UPDATE: Cell 2 Soul Retreat: October 2009

Here is updated information on our Fall Program.  If you plan to come and don't live in the area, please be advised that this is peak foliage season so reserve early (local B&Bs at end of this page)

Dates:  Saturday Oct. 3 - Sunday Oct. 4

Mason Hill

Cheshire, Massachusetts

Walk, Work, Talk, Play

Emerson's words in the American Scholar inspire us:
“We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds."



On October 3 - 4, a small select group will gather to celebrate the harvest season and the amazing autumnal color show with walks in the woods, great local food, a campfire and a varied educational program.  The participants will exemplify Chaucer's  mot: "And gladly wolde he lerne and gladly teche."  John Muir's words also guide us: "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe."

The syllabus is taking shape nicely.  Registration is limited as the Mason Hill facility can accommodate only thirty individuals.

For more information and a tentative syllabus and fees, please email Jim Johnson or Dave Elpern.  

Mason Hill Conference Center is situated in the rural town of Cheshire, Massachusetts.  It is a peaceful setting in the ancient rolling Berkshire hills; a site of great beauty that has inspired its denizens for millenia.

  

 

Tentative Schedule

Updated: August 10, 2009

Program PDF: Download C2S 09 edt

Saturday, October 3, 2009: Happenings in Search of Vision
1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Jim Johnson:  The Barn is the Cure:               
                         A Prostate Cancer Experience
Scott Herrick:
Susan Kaplan: On Experience and Growth
Brian Maurer:  Walking with Thoreau
Peggy Rambach: Others' Lives and Stories
Reuven Sobel:   Humanistic Education for Physicians
Discussion:      Songs of Innocence and Experience
5:00 pm         Slow Food Autumn Dinner
7:00p.m.        Campfire: Storytelling and Song 

Sunday, October 4   A Consideration of Loss and Grief
8a.m.        Breakfast on the deck
9a.m.        Jim Johnson... Introduction to loss and grief discussion
9:15a.m.    Bill Zeckhausen...
9:30a.m.    Deborah Alecson  (Lost Lullaby)
10:00a.m.   Two of David Elpern's patients
10:30a.m.   Michael Symons... (Social worker and Hospice Volunteer)
10:45a.m.   David Elpern...The poetry of Loss
11:30a.m.   Poetry Picnic at Reynold’s Rock
2:00p.m.    Return from Reynold’s Rock and free time at Mason Hill

To register, contact Jim Johnson: masonhill@verizon.net 
The fee will cover food and beverage, equipment rental, facility use. 
All participants will contribute equally. 

There are many places to stay in the area.  Two of the closest and nicest are:
Harbour House Inn in Cheshire
Berkshires-Shirakaba, A Japanese-American B&B in close-by Lanesboro