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2008, Living Mandala
creative services by: 360 Degrees

Including

PERMACULTURE & ECO-VILLAGE DESIGN

REGENERATIVE EARTHWORKS

FOOD FORESTRY

SOCIAL PERMACULTURE

NATURAL BUILDING

INNER ECOLOGY

HANDS-ON ACTION LEARNING

& MUCH MORE


In Association With

Institute of Noetic Sciences


Facilitators, Instructors & Consultants

John Valenzuela

Jay Ma

Sage Mata

Max Meyers

& Special Guests


Additional Guest Instructors to be Announced Soon

(Average of 1 Guest Instructor per day!)


Course Inspiration

In response to many inquiries from individuals interested in taking a Permaculture Design Certification Course, but who are not able to take over two-weeks off from their lives, jobs, and family responsibilities to attend a residential course, we are excited to offer this 3-month-long weekend Permaculture Design Certification Course at the beautiful 220 acre campus of the Institute of Noetic Sciences. IONS is located conveniently right off Hwy 101 between Petaluma & Novato, just between Marin county and Sonoma county


Course Description

Permaculture is a holistic design philosophy described as the art and science of creating community ecosystems in which plants, animals, human beings, and all forms of ecological diversity interact to produce a prolific, ecologically-sound, and regenerative system that can support itself and life indefinitely.Ôø‡

Learn the art and science of Permaculture based on the original Mollison and Holmgren ideas and design philosophies published in The Permaculture Designer's Manual, as we make our way through the curriculum over a series of weekends for 3 months. In addition to the standard permaculture design course curriculum, we recognize permaculture as an expanding, holistic design philosophy being applied to an ever-growing landscape of diverse fields and skill sets including business, government, economics, group process, social systems, and inner work. Accordingly, this permaculture design course will include & integrate additional content and activities such as nature awareness, indigenous wisdom, organizational design, financial permaculture, inner ecology, group process, natural building, hands-on activities, and more. For a more more detailed description of course contents and instructors see below.


Course Dates & Details

The course will occur over a period of 10 weekends on Sundays from May 8 & 9 - July 25, with an opening weekend consisting of both Saturday and Sunday on May 8 & 9, no class on June 13 & July 4, and finishing on July 25.


Day Schedule:

Classes will be held from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm with meals served at 12:30 pm for lunch and 6:00 pm for dinner. Evening sessions are from 7:00 - 8:30 pm. (The evening sessions are highly encouraged but optional. (They will often include exciting additional content or special guests).


Dates & General Day Topics:

May 8 & 9: Opening Weekend - Intro to Permaculture, Design Principles, Nature Awareness, Observation, Patterns, Core Routines, Site Analysis, & More

May 16: Water & Earthworks

May 23: Mapping, Design Process & Group Facilitation

May 30: Soil & Animals

June 6: Plants, Gardens, & Food Forests

June 13 Week Off - Harmony Festival

June 20: Climate, Microclimate, & Built Structures

June 27: Appropriate Technology, Bioremediation, & Greywater

July 4 - Week Off

July 11: Urban Strategies & Social Technologies

July 18: Invisible Structures & Community Design

July 25: - Final Day, Design Presentations, Graduation, Celebration!


* Day topics are subject to change


Topics to Include:
































Certification Applicability

Participants who successfully complete the course will receive a Permaculture Design Certificate. Design Certification is applicable towards Gaia University Degree Programs.


What is Permaculture?


Permaculture is a holistic design philosophy described as the art and science of creating community ecosystems in which plants, animals, human beings, and all forms of ecological diversity interact to produce a prolific, ecologically-sound, and regenerative system that can support itself and life indefinitely. The focus of permaculture is to design and establish societal systems that provide for humanity's material and non-material needs such as food, water, shelter, energy, and health in a way that is symbiotic and synergistic with the Earth's natural ecosystems. More recently permaculture is incorporating an ever-growing landscape of diverse fields and skill sets and is being applied towards areas such as business, government, economics, group process, social systems, and inner work.

Weekend Permaculture Design Certification Course

May 8/9 - July 25, 2010

Institute of Noetic Sciences

Petaluma, Califronia




Tuition & Registration

Course Tuition is $1200 U.S. dollars, which includes instruction, as well as delicious meals catered by the Institute of Noetic Sciences Retreat Center for lunch on dinner all days except for two off-site days. Participants who successfully complete the course will receive a Permaculture Design Certificate.


Early Bird Discount - $1080

Register before March 31 to receive the early bird discount. Group discounts of $200 off per person are also available for couples, business partners, & friends who register together.

Register here.


Introduction to Permaculture Weekend Workshop

Join us just for the first weekend of this course - open to the general public as an Introduction to Permaculture Weekend Workshop. Topics & Activities include Permaculture Overview, Ethics, Design Principles, Nature Awareness, Observation, Patterns in Nature, Core Routines, Bird Language, Site Analysis, & More. Tuition for the Introduction to Permaculture Weekend Workshop is $275, with lunch and dinner included both days. Fees can be applied towards tuition for the entire design course, should you choose to continue. Click here more information about the Introduction to Permaculture Weekend Workshop here.


Delicious Meals Included!

Delicious catered meals provided by the Institute of Noetic Sciences retreat center kitchen are included in the course tuition for 10 out of the 12 weekends that we are on-site.


Lodging Options at IONS

Rooms are available for an additional cost on the days before or after each class day for commuters or for those interested in enjoying a relaxing stay at the beautiful IONS Retreat Center. Rooms are $70 for a shared room and $95 for a single. To book a room, please do so when you register for the course.


Site Details - IONS Retreat Center

The IONS Retreat Center is a beautiful collection of indoor and outdoor meeting spaces located on the IONS 200 acre campus in Petaluma, California. Located just 30 minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge and right off Hwy 101. The campus consists of several quaint buildings, a beautiful gardens, ponds, pristine live oak woodlands, meandering hiking trails, and endless panoramic vistas of the California landscape and rolling hillsides. IONS hosts educational activities and workshops that focus on health, personal growth, and transformation. This beautiful campus can accommodate day-use groups of up to 120 people, and the overnight facilities sleep 120 people.




About the Institute of Noetic Sciences

The Institute of Noetic Sciences, commonly known as Ôø‡IONSÔø‡, is a nonprofit membership organization located in Northern California that conducts and sponsors leading-edge research into the potentials and powers of consciousnessÔø‡including perceptions, beliefs, attention, intention, and intuition. IONS was founded in 1973 by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell with the mission to bring scientific understanding to mystical experience. The Institute maintains a commitment to scientific rigor while exploring phenomena that have been largely overlooked by mainstream science. IONS is not a spiritual association, political-action group, or a single-cause institute. Rather, IONS honors open-minded approaches and multiple ways of knowing, brings discernment to their work, and supports diversity of perspectives on social and scientific matters. Through their publications, events, and educational media, they inform members and the public at lArge about the findings of their frontier research on consciousness and its relationship to the physical world. IONS has a beautiful 200-acre Retreat Center which hosts workshops, retreats, and educational activities with diverse and well-known spiritual teachers and groups from all over the world. IONS supports community-building through local community groups, online discussions, and other networking opportunities. For more information visit www.ions.org


What are 'Noetic Sciences'?

The word "noetic" comes from the ancient Greek "nous", for which there is no exact equivalent in English. It refers to "inner knowing," a kind of intuitive consciousness'direct and immediate access to knowledge beyond what is available to our normal senses and the power of reason. Noetic sciences are explorations into the nature and potentials of consciousness using multiple ways of knowingÔø‡including intuition, feeling, reason, and the senses. Noetic sciences explore the "inner cosmos" of the mind (consciousness, soul, spirit) and how it relates to the "outer cosmos" of the physical world.




Contact

For questions and more information regarding the course

e-mail: education@livingmandala.com or

call: (707) 634-1461


Permaculture Overview

Ethics & Design Principles

Learning Affirmations

Observation

Nature Awareness

Core Routines

Patterns in Nature

Bird Language

Site Analysis

Maps & Mapping

Zones &Sectors

Water on the Landscape

Regenerative Earthworks

Swales & Ponds

Keyline Design

Carbon Farming

Rainwater Catchment

Dryland Strategies

Aquaculture

Aquaponics

Design Process

Group Facilitation

Design Methods

Urban Strategies

Open Space Technology

Village Design

Alternative Economics

Green Business

Holocracy

Cultural Mentoring

Eco-Social Activism

Invisible Structures

Urban Permaculture

Hands-On Activities

Inner Ecology

REGISTER
NOWhttps://www.regonline.com/holistic_permaculture_design_course_at_the_institu

Instructors, Facilitators & Guests

John Valenzuela

John Valenzuela is a horticulturist, consultant, and veteran permaculture educator with experience teaching and consulting a wide range of people including children, students, professionals, owners, renters, institutions, businesses, displaced sugar workers, and more. John has been a lead permaculture design course instructor at the Bullock Family Homestead in Orcas Island Washington for 11 years, and also has experience teaching in Costa Rica and throughout urban and rural California. Living in Hawai'i for 15 years, John has studied and practiced tropical permaculture and taught extensively in the Islands. His special interests are home gardens, plant propagation, rare fruit, food forests, agroforestry, ethnobotany, and native ecosystems. John is now based in his home state of California, where he maintains a small nursery and shares his passion for plants.




Veteran Lead Instructor


Saga Mata

Sage is a permaculture designer, earthen builder, gardener, teacher and community organizer passioned by her love of the Earth. With nature and community as her teachers and inspiration, she spreads her laughter and light as she works to reflect the harmonious and regenerative patterns of nature into human design systems. She earned a Bachelor's degree of Ecopsychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she taught a UCSC course of Ecopsychology and Social Change and co-facilitated a UCSC cob bench building workshop in 2004. She received her Permaculture Design Cerificate in 2004 through the Earth Activist Training (www.earthactivisttraining.org) and has then been involved in various permaculture projects from British Colombia to Argentina. She worked as a natural building site leader at O.U.R Ecovillage (www.ourecovillage.org) and co-manager of the bountiful gardens at GingerHill farm/retreat center on the Big Island of HawaiÔø‡i (www.gingerhillfarm.com). Sage has worked for several organizations, such as the Homeless Garden Project (www.homelessgardenproject.org) and the Garden Path Project of Berkeley Youth Alternatives (www.byaonline.org/heat). Sage has completed a Permaculture Teacher's Training Course at the Bullock's Homestead, WA. Currently, she is an associate of Gaia University earning her Master's in Integrative EcoSocial Design, where she is studying action-learning as a system to integrate patterns of consciousness and the development of culture.


Instructor


Jay Ma

Jay Ma is a permaculture designer, facilitator, and community organizer committed to cultural healing through Peacemaker Principles. Hereceived his first permaculture designcertification through Naropa University in 2001, a B.A. through New College of California in Culture, Ecology, and Sustainable Community with a concentration in Eco-Dwelling/Natural Building, and is a graduate of the pioneering two-year training intensive in Regenerative Design & Nature Awareness. Jay has developed educational programs, retreats, workshops, and events as well as community land development projects with organizations including the Regenerative Design Institute, the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Earth Circle, Gaia University and others. He is currently an associate with Gaia Universityin Organized Learning for Eco-Social Regeneration, working on organizing educational courses in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Jay is also a certified Permaculture Teacher, aFire Walk Instructor through Sundoor International,and is passionate about renewing Rites of Passage experiential programs for people of all ages.


Instructor


Max Meyers

Max Meyers is an Ecological Designer, Permaculture Teacher, Farmer and Director of the Mendocino Ecological Learning Center, a nonprofit educational organization and ecological reserve that offers green job training and practices sustainable stewardship of land, plants, animals and energy systems. He has been studying, practicing and teaching Permaculture and Ecological Design for 12 years. In addition to the work at MELC, Max provides Ecological design services to the public, organizations and schools. He is passionate about all things related to a more just and sustainable world. Since graduating from New College of California's Culture, Ecology and Sustainable Communities B.A. program and Santa Rosa Junior College's Sustainable Agriculture Program, Max has become a certified Permaculture designer/teacher, Aquaponics system installer and sustainable water systems specialist. He has been fortunate enough to study with people like Bill Mollison, Geoff Lawton, Sepp Holzer, Tom Ward, Jude Hobbs, Penny Livingston and many others in places like the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Hawaii. Some of his fields of study and practice include: Natural Building, Biodynamic Farming, Integrated Rainwater Collection and Storage, Alternative Transportation, Mushroom Cultivation, Sustainable Forestry, Beekeeping, Animal Husbandry, Renewable Energy, Biogas Production and use, Greywater Systems design and installation, Vermiculture, seed saving and many other sustainable technologies, methods and skills. Max has experience teaching Permaculture, Natural Building, Cob Construction, Renewable Energy, Organic farming, Beekeeping and others. Maximillian Meyers lives with his wife and partner Maria Luisa in Willits, California.


Instructor



Bios of Additional Instructors & Special Guests Coming Soon!



Affiliate Organizations & Sponsors









Become a sponsor of this course!

For details email: affiliates@livingmandala.com


For Upcoming Courses, Workshops, & Events Click this Spring & Summer in Permaculture, Ecovillage Design, Sustainable Living Skills, & More Click Here.

Soil Ecology & Soil Food Web

Soil Building Strategies Compost

Sheet Mulching

Compost Teas

Animals Systems

Carbon Sequestration

Plant Guilds

Gardens

Food Forests

Sustainable Forestry

Coppicing

Plant Propagation

Pruning

Climate

Microclimate

Passive Solar Design

Natural Building

Green Building

Tropical Permaculture

Appropriate Technology

Mushrooms & Mycoremediation

Bioremediation

Humanure

Greywater

Group Decision Making

Compassionate Communication

Cooperative Legal Structures

Finance Permaculture

Land Access

Eco-Villages

Indigenous Wisdom

Design Projects

Wildcrafting

Delicious Meals Included