Category: Winter Meditation

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.

IF YOU HAVE REGISTERED FOR THE WINTER MEDITATION by January 6 then the attendee letter has been emailed to you today. If you do not receive this, it probably means The Mountain doesn’t have a current email address for you. Please call or text 404 565-4080 or send an email to [email protected] with the best address to use and we will forward it to you – and work with The Mountain to correct their information.

Note: Registration closes Tuesday Evening, January 12, 2021

Reflecting on Resilience

January 15 – 17, 2021

A virtual Zoom-based experience

$35 registration fee

Additional donations for the GSV Scholarship Fund and/or The Mountain can also be made in the registration portal.

Register now!

Sacred Brothers,

I invite you to join our January 2021 Winter Meditation where we will explore how we access and sustain our personal resilience.

Two “keynote” meditation sessions will help us gain insight into how we have navigated adversity in 2020 and how we can use that to sustain us into 2021. With the knowledge that a grateful mind and heart helps us to be more resilient and enhances our self-compassion and our compassion for others, Tom Comstock will guide us in a contemplative exercise that can help us develop a practice of gratitude that is deeper, more genuine and spontaneous, and more heartfelt. Andrew Elias Ramer will help us explore what we learned from last year’s rippling challenges to every part of our lives, beginning with a short body-focused practice that will help to anchor us as we share, in small groups and together, what we’ve learned and how we can use it in the coming year.

A heart weaving on Friday evening will engender more intimate connection with some of our siblings before we move into our opening heart circle. On Saturday, in addition to our two “keynote” sessions, Karma (John Schendel) will lead us in gentle guided breathwork. Franklin Abbot will host a time to share short statements, personal work, or favorite poems in a deeper dive into the idea of gratitude. Gabriel Nelson Sears will envelop us in a sound bath meditation as he facilitates a journey on the harmonious waves of Himalayan singing bowls, native flutes, gong, and other sacred sound instruments.

While we will not conduct formal, facilitated small groups, there will be two scheduled sessions, on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, when participants can be randomly placed in breakout spaces to share more about what we have experienced and what we are taking away. As an addition to our primary Zoom room for all program activities, a second Zoom space will be open throughout the weekend, acting as our virtual rocking chair porch and dining hall for informal visiting and sharing.

Join us for an opportunity to contemplate the last year and move forward into 2021 sustained and nurtured for your continuing journey.

Your eager and excited Winter Meditation 2021 convener,

David Cable
[email protected]

NOTE: REGISTRATION CLOSES TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 12, 2021.

Register Now!