Ecstatic Wisdom
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Transcript of Ecstatic Wisdom
A global spiritual practice based on ancient artifacts,
Felicitas D. Goodman, PhD, anthropologist, developed the system in the late 1970's and called it Ritual Body Postures and Ecstatic Trance.
I discovered her book, Where the Spirits Ride the Wind in February
1993
and renamed the practice
Ecstatic Wisdom Postures because it seemed more
descriptive.
Why ecstatic wisdom?
First we need to examine that state called
ecstasy. In modern times, ecstasy has become confused
with sexuality, depravity and a host of other behaviors that are frowned upon.
Consequently, our modern culture is ecstasy deprived and we humans are
hungry.
Ecstasy deprivation
is a major source
of modern addiction.
Here are some symptoms:
"being on the pause button"
feeling apathetic, numb, stiff, unfeeling, helpless,
alienated, disengaged from living
feeling a nameless dread
feeling mired by confusion
feeling powerless to change anything including yourself
Take a deep breath - we're in the throes of major cultural transformation and unprecedented
demands on human evolution.
AND happily, we're in the soup together. Out of this crisis the creative brilliance of humanity can
emerge.
Ecstatic Wisdom Postures can help us midwife this new human story as well as rekindle our own
compassionate aliveness.
Ecstasy is the “condition that
occurs when the body transcends the
mind without the loss of
consciousness.”Belinda Gore, PhD,
The Ecstatic Experience
In his book, Wild Hunger - the Primal Roots of Modern Addiction, Bruce Wilshire, points out that: “In Greek ek-stasis means standing out from the points in space one’s body occupies. To stand out into the surrounding world and to be caught up and possessed by it. The world owns me and, in a strange sense, I own it.”
We modern humans have broken that “participatory bond…with regenerative source, with wild nature…kinship with plants and animals, with rocks, trees, and horizons.
Even terror is a bond with what terrifies. In such moments we are ‘out of ourselves,’ ecstatic, spontaneous, full of the swelling presences of things.”
Wilshire concludes his book with this
thought provoking statement
repeated twice as you see it below:
"Awe undermines addictions.
Awe undermines addictions."
My experience of ecstasy includes:
a felt sense of communion
awe and profound gratitude
being energized and informed by the
invisible life force streaming through
me being fully engaged
with living
When we're ecstatic, our ego
has let go.
What a relief!That poor ego of
ours is exhausted by trying to control the
uncontrollable.
When we hold an Ecstatic Wisdom Posture the ego
steps back,changes jobs,
becomes a “side-by” to the
Soul, a helpmate to the
Self.
This frees our energy.We feel as if we belong
to something larger than ourselves alone.
Addictions lose their hold.
We find easier ways to negotiate life's surprises.
And we fall in love with life!
Why do I use the term
Ecstatic Wisdom Postures?
Ecstatic Postures provide a felt-sense of aliveness
and the truths beyond facts.
Ecstatic Wisdom Postures
cultivate mystery
and inspire awe…
and that provides an
eco-centric awareness, a well-spring for wisdom.
The practice relies on the body not the intellect.
Our nervous system is hardwired to respond to the rhythmic stimulation and the posture itself
provides the doorway to a specific neighborhood of the world beyond our typical senses.
The combination of pose and rhythm is the key which opens the door.
balances our brain, integrates our body/mind, rejuvenates our nervous system,
releases endorphins for that signature feeling of well-being,
inspires imagination and helps us remember the vastness of our own inner landscape,
nourishes community,and provides direct experience of Source.
live fully so we have no regrets when our time here is done,
experience life-affirming ecstasy on a regular basis,
nourish community, co-creativity, collaboration, inspire artistic expression and imaginative
solutions, live with love, trust and gratitude, which helps
us embrace chaos with courage and equanimity.
. . .at the same time we feel better about the legacy we leave behind for our kids and their kids and their kids…
We enrich our living today …
I hope all that inspires you to sample
Ecstatic Wisdom Postures for yourself.
Please join me for an introduction on February 21st, 2012,
in Hansville, WA,
or on February 27th on Bainbridge Island.
Intros can also be "commissioned" by interested groups, as an Astrology Group is doing in Poulsbo.
A six session Foundation Course is always available after an Intro.
Please check my blogsite -
The Wisdom of Not Knowing Everything for current offerings and more information
about Ecstatic Wisdom Postures:
Cuyamungue, the Felicitas D. Goodman Institute, is located near Santa Fe, New Mexico.
www.cuyamungueinstitute.com
Brief Biography
Deborah J. Milton has a Ph.D. in Human Development
from Bryn Mawr College. She has facilitated groups for thirty years. An eco-psychologist, artist, teacher, adventurer, mother of
four and grandmother of eight, Deborah was certified to teach Postures in 1996 by the
Cuyamungue Institute. In 2001, she founded Athanor Arts - a Haven for the Creative Spirit just north of Missoula, MT, and gave the practice the
name: Ecstatic Wisdom Postures.In 2009, in response to the call of our time, she moved to Bainbridge Island, WA, to deepen her
work in the world.As her relationship to EWP has evolved over the years, she finds them infinitely adaptable, always
surprising, and an inspiration for Sacred Activism. They nourish her with community,
life-giving ecstasy and soul-centric wisdom.
Acknowledgements
Text and artwork by Deborah J. Milton, Ph.D. with gratitude to Marianne Carroll and Frances Wilson
for the slides' background design.
This program was written in 2012 using PowerPoint 2003.
Milton photo taken by Barbara Fontaine.
Photo slide 29 from the book by Nana Nauwald.
Photo in slide 11 from an old Institute brochure.
All images of artifacts and portrait of Goodman are from the collection of the Cuyamungue Institute or articles written by Gore.
Here are a few of my favorite books relating to non-ordinary reality,
ecstatic experience and the conscious evolution of the human:
Ecstatic Body Postures – an Alternate Reality Workbook, Belinda Gore, Ph.D.Where the Spirits Ride the Wind - Trance Journeys and Other Ecstatic Experiences, Felicitas D.Goodman, Ph.D.The Ecstatic Experience, Belinda Gore, Ph.D.The Salmon in the Spring – the Ecology of Celtic Spirituality, Jason KirkeyBecoming Animal – An Earthly Cosmology, David AbramShaking Medicine – The Healing Power of Ecstatic Movement, Bradford Keeney, Ph.D.Wild Hunger – Primal Roots of Modern Addiction, Bruce Wilshire, Ph.D.Voices of the First Day, Robert LawlorThe Cosmic Serpent – DNA and the Origins of Knowledge, Jeremy Narby, Ph.D.Nature and the Human Soul – Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World, Bill Plotkin, Ph.D.The Universe is a Green Dragon, Brian Swimme, Ph.D.