Announcing Aletheia Springs' New Residential Work Scholar Program
| March 22, 2019 |
With springtime officially here, welcomed in by both sunshine and rain, it seems high time for a goodly catch up on a few significant shifts, wintertime learnings, and positive new movements here at the Aletheia project. But before that, I want to first share with you the exciting launch of our brand new Work Scholar Residential Immersion Program at Aletheia Springs! (Click here to read about it on our website.) This new residential program will run annually from March through October and is for people to come live, work and study at the Springs for a month (and where there's mutual fit there'll be the option to stay on for additional program months as well). Each Work Scholar participates alongside the year-round Community Stewards in the daily operations and care of the Springs as well as in the embodied research and practice of restoring and actualizing a healed village in service to our greater community and world. (For a full description of our project aims, please read our mission, vision and orientation.) We were blessed with some help from several mentors and peers in designing this program over the last three months. And we've also had the pleasure of already having our very first Work Scholars come and live with us here at the Springs during February and March as a warm up and soft launch of the program. So, a big shout out of gratitude to our supporters for their feedback and ideas, and a huge bow to Travis and Scott for being our first Work Scholar guinea pigs! Thanks in large part to you we are ready for this official launch. : )
We are now seeking applicants for our
2019 inaugural cohort of Aletheia Springs Work Scholars!
Maybe you or someone you know could be a good fit for us this year?
First, let me tell you a bit more about it all... Work Scholars live at the Springs surrounded by oak and madrone woodlands along the ribbon of Sonoma Creek in rustic seasonal accommodations -either a shared or single glamping style bell tent on redwood decking, indoors in our Barn bunk room, or if it suits them, wild-camped in a little nook somewhere on the land. Our Collective Kitchen, which is for all the residents and Work Scholars living here, provides simple fresh, organic and locally-sourced bulk food that's available for preparing all personal meals during someone's stay. And, for those coming during the high season months of June, July & August, fully prepared meals for both breakfasts and dinners will also be a part of the program. And last but certainly not least there is the significant gift from the land itself to all of us who are here in service to her- the therapeutic 108° waters of the Thermal Baths, which are fully accessible for soaking communion. Additionally, from late April to early October the large geothermal warm swimming pools are also open for all of us to enjoy. ♥
The format of this new Work Scholar program may be generally familiar to you as we're modeling it after many successful live/work offerings at established places like Esalen, Tassajara, or Mount Madonna. Aletheia Work Scholars participate in an immersive program of study and exchange where room and board are fully included with a service work component of 24-27 hours/week (depending on month). Work Scholars also engage in a program of transformative learning for personal and social change with daily to weekly group practices as well as monthly retreats, day-longs or intensives from various lines of study.
Many of the group practices in the program form the core of our regular lines of study here at Aletheia and, as such, they're chosen specifically with the intention to support our development along certain lines we may need in order to unfold the full vision of Aletheia Springs. Yet we hope that these are also skills and capacities we all could greatly benefit from in the unfolding visions of many other healing biotope community nodes emerging all over the planet right now.
The service work component involves participating in various ongoing roles and creative projects for the land and community, as well as working shifts during our guest season (see the Service Work Spheres under the Work Scholar program description on our website here to get a sense). At Aletheia, we hold the work of operating the Springs during our summer guest season for the benefit of the public as our sacred karma yoga, tikkun olam, seva or spiritual life practice. As such, it’s both an integral part of our community work and its a direct expression and extension of our greater vision for bringing about a healed, more beautiful world. We also want to build a diverse, full, whole and healthy village with an inclusive mix of ages, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, skills, etc. We want mature youngers, elders and those 'yelders' in between! Some who've just retired or would love a sabbatical from day-to-day life, and others maybe on school break or between jobs.
Most importantly though, this program is intended for all of us who are simply ready to take our powerful insights and growth from years of workshopping at festivals, trainings and retreats and bring it into a lived daily practice embedded in community.
As 2019 will be our initial year for this program, it’s important to note that participants will be a part of an inaugural cohort where much of the content and logistics will continue to be built-out and refined throughout the year with participant feedback. Those who enjoy being on the ground level of R&D for such a integrative and community-based program will find themselves a wonderful fit for us this year! And, if you'd love to plug in in some smaller way, or a month is more than you have to give, our weekly Monday Service Practice days are now in full swing and a superb way to tuck in with us, do a little land work, and enjoy a lunch and hot soak as our thanks. We are also seeking single day and half-day volunteers for service shifts during our summer guest season, so if either of these two options sound appealing, give us a holler!
Thank you for your support, for reading this and for being a part of this unfolding with us. Please help to spread the word about our 2019 Aletheia Work Scholar program to your friends and network and help us make it a wonderful success for its first year! Wishing you the sweet tenderness and the power of new possibilities that spring can bring, Laurie & The Aletheia Stewards at Morton's Warm Springs 1651 Warm Springs Road, Glen Ellen, CA 95442 c. (510) 366-5067 | www.MortonsWarmSprings.com | www.AletheiaSprings.com
