Hello from Ojai!
There is a lot of movement on the land these days.
Over the past few weeks, an Environmental Restoration team from Outward Bound Adventures has been helping us restore parts of the ridge that haven’t seen footsteps since the Thomas Fire. The lower land now features an inviting loop trail winding through the old ropes course, where we’ve rediscovered some old friends, including the Dragon and the Dolphin Bench, that seem to have been waiting patiently for our return. It has been wonderful to see these parts of the land opening up again, and we extend our love and gratitude to Outward Bound Adventures for making it happen!
Earlier this month, we also kicked off our 43rd year of school programming by welcoming a brand-new group of local students and their parents as part of a year-long program. Their school director beautifully reflected on the program in a letter to the school community:
(We) were on retreat at the Topa Institute, located on the Happy Valley Land purchased by Annie Besant in 1927. Her idea was to create a place where education, inquiry, art, relationship, and care for the whole human being could be explored freely, in service of a different kind of society. Nearly a century later, we return to this land to ask some of those same enduring questions about how we want to live and what responsibility we have to the world.
This weekend we will host a community volunteer weekend to tend to one of our beloved sacred sites, the Ancestor Shrine. You are invited to join us on Saturday or Sunday to reactivate this treasured landmark! There will be tasks for all skill and ability levels! Later this fall, we’re honored to offer a long-awaited Council 3 training with two of our most beloved Council trainers, Irasha Talifero and Tom Nolan. We’ll also be partnering with Chicomecoatl – Grupo de Danza Azteca Chichimeca for five weeks of Dias de los Muertos programming, and we are proud to be a host sponsor for the OHMS Collective Mushroom Summit that is gaining buzz across the nation!
All of this is unfolding alongside an ever-deepening commitment to caring for this land the best way we know how, which means constantly learning and unlearning. We are humbled to carry forward the long tradition of gathering on this land to explore how we might live in deeper relationships with ourselves, with one another and with the world around us, and we hope to see you in person sometime soon.
Keep an eye on our website for new and updated offerings, and please feel welcome to reach out anytime at contact@topainstitute.org.
Warmly,
Marisa Peck Johnson
Executive Director
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