Anne Jablonski: Feathered Pipe Foundation, Mindfulness Unplugged (#89)
Our Guest Today: Anne Jablonski
Anne Jablonski is the Board President at The Feathered Pipe Foundation (@Feathered Pipe), an organization based in Helena, Montana that helps people “cultivate awareness of their truest selves, enrich spirit, mind, and body; explore the world’s wisdom and discoveries.” As one of the oldest centers for conscious living and yoga retreats in the country, Feathered Pipe is surrounded by millions of acres of forest and mountains. Guests from around the world come lounge, stretch, laugh, stroll including gurus, teachers, celebrities including Joseph Cambell, Dr. Andrew Weil, Rodney Yee.
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A little bit of a history:
The Ranch came into the hands of the Feathered Pipe Foundation through an unlikely convergence of avant-gardists, artists, industrialists, seekers, and teachers all somehow came together to create, nourish, and draw wisdom from sacred land near the Continental Divide in central Montana.
The idea of a place called the Feathered Pipe was birthed in the 1970s over a series of conversations between a healer named Jermaine (“Jerry”) Duncan and the artist-poet Liam O’Gallagher. The two dreamed of creating a healing center. In 1975, before realizing her vision, Jerry died. A young seeker named India Supera inherited the property near Helena, Montana. Together with a group of “just crazy enough friends,” she brought their vision to reality through the creation of the Feathered Pipe Ranch and the Holistic Life Foundation (HLF), later named the Feathered Pipe Foundation. From this unlikely beginning grew one of the most revered wellness and educational retreat centers in the country.
I have not talked about yoga extensively on Feisworld, but it has certainly been a routine practice of mine. Because I don’t have much training in meditation and I have always been eager to learn, this conversation with Anne was particularly helpful in demystifying the process and gaining more perspectives for me, and hopefully for you too.
Meditation has become more accessible through digital devices, yet there’s no experience quite like Feathered Pipe (FP). Why? Anne offered to answer questions such as: Do people struggle when they first arrive at FP, or do they adapt rather quickly? What are some of the most outstanding experiences and moments people still talk about today? (Hint: food is a big part of the Feathered Pipe experience). I also discovered Anne’s interest in neuroscience and invited her to share some of the recent learnings.
If any of this sounds interesting to you, please check out their brand new program called The Mindful Unplug is on for summer 2017 – 24 June through 1 July.
Introduction: The Mindful Unplug Experience at the Feathered Pipe Ranch is for anyone craving a chance to slow down and rediscover his or her own natural rhythm. It’s for anyone who lives in a noisy world sensing that an opportunity for peace and quiet would do their body and soul a world of good. It’s for anyone open to kicking back and relaxing for a spell, to laughing with new friends, to savoring solitude when that’s what the spirit seeks.
Connect With the Feathered Pipe Foundation
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/feathered.pipe
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/featheredpipe
- Google+: www.google.com/+Featheredpipe
- Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/featheredpipe
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/featheredpipe
A List of Some the Luminaries Mentioned Who Have Led Retreats or Programs at Feathered Pipe Over the Years
- Joseph Campbell
- Patthabi Jois
- Dr. Andrew Weil
- Dr. Jean Shinoda Bolen
- Viktor Van Kooten & Angela Farmer
- Dona Holleman
- Lilias Folan
- Judith Hanson Lasater
- Ramanand Patel
- Erich Schiffmann
- John Schumacher
- Patricia Walden
- Rodney Yee
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Show Notes
- [07:00] Where does the Feathered Pipe Foundation name come from?
- [11:00] The Feathered Pipe Foundation has been around for a long time and it’s also a lot of things. How do you introduce it to someone who hasn’t heard of it before?
- [15:00] What types of food do you offer at the retires?
- [17:30] Tell us about the Feathered Pipe guests. Were you surprised to meet some of them? What are some of the interesting conversation started by these guests?
- [27:00] Let’s demystify retreats for a second. What is a retreat? How is the FP experience different than the others?
- [31:00] How do people handle being unplugged from internet, their phones and computers?
- [34:00] Could you tell me a little bit about The Mindful Unplug (TMU)?
- [39:00] It’s interesting to see a combination of young and older guests in the mix. Do parents bring their kids? What is that dynamic like at the FP?
- [43:00] Where did you grow up?
- [44:00] What were you doing before Feathered Pipe?
- [46:00] How does your experience at Feathered Pipe relate to the trauma-related meditation and processes?
- [51:00] What are some of the tips and tricks that you would give to a younger version of yourself, before starting this journey with the Feathered Pipe?
Favorite Quotes
- [10:00] Our foundation has always been committed to facilitating and encouraging people to find the right direction in life.
- [13:00] What I tell people is that is the easiest place you’ve ever been to, and the moment you get there is gonna feel like home.
- [22:00] At Feathered Pipe, one of the key elements of it is that, you arrive with questions, you arrive with whatever baggage, or problems, or concerns, and somehow, within a short time, the incredible vibration of the place, brings you clarity. People get clarity and then they go out into they world and they start rippling amazing amounts of good.
- [32:00] ‘A retreat really is like fueling yourself up to be in the world. It is an escape of the world. […]It’s a way of turning the lemons of your life into acres of lemonade…’
- [36:00] ‘There’s a lot of conversation about mindfulness these days, which I think it’s fantastic. It’s a powerful practice and it’s a simple practice, and it fosters so much calm and quiet in the chaos of the world we live in.’
- [38:00] ‘We need to take an offline pause, to reconnect with our truest selves. To reboot and come back into the real tactile world. To see what your eyes can see, to hear what you ears can hear, being present with what’s happening now.’
Quick announcement – #FreelanceLIVE is a new series of short videos I offer on our Facebook page, where I share my experience as a freelancer, running my company Feisworld Inc. since the beginning of 2016. As I unveiled the decision for me to switch from full time to freelance as a digital marketer, listeners have asked time and time again on how the transition was for me, and how they can do it too knowing the right questions to ask, the right resources to have. I’m giving them all away in a conversational, relatable way.
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