(804) 928-3189 BethHedquist@gmail.com

   I’m so excited to tell you…

I have moved to Sevenoaks!

 

If you are not familiar with Sevenoaks Retreat Center, it is the center in Madison, Va. owned by the Mid-Atlantic Pathwork. After studying and teaching here for almost 20 years, it’s long been my spiritual home but now it’s a delight to call it my physical home as well – a beautiful, spiritually charged piece of heaven where I’ll be living and working for at least a year.

 

How and why did I end up at Sevenoaks?

 

Well, that depends on what level of my “self” I answer that question from. On one level, I’m really excited to be a part of a new energy that is bubbling up in the Mid-Atlantic Pathwork and at Sevenoaks, as we prepare to launch a newly re-visioned Pathwork Transformation Program in the fall of 2020. It’s something our Helper Community has been steadily working on for a couple of years now, so it’s wonderful to see it coming to fruition.

 

I’ve taken on the position of Director of Pathwork Programs, overseeing the coordination and implementation of our new programs and working closely with Julia Jensen, coordinator of the Pathwork Transformation Program, the Pathwork Council, and the rest of the Helper Community as we explore new ways to teach the Pathwork that will be relevant to the needs of today’s spiritual seeker, while retaining the depth of intimacy and transformation that has been the hallmark of the Pathwork since its inception.

 

On another level, I can feel something stirring in me that has nothing to do with this position I’ve taken on. It is more deeply personal than any job or task, and yet if you asked me what it was, I’d be at a loss for words. Much of my path these days asks me to say “yes” to what I don’t quite understand but feel compelled to follow.

 

I certainly feel moved to let go of much of what has defined me previously. Over the past several years I have ended a relationship, had the rug pulled out from under me when I uncovered and discarded old images that were unconscious and yet right in front of my face, changed many of my lifestyle habits, took on a deep study at the intersection of spirituality and activism, sold my home, put everything in storage, and discovered a renewed zest for life as I made my way across country traveling and living out of a suitcase for three and a half months. And so this latest move seems like the next chapter in the miracle of this life I’ve been graced to live.

 

In addition, I feel a deep desire to immerse myself in nature and surround myself with beauty. Mother Earth is turning out to be one of my greatest teachers these days. Connecting with the presence of nature helps me drop into my own presence, and is such a gift. So what more beautiful place to put down roots than Sevenoaks? While I am still adjusting to six foot snakes and stinkbugs, I am loving waking up to a deer family right outside my camper, walking the trails and marveling at the abundance of life, enjoying the sunset view of the mountains from Oakhouse, and falling asleep with an open window to the chorus of crickets and other nighttime inhabitants. It nourishes my soul to feel connected to this magnificent web of life. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m also honored to be co-teaching the fourth year of the Pathwork Transformation Program this year with Don Harvey and Miriam Smith, where the focus will be Negative Intention. It promises to be a powerful year, and will require a deep dive into my own Negative Intentionality, which from experience is not always comfortable but reaps such rich rewards.

 

One of the reasons I love being a Pathwork Helper is that it challenges me to resist complacency on the path. There are always more layers of the onion to peel, more illusions to surrender, more corners of darkness waiting to be brought into the light, more pleasure waiting to be embraced.

 

The more I think I know, the more I realize I don’t know
much of anything at all. 

 

If you have plans to visit Sevenoaks anytime soon, be sure to say hello! And if you don’t have plans, perhaps you might consider an adventure of your own at one of the upcoming Pathwork workshops we have planned here!