Walkabout is a sacred form of pilgrimage among the aborigines of Australia through which they connect and reconnect with their place in the whole of the landscape. An ancient form, it holds a legacy of human partnership with the Land, a way of listening for right relationship and action.

The Presence Walkabout programs are an opportunity for skillful development of our capacity to listen and discern what is needed within any context. They are a time for us to come together and in partnership with the Land create an experience of Presence, Deep Listening and Discernment. The individual and collective wisdom which emerge are truly stunning.

 

  A WATERING PLACE...

In all journeys there are times of deep exploration and quickening, rest and renewal. In the Presence Walkabouts these interweave and catalyze each other. The Presence Walkabout is a time and space to come to rest within the rapid and complex pace of your daily life. To breathe deep. To walk upon and with the Land. To be enfolded by silence. To listen for the voice of wisdom, essence and purpose. This is a time of reconnecting to the flows of your personal rhythms. Of coming to center, discovering and affirming “right relationship” within the communities you belong to. And, it is a time to hone and polish your capacity to be a portal for the coalescing of collective Presence and Wisdom. It is a time to re-member and re-enliven your connection with Grace, Mystery and Spirit and discover the power of collective council.

THE WALKABOUT

Walkabout is a word used to describe a journey that was first studied among the Aboriginals of Australia. The journey is undertaken to a belonging place to renew relationship with the principles that guide one in this lifetime. A group or an individual may go on a walkabout. It can be a walk to where they originated; where the particular "songline" that is their legacy traverses the Earth. The "songlines" are a tradition of co-creative partnership with the Land. On a walkabout, the portals that open and the insights that emerge are congruent with the journey of each individual and/or group.

Presence Walkabouts are designed in the spirit of partnering with the Land to deepen listening and discernment individually and collectively. You will have the opportunity to visit many different landscapes, of the Earth, within yourself and those we associate with the territory of collective intelligence and wisdom.  You will discover your unique relationships to these landscapes and the depth and aliveness that being fully present to them can bring to your work and your life.

Some of the features of the territory we will walkabout in may seem familiar to you. Yet, you will experience them in new ways as you engage places and activities through this ancient and powerful form. You will learn how the natural world can be both container and active facilitator of learning. You will feel Silence come alive within you and change your listening and ways of knowing. You will be drawn deeper into your own capacities and belonging by the call and response of your own natural rhythms. You will learn directly what it means to embody dialogic inquiry and presence.

The Land in all its many architectures and seasons is a powerful learning partner, teaching us the essence and power of Place. As we embody the gifts of grounded equanimity and deep listening that the Land offers our work is deepened and changed. Our invitations to others to stretch, explore, step forward more authentically, become more resonant and powerful attractors.

To read "A Brief History of Walkabout in My Life and Work" click here.

THE PROMISE

This program is not a “quickie” or “executive brief”. This is an intense immersion learning experience. We will co-create an in-depth awareness, skill building and integration experience. Each walkabout program evolves into a unique design based on the people who gather and your needs.  I will share with you practices that have sustained and inspired me over the last 30+ years – ways I have developed my capacity to integrate body, mind and spirit to help weave powerful containers for those I work with. You will leave with greater knowledge of your gifts and a stronger and more grounded sense of your self. Regardless of your particular arena of work, this time will expand your personal and professional skills. Your resilience and capacity to center and be fully Present will become deeper and more flexible. You will leave renewed and with new clarity around whatever question(s) you bring with you. You will be better equipped than ever before to help others move through and beyond their limitations into new possibilities and more powerful results  To receive an outline of the practices integrated within the program and a high level roadmap please contact me.

A sampling of reflective questions for both individual and collective inquiry:

• What practices do you engage with to deepen your listening and discernment?
• What gifts do the paradoxes and dilemmas of your life offer you? What does it mean to transcend the dualities and create opening for new relationship and possibilities?
• What invitations are you responding to and extending in your life and work at this time?
• What are the ways in which you create and hold a field of equanimity, passion, compassion and inspiration within yourself regardless of the changes occuring around you?
• SUMMER – What is becoming clearer and blossoming of what is yours to do in these present moments? “What are you[ doing/being] with your one wild and precious life?” – Mary Oliver
• FALL - What do you choose to harvest from the fullness of your life as Fall beckons you into the silence and deep listening that will incubate the next creative cycle of your work?
  

A sampling of activities:

• Being in unique and sacred places upon the land here in NM
• Deep inquiry and dialogue with self and others
• Unfolding rhythms of activity, silence and reflection
• Experiencing how different structures of sound, art, movement, language and ritual evoke and hold spaces for discovery and transformation

LOGISTICS
Each group is limited to 15 people. We meet in one of the most beautiful international destinations, Santa Fe, New Mexico and surrounding areas. Our opening and closing council fires as well as our day to day dialogue circles convene on land 10 miles south of Ojo Caliente, NM. The land here is known for its beauty and power, the depth of its silence and its expansiveness. Our time on the land will be a primary thread in our work together. Arrival and departure dates and times vary with the seasons and years. See http://www.glennagerard.net/calendar.html Each of the seasons brings us its rich questions and alchemical energies.

Fee. The Presence Walkabout learning experience is $950/person. This includes the program, materials, a rafting trip in the Summer months, and most lunches. When you sit with this invitation and listen in, if you feel yourself called and have challenges with financing this experience please contact me directly at glenna@glennagerard.net. I will welcome speaking with you about a sliding scale or a partial scholarship if monies for this are available.

Travel and Lodging.  if you are flying the airport is Albuquerque, NM, 70 miles from Santa Fe and about 110 miles from Ojo Caliente. There are various choices for lodging.  You may stay at the Ojo Caliente Hot Springs or the Abiquiu Inn (25 miles from Ojo Caliente) or at hotels/motels/bed&breakfasts between Ojo Caliente and Santa Fe, or in Santa Fe.  If you choose to stay in Santa Fe you will have more lodging options.  You will also need to plan to drive about 40 minutes each way on days when we gather in Ojo Caliente.  For those of you who prefer to camp there are a limited number of walk-in tent sites on the Ojo Land where we meet.  E-mail me for details.  There is also camping available in Hyde Park above Santa Fe and about 10 miles up the road at the Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs.  Please visit www.ojocalientespa.com for details.  Making reservations as soon as you can is highly recommended.

Registration. There are two steps to the registration process. The first of these is to be in touch with me. We will have a conversation where we will listen together. I would like to hear something of what calls you to this experience and you will have an opportunity to ask any questions you may have. If we both choose to move forward then I will ask you to send me a non-refundable deposit of $250 as a symbol of your desire to be with us and your commitment to yourself and the group that gathers.

to learn more about me

Some words from people who have "gone walkabout" with me in the last few years...

Sharing a common experience with a small group of strangers will never be the same. What Glenna created was the environment where the aspirations and quests of strong and distinct individuals became clearer as one's sense of self sharpened. It was beautiful to watch such capable and loving people grow individually and together. The group itself seemed to have a heart and helped every person trust in their deepest self. I connected to my strengths and my challenges and learned, as never before, that heart-driven well-guided groups are a terrifically important frontier in the equation of fostering presence and tending to the core issues facing us and our many cultures. - Robert Corman

It was like no other retreat, training or workshop I have done. I came with little expectation and I was very surprised, and pleased, with the quality of relationship that was borne out of our shared commitment to show up. The places in nature were very special and contributed to the field we created which I can only describe as spiritual intimacy. It felt like a true circle of the heart.

A friend who is a very experienced trainer asked me about my trip. When I had some difficulty explaining what it was like, he asked simply whether I had been nourished. Insight frequently comes with a great question. My response, of course, was that I was deeply nourished, and that speaks most directly to my experience.

Thank you, Glenna, for your “Call” of the gathering, for your skill in creating a safe, sacred container and in weaving our circle, and thank you for your wonderful heart that was always present and very much open. I know this allowed us to listen in another way, with the ears of our own hearts, to the other voices of our selves speaking. What a remarkable group of people you attracted! - Ken Robinson

 

What has really left an impression are two concepts...the unfolding of Purpose and the sense of one's Place. This has deeper levels of meaning for me than what the words may imply. The Walkabout fosters this important aspect of recognizing a need to be in relationship to the Earth and the land. This form of relationship building....consciously engaged...being in the body and being on the land...seems to me to be connected to some larger purpose of which I feel a small part. What is supported in the process of building this two focused relationship to self and the land is a new way of knowing unlike what we have been living since the age of reason. – Lorna Dwyer

Glenna thank you for bringing us together and providing us with such lovely walkabouts, meditations and different ways in which to express ourselves. Also gifting us with wonderful places to roam, always under your watchful eye, and always feeling your holding of our field so that we could grow and continue to learn. – Miranda Alcott

Never have I been in a "training" session where I was given time to really think...sit and think...walk and think... smell the fire and think... listen to the river and think. This was truly a one of a kind ...chance in a lifetime learning event. I am grateful for Glenna Gerard's wisdom and capacity to create this container of spirit filled learning and sharing. YES.. AND what a fabulous circle of people we are! -Nikki Moss

What feels resonant in me is the magic of the deep deep power of listening. And boy can that be challenging! Our ability to help groups come together in a way that allows for the transformation of the way that they think together, feel together and create new possibility together will rest, in part, with our own ability to create a container for the kind of deep listening that heals and elevates mind, heart and action. After our week together, I feel refreshed and renewed and grounded in a richer way of Being with others. I thank you all for helping me see the possibilities in myself and others.

In my book, we are all sacred and we are all profane and I wouldn't have it any other way! For in the paradox of each of us lies a deeper truth that I find so mysterious and wonderful and beautifully human. – Paul Cello

Last evening and again this morning on my walk, I felt a sense of gratitude for the way you have begun building/inviting the gathering, on multiple levels, first with the phone conversation and then through email and the weblog. I sense a full and generative energy now as I write this note.

"Compounded interest"... an image that comes as I sense the energy from the summer Walkabout and sense into the convening of the fall group. It is an image of a sacred field... growing in some exponential way as we hold one another in our prayers and meditations, in our hearts and bellies and minds ... an antidote to the hurricanes; a healing force ...

Many blessings and love,
Becky