THIRD SPACES
they want each of us to feel free and restored to our well-being. To- gether, all of this creates a kind of energetic architecture in which the old patterns of strain, separation, and speed can begin to fall away. It is impossible not to enjoy being in their presence, and feel completely welcomed. This is where the deeper connection comes in. What creates the at- mosphere at Campbell’s Lane Farm is not accidental. Farm founder Anne Altvater is also the co-founder of the Evolutionary Groups work — the movement from separation to unity, from control to deeper lis- tening, from social identity to essence, from fragmentation to coher- ent shared being — all of which is consciously alive, ongoing, and wo- ven into the ordinary fabric of life on the farm. The principles are not merely discussed there; they are lived there. They shape how the space is held, how the animals are related to, how people are embraced, how silence is honored, how connection is protected, and how a different level of reality is allowed to arise. The donkeys are met as beings with their own intelligence, dignity, presence, and knowing. They are not forced into performance. They are not treated as attractions. They are loved, listened to, and given room to be fully what they are. And the same is true for the people who come. We are not rushed, judged, managed, or asked to be other than we are. We are welcomed into a field of openness, kindness, patience, and deep regard. That is why the farm feels the way it does, and why people leave feeling restored.
mans, land — has more room to settle into essence. The farm gives people an experience of what it feels like to move from a more defended and conventional way of being, through a softer and more transitional opening, and at times into the simple immedia- cy of a New Wave moment — just being here, right now, with a donkey, with yourself, with life. People may come to pet the donkeys, but they leave having touched something more. They have a direct experience of how an environ- ment feels when life is approached through openness, respect, deeper listening, and the willingness to let beings reveal who they are. They leave remembering a part of themselves that surfaced under the gaze of a being who seemed to say: I know you. I love you. You can rest now. And that is not a small thing. It is one of the ways the New World begins to appear to us. Patricia Pfost served as program dean and senior faculty of the Barbara Brennan School of Healing and as senior faculty of the Rad - ical Aliveness Institute. She holds an MBA from the University of Chi - cago and previously directed planning for New York City’s 18-hos - pital public system. After a transformational program profoundly shifted her course, she focused on energy healing, group facilitation, and educational leadership. Her world task is practical spirituality; her personal task is learning to be kind, always. All photos courtesy of Anne Altvater; www.campbellslanefarm.com. Patricia and Anne Altvater are co-founders of the New Wave of Groups, and co-authors of Evolutionary Groups, A New Frontier in Human Connection , available now. They can be reached at support@ newwaveofgroups.com .
Campbell’s Lane Farm is one living expression of what becomes possible when the Evolutionary Groups perspective is embodied. The Eight Elements are being lived there. Silence is present. Judgment softens. Hearts open. Intention is clear. Emergence is welcomed. Transparency, shared presence, frequency and connection are all part of how the place is tended. The result is that everyone — donkeys, hu- Craniosacral Biodynamics PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
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PATHWAYS—Summer 26—29
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