WineSpirit

WineSpirit celebrates wine as a unique contributor to a healthy and happy lifestyle. Life at its finest includes the joy and richness of this moment: sharing conversation with people you enjoy … feeling alive and vibrant: food, wine and people blending in happy and memorable moments, times to enjoy and to cherish.  With this in mind, we follow ten principles that encourage us to stop now and again: to pause … catch your breath …sip a glass of wine … taste miracles and blessings of this physical world and all its senses.b

1. Remembering Where You Come From: Everyone comes from “somewhere” and has a story to tell of how they arrived at the world of “wine”. What is your “story”? What can you share, and what can we learn from each other?
2. Appreciating What You Have Come to: Wine is like no other agricultural product in the world. Its emergence from the soil involves imaginative partnership between human and nature, between human and God. It is a unique and historically rooted fruit whose very existence depends on a healthy relationship with the Earth and a commitment to sustaining healthy balance in all of life. What reward have you discovered in connecting yourself to the fruit of the vine?
3. Prioritizing Health, Wellness, and Balance in Your Life: A fine wine achieves “balance”. Whether through enjoyment of a glass of wine, or the study and celebration of means by which to stop and notice blessings, you can transform an ordinary moment, just another meal, into something very “special”. So much is good in life; so much goes well. Savoring a glass of wine and sharing a moment with others is a wonderful way to let good moments flow through you and blessings abound. What happens when you allow yourself time to regain your balance?
4. Increase Awareness of Your Religious & Spiritual Paths that Sanctify with Wine: Many religious and spiritual traditions, particularly Judaism, utilize wine to see and experience the preciousness of many special and significant moments. WineSpirit provides you with a context for learning more of how these paths sanctify moments with wine while inviting you to share experiences from your own particular tradition’s perspective. What is your religious/spiritual path’s association with wine?
5. Highlighting Secular and Cultural Milieus that Celebrate with Wine: Societies and cultures around the world use wine to pause and celebrate friendships, relationships, and the enjoyment of fine food. WineSpirit programs and activities support and celebrate all avenues that enable you to remember to stop now and again to treasure such moments and experiences. How does wine play a part in celebrating your special occasions?
6. Providing an Oasis from the Rush & Fragmentation of the Day: No one is immune to the rush and crush of life that keeps you from finding the time and context to sort out all the blessings you have in the path and way that you have chosen. WineSpirit provides an oasis from the “crush”. You can breathe and regain balance in the “vineyard of life”. What avenues and outlets do you have to stop or slow down, catch your breath and regain your balance?
7. Dedication to Building Strong & Healthy Relationships: The context for integrating the study of wine and spirituality is in promoting healthy Attitudes, effective usage of Time, growth in Power through sharing resources, infusing your Routine with meaningful ritual, and harnessing the most underutilized of resources, People. What contexts do you have for building and maintaining healthy relationships?
8. Commitment to Ongoing Learning & Teaching: You can connect with a variety of teachers from around the world who will share their truths and their passion about the relationship of wine and spirituality. You can learn from teachers of the great religious and spiritual traditions and from teachers of the art of grape growing, wine production, the relationship to “Mother Nature”, and wine appreciation. What settings are most conducive for you to learn more of what and who you value and appreciate in life?
9. Opportunities to partake in four “Grape Clusters“: Every one of us is different. We each learn differently and resonate to different contexts for learning and sharing and developing relationships with those who share core values and want to integrate spiritual dimensions into the balance of their lives. You will have opportunities to choose outlets you enjoy in WineSpirit. Which of these clusters appeal most to you?  1) Sharing Stories and Values at Informal Gatherings; 2) Exploring Insights and Nuggets with Teachers in Seminars; 3) Communicating with Each Other in Forums and Blogs on the Web ; 4) Learning through Audios, Videos and Written Materials
10. An Expression of Complementarities: Wine comes into existence through multi-faceted cooperative efforts, between human and human, as well as between human and the Creative Force of Life. WineSpirit supports and encourages all cooperative efforts whether in the wine community or in our various religious and spiritual paths. We are committed to fruitful enterprises that support this vision locally, regionally and throughout the world. How would you like to contribute to this complementarity: sharing your interest and expertise in building a community of connectivity linked by wine and its relation to spirituality?