June 17-19, 2005
The yearning to express ourselves is strong in all of us, and each of our expressions is unique. Every day we have the opportunity to solve problems, to balance the dynamics in our relationships, and to be far more creative in our daily life than we can imagine. The Four-Fold Way™ demonstrates how to “walk the mystical path with practical feet.” As an anthropologist, Angeles Arrien has studied indigenous and contemporary cultures to find their strengths. Her brilliant synthesis, the Four Fold Way, integrates ancient cultural wisdom into contemporary life.
The Way of the Leader or Warrior is to choose to be present, to show up, which gives us access to our resources of power, presence, and connection. We express the way of the Leader through appropriate action, good timing, and clear communication.
The Way of the Healer or Caretaker is to pay attention to what has heart and meaning. Paying attention opens us to the human resources of love, gratitude, acknowledgment, and validation. We express the way of the Healer through our attitudes and actions that maintain personal health and support the welfare of our environment.
The Way of the Visionary or Creative Problem Solver is to tell the truth without blame or judgment. Truthfulness, authenticity, and integrity are keys to developing our vision and intuition. We express the way of the Visionary through personal creativity, goals, plans, and our ability to bring our life dreams and visions into the world.
The Way of the Teacher or Counselor is to be open to outcome, not attached to outcome. Openness and non-attachment help us recover the human resources of wisdom and objectivity. We express the way of the Teacher through our constructive communication and informational skills.
Optimum health is expressed in most cultures as a balance in all four areas: Leading, Healing, Visioning, and Teaching. Cross-culturally, these four areas reflect the four human resources of Power, Love, Vision, and Wisdom. Most of us tend to over-express one area, while leaving the others underdeveloped. These four ways are universal and available to all humankind, regardless of context, culture, structure, and practice. If we develop all four areas with equal emphasis, we support optimum health, both individually and collectively, in our family, workplace, and communities.
Angeles Arrien is an anthropologist, educator, awardwinning author, and corporate consultant who lectures internationally and conducts workshops that bridge cultural anthropology, psychology, and comparative religions. A Basque, she grew up in both rural Spain and contemporary America, eventually learning to take the best of both. She’s devoted her life to finding the values held in common by indigenous people, the grandparents of our species, and integrating their rich wisdom into our contemporary culture. She is founder and president of the Angeles Arrien Foundation for CrossCultural Education and Research, a Fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and author of the Four Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior, Teacher, Healer, and Visionary; Working Together: Diversity As Opportunity, and The Nine Muses: A Mythological Path to Creativity. Her work with multicultural issues and conflict resolution has been used with the International Human Rights Commission and the World Indigenous Council and she’s received three honorary doctorate degrees in recognition of her work.
“Retreats offer us the opportunity to renew the deepest parts of our own nature, away from the patterns of daily living. They give us the chance to reconnect with our authentic selves and to drop into the deeper, slower, contemplative rhythms of nature. A retreat can help clarify what the next step in our life’s journey may be and reopen our hearts to the great gift of life itself.” — Angeles Arrien