August 2011 -
Adventure Rowing and Mind-Body retreats on Penikese Island
August finds us on Penikese Island, one of the beautiful Elizabeth Islands, stretching southwest from Cape Cod, in collaboration with the Penikese Island School. During this time we will be offering a multifaceted youth program through Adventure Rowing, while offering two mind-body-nature retreats for our adult population. It is also our aim to bring our youth into roles of leadership and community involvement by assisting Dharma Voyage instructors in these adult programs. We are excited to bring a diverse spectrum of individuals from throughout New England to this wonderful island of south coast Massachusetts.
Many thanks to our supporting community, who have helped us make the Adventure Rowing program available to this group of at-risk youth, who would otherwise not have the means to engage in a high quality outdoor program, and have had very little exposure to mindfulness based exploratory education. We also extend our gratitude to Mass Wildlife and the Penikese Island School Board of Directors.
Session One: August 3-6 (Wednesday-Saturday)
Introduction to Adventure Rowing
We will use this opportunity to allow our students to connect to the island, explore its extraordinary environment, and to complete the Adventure Rowing Fundamentals - a course to establish the mental and physical health/awareness that will carry them into a successful on-water course. We will introduce the Dharma Voyage meditation program and begin work on mindful physical practices. The physical practices include techniques to prepare for a vigorous rowing program, to take place later in the month, along with safety enhancing swim training. Our education team will be evaluating the students present needs in physical, mental and emotional capacities, and discussing future goals during this time.
Taught by:
Andrew Avault - Director of Youth Services
James Burraston - Teacher and Curriculum Evaluator - Masters in Education/Masters in Education Research
Charles Setterland - former Brown University professor and has been working with Penikese in substance abuse prevention.
Session Two: August 17-21 (Wednesday-Sunday)
Adult Programs
Tai Chi, Wednesday - Friday
Yoga, Friday-Sunday
These retreats are an amazing opportunity for our adult population to explore the wisdom available through engaging in mindful physical practices and meditation in a natural setting. Our focus in these retreats will be to establish or deepen a profound sense of personal growth and practice through the arts of Tai Chi and Yoga while living in a state of mind that is aware of and liberated from persistent thought habits as created through enforcing our inner nature to conform to a linear, mechanized sense of time. With no exposure to cell phones or any clock throughout the retreat, our aim is to awaken an inner sense of time in tune with the circle of the earth around the sun and the movement of the moon and tides.
For our adventure Rowing youth, these retreats will present situations to engage in responsible leadership roles. We will be employing our youth during this time as assistants in the running of these retreats. This will give them a sense of ownership for their growing knowledge of the island and island facilities, and present opportunities to instill a sense of personal awareness and confidence in roles active community involvement. This is important to our curriculum as one of the goals of Dharma Voyage is to create an environment of continued engagement with learning and self-development. As we move forward with Adventure Rowing, our hope is to nurture a culture of peer mentoring between seasoned rowers and new students of the program.
Adult Programs taught by:
Ben Booth - Executive Director
Youth Aspects lead by:
Andrew Avault - Director of Youth Services
Session Three: August 24-27 (Wednesday-Saturday)
Adventure Rowing
This will be the culmination of the August learning journey on Penikese Island. Taking the fundamentals they learned in Introduction to Adventure Rowing together with the personal responsibility and leadership gained during the adult retreats, our students will be ready to undergo a rigorous and exhilarating course in Adventure Rowing. This course will introduce rowing technique, navigation and seamanship. It will further mind-body awareness and functional meditation skills. It will instill a real sense of being an intimate part of the amazing power of the sea that surrounds us all.
Adventure Rowing will progress in skills and challenges throughout the week, and will finish with a 12 mile row from Penikese Island, down the entire Elizabeth Island chain, to Woods Hole. We expect this to be quite the challenge and an amazing adventure! In this day of mechanized travel, we feel the youth who are courageous enough to accept this challenge will discover the depth of potential residing in their soul and the strength of character guiding their hands around the oars!
Taught by:
Ben Booth - Executive Director and head Adventure Rowing instructor
Andrew Avault - Director of Youth Services
assisted by:
James Burraston - M.Ed.,M.Ed(research)
Viennia Lopes - M.Ed