Testimonials:

"The gifts I have received from everyone including myself are wonderfully overwhelming! I feel so full, so ripe, so thankful, so open, and best of all so loving and lovable!!! The impact this weekend has made on me is beyond words!! Magic does happen! I am now gaining an understanding of things that I have only heard about prior - amazing and renewing!!"

-Jami W.

"We have already accomplished more [with Naka Ima] than with hundreds of hours of therapy, dozens of parenting books and courses, and countless systems of our own devising. Thank you for giving us the best chance we have had at building a happy, nurturing, and loving family life."

-Michael R.

"Naka-Ima wsa really enormous for me. I expected to gain some new communication tools, it was the life shifts that surprised me."

-Joseph C.

"Naka-Ima has expanded my vision of how I want my life to be...and is expanding my community, bringing opportunities for conflict resolution and deeper connection."

-Jim B.

"Naka-Ima pointed out my choices. I saw how I could sculpt my own life and be the master (mistress) of my destiny. Naka-Ima pretty much wiped away any illusions I had about fooling other people about who I am or what I'm up to. I see and accept my transparency and the transparency of others. Naka-Ima has allowed me a very powerful outlet from which I can express my power, intuition and insight. Some of my 'realest' and most connected relationships have bloomed out of the kind of opening that Naka-Ima introduced to me."

-Molly I.

"Rita Froesch, Ursel Kammann, Gary Herring, Judy Love, and Linda Lemen had taken part in the Naka-Ima the weekend before our gathering, and Jim Brende and Rich Sommers were assistants at that Naka-Ima, so it turned out that almost half of the people at the gathering had in one way and another experienced the Naka-Ima time together, either this year or last. I never quite know how to refer to Naka-Ima - it's much more than a workshop or a retreat or a class or... whatever. It's Naka-Ima - an experience we have together and with Spirit and with ourselves which goes deep and stays with us, working its wonders in our lives."

-Cynthia Cutting

"After the workshop I felt good and very close to all the folks that participated, but I wondered how the things we experienced during that weekend would apply to my life outside of that. I am pleased and excited to say that the effects have been wonderfully present, as have I. Sometimes subtle, sometimes obvious, but always positive, the increased awareness and openness have served me well in several instances where my relationship had become stuck or was dying due to my fear to be really honest and engage. Previously, I could feel the block but didn't know what it was or how to address it. It is beautiful to watch things open and unfold again, and begin to heal.

-Kalen P.

"Thank you for a life changing weekend. Many years ago I became aware that I was in a lot of pain. I looked for relief in many places. I read books, sought counseling and therapy, took pills, and took up ancient practices for this relief. Some gave me hope and others got me closer to relief but in the end being close or hopeful was not enough. I had images of me living a pain filled life for the rest of my days. I would not and could not live that life forever. Today is different. I have tools to change this pain into understanding and compassion for myself and to get back into my heart. I wonder if pain is just our hearts calling us back when we leave it?"

-Gregory B.

 

"I have become more effective, more loving and more open in my communication with people, whether family, friends or the broader community. For the first time in my life, I am beginning to feel what friendship is really about. There is more room in my heart for myself, and thus room to share with others as well. I thank Naka-Ima for showing me where I have been strangling my own life energy: in my liver by suppressing anger, in my kidneys with the avoidance of facing my fears. These are part of me, part of life, and part of my power to do good. I especially appreciate the ongoing opportunity to assist at Naka-Ima weekends, as I get much more from each one than the one before, as I generate more openness and willingness in my self to bring to the workshop. I can walk in to a room full of new faces and know that we will part as family. Naka-Ima is a great gift."

-G. M. Swartwout, O.D., as the wizard.

"Our community has since been in an ongoing and deepening process of transformation."

"Members of Lost Valley Educational Center in Dexter, Oregon, who offer courses in permaculture and other sustainable living skills, have experienced a positive transformation in terms of community well-being, according to Larry Kaplowitz. Three years ago over half the members left, many new members arrived, and conflict paralyzed the community. People avoided each other, and stopped having meetings."

"At times tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife," Larry recalls. But recently the whole community took the three-day Naka-Ima course (Japanese for "here now"), conducted by Deborah Riverbend of Nelson, British Columbia. Larry describes Naka-Ima as providing an awareness "that being free, clear, and connected is a choice that people can make at any time, regardless of circumstances."

"Basically, we have all fallen in love with each other," he says. Hugs, once rare, now break out spontaneously and often. Members are working cooperatively again. "During our last conference members couldn't stay out of the kitchen. Everyone kept coming in to help with the cooking or dishes just because it was so much fun to be together."

"We trust each other a lot more now," he says, "and we're willing to take risks and make mistakes, which has made our decision-making process a lot quicker and a whole lot more fun."

Of course the community still has its challenges. "But they don't weigh us down or pull us apart anymore. We use conflicts as opportunities to get closer."

Members of Du-Ma community in Eugene, Oregon, also took the Naka-Ima course, and according to member Allen Hancock, Du-Ma has been undergoing a similar transformation. Taking the course inspired the seven-member household to think more positively and take greater risks, Allen says, for example, borrowing money to repaint and reroof their house and install skylights.

-Larry Kaplowitz, founder of Lost Valley Educational Center, an intentional community near Eugene Oregon. Read more about the Lost Valley experience with Naka-Ima.

Naka-Ima: . . . Is it for you?

Walking through the Weekend...

Graduates share their experience

Experience at the Lost-Valley

History of the Naka-Ima

Here-Now: Newsletter

Naka-Ima-Teachers

Registration

Schedule

Why?

!