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SOUL MAKING
for GAY MEN New England Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY.
June 3-5, 2005
For Easy Registration
call 800-944-1001 or visit online at eomega.org
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"Gay men want to explore why we are here,
and what we’re all about.
We’re looking for a renewal of spirit, to heal old wounds and, with that, the ability to realize more from our lives than what we were told it was supposed to be about.”
So says Paul Chirumbolo. He adds, “The world is full of people that have stopped listening to themselves, or who listen only to others to learn how they ought to behave, or what the values are that they should be living for. For gay people in particular, this describes a large part of our experience of growing up. As a result, the blueprint that informed our lives often has more to do with the negative beliefs and stereotypes that we absorbed, imprints that equated gay identity with being weird, bad or wrong – even before we had any inkling other guys turn us on!"
"This patterning became deeply embedded and predisposes us to certain attitudes, to how we perceive ourselves, and how we relate to the world. And then we go on repeating these patterns over and over again."
"Look at the thousands of gay men flocking to the circuit party scene. Sure, it’s a whole lof of fun, but it often crosses the line into an artificial intimacy with not a whole lot of purpose other than to maybe get laid. Don’t get me wrong. I’m as sexual as anyone else, but it’s sometimes very destructive - a near epidemic wave of alcohol and drug abuse in our community, a wave that many can’t seem to swim free of. We have to purposefully set out to erase that old blueprint to make room for something else.” |
Omega Institute
Rhinebeck, New York
is just...- 2 hours from New York City
- 3-1/2 hours from Boston
- 1-1/2 from Albany
For information on shuttle pick-ups from the local airport, train and bus stations, as well as the Omega charter bus from New York City, call: 800-944-1001. |
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Chirumbolo has been exploring eastern and western psycho-spiritual traditions for the past 24 years. An initiated yogi, he received shaktipat initiation according to practices of the Siddha Yoga lineage. He has also lived and trained with Native healers of both North and South America.
“The practices I learned from my mentors create the means to erase those blueprints, help you step out of time and into more of a sacred space in which the change-making process is quickened. I use the analogy of a snake shedding its skin. In western psychology, we go about this process by peeling off one scale at a time. With more traditional non-western approaches the old skin can be stripped away in its entirety, leaving only the here and now."
It’s not that the past magically disappears but, at the very deepest of levels, a shift begins to occur and the old patterning begins to break up. And with that comes the freedom to envision something else. For gay people, it creates the means to reinvent ourselves in a more authentic image of ourselves - an image that many of us had never before imagined. Believe me, it's time for that something else." |
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Chirumbolo has been offering workshops since 1988, and he has authored numerous essays and articles related to the psychospiritual history and mythologies of gay people. He is the author of THE GAY STUDIES SERIES and the forthcoming ORIGINAL GAY TAROT.
“Some people call this a gay spirit or we go off for spirit warrior weekends, and that’s good. When you begin to clear away the clutter – get beyond the issues of what it’s been like to grow up gay in a non-gay world - what you find is that you begin to open to something else. When that happens it's like a genie set loose from his bottle. The darndest things start popping out!”
Beginning in 2002, Chirumbolo teamed up with Ron Kaczor to begin offering “Gay Soul Making” workshops in the Arizona desert. Kaczor is proprietor of the Cave Creek Mistress Mine and Wellness Center, located just north of Phoenix.
Kaczor says, “When Paul first came to the mine, we had never met before, but then he started to do his thing. I mean, rings around the moon and birds flying into the room.” Chirumbolo says it has much to do with the setting itself. “When you’re in a nature-based setting, off the beaten track, there’s a lot of energy to draw on. The spirit’s alive in all things, and once you break free from the exigencies of modern life, it’s still all there just waiting, ready for you to call on.”
Chirumbolo describes the workshop activities as cumulative and progressive, with an emphasis on ritual, ceremony, and experiential encounters. He explains that it is not a psychological or even a spiritual process alone. “It’s equally as much about what happens when your physical being is renewed and newly informed."
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SOUL MAKING for GAY MEN in New England
is being presented in 2005 by the
Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY.
June 3-5, 2005
For Easy Registration, call 800-944-1001
or visit Omega online at eomega.org. |
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To Receive Updates on Paul Chirumbolo's Workshop Offerings: Subscribe To The Mailing List |
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