Archive for the ‘New Zealand’ Category
01/03/2013
Sixto Rodriguez
Searching for Suger Man – The Life and Times of Sixto Rodriguez
By R. Richards,
Mountain Spirit Institute Founder
It’s been said that happiness and sorrow are different sides of the same coin, and that presence is the razor’s edge one walks to weather life’s ups and downs in peace. This comes to mind when I think of Sixto Rodriguez‘s life story, told in the Oscar winning documentary, Searching for Sugar Man directed by Sweden’s Malik Bendjelloul.
Director and Subjects of Searching for Sugar Man
For those unfamiliar with this documentary, it’s the story of a folk singer/songwriter with a powerful gift of prose and music who never “made it” in the U.S. when he released two albums in the early ’70′s. When the releases never took off, he just went back to work in his home town of Detroit, doing construction and remodels. He and his promotional agents couldn’t believe his albums never became popular. (more…)
Tags:centeredness, Detroit, fame, Malik Bendjelloul, Mountain Spirit Institute, Oscars, Searching for Sugar Man, Sixto Rodriguez, South Africa, Spiritual leadership
Posted in Film/DVD, Indigenous Wisdom, Inspirational People, New Zealand, Spiritual | Leave a Comment »
24/02/2013
By R. Richards, Founder
Mountain Spirit Institute
Dateline: Auckland, New Zealand
Let them eat cake
I don’t mean write just anything of course, but get writing. For some of our regular readers, you may have noticed I haven’t been around much these past months. It’s been quite a year, what with selling the family home (a good thing), sifting through and giving away a lot of stuff, running MSI programs, and lastly, moving back here to New Zealand.
We arrived yesterday, complete with our 19-month old toddler, on my birthday. (Thanks for all the good birthday wishes by the way from folks on Facebook.) We had planned on being here months ago, but in toddler-ville, everything seemed to take longer. Not that I’m complaining, because we saw people, go for a ski or a skate, and plan the move properly.
Now that we’re here, it’s time to, among other things, put on the writing hat back on, and keep writing - something, anything.
I’ve got a lot on my mind, and of course, I want to post an update and synopsis of our latest collaborative program with Lama Willa Miller and Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in the Dartmouth Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire called Nordic Nirvana. Stay tuned with some other observations and things that have come across my path, including Searching for Sugarman, (It looks like we might actually see Rodriguez in concert here in Auckland in a few weeks), and wherethehellismatt.com plus some of the random observations and news I have covered over the years.
We’re pretty tired, and we’re still geared to NH time, which makes it 4:30AM (and I’m still not in bed), but I thought I’d write something, anything.
Tags:Auckland, Lake Sunapee Region, Lama Willa Miller, Mountain Spirit Institute, New Zealand, Rodriguez, Searching for Sugarman, wherethehellismatt.com, Wonderwell Mountain Refuge
Posted in Focus on MSI People, MSI News, New Zealand | 2 Comments »
23/01/2012
By: R. Richards
The wonder of a palm frond in the morning sun, nz.
I’ve often been thinking how having a child is like teaching an 18-yr Outward Bound course, for the parents. The bus arrives when the baby is born and it may leave when the teen turns 18, but maybe not. Of course, no one wants to hear the worn our phrase, “you learn through your children” but I’m reminded of the Kogi tribe (see the BBC film Elder Brother’s Warning) in the Colombian Sierra Nevada mountains who hide their shamans-in-training in a darkened hut, never seeing the light of day until their 18th birthday. Then, after years of preparation, after telling them what the world looks like, they see their world for themselves, for the first time with their own eyes. As the wonder of a baby, with new eyes, but with training, so they can see their world more clearly to do their shamanic work.
Seeing our baby boy look with glee at the morning sunrise, and the light shining through some palm leaves this morning is an eye opener. I felt “more aware” after I survived being tossed around in a van roll-over in 1988. “Everything looked new and pristine”, as Eckhart Tolle put it after his awakening experience. I felt like lucky to still be on the planet. That default feeling subsided after a few weeks, and now I have to work at being present by doing what I call “remembering my spiritual practice”. For me it’s meditating and listening to Eckhart Tolle’s Power of Now. Reminders can take almost any form as long as it helps
An Eye Catcher - Are you watching though?
bring one back to their center. In recent talks with newly elected Mountain Spirit Institute board member and mountain guide/instructor Ken Wyle, he’s been relating how writing his book on being buried in an avalanche which killed seven people, is a catharsis. Tolle says that people who are more conscious in their lives have usually had some tragic loss in their life that shook them out of the dream state we call normal life.
Our baby boy, laughing as he looks out the window of our van whizzing down main street in Kingston New Zealand, is a reminder to me – “What am I missing? I want to see like he sees!” The good news, it’s wholly possible. I’ve been seeing, more than dreaming during the last ten years. And it’s obivous when I’m not present. I might go a whole morning or day and realize I’ve not been present until something catches my eye, like a detail of a stem in a vase, or the bustle in supermarket, or of course, a sunset.
Learning to see and live in the moment sure beats the alternative, and I’m not going back. When you beat your head against a wall long enough, you finally decide you’ve had enough of that, and make the choice to stay in peace, no matter what happens. A side benefit of being at peace is your mind isn’t filled with crap, so you are free to see such things as the morning light shining through some palm fronds.
Images: R. Richards, taken this morning
Tags:Awareness, Echart Tolle, Learning to see, love, Meditation, Mountain Spirit Institute, Mountains, Open Hearted Listening, Shamanic Studies
Posted in Books, Experiential Education, Film/DVD, Indigenous Wisdom, Inner Work, New Zealand, Power of Place, Spiritual | Leave a Comment »
14/01/2012
Check out the South Coast Environmental Society, and stay tuned for the video, “Welcome to the Food Forest”. There are tons of volunteer opportunities as well.
Tags:Invercargill, Kingston, Mark Baily, Mountain Spirit Institute, Randall Richards, Randy, Riverton, Robert nd Robyn Guyton, South Coast Environment Society, South Island, Volunteer opportunities, Your Food Supply
Posted in 1- Video Posts, Conservation, Environment, Experiential Education, Health, Holistic Living, New Zealand, Sustainable Living/Communities, Your Food Supply | Leave a Comment »
14/01/2012
An Outpost of Sustainability
Robert and Robyn Guyton were determined to start a food forest instead of mowing a front lawn. And a forest did they grow, when in the mid-’90′s, they purchased some land and a house in the small coastal town of Riverton, New Zealand. Riverton along with its neighbor, Invercargill rank as one of the southernmost towns in the world, and back then Riverton was an affordable place to buy land. It still is compared to the northern resort towns of Wanaka and Queenstown, the latter which graces its runway with private jets, rivaling Aspen Colorado.
The Guytons worked in earnest on their two lots planting trees and plants based on permaculture practices. When they first started, they received some odd looks from the neighbors, as their front yard started to take on the forest look. There were no other like-minded people in Riverton when they arrived, but undeterred, they started a cooperative learning center called the South Coast Environment Society.
Today the organization modestly states on its website it is an umbrella group for a “several” local environmental groups who have information,displays and meetings in the centre. Those several groups include:
Groups working for protection and enhancement of local ecosystems:
- Riverton Estuary Care Society
- Aparima Pest Busters
- Aparima Nursery Enterprise
- Seed Balls for Restoration projects
Groups working to promote sustainable lifestyles:
- Riverton Natural Health Group
- South Coast Permaculture
- Sustainable Lifestyles project
- Riverton Organic Food Co-op
Groups promoting sustainable growing methods
- Riverton Organic Growers Gardeners Group
- Southland Seed Savers
- Riverton Organic Farmers Market
- Riverton Community Orchard
- Rivertonians for Alternatives to Toxic Substances (RATS)
Robert Guyton
My wife and I met the Guytons when they were giving a presentation on sustainability to the ultra small Garston School, (which deserves its own blog post), New Zealand. We were intrigued with their presentation, which included a movie (to be posted on this blog) called “Welcome to the Food Forest”. We decided to take our chances and take the hour and half drive from our place and show up unannounced. Even though we had a standing invitation, we happened to miss them, when we stopped by to say hi. Nevertheless, I decided to interview Mark Baily while visiting the centre. You can see the video on my adjacent post. We’ll have to get down there again when Robert and Robyn are home, so we can get the proper tour of their food forest!
Tags:Garston, Garston School, Kingston, Mountain Spirit Institute, New Zealand, Permaculture, Queenstown, Randall Richards, Riverton, Robert and Robyn Guyton, South Coast Environment Society, Sustainability, Wanaka, Welcome to the Food Forest
Posted in Environment, Inspirational People, Leadership, New Zealand, Service, Sustainable Living/Communities, Traveling, Your Food Supply | Leave a Comment »
11/01/2012
A New Zealand Farmer Does Good by Following His Passion
Tom O'Brien of High Country Walks
Tom O’Brien, owner of Blackmore Farm and founder of High Country Walks has followed his passion by offering up a little hut on the back side of his 5000 acre farm. Called the Chinaman’s Hut, it was restored some years ago, by local volunteers, Tom and his father. The hut is situated on the rolling mountains of the Slate Range, just south of the Remarkables Mountains, on the border of Otago and Southland. Tom took the afternoon to show me his farm, the backcountry and the Chinaman’s Hut. below is a short piece on the hut, and a chat with Tom about his philosophy and passion of sharing this part of the world with others.We’re in hopes, here at Mountain Spirit Institute of collaborating with Tom by running some programs on the Slate Range and Blackmore Farm. We chatted about providing Solo’s and other types of programs.
Thanks for the time you took to show me around Tom!
Note: I’ve met one of the volunteers who helped restore the Chinaman’s Hut, a neighbor of ours here in Kingston named Dusty, who I’ll see if I can get on tape in the next few days. He has an interesting story to tell of not only this restoration project by many others.
Tags:Blackmore Farm, Chinaman's Hut, Garston, Gold Rush, High Country Walks, history, huts, Kingston, Leadership, Otago, private land use, Race, Remarkables, Slate Range, Sluce, Solo, Southland, Tom O'brien, transport, Water issues, Wilderness
Posted in 1- Video Posts, Conservation, Holistic Living, Inspirational People, Mountain People, MSI News, New Zealand, Power of Place, Spiritual, Sustainable Travel, Traveling | Leave a Comment »
06/01/2012
Cultural shackles?
I’m in the middle of a book called “A Man’s Country? The image of the Pakeha Male“ by Jock Phillips. It’s a well-known fact that the New Zealand male, and Aussie as well, has a “She’ll be right” attitude. All is well and good, but what happens when things go wrong, or life events happen that one didn’t plan for, doesn’t want and has no intention of participating in. Is “opening up” an idea who’s time has come?
A Man’s Country? From the back cover:
” A rugged practical bloke – fixes anything, strong and touch, keeps his emotions to himself, usually scornful of women. Yet at heart a decent bloke, loyal to his mates, provides well for the wife and kids…
Few Pakeha (white) men grow up in New Zealand without a strong sense of the Kiwi bloke they are expected to become. Jock Phillips’ book is a penetrating, provocative history of that stereotype.
Where did that stereotype come from? How has it changed? What truths does it hide? At what costs? The book begins with the Pakeha colonial society of the nineteenth century – the absence of women, the harsh physical conditions, the growth of an exclusively male ethic. It then examines in detail the image of the Pakeha male, as booze, as rugby player, as soldier, as family man, in the 1980’s, says Phillips, the stereotype has been well and truly exposed as a role model. We now know the costs we have paid as both men and women. After reading this book, no New Zealand man will quite be the same.
Published by Penguin
For another take, see my post on the movie The Men’s Group
Tags:A Man's Country?, bloke, Book, conditioning, history, Jock Phillips, Male roles, Mountain Spirit Institute, New Zealand, southern male, stereotypes
Posted in Books, Health, Holistic Living, Inner Work, New Zealand | Leave a Comment »
06/01/2012
Graeme Dingle, New Zealand mountaineer does good
Graeme Dingle is fast becoming one of my role models, and I’ve never met the man. I intend to though. Maybe if I’m fortunate, we may collaborate on a co-venture project helping to connect people to the mountains, who knows. The more I learn about Mr. Dingle, the more I like and respect who he is, what he stands for, and what he’s accomplished in outdoor education.
Here’s an article from the Directions Magazine
By Laura Crooks
Inspiring New Zealand teenagers to reach their potential was a plan born during a trip to the Arctic by adventurer Graeme Dingle and partner Jo-anne
Wilkinson in the early ’90s.
Why did you think New Zealand needed a specific programme to help the country’s youth?
I set up the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre (OPC) in 1972 and I thought that was my contribution to New Zealand in terms of young people. But it was really just the start, because I learnt so much about youth development through it and I got to thinking about the business of dealing with harder kids than those we met at OPC. I felt that for kids who had low confidence and low self-esteem, a one week experience in the wilderness wasn’t enough – it needed to be a continuum of things that really built on what had been learnt in that first period. I then set out to do the first continuous circumnavigation of the Arctic and in the Arctic you get a lot of very unusual communities – they’re very isolated and they live in such extraordinary circumstances where it’s light half the year, then continuously dark the other half of the year. They have very high rates of suicide, the kids don’t have too much to look forward to, and that started us thinking. But it didn’t really hit home until we got back to New Zealand – that here we lived in paradise and yet we had one of the highest rates of youth suicide, youth incarceration, dropouts from school unplanned teenage pregnancy – the works. The main catalyst was going to see Once Were Warriors – that was the thing that finally made us say: “Let’s do something about this”. So, Jo-anne and I invented Project K. basically. The Project K Trust grew into the Foundation for Youth Development (FYD) with nearly 20,000 young people in programmes each year. The FYD runs programmes for kids aged 5 – 18, and Project K is one of these. (more…)
Tags:Artic, Experiential Education, Graeme Dingle, Jo-anne Wilkinson, Mountain Spirit Institute, Outdoor Pursuits Centre, Outward Bound, Project K, Sir Edmund Hillary, teenage suicide, Youth at Risk
Posted in Experiential Education, Inspirational People, Leadership, Mountain People, New Zealand, Service | Leave a Comment »
11/11/2011
We had 11/11 a bit earlier than most of the planet (if you’re going by clock-time). We decided to kick ours off with a picnic, a short sage ceremony, and finished it off with an evening rainbow. Welcome – The Age of Aquarius.
11 min after 11AM on 11/11
The Author, another tailgate picnic in Roberts Canyon, NZ
Evening Rainbow with Mtn Shadow Cutting In
Double Rainbow on 11/11 New Zealand
Tags:11/11/11, Ceremony, Kingston, Mountain Spirit Institute, Mt Eyre, New Zealand, Pictures of Watch, Rainbow, Roberts Canyon, Signs, South Island
Posted in New Zealand, Power of Place | 2 Comments »
