Recently we welcomed a group of our Haven colleagues and friends to our community here in Whitefish, MT as participants in our program, Find Your Mojo in Montana.
This Haven version came about months ago when Andrew Bing wanted to share with his friends both his potential new home and promote all that he has discovered through his Mojo experiences. Because of his generosity, we were also able to open the program up for other Haven faculty, interns and assistants. We filled the program immediately.
Find Your Mojo in Montana is how we have incorporated the teachings we learned at Haven, Jwalan Mutika School for Illumination (JMSI), Mama Gena’s School for Womanly Arts, and our own unique styles of Embodiment, Relationship, and Equus coaching.
Culture of Trauma
The program is rooted in our belief that we live in a culture of trauma. We aren’t talking about just major traumatic events however, though those experiences do create separation as well. We primarily addressing how our culture is one that teaches and directs us towards separation. We learn to conform, fit in, and leave behind our authentic and natural connection to spirit, to soul to ALL. This gets rewarded as we take on roles, such as a parent, professional, student, friend. Each comes with obligations and expectations, that when applied, separate us from each other as well as from ourselves.
We become numb, disassociated, and over-identified with these roles and ideals. This results in a loss of joy, innocence, and our connection to the world around and inside us.
Mojo – Heart and Spark
We lose our natural heart and spark. What we define as mojo! We believe heart and spark are energetic vibrations critical to aliveness, passion, and purpose. These energetic frequencies can be likened to the 4th and 2nd chakras. The 4th – our heart – our energetic expression of love, compassion and empathy. Our 2nd – tantric energy – sexuality, creativity and passion. Both are vital to life and wholeness and get lost when we are living in separation or in our roles and ideals.
CrisMarie and I have each taken our own separate journeys back to wholeness and have found our purpose through sharing what we have learned with people seeking to embrace both their human-ness and their divine-ness. People wanting to reclaim both their heart and spark and relate to the world around them more fully.
Bringing My Mojo to Montana
This program was particularly rich for me because when we created Find Your Mojo in Montana, it brought forth my deep desire to bring more of my mojo back to Montana. I have always been able to step into my mojo at The Haven and I wanted to bring more of that heart and spark back to Montana. We kicked off Find Your Mojo in Montana program three years ago, and it has supported me in creating a path for bringing more of ME into my Montana community. So how cool that this run of the program was literally bringing Haven right here to Montana as well.
Staying in My Mojo
This particular program had people in it that I have known and worked with for most of my thirty plus years at Haven and some that I have known as their leader and mentor throughout their Haven experience. To say I had some nervousness and expectations would be an understatement. I really had to work with myself to step into my own mojo and not get caught up in whether these Haven people liked or disliked how we have bought our learnings together.
Of course, there were some hiccups. One was simply that the weather was bitter cold, which created a few challenges since the arena, though heated, wasn’t ideal for extended long periods of time. However, this allowed us to create other opportunities: yoga, dance, creative expression, and even theater!
Another moment came when I was in the arena with someone anxious about a horse’s reaction to snow sliding off the roof AND uncomfortable with having me be the place of safe connection. In this scenario, I needed to be in a role and not take what was coming up for her personally, but to hold a space that allowed for her to find her path back to wholeness even while expressing her distance and uncertainty with me.
There were also many magical moments as there always are with Find Your Mojo in Montana. Like having our friends into our home for an evening, discovering that bubbles are a great way to interrupt people’s fears around creating art, finding some new and vegan options for food and having a special last morning moment to celebrate Andrew’s 70th birthday!
Whole-ness – The Movement between Separation and One-ness
This program was extra special because I had to step into my mojo – my heart and spark and create a space for others to tap their own unique brand of heart and spark.
Really, that’s what it is all about. Being able to be whole. Whole-ness involves being in your role alongside your expectations and structure, even with your limiting beliefs. By owning them, you can tap into your heart and spark and relate to the world authentically and whole. That discovery of movement – between separation and one-ness — is whole-ness, and that is what heals trauma.
So if know you want more heart and spark come join us for our next Find Your Mojo in Montana in May. Hugs, Susan
Here's what one participant said:
CrisMarie Campbell and Susan Clarke
Coaches, Business Consultants, Speakers and Authors of The Beauty of Conflict
CrisMarie and Susan work leaders and teams, couples in business, and professional women.
They help turnaround dysfunctional teams into high performing, cohesive teams who trust each other, deal with differences directly, and have clarity and alignment on their business strategy so they create great results.
Check out their website: www.thriveinc.com. Connect with CrisMarie and Susan on LinkedIn. Watch their TEDx Talk: Conflict – Use It, Don’t Defuse It! Find your copy of The Beauty of Conflict: Harnessing Your Team's Competitive Advantage here.