Sacred Chants & Lakeside Fun: Joy Lane's Autumn Benefit

Join us for a day of sweet bliss!

Sunday, October 11, noon to 5 p.m.
Michelle Mae, guitar
Karen Ferguson vocals & harmonium
Steve Berns, guitar
will lead us in several call and response Sanskrit Chants to the Divine in All Things.
This is a fundraiser for the non-profit
Joy Lane Healing Center,
a place where spirit and healing meet .
Visit the website, www.joylanehealingcenter.net
for more information about who we are & what we do.

The event is being held at Steve Berns’ house, 11817 High View Circle, Lusby, MD 20657. 410 326-3292. There will be fun on Lake Lariate in kayaks and boats, delicious food and lots of wonderful company. Steve’s house is filled with a magnificent collection of folk and sacred art.
All donations are tax deductible.
Please contact the Center at 301 373-2522 if you plan to attend or email mgoldstein@joylanehealingcenter.net

On Becoming a Non-Profit: a Message from Joy Lane Director Marin Goldstein

Great News...

Our official listing with the IRS as a 501c3 Public Charity has been
achieved! With this achievement, all donations are tax-deductible
(retroactive to our date of incorporation in December 18, 2008) and a new array of doors of public resources are now open to us!

For those of you who have never gone to business school but felt the itch of entrepreneurship, here are the gory details. It was a process for us at
Joy Lane that begin in November 2008. Using the best resources and guides in print, we followed the standard path that many others have taken before. First, we created and filed Articles of Incorporation with the State. This hurdle was the first of many, facing the daunting bureaucracy and feeling stomach-churning of our own inner uncertainties. It was a very serious moment: signing on that dotted line, committing to a new level of responsibility.

But this first hurdle was really only a baby step that takes no special training or study. From here began the truly arduous journey up the IRS mountain. Compiling lengthy documentation of Board of Director bylaws was by far the most intense; while we could simply cut and paste from a template, our desire was to be unique and use this founding document to express our fundamental beliefs and principles. This meant a much more intense path of research and writing. Then, utilizing the rough outline of a business plan, we created and recreated and made another draft (we probably went through 6 versions in all) of 3 annual budgets with no previous accounting and very little test on the publics' interest in our business.

There was much more to consider: contracts for instructors, property leases and so many more administrative guidelines and paperwork that one takes for granted when not starting from scratch!

Then the Board needed to convene and agree by consensus to all of our basic principles and the various policies and procedures, as well as hire our first Executive Director. Due to a couple uncertainties, we took the time to meet with a lawyer and a CPA, each with their spheres of knowledge, to ensure they thought we were presenting ourselves in the best light.

Finally, after 3 months of work-- approximately 240 hours of diligence-- we filed our paperwork with the IRS in February 2009. So it is with a mix of relief, happiness and gratitude to all involved that I am able to announce today our official Non-Profit Status.

Thank you to all who worked so hard with me to make this possible!

Shaping the Future of Joy Lane

Just as I'd mentioned in our August newsletter, our new official designation as a non-profit organization creates an opportunity for us to shape the future of Joy Lane. What would you like to see at Joy Lane? What are you itching to experience, or hoping to learn? Is there a teacher that you'd like to see return, or visit anew? A particular tradition or skill you've read about that you are interested in exploring? Please use the Comments section to let your opinion, hope and suggestion be heard; simply click the phrase "Leave a comment". Note that you may leave a comment using your name, or anonymously. Now's the time to play. Please join us!

A Healing Spiritual Adventure, So Close to Home

Joy Lane Healing Center:
A Healing Spiritual Adventure, So Close to Home

No need to fuss with travel arrangements for this summer’s spiritual adventuring. Omega in New York… Esalen in California… Wouldn’t it be nice to find such sacred ground a bit closer to home? Believe it or not, there is such a place right in your own backyard: Joy Lane Healing Center, in Hollywood, MD. And here is but a sample of how you can combine Joy Lane classes, workshops and events into a local personalized getaway. Switch, mix and match; your vacation is as limitless as your imagination. Just pick your itinerary!

Getaway #1: A Natural Immersion
Dates: July 11 - 12
Lodging: Joy Lane’s Personal Retreat Cabin
Dedicate two days of your busy life for just you. Find yourself again in the enchanted forest that surrounds Joy Lane.
Day 1: Arrive and settle in to the cozy, well-appointed, off-the-grid cabin. Join Open Palm Zendo for morning meditation. Grill up lunch in our outdoor cooking area. Spend the afternoon reading in the gazebo and walking the labyrinth. Enjoy a reflexology session in the early evening. Later, fall asleep to the sounds of nature all around you.
Day 2: Wake and meditate at the Temple of Light. Enjoy a hike along our trails, and then a massage. After lunch, join the Awareness in Nature: Exploring the Senses workshop. Return home that evening refreshed and reconnected to nature, and yourself!

Getaway #2: A Yoga-Day Away
Date: July 16
Take a quick summertime wellness break for yourself!
AM: Arrive at Joy Lane and participate in our Hatha Yoga with Affirmations class. Spend the rest of the morning journaling and gathering insight at our Crystal Meditation Garden. Enjoy a picnic lunch in our gazebo.
PM: Spend the afternoon in a Your Life Blueprint consultation. Enjoy an early supper at a local Indian restaurant, and return in the evening for The Secret Language of Hatha Yoga class. Return home expanded, clear and refreshed!

Getaway #3: Crystal Clear
Dates: July 18 - 19
Lodging: Victorian Candle Bed & Breakfast
Celebrate the wisdom of crystal healing and meet like-minded neighbors you never knew you had!
Day 1: Arrive in the morning for the beginning of Becky Ridgell’s popular workshop, Introduction to Working with Crystals. Join your new friends for dinner at a local restaurant. Retire for the night in a personal getaway at The Victorian Candle, and enjoy getting to know your newly-bought crystals!
Day 2: Enjoy breakfast at the B&B, and return to Joy Lane for the remainder of the workshop. That evening, enjoy a shopping spree with your friends at our Supplies for the Journey store!

Getaway #4: Meditative Mini-Retreat
Dates: July 24 - 25
Lodging: Joy Lane’s Personal Retreat Cabin
Uplift your spirit and find your focus in a Zen-styled meditation retreat.
A retreat common to Zen Buddhist practice is known as Sesshin, or “gathering the mind”. Begin gathering yours by arriving at Joy Lane after supper. Unpack your things in our peaceful woodland cottage and join us for a screening of Amongst White Clouds, the breathtaking movie about Chinese Taoist and Buddhist mountain hermits. Inspired, spend the night in your own hermitage and awake in the morning to meditate during the Open Palm Zendo Extended Day of Meditation, held in order to honor the spiritual teachers in our lives. Round out your retreat late in the afternoon celebrating the Green Corn Festival, a gathering of renewal hosted by the Good Medicine Society.

Getaway #5: A Healing Circle
Dates: August 8 - 9
Lodging: Your own home
For two afternoons, arrive at Joy Lane and let someone take care of you for a change!
Healing Chöd is an ancient Buddhist ritual known for its power to heal mental and physical sickness, remove karmic obstacles to spiritual growth, and address human suffering. There are no instructions to follow or techniques to learn. You simply lie down, rest, and receive healing. Chöd is suitable for everyone, including those with physical or mental distress, whether chronic or mild. With the support of the Dalai Lama, these events are being offered in the West to raise money for a monastery-building project to benefit one of the poorest parts of India.

These are just a few examples of personal retreats you can build with Joy Lane Healing Center’s schedule of classes, workshops and events. You can always see what else we’re up to at our website, www.joylanehealingcenter.net. Your spiritual journey is just a click away!

Notes from Starfeather, May/June's Special Guest

I arrived at Joy Lane Healing Center for an extended visit and found it
hot and steamy with the wood shimmering in the green light of late Spring.
I love this land and specially the wild song birds. In Washington, I mainly
get seagulls and crows, so the wood thrush is, well, heavenly. My stay here has been a beautiful balance of work and rest. Thunderstorms are awesome!

My first event was the Heart Expansion Ceremony, for which I shipped my
precious companion, my crystal singing bowl, from home. I loved the group
toning and our co-created ceremony was indeed uplifting and an offering of
our love to the Earth. Yummmm.

We had an awesome Medicine Shield Retreat last weekend. Each of woman
dove deep for an experience of quiet time of being and the result was a
springing forth of creativity. We each made beautiful, meaningful shields,
that we now have as reminders of those sacred insights that came to us. I
love creating with sticks, stones, feathers and leather and am always amazed
at how it feeds my soul. Sacred Art, for sure.

The remainder of my time here is spent doing Energy Drawings and channeled council session, which I LOVE to do. It is such a privilege for me to be able to offer this here, and I appreciate those who come to partake. I journey back home to Edmonds on Monday with joy in my heart from Joy Lane. Thanks to Carol and to Marin for supporting my sacred work. There are a few sessions still available for this weekend, June 5 - 7.
Love to all. Starfeather

PS. I am working diligently again on my book, so stay tuned. Hope to see you again. And, wow, check out all the great stuff happening here!

Silent Auction, Audible Change

Inner Equinox, Solomon's Island, MD
Thank you to everyone who bid in our Spring Silent Auction, both online, in our classrooms and at our various community booths; and to all bidders in our Oasis Retreats Silent Auction at the Inner Equinox Grand re-Opening celebration last weekend! Both auctions were a great success!

Our Spring Silent Auction was able to yield over $400 to support the further development of Joy Lane Healing Center. What's first on the list for fund allocation? Completion of the parking lot expansion project, for one!

And the Oasis Auction? Together we raised $600 in a single afternoon for the upcoming June 10th Oasis Retreat. Along with other community member and business sponsorships, we are close to raising enough to cover the general costs of $1800. We are proud that through your support we can offer this special day of rejuvenation to people living with cancer at a sliding scale cost down to $40.

That would not have been possible at all were it not for the efforts of the entire Inner Equinox team. And what a beautiful day that was last weekend-- so many people relaxing on the front porch, exploring the store, learning about techniques and traditions, and enjoying the many free services that some very talented healers were happy to offer. "Shari (Russel) and I are thrilled with the success of community and like-mind gatherings that is continuing to grow through, around and with Inner Equinox," writes Michele Quesenberry, co-founder (with Shari) of Inner Equinox. You can keep up with the goings-on of this special place by subscribing to their Evolving Times e-newsletter; just write to innerequinox@verizon.net and request to be added to their mailing list.

You can also join the Joy Lane mailing list simply by entering your email in the box provided in the right-hand menu!

Spring Silent Auction

Just in time for Earth Day! Celebrate our interconnection to Earth and to each other. Treat yourself to something special while you support the mission of Joy Lane Healing Center!

You'll find separate entries detailing the 5 offerings after this post. We'll be accepting bids from April 18 to May 2; winners will be notified May 5. See something you like? Simply call 301-373-2522 to place your bid!

We had a great time meeting so many new faces at yesterday's Leonardtown Earth Day Celebration; next weekend, April 25-26 we'll be at the Sotterly Plantation Garden Festival. Drop on by!

Why support Joy Lane?
Supporting Joy Lane Healing Center helps us create educational programming that offers a haven to explore the diversity of world traditions and a holistic vision towards health, wellness and awareness. By making a donation to Joy Lane Healing Center today, your generosity ensures that this place of healing and transformation continues to touch the personal lives of individuals and our communities in general.

Auction Items Include…
1 Your Life Blueprint initial consultation with Mary Ellen Steveling
2 Energy Healing Session with Carol Marcy
3 Personal Rejuvenation Retreat
4 Reflexology Session with Leanora Winters
5 Deluxe Yoga Package