Not your standard adventure travel
Contemplative Adventures
Third Force, LLC offers guided trips
intimately exploring and participating within culturally, historically and ecologically beautiful and significant landscapes. While doing this, we are building a community of travelling companions who humbly and courageously practice a willingness to examine and discuss ‘hot’ topics associated with these places that continue to challenge our world today. We probably will not solve the world's problems but we will stop avoiding crucial conversations that need to be had.
These trips afford the traveler to immerse ones' self in both the outer landscape of the physical surface world that we inhabit while also venturing into the deeper inner landscape of his or her psyche or soul.
We play wholeheartedly!
Depending on adventure, there will be kayaking, fishing, caving, hiking, camping, sightseeing, dining on local fare, listening to local musicians and storyetellers, visiting artist markets and more!
Not your standard adventure travel
These trips promise to be fun, educational and exciting but not for the faint of heart.
Participants should expect to encounter physical, emotional and psychological challenges on this journey but also know that limits are always welcome and will be respected.
We will be examining the contradictions and paradoxes of life that we all carry inside in hopes of bringing them to the light so that we can reconcile and learn to move forward together.
This is not easy work.
Travel locales vary. Themes and questions that underpin all of our adventures include,
and are not limited to:
* The EB White quote, "I wake up in the morning torn between the desire to save the world and to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan my day."
* Intersections between contemplation, observation or watchful waiting AND taking action and moving the needle in service of justice, fairness, truth, and equality.
* What does it mean to be a wise, compassionate and courageous leader in today’s increasingly polarized world?
* What do we make of the intersections between other values we hold such as grace and accountability or idealism and reality?
* Is there a difference between reactivity and responsibility in situations that we perceive warrant our attention?
* How do we discern answers to these? Are answers necessary?
Not your standard adventure travel
Trips vary in time between 3 night / 4 day long weekends to upwards of 10 to 14 days.
Safety – physical and emotional – is paramount so adequate preparation in advance is essential.
Preparation includes learning who our fellow travelers are, exploring in greater depth the locale we will be exploring, learning how to properly utilize outdoor equipment and cookware, instruction in basic first-aid, and practices in various group communication techniques, including the Way of Council.
Being a contemplative adventure and not just a typical, garden variety of adventure, we will also learn and practice a few mindfulness skills in preparation and throughout the travel.
Third Force encourages people from all spectrums of life who feel a tug to join one of our trips to apply. Diversity is welcome and needed. And by diversity - we mean political, cultural, ethnic, racial, sex orientation and age. Real diversity, not the politically expedient or correct kind.
In Full Transparency,
Contemplative Adventures are probably better suited for people who fit these general criteria:
* physical capacity to engage fully in recreation
* those in a time of deep questioning/seeking
* those in transition such as mid-life, end of career, after going through crisis & wondering what is next
* those starting to realize life is not necessarily what we were taught or thought it was
* change agents and difference makers