LEE KLINGER LESSER
Honoring the Path of the Warrior: Tools for Returning Veterans in the Transition Home
Honoring the Path of the Warrior (HPW) is a program that assists post-9/11 and Persian Gulf veterans in making a positive transition from miitary to civilian life. There is no fee and all events are non-denominational. The San Francisco Zen Center is the fiscal sponsor.
Learn more below and at HonoringThePath.org.
One-Day Events
October 9, 2011, January 7, 2012, March 31, 2012, June 2, 2012, More dates to be announced...
To register or for more information, contact Dyan Ferguson at honoringthepath@gmail.com
Multi-Day Events
Women Veteran's Retreat at Tassajara Zen Mountain Retreat Center
July 15 - 19, 2012
This will be our second annual retreat for women veterans. There is no fee for this retreat.
To register or for more information, contact Dyan Ferguson at honoringthepath@gmail.com
White Water River Rafting and Camping Trip
August 2 - 5, 2012
This will be our fourth river rafting/camping trip: once on the Kern River and twice on the Tuolumne River. We are confirming plans for the location for this year and will announce them soon. For more info, contact Dyan at honoringthepath@gmail.com.
There is no fee for this event.
More About These Programs
Honoring the Path of the Warrior is a program that assists post-deployed veterans in making a positive transition from miitary to civilian life. It creates an opportunity for veterans to come together and connect with each other. During events that include rock climbing, hiking, gardening, writing, white water river rafting and camping, we provide research-based mindfulness tools that are both practical and accessible. Sensory Awareness is a basis and foundation for mindfulness. For thousands of years, meditation and mindfulness practice have helped to develop warrior skills:
- concentration
- focus
- discipline
- the abiltiy to meet whatever arises from a clear, responsive state
This process helps veterans honor their own strength and build a bridge for the journey home.
The project began in the Spring of 2008, when my colleague Chris Fortin and I began to explore what we could do to support veterans in their transition home. When the Vietnam War took place, I was the age of many of the current returning veterans, the age of my own son and daughhter. I want to contribute what I can to create a more welcoming and healing transition home for this new generation.
Chris and I met over 30 years ago, when we were both Zen students at Green Gulch Farm. It is an honor to collaborate with her in developing this project. Chris says:
"My father served in World War Two in forward advanced reconnaissance behind enemy lines, spent one hundred and twenty-eight days in active combat, was in three major battles, and earned the bronze star. He never talked about this, but these events permeated his life. The vets that I have met through the Warriors' Project, who are the same age of my grown son, have helped me to connect with this history and allow me to bring my skills and training as a long tie meditator, zen priest and psychotherapist to be of services to thosw who have served. I believe this work helps us all remember and honor our direct and immediate interconnection and that it also extends across time."
Veterans are helping to shape and guide this project as it develops. Chris and I continue to learn from, and with, them. What we have to offer are the tools that sustain and guide us in our own lives: Sensory Awareness, and mindfulness/meditation practice. I have been teaching Sensory Awareness for over thirty-five years, and Chris has been teaching and practicing meditation for decades.
Two years ago, we began talking to various veterans' organizations such as Swords to Plowshares, Vet Centers, Campus Vet clubs and the VA to see if there was any interest in what we could offer. There has been. Since our first event in 2008, over 250 veterans have participated in the one-day retreats, white water river rafting and camping trips and women veteran's retreat.
Here is what some Veterans and colleagues are saying about their experiences:
"As a therapist who is well acquainted with the challenges facing our veterans, I have been very impressed by the work of "Honoring the Path of the Warrior." I have seen first hand the positive results of their week-end retreats. The veterans I have referred have given enthusiastic reports and expressed appreciation for these opportunities to experience learning, healing, and personal growth in the company of other veterans." -Leo Joslin, Clinical Director, Swords to Plowshares
"I came to these workshops a year and a half ago, isolated, dealing wtih addicition, and spiritually empty. Through participating in these retreats I rediscovered my integrity, recognized a growing awareness, guided compassion and a sense of place, and found serentiy by utilizing the tools cultivated througy participation in these retreats. - Jeremy Lopez, United States marine Corps
"Being a combat soldier, during Operation Iraqui Freedom, I found myself experiencing a plethroa of negative emotions and energies post-deployment. Like some combat soldiers, i was afraid to be perceived as a weakling if I were to seek help. We are trained to be warriors. When I heard about the mindfulness/meditation event, I was enthusiastic about getting together with other veterans who experienced similar hardships as i had. I was initially nervous and apprehensive about being ina group, but I felt instantly at home. The physical event before the meditation brings us closer together as a team. The experience of the mindfulness/meditation events afterward have inspired me to practice taking a small respite every day. i encourage any veteran to participate in these events taht give a battered mind a place to heal." -Mike Smith, US Army, OIF Vet
I was expecting the opportunity to spend quality time with a group of people and climb. It exceeded my expectations in that the climbing was reat and the day was relaxing and I was able to take time to reflect on myself and my life in a positive and stress-free environment."
"I wanted to learn more about mehtods of meditation. I don't ever make time to relax/meditate so days like today allow me to decompress. Thanks!"
"I am in school. And right before I took three final exams, I sat down and cleared my mind the way we did at the last event. I sat for five minutes and this is the first time in my life I got a 4.0, and in all three classes!"
"I was at the last event. And when they started the breathing stuff, I thought it was very corny. In fact, I thought it was fucking retarded. I drive a lot, hundreds of miles. A few days after the event, I was driving on the highway and I though of breathing. and I thought "What the heck!" ... so i tried it. And it worked! Instead of being so uptight about how far I had to go, I could say to myself, 'I'll get there when I get there.' And I could see what was around me."
The retreats are non-denominational and open to all veterans who have served since September 2001, or in the Persian Gulf. There is no fee.
Lee Klinger Lesser has led workshops in Sensory Awareness for over 35 years in English and in Spanish. She has been a Zen Student for 30 years. She has studied with Jim Gordon and the Center for Body-Mind Medicine based on their work of healing with people who have suffered from trauma in war zones around the world.
Chris Fortin is a licensed Marriage Family Therapist in private practice and a Buddhist priest. She has 30 years of experience in helping to heal the wounds and trauma of body, mind, and spirit. Her commitment is to meet each person and experience with honest and alive attention and respect.
Please contact Dyan Ferguson at honoringthepath@gmail.com for more information about these retreats or to offer your support.