The average man is either victorious or defeated and, depending on that, he becomes a persecutor or a victim. These two conditions are prevalent as long as one does not see. Seeing dispels the illusion of victory, or defeat, or suffering.

don Juan Matus

    Don Juan Matus guided Carlos Castaneda to create what he called a breaking point--an interruption in the continuity of his life—meaning the continuity of his habits of thought and action. He said that to see energy and live with inner presence as the root of one’s life, one must reach such an interruption, either through one’s life experience, or by deliberately bringing it about.

    In Carlos Castaneda’s case, he said he had to stop using his friends and other distractions as shields or excuses against the most important encounter: the encounter with himself. He advised him to rent a room, the more drab the better, one with drab green carpets with cigarette burns, and drab green curtains, and stay there by himself until it made no difference to him whether he was alone or in the company of others.

    Carlos Castaneda did end up renting such a room. At first, he said, he wanted to climb the walls. Yet, over time, an unexpected thing happened. As he came to accept his own company and his own life experiences—his failures as well as his victories--the room ceased being drab. He started to appreciate the warmth and shelter the green room provided, and the room began to take on a certain sheen. He opened the curtains one afternoon and looked outside and saw at the end of the parking lot, a trio of young spruce trees he had never noticed before. Their leaves shimmered in the sunlight and danced on the soft breeze. A crow hopped across their branches, cawing enthusiastically. Across the street he noticed a man whistling a tune as he swept the sidewalk in front of his impeccably kept letter shop. He had seen the man before but never noticed the pride and joy he clearly took in caring for his humble store. The afternoon sunlight poured over the scene, and spilled into the green room, and in that light, the green carpet and the walls and fabric of the curtains all looked cheerful to him, a clear, radiant green hue that warmed and lit his entire being. And he realized that it made no difference to him whether he was alone or in the company of others. That evening he looked out at the moon and stars, and he knew that ultimately, he was never alone. He opened his arms and chest and hands to the night sky. He was part of the earth, the plants and trees, the birds, the people around him, the sun, the stars, and they were a part of him.

    He said that going alone to that green room showed him that the true journey of awareness is not something outside of us: rather it begins within. “The green room is a metaphor,” he said. “It represents life experiences or events that help us to disrupt the flow of our habits and assumptions about ourselves—ones that keep us from connecting with the deepest parts of our being—our true mind, our hearts, the paths that would be the expression of why we are really here.”

    The green room is the moment or place or experience where we can’t run away from ourselves anymore—where we are compelled to confront, accept and learn from the events and patterns of our lives where we may have been perpetuating stories of disappointments of the heart, such as: I didn’t have the courage to do what I really love in life, because no one encouraged me. Or: I was given too much, early on, so I believed I was special, and find it difficult to handle any criticism or challenge, or work well with others. Or: I chased away any possibility of a relationship because I didn’t want to end up like my parents. Staying with ourselves also means acknowledging moments where we and others showed true grace, moments of: Celebrating another’s victory, without comparing it to one’s own; Encouraging creativity and strength in oneself and others; Being good stewards of the gifts given in life by sharing them with ourselves, with others, with the earth, with Spirit.

    To open the heart, he said, we can enter that green room every day, for a moment—through practicing deep listening and appreciation of oneself and other beings and states of awareness. We can open the window, the door into conversation with the infinite Now and Here.

In this workshop we will practice magical passes and tracking exercises that help us to enter the green room, to open our hearts to a new kind of freedom—one where we are not attached to our failures or our successes. Where we learn from it all, where we let it all bring us closer to the Spirit.

The green room can be a prison, Carlos Castaneda said, or it can be a paradise. It all depends on how we view it.

Please note: There will be preliminary written exercise to do before arriving at the workshop, which will be sent to you upon registration or soon after.

This workshop will be given in English. Translation into other languages available depending upon number of practitioners requesting them.

Also please note: On Sunday afternoon, after the workshop, there will be a Special Training Session for Practice Group Representatives. Participating in this event, will allow those attending to locally guide Cleargreen-Sponsored Practice Group Tensegrity Classes from the On Vibration series. More information and registration will be posted soon on the Workshop or Update page of our web.

Schedule:

A required introductory session for first-time participants only:

Saturday, February 20, 8:30 am to 9:30 am

Workshop:

Saturday, February 20, 10 am to 10 pm
Sunday, February 21, 10 am to 5 pm

Cost:

$295 before January 21, 2010 (if paid in full)
$325 after

Online registration is closed. To register please go directly to the venue. More Information

Payment plans available upon request; contact Cleargreen for arrangements.

Cancellation Policy:
Before the start of the event: Refunds or credits will be available less a $50 administration fee. After the start of event, no refunds or credits available. Exception: Anyone attending a Cleargreen-sponsored event for the first time may receive a refund, less a $50 administration fee if they notify the registration supervisor in person during or immediately after the first session of the workshop. No refunds are available thereafter.

Hotel List