resilience and hope. This winter’s gathering will focus on working with our locus of control, connecting more deeply in relationship with self, our perception of self, and sacred cosmos. A locus of control orientation delves into our beliefs about whether the outcomes of our actions are contingent on what we do (internal control orientation) or on events outside our personal control (external control orientation). Note that on Saturday there will be a homework assignment, so you may want to have a lunch pre-prepared at home so you will have more time for both.

We will also have the opportunity to explore our community’s relationship to each of us as individuals and as part of a collective organism. Breathwork, poetry, and dialogue will help us embody and live into these relationships. We have some wonderful speakers and facilitators with us this year, sharing their journeys of hope and reconnection. To go a little deeper into the practice of mindfulness and what our keynote presenter, Darren Main, will offer, you may wish to examine this link:
darrenmain.thinkific.com/courses/mindfulness-for-busy-minds

If you decide to attend, we encourage you to participate as much as possible to create the most powerful experience for you and all others. Remember, every person who comes to the gathering brings just as much as they receive from it! There will also be a designated Zoom room for informal socializing, including during mealtimes, throughout the gathering.

We look forward to seeing you!

Sincerely,
The Council of Trusted Elders of Gay Spirit Visions
Conveners of the GSV 2022 Winter Meditation

Register Now

Working with your Locus of Control

January 14 -16, 2022

Virtual

Registration Is Now Open!

Dear GSV Siblings and Brothers,

The 2021 Gay Spirit Visions Fall Conference is now but an exquisite memory, and we are excited to be making excellent progress planning the GSV Winter Meditation, January 14-16, 2022. First, we want you to know that this event will be virtual (online) and not in person. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that the Winter Meditation will be shortly after many of us have gathered in great numbers for the holidays were the primary factors that led us to this decision. While the GSV Fall Conference in September was blessed with good weather allowing for many gatherings outdoors, along with delicious hugs and joyful camaraderie, this is not likely to be the case in January. There will still be scheduled break-out groups — similar to, yet different from traditional small groups — and opportunities for deeper connection outside of the larger group.

Now for the great news. For the 2021 GSV Fall Conference we did not have a keynote speaker, allowing more time for reacquainting with old friends. For GSV’s 2022 Winter Meditation, the GSV Council has engaged Darren Main as keynote speaker. Some of you may remember Darren from the 2011 GSV Fall Conference. Since that initial contact with our organization, Darren expressed the importance of GSV and how critical our work is. Darren is very experienced teaching meditation and yoga (check out his website at DarrenMain.com) and has led many virtual meditation workshops since the COVID-19 pandemic began. We feel that Darren’s unique illuminating gifts will provide a high-quality transformative program for our 2022 Winter Meditation. In addition to the keynote presentation, we invite GSV members to submit ideas for workshops, as we have done in the past. Please submit your workshop ideas to [email protected].

The theme of the Winter Meditation is: Working with your Locus of Control. “A locus of control orientation is a belief about whether the outcomes of our actions are contingent on what we do (internal control orientation) or on events outside our personal control (external control orientation),” explains psychologist Philip Zimbardo in his book Psychology and Life. Additionally, your locus of control can have a major impact on your life, from how you cope with stress to your motivation to take charge of your life. Your locus of control can influence not only how you respond to the events that happen in your life, but also your motivation to take action.

Now for the really great news! Because GSV members have so generously supported GSV through donations and silent auction proceeds for the past 32 years, the GSV Council has decided to waive the program fee for all attendees of the 2022 GSV Winter Meditation. Registration is now open, and it is required. Attendance will be limited to the capacity of our Zoom account (approx. 70). It is with a grateful heart that we bring you this message.

We have worked very hard to sustain our hallowed and delightful traditions during these challenging times. We hope you will register and join us for the GSV Winter Meditation on January 14-16, 2022.

Sincerely,
The Council of Trusted Elders of Gay Spirit Visions, Inc.

Register Now

Working with your Locus of Control

January 14 -16, 2022

Virtual

Dear GSV Siblings and Brothers,

The 2021 Gay Spirit Visions Fall Conference is now but an exquisite memory, and we are excited to be making excellent progress planning the GSV Winter Meditation, January 14-16, 2022. First, we want you to know that this event will be virtual (online) and not in person. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that the Winter Meditation will be shortly after many of us have gathered in great numbers for the holidays were the primary factors that led us to this decision. While the GSV Fall Conference in September was blessed with good weather allowing for many gatherings outdoors, along with delicious hugs and joyful camaraderie, this is not likely to be the case in January. There will still be scheduled break-out groups — similar to, yet different from traditional small groups — and opportunities for deeper connection outside of the larger group.

Now for the great news. For the 2021 GSV Fall Conference we did not have a keynote speaker, allowing more time for reacquainting with old friends. For GSV’s 2022 Winter Meditation, the GSV Council has engaged Darren Main as keynote speaker. Some of you may remember Darren from the 2011 GSV Fall Conference. Since that initial contact with our organization, Darren expressed the importance of GSV and how critical our work is. Darren is very experienced teaching meditation and yoga (check out his website at darrenmain.com) and has led many virtual meditation workshops since the COVID-19 pandemic began. We feel that Darren’s unique illuminating gifts will provide a high-quality transformative program for our 2022 Winter Meditation. In addition to the keynote presentation, we invite GSV members to submit ideas for workshops, as we have done in the past. Please submit your workshop ideas to [email protected].

The theme of the Winter Meditation is: Working with your Locus of Control. “A locus of control orientation is a belief about whether the outcomes of our actions are contingent on what we do (internal control orientation) or on events outside our personal control (external control orientation),” explains psychologist Philip Zimbardo in his book Psychology and Life. Additionally, your locus of control can have a major impact on your life, from how you cope with stress to your motivation to take charge of your life. Your locus of control can influence not only how you respond to the events that happen in your life, but also your motivation to take action.

Now for the really great news! Because GSV members have so generously supported GSV through donations and silent auction proceeds for the past 32 years, the GSV Council has decided to waive the program fee for all attendees of the 2022 GSV Winter Meditation. Registration will open later this month, and it will be required. Attendance will be limited to the capacity of our Zoom account (approx. 70). It is with a grateful heart that we bring you this message.

We have worked very hard to sustain our hallowed and delightful traditions during these challenging times. Watch for our announcement that registration is open. We hope you will register and join us for the GSV Winter Meditation on January 14-16, 2022.

Sincerely,

The Council of Trusted Elders of Gay Spirit Visions, Inc.