The Quality Without a Name

From The One Who, a transformative outdoor theatre production created by Marcella Trowbridge and ArtFARM, hosted by The Sanctuary last July.

The Forest

“Forests are storehouses of biodiversity and can teach us lessons in democracy; of sharing space with others while drawing sustenance from the common web of life.” - Vandana Shiva

One of the blessings of being stewards of the Sanctuary land trust is that we get to spend lots of time in the forest. The back uncleared thirty acres of this amazing piece of land consist of lowland forest trees and a meandering series of ponds, streams, waterfalls and wetlands terraformed by nature’s premiere water engineer and keystone species, the beaver.

After beaver-ing here for over ten years, you’d think we would know this forest pretty well, and we do. But after creating a new series of paths to clear dead trees and brush the past two years, we continue to discover areas of deep wholeness in the forest - nooks or micro-environments shaped by the dazzling synergies of a healthy, living ecosystem.

These inner, and more inner altars, only start to reveal themselves after time and attention.

The Sanctuary serves to protect this natural magic and make it available to the local community. We invite you to come walk these new paths in 2025.

“Contemporary western civilization is built of brick and wood. It is rooted in the city. But Indian civilization has been distinctive in locating its source of regeneration, material and intellectual, in the forest, not the city.” - Rabindranath Tagore

We are currently witnessing the spectacular flowering of a true fern forest taking place due to our clearing practices. Clearing the forest floor is a big deal.

Our new puppies, of course, are at home and deeply activated - cognitively, emotionally and spiritually - by the forest (a paradise for them and for us, and a paradise squared when we get to enjoy it together). Most days the doggies get us out there by sunrise, where the cool morning air of the deep forest feels like a cleansing shower of quietly charged energy recalibrating our bodies from cells to perceptions to plans for the day. This is our church.

The One Who Hears the Suffering of the World

In terms of happenings last summer, ArtFARM’s production of The Who One was surely a highpoint of the season. Part transformative outdoor theatre, part communal healing ritual, this unique event was the heart-child of visionary artist and ArtFARM Director, Marcella Trowbridge. Inspired in part by the land, this production came to Marcella while on silent retreat at The Sanctuary. She has led powerful community healing workshops here before, and The One Who took it to a ritualized level. The audience traveled across the field and forest to experience scenes of dance, theatre and a radical form of circus, the French tradition of Bouffon (mockery of corrupt authority). The overarching theme pulling it together was the character of Kuan Yin, the Buddhist Bodhisattva of Compassion, the One Who Hears the Suffering of the World and takes action. In two sold-out shows, Trowbridge, as Kuan Yin, dethroned fear, uplifted love, and called us to dance with her.

Songs of Prayer

The Sanctuary hosted a number of musical acts this past year, all original, inspired musicians including several Kirtans led by the much beloved wallah Shakti Ma and the Rainbow Serpent. Bhakti yoga is a joyous singing meditation. Shakti Ma’s band includes Tam Zezulka (vocals), Kevin Gallagher (percussion), Tracey Kroll (drums), Justin Good (guitar) and Nick Capozza (bass). We love you Shakti Ma!

Long-term friend of the Sanctuary Mason Lucas aka Don Gato performed some new music last summer. A super-talented guitarist, songwriter and DJ, Mason blends Middle school rap, multi-lingual heart-songs and ultra-worldly guitar licks, somewhere between The Edge and Hendrix. Check out his excellent collection of recordings:

We also welcomed back Baklava Express, a unique mid-eastern fusion band led by Oud player Josh Kaye and violinist Daisy Castro. In this clip the band is getting ready to perform after a last minute thunder storm had us quickly moving the band off the stage and into the yurt.

Shout out also to Odyssey Endeavor, made up of members of the Sanctuary’s A Course in Miracles community Janine Janaki, Joseph , Michael Kurgan and Andy Karsanis, as well as a premier by local artist DJ Sheep for excellent performances in August.

Teaching and Learning Peace

The Sanctuary is chartered as a non-profit to promote learning at the intersection of environmentalism and spirituality. These are some of the on-going educational programs we ran last year and will continue in 2025.

Sanctuary Director Jen Taylor hosted her circus yoga students in May at a retreat for young yoga jedis held at the forest classroom. Using play to hack discipline and mindfulness, “Ms. Jen” seen here guiding a youngling on the silks.

She will be offering classes in Forest Circus Yoga at The Sanctuary this spring and summer.

In 2024 we began a monthly writers retreat led by John Stifler. A professor of writing with over 50 years experience, our dear “Uncle John” is a master at supportive guidance, creative prompting and leading us through a deepening conversation about writing and the creative process. He has been deeply instrumental in helping us and the other students who participated in unlocking our own writing projects. We are delighted that this writers group will be an ongoing feature of the educational offerings at The Sanctuary this year. If you are looking for a local group to help you take your own writing to a deeper level, consider joining one of our retreats this year. John will be back on Sunday March 30th for the next retreat.

Finally, the Sanctuary’s meditation group, the Meditation Miracles Sangha, met on most Sundays through the year to practice forgiveness and study the great philosophical masterpiece, A Course in Miracles. This powerful practice allows one to release all judgments - of oneself, of others, of politicians, of God. This fall we engaged in a line by line study of Helen Shucman’s final piece, “The Gifts of God,” another masterpiece of spiritual philosophy. In 2025, we are going to expand the curriculum of this study group to include the Law of One Ra Material. If you are interested in joining us, please email Vood: info@oursanctuary.org.

Xena’s Neolithic Revival Cafe, Gospel Brunch and Artisan Bazaar

We are excited to be hosting a new kind of gathering at The Sanctuary this coming year. This past December we held the first version of this, a holiday market in the yurt featuring arts and crafts, holistic health products and indigenous art from South America. Organized by friend of the Sanctuary Karlitos Suarez, this gathering was open to local artisans interested in sharing their wares. In the Sanctuary house, Xena’s Cafe offered soup, hot beverages and freshly baked sourdough. This cafe and market will be continuing as a monthly special event this year, beginning the first Sunday in March. Check out video from our first December bazaar, courtesy of Karlos “Lito” Suarez. The first bazaar of 2025 will be Sunday, April 5th.

Great Thanks to everyone who supported the Sanctuary’s mission last year. Special thanks to Christian Cokas, ESPN and the Disney VoluntEARS Grants program for ongoing support including a generous grant this spring 2025. We love you Mr. C!

The Sanctuary’s new doggie ambassadors, Thea and Mr. Beans.