Curran Reichert and Mo Morrow Read More – Seven Pauses

Curran has sent these comments about the session:

I am a progressive Protestant pastor, certified spiritual director, and trauma survivor. The goal of

our shared adventure at the Ranch is to help us all, individually and collectively find our way home to ourselves, home to that calm and centered place inside each of us that enables us to be relational, creative, and responsive rather than reactive.

For the past decade I have engaged a path of immersive study into the mind, body, spirit effects

of recurrent environmental traumatic and extreme stress related to environmental duress on

individuals and communities. This interest was born out of my own traumatic experiences during

the devastating Northern California wildfires of 2017. Turns out this has been a useful skill to have. The recent fires in Southern California, the devastating hurricanes, floods and fallout from the 2024 elections have made it clearer each day that our work as conscious and conscientious people on this planet is to be as grounded as we can, not only for ourselves but for the people we love and for the benefit of humankind.

Sound like a lot. It’s super simple: For two weeks we will hang with each other, we will hang

with the land and the horses, while learning a little about how our brains and bodies function

under stress. We will practice how to stay grounded in the best and worst of times. Best part is,

Mo will sprinkle fairy dust, magic, and stories along the way. I guarantee we will all feel better

when we leave than we did when we arrived.

Here is a poem that keeps me going:

“We Are of a Tribe” By Alberto Ríos

We plant seeds in the ground

And dreams in the sky,

Hoping that, someday, the roots of one

Will meet the upstretched limbs of the other.

It has not happened yet.

We share the sky, all of us, the whole world:

Together, we are a tribe of eyes that look upward,

Even as we stand on uncertain ground.

The earth beneath us moves, quiet and wild,

Its boundaries shifting, its muscles wavering.

The dream of sky is indifferent to all this,

Impervious to borders, fences, reservations.

The sky is our common home, the place we all live.

There we are in the world together.

The dream of sky requires no passport.

Blue will not be fenced. Blue will not be a crime.

Look up. Stay awhile. Let your breathing slow.

Know that you always have a home here.