Spirit First News - Spirit First
First Annual Spirit First Meditation Poetry Contest Now Closed
First Prize: $150
Second Prize: $75
Third Prize: $50
Our Spirit First Poetry Contest for 2010 is now closed. We received entries from 42 states in the United States, with the state most represented being New York (80 entries) followed by California (50 entries). The state of Utah had one single entry (we are grateful for this lone entry...). We received entries from 23 foreign countries including Armenia, Australia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, England, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania, Scotland, South Africa, Turkey, Wales ( Cymru). Canada came in with 21 entries, India with 18, and South Africa with 11. We are especially pleased and proud of our participating poets who have a different mother tongue. Thank you for making this extra effort to express your poetry in our English language.
Winners will be announced on our website by March 31.
Please check back in October 2010 for details of our 2011 Poetry Contest.
Past Events
"Letting Go and Living in Harmony with Yourself" Retreat
Spirit First held its Autumn 2009 retreat on October 24 at the River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Bethesda. Our keynote speaker, New Zealander Jonathan Evatt, led us in meditations throughout the day and brought our awareness to understanding that the path to Letting Go of a thing lies in the experience of fully feeling it. Carol Thornton opened us to a discussion of letting go of spiritual clutter and the need for creating space, creating a space of acceptance, for those things within our own selves that we judge or despise and want to Let Go of. She also introduced us to mindfulness eating in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. French-Canadian Sanjivani Marie Amma, an Ayurvedic therapist specialized in the ancient Indian healing wisdom of Nadi Vigyan (neurotherapy) and in Ayurvedic medicine for women, introduced us to the Shamanic way of Letting Go. Her meditations were powerful, poetic, and profound.
We had many gifts of music in our retreat day, beginning with the mystical sounds of the flute from Joe Sullivan and the native sounds of the drums from Karima. Jonathan played piano for us on a baby grand. We had a special musical performance from singer/songwriter Felicia Rose and concluded our day with a Sacred Circle Dance led by Sufi Initiate Thomas Maxwell. We were all new to sacred circle dancing and may have stumbled a little in following our steps, but the experience was wonderfully unifying and deeply moving.
I have loved this day of peace with you and look forward to our next gathering.
© 2009 Spirit First
Design by: Summit Web Design
Privacy Policy Terms of Use