LEAPYEAR Viva Latin America

LEAPYEAR Viva Latin America

2014/15

Packet III

Academic and Mental Readiness

(7/10 revision – Page 1 of 14)

Dear LEAPYEAR student,

You are about to embark on a year of transformation in which your creativity, passion and vision are supported and cultivated. This packet is meant to help you get ready for the upcoming year and the academics that lie ahead, as well as to help you understand what you can expect during the retreats throughout the year. In this packet you will find the following:

1.Background and philosophy of the LEAPYEAR retreats.

2.Information about the media policy during your LEAPYEAR.

3.The first assignments for your LEAPYEAR courses. Please note the due date below in the gray box.

4.The first steps in the process of designing yourspring semester solo internship.

Please note: Any further information that is relevant to the upcoming year will be emailed to you and/or posted to: Please check your email and the website regularly between now and the start of your LEAPYEAR.

If questions or concerns arise for you as you go through this material, please contact the LEAPYEAR staff at 1-707-431-7265. We are looking forward to an amazing journey with you!

Sam, Cassie, and the LEAPYEAR Staff

Please note that it is vital that all assignments in this packet are undertaken and completed by the DUE DATE. We will use each assignment during the first retreat.

Email each completed assignment to

Please be sure to email all assignments in Word format, double-spaced, and include Your Name andViva Group 2014 in each assignment and in the subject line of each email.

DUE DATE: Friday, August 29, 2014

LEAPYEAR ASsignments - Deepening the Journey

The assignments that follow are intended to prepare you for LEAPYEAR by directing your inquiry, and by taking practical advantage of this pre-program time to prepare you for your journey. The assignments are designed and crafted in a way to help familiarize you with another culture, prepare for your journey in LEAPYEAR, and help you to choose an internship. Have fun with these assignments and use them as a way to explore your ideas and reflect on your vision for the upcoming year. Please use the following checklist to ensure you have completed all of these required assignments by the due date.

Official Transcripts: Naropa must have an official transcript with proof of graduation to enroll you. If you have not sent this, please send it now.

1) Intentions & Agreements Reflection: Complete this reflection and writing assignment. *E-mail*

2) Three Month Exploration: Complete this assignment described below.

*E-mail*

3) Résumé: Complete your résumé. This is vitally important for us to be able to place you in your spring semester individual internship. *E-mail*

4) Integrated Essay and Guiding Questions: Complete this assignment described below. *E-mail*

5) Introductory Presentation: Prepare your 10 minute presentation. Include your poem as part of your presentation.No Power Point or laptop presentations, please!

6) Memorize a Poem:As part of your presentation, choose a poem that speaks to you and be prepared to share it.

 7) Required Readings: Review required reading list. Purchase and bring the books with you to first retreat.

8) Academic Supplies: Find or purchase academic supplies you will need to bring with you before coming to our campus.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR EMAILING ASSIGNMENTS:

- Send to
- Send as an Attachment in WORD format (Double-Spaced).

- Include your Name, Viva Group 2014 and the Title of each assignmentat the top of each assignment and in the subject line of each e-mail.

DUE DATE: Friday, August 29, 2014

Participation, Retreat Weeks and CONSCIOUS Community

"We are the only creature in creation that can refuse to be itself. You never hear a crow saying…..Oh, if I could only be an eagle! We are the only creature in creation that can live in exile.

That is why it is an absolute triumph to just be yourself.

We say “Just be Yourself.” Actually, it’s the most frightening thing to be." David Whyte

“In the midst of crisis people often break through to intimacy, an empathetic, mindful relationship that arises naturally out of who we are. Being who we are calls forth respect and love and wanting the best for one another and for ourselves. This “right relationship”…is as essential to the continuity of human life as the air we breathe.” Rosalind Diamond

LEAPYEAR is an invitation to learn to live your life in a different way.

A key component of LEAPYEAR is the exploration and creation of community and authentic relationships. Authentic relationships are based on mutual respect and trust that allows us to express our true selves and support our individual development. Throughout our year together we will collectively discover the elements and practices that promote healthy, productive, authentic relationships not only with each other but also with our own selves. Being in authentic relationship with ourselves is key to being in authentic relationship with all others.

When groups of people come together for a common purpose, there is a collective spirit created by the individuals that make up that group, their individual goals and their relationships to each other. This underlying spirit is the sense of connection: the bond of the group. This bond is created and strengthened by sharing energy: learning and working together, making and sharing food, singing, hanging out, chanting, playing, traveling and talking. These elements are vital to the development of the group during the year.

The quality of conversation in a group has a lot to do with the level of relationships that develop. Think about your most important, most meaningful relationships. They are probably with people with whom you can have deeper and more meaningful conversations, and that you can reveal a truer sense of yourself and of your feelings with – in short, people that you can “be real” with. The relationships that you will develop with each other during your LEAPYEAR will likely be some of the most meaningful relationships you have ever had. This is the reason that LEAPYEAR graduates often stay in communication with each other and become a network of support in each other’s lives long after the year is over.

In order to create these extraordinary relationships you will be asked to stretch yourself to new levels of self-revelation and discovery and find courage for new levels of participation and vulnerability. Participating fully, opening up to new possibilities in relating and communicating, speaking your truth, learning to listen deeply to yourself and others is what our retreat time is largely about.

One of the central questions to address in our own development and maturity into adulthood is: How can I be fully myself and also be fully with others? Most of us grow up learning to be some way that we believe others want us to be, in order to get love, approval or acceptance. Because of this, most people fear sharing their true thoughts and feelings. Sharing positive feelings is easy – people are sure to approve – but we tend to feel differently about uncomfortable feelings. When a group of people is sufficiently accepting for all feelings to be shared, people are then able to meet on the level of who we really are and how we really feel in each moment. As we become more grounded in our relationship with our own self, we are able to connect more deeply with others while standing in our own truth. As a result, relationships become possible on a much deeper level than we ever imagined possible. Through relationships with others we meet aspects of ourselves that are simply not accessible when we are by ourselves. That is why in order to grow and mature, it is very helpful to explore and discover those parts ofyourself that are only revealed through relationship.

“An individual cannot survive as a person if his/her experience is solely that of the repression of the feelings of the true self. Such an individual remains an uneducated child, untested, undeveloped. In effect, the person shrivels and dies from disuse.” Joan Timmerman

During LEAPYEAR you will be introduced to skills, tools and practices that open up new possibilities for deeper, more meaningful ways of relating and communicating. It is exciting, enlivening and can also be challenging and difficult. Almost all LEAPYEAR students find that their inner journey is much more challenging than the outer journey abroad. You cannot “fake your way through” for an entire year. You must show up and participate fully and authentically, and this may mean experiencing the parts of yourself that are confused, insecure, scared, painful or incoherent.

We will utilize the LEAPYEAR community, our relationships with each other and our relationship with ourselves, to explore new levels of sharing our deepest feelings, discover our deepest truths and work collaboratively toward essence-based relationships. Know that you will continually be challenged and empowered to really stretch yourself, step outside your comfort zone and find your most authentic self.

To support the formation of this quality of community the school is located in a quiet, rural location. If you imagine that LEAPYEAR is like a typical college campus, where you can come and go as you please, do whatever you like, smoke, drink and party, please revise your thinking. During the retreats, you will not have access to the internet, texting, video games, cell phones, DVD’s, television, headphones, drugs, alcohol, junk food – some of the many distractions that people use to keep from hearing their inner voice. We ask each participant to attend all of the retreat weeks in their entirety, and schedule other activities, such as visits with friends or family, during non-school dates. The idea is not to curtail your freedom, or control you – but to create a container in which each student can turn their attention to their inner world – an adventure that each LEAPYEAR student has expressed an interest in undertaking.

Within LEAPYEAR, the fall semester abroad and the spring semester internship are designed to facilitate your learning through experiences and learning in diverse cultures – by going “out.” Retreat weeks are set up for you to learn about yourself – by going “in.” Taken as a whole, the year is designed to help you map and navigate your world by going “far out” while abroad, and “far in” while on retreat.

Finally, please know in advance that LEAPYEAR is meant to be challenging. This is by design. If you expect it to be hard, it will be easier for you. If you expect it to be easy, you may be surprised. We grow by overcoming and facing difficulties, without them it can be difficult to really know what we are made of. We aim to give you a series of successively difficult challenges, so that you can know yourself and your deep strength more and more fully throughout your year.

Phone & Media Use during Retreats & Travel:

During your LEAPYEAR interview, we let each of you know that LEAPYEAR retreats are media-free. This means that during retreats and group travel, you’ll put aside your use of cell phones, iPods, email, entertainment & computers.

This generation is the first to grow up with virtual reality, with continuous and immediate communication, and with constant interruption and dividing of attention. These are not necessarily positives for the development of a human being. As a result of such media saturation and integration, even a short-term withdrawal from media can be a real challenge. We intend to positively challenge you with this withdrawal, for the following good reasons:

• So that you can focus on what you are doing and what is real (cooking, talking, making music, etc.). So you can be where you are – not anywhere else.
• To stimulate your creativity and foster direct communication between people.
• To give you a chance to be out of touch with your family and friends – so that you can hear yourself think and feel. This allows you to define yourself in a fresh way during a time of important growth and transition.
• So that you can begin to hear your quiet inner guiding voice
• To give you a chance to speak your deep truths, to be heard and seen, and to deeply see and hear others. This gives you the opportunity to form deep and meaningful relationships.

For more background and research about the impact of technology on human relationships, check out this link to a New York Times article by Sherry Turkle, a professor at M.I.T. who studies this topic:

We’ve been limiting media usage with excellent results for the past 18 groups. Here’s the media policy for the three main elements of LEAPYEAR:

Four LEAPYEAR Retreats at Maacama: You will not have access to media during these eight weeks. Your phones and laptops are put safely away in our office. We will ask you to contact parents during the first and last days of each retreat. We will ask you to let friends and family know that you’ll be out of touch during these times. Laptops will be available selectively for academic work. You will always be reachable by phone through the LEAPNOW office in case of emergency.

Group Travel – First Semester: LEAPYEAR students leave cell phones behind during the first semester of group travel. Our group leaders carry cell phones for regular communication with our office, for safety and in case of emergency. Our office can reach them 24/7 during this period. During group travel, you will have regular access to Internet cafes where you will be able to email and make Skype calls to friends and family as well as to phones. Each year students tell us that they wish they had spent less time on Facebook or online and more time exploring while traveling. Past students have recommended that you seriously consider closing your Facebook account for the travels (if you have one) – so you can focus on where you are and on your travel group. We also recommend leaving your iPod behind, but that’s too much of a stretch for most students.

Individual Travel – Second Semester: During the 3-month internship period, you will decide how you wish to use media and how accessible you wish to be.

Before arriving for each LEAPYEAR retreat, please let your friends and family know that you will be out of email and phone contact during your retreats.

A Note on Resistance:

As you work your way through the assignments in this packet, please bring your awareness to any resistance you have to doing this work, or any obstacles that arise to doing the work (procrastination, busy-ness, rebellion, disorganization, resentment). It is likely that what stands in the way of your being successful with these assignments, stands in your way in other places in your life. Everything is grist for the mill! Our gifts and challenges are present in everything we do. Begin the process now of mapping your gifts and challenges.

Leapyear Assignments

1. INTENTIONS AND AGREEMENTS REFLECTION:Please reflect on and write in response to the three questions for both Intentions and Agreements.

INTENTIONS: Intentions are a powerful tool for creating what we want. Nature abhors a vacuum, so rather than take your chances and make do with what comes your way, take some time to write about your intentions for the coming year to the best of your ability.

1. What are your intentions for the year? What do you want? Given that the focus and intention of LEAPYEAR is education for the evolution of the whole human being, how might your intentions capture how you want to evolve emotionally, intellectually, socially, intuitively, and in relationship to your body? You will have time to develop these intentions during the first retreat but let your thoughts simmer on paper as you make your way towards the beginning of LEAPYEAR.
2. Imagine that next summer, you are describing how you’ve changed over the course of LEAPYEAR. What would you say (in a paragraph or so…)?
3. How can you be the source of an amazing year for yourself?

Name at least three gifts that you are bringing into the year that will help create the year you are imagining.

AGREEMENTS: Clearly defined agreements among group members create a safe container for relating, learning and growing that educates, challenges and demands a high level of involvement and creativity from all participants. They create the crucible in which transformation is supported, safe and yours. One of the first tasks you will be involved in during the first retreat is creating this container with your group.

1. Write about a time you felt a part of a community that supported your voice.
2. What are the ingredients of a “dream” community for you? What is it that you most value?
3. What agreements do you want to have within your group that would create a safe container for you to learn, grow, change, challenge and speak truthfully? Define at least five agreements and describe why these are important to you.

The following are examples of agreements that past LEAPYEAR groups have made to help foster a feeling of emotional safety and stimulate real conversation: