As a part of this year's SAF Board retreat over 40 Foundation members and advisers were invited to participate by sharing their suggestions and ideas. Here are highlights of some of the changes you can look forward to as a result this meeting and the suggestions and feedback received.
NEW E-NEWSLETTER:
This new feature of membership will be emailed to all members four times a year, containing timely news items, articles on sensing, upcoming workshops and events, interviews, etc.
Updated website:
The SAF is in the process of constructing a more engaging and up to date website. Have a look at sensoryawarenes.org if you haven't visited it for a while. In future months we plan to add offerings in both audio and video formats of various leaders inviting you to sensing experiments right now.
VALLOMBROSA SPRING WORKSHOP 2014:
We very much hope you can join us. Please go to our website for more information. This year we're aiming for over 50 attendees and we will be making an extra effort in connecting with professionals in the area who might particularly benefit from this work: psychotherapists, massage professionals, Buddhist & mindfulness groups. If you enter our Facebook photo contest and post a photo that captures something of the essence of Sensory Awareness, you may win $100 off the workshop cost.
SAF EAST COAST WORKSHOP fall 2015:
A large number of Sensory Awareness students, new and old, live in the NYC area, so we will be bringing together sensing groups already meeting there and connecting to other groups with interest in sensing - mindfulness practitioners, massage professionals, therapists, etc.Our goal is at least 50 attendees.
OUR FACEBOOK PAGE:
This will be more integrated with our website, and both it and our webpage will have links to Sensory Awareness Youtube videos of various leaders including some new videos of Charlotte Selver. Please go to Sensory Awareness on Facebook to check it out. And if you do please help us boost our presence on this important social media site by sharing with friends and by adding comments and"likes".
Fresh Newsletter format:
The look of the newsletter will be updated after this next issue (out in few weeks) and will be published once a year.
MORE INDIVIDUAL CONTACT BETWEEN SAF MEMBERS AND THE BOARD:
Our recent connection with many of our members has proved very fruitful; we intend to continue it by more efforts at outreach from the Board to our members. Please feel free to get in touch with us to share your ideas (our emails are below).
worldwide:
The Board has voted to support the production of a Japanese translation of Charlotte's book "Waking Up," to be published by this fall. It will serve as the only book about Sensory Awareness in that language. The SAF will continue to sponsor and promote its annual Spanish speaking workshop in Mexico.
SUPPORT FOR COMPELLING PROJECTS:
The Foundation will continue to help promote and support the Honoring the Path of the Warrior program, a program that uses Sensory Awareness in helping returning war veterans. The Foundation is pleased to support this important effort, overseen by the San Francisco Zen Center, as well as encourage contributions by individuals. We also hope to be able to document how the use of Sensory Awareness has been of benefit to those in this program.
BASIC MEMBERSHIP DUES:
Membership will be increased to $100 annually. This will be our first increase in over 30 years and is long overdue. All members will receive discounts on workshops and publications, as well as sent four e-newsletters per year as well as mailed one print newsletter.
The Board values your input. Here's how to contact us directly:
Richard Lowe [email protected] Sara Gordon [email protected]
Sara Bragin [email protected] Carol Buck [email protected]
Ray Fowler [email protected] Len Shemin [email protected]
Eugene Tashima [email protected] Michael Atkinson [email protected]
OTHER NEWS
RECENT LEADERS' GUILD ELECTION:
On April 1st The members of the Sensory Awareness Leaders' Guild elected Michael Atkinson to be its next Guild President and Pat Meyer-Peterson to serve as Vice-President. Both are long time students of this work.
Pat is a past President of the Guild and has led classes and workshops in Sensory Awareness for many years, and in addition she maintains her own Somatic practice in Virginia in which she offers massage, Shiatsu and Zero Balancing.
Michael offers Sensory Awareness workshops in Buddhist centers and other venues in Vermont and a few months ago became a member of the SAF Board.
SENSORY AWARENESS AT CONFERENCE ON MINDFULNESS:
Early this month leader Lee Klinger Lesser along with Vanessa Meade, MSW presented at a major mindfulness conference on "Offering Mindfulness-Based Interventions to Military Veterans". The conference was sponsored by the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society founded in 1995 by Jon Kabat-Zinn. This Center is part of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and is an outgrowth of its acclaimed Stress Reduction Clinic - the oldest and largest academic medical center-based stress reduction program in the world.
Lee shared about the important role of Sensory Awareness in the healing of returning war veterans in Honoring the Path of the Warrior, a program she co founded with Chris Fortin of the San Francisco Zen Center. About the conference she wrote," I shared a lot about sensing. It is moving and impressive to be here and to see the many sincere and committed people and also to feel the gift that sensing can bring."
Vannesa has written about the value of Sensory Awareness in her own healing process as a veteran, and has generously agreed to have it published in our next newsletter.