John Calvi's Year End Letter 2011

2011 Year End Letter – John Calvi

Dear Friends,

It’s been a year full of wonderful invitations and good work. I’ve been welcomed into beautiful teaching opportunities all across country. And for this I am very grateful. A life’s work is a gift to keep learning, more and better.

I began my work of healing trauma in 1982 and began to receive invitations to travel and teach in 1985. For me it’s been a study in reverence and self-disciplines that has taken a reluctant student and mercifully shaped a teacher and healer. A gift for releasing pain is useful for many different kinds of hurt.

Among the wonderful invitations this year, was to speak to a gathering of North American Quakers on healing America by ending torture. It’s available here -
http://www.quakerbooks.org/to_go_where_there_is_no_light.php

In many ways this felt to be a culmination of 30 years work with torture survivors and as founding convener of The Quaker Initiative to End Torture. I recommend this to you as representing an essence of my life’s work. There is also a recording of a radio interview on healing and torture here-
http://www.northernspiritradio.org/index.asp?command=showinfo&showid=569667511687

This has also been a year when friends in need have been plentiful. I am not a primary care person, but often I am helping a dozen people to transition in their dying or healing of trauma. Much good work has also happened here.

2012 also has some great invitations. I’ll be speaking to Pacific Yearly Meeting August in California. My calendar is enclosed. I hope to see many of you in the coming year. This is another joy built into this particular life’s work.

It’s almost 30 years now since I began to live mainly on gifts. I can’t say it’s always been smooth, nor easy in today’s economy. Your kindness has been key to my being out in the world working. Your help makes it possible for me to continue. I am asking you to help now again, to keep me, and my work, on the road. In the Light, John Calvi

PO Box 301 Putney VT 05346 www.johncalvi.com calvij@sover.net
John Calvi’s 2011Completed Calendar
February 1-2 Senate Meetings with Quaker Initiative to End Torture- QUIT Washington DC
March 11-13 Powell House – Peace Within, Goodness Throughout workshop Old Chatham, NY
March 20 New Orleans Friends Meeting – QUIT Update New Orleans, LA
April 1-3 Guilford College Sexuality workshops - QUIT Update Greensboro, NC
April 3-4 Durham Friends Meeting Goodness workshop & Sessions Durham, NC
April 4-5 Raleigh Friends Meeting Goodness workshop & Sessions Raleigh, NC
May 6-8 Pendle Hill Washed in the Light by Tender Hands workshop Wallingford, PA
July 3-9 Friends General Conference Evening Plenary –American Torture Grinnell, IA
July 15 Vermont People with AIDS Coalition Retreat workshops Stowe, VT
August 6-11 New England Yearly Meeting workshops, journal readings Smithfield, RI
October 7-9 St Louis Friends Meetings workshops, QUIT Update St Louis, MO
October 18 Queens College Social Studies Teachers Seminar- American Torture New York, NY
October 31 – Nov 1 Dragonfly Transitions workshops Klamath Falls, OR
November 4-6 Quaker Center The Goodness workshop Ben Lomond, CA

John Calvi’s Incomplete Partial Calendar for 2012 – (as of December 2011)
February 4 Quaker Studies Program Goodness workshop Beacon Hill Mtg Boston, MA
March Doylestown Friends Meeting QUIT Update Doylestown, PA
May 18 – 20 Pendle Hill Healing Wallingford PA
July 1 – 7 Friends General Conference workshops Kingston, RI
July 20 VT People w/Aids Coalition workshops stress reduction Stowe, VT
August 4 – 9 New England Yearly Meeting workshops Smithfield, RI
August 13-18 Pacific Yearly Meeting Plenary Walker Ranch Petaluma, CA
November 6 – 8 Powell House Healing Hands Healing Self Old Chatham, NY

PLEASE SEND A GIFT TO MY ADDRESS BELOW, THANKS!
Definitions- tax law says a donation carries the expectation of work for which I am taxed. A gift is given out of respect, affection, or charity, such as –
my birthday- May 14, my wedding anniversary- August 26, or a Christmas gift.
P. O. Box 301 Putney VT 05346

Goodness Workshop Quaker Center Ben Lomond CA

I'll be teaching at Quaker Center in Ben Lomond, CA Nov 4-6. This is the Goodness workshop and it's a good way to deeply relax and learn more of your own goodness - http://www.quakercenter.org/programs/goodness-workshop/

QUIT Nov Consultation CANCELLED

The QUIT Consultation November 11 & 12 2011 in Durham NC has been postponed due to lack of response. Future activities will be posted.

New Recordings

Dear Friends,

I recently gave a plenary on American Torture at a national Quaker conference. This talk was recorded and is now available. It is an mp3 audio file called To Go Where There is No Light. I discuss America’s use of torture and the Quaker Initiative to End Torture's (QUIT) call to end it.

To hear a preview of the talk, go to-

www.fgcquaker.org/gathering/social-media/john-calvi.

To purchase the whole talk as an mp3 audio file go to-

http://www.quakerbooks.org/to_go_where_there_is_no_light.php

Also – here is a link to a radio interview I did in July on Healing and Torture with Northern Spirit Radio-

http://www.northernspiritradio.org/index.asp?command=showinfo&showid=569667511687

The FGC plenary mp3 file is $5. The radio interview is free to download, but a CD is $10. The money goes to these organizations- not to me or The Quaker Initiative to End Torture – QUIT!

I think both turned out well and I hope you will share this news with friends.

Thanks, John

27th Beethoven Letter 2011

The 27th Beethoven Letter by John Calvi

Dear Friends,

I am still here, still on the road, still at work – not brave so much as stubborn and happy for it all.
I am seeking your support to stay at work. As many of you know, my life work has been to help heal trauma as a certified massage therapist and a Quaker healer with a spiritual gift for releasing pain. I’ve been at work on this now since 1983- that’s 28 years of experience, travel, and seeking on behalf of survivors of all manner of hurt. First I learned about the rape crisis and did lots of work with survivors. And I still do since the sexually abused constitute the largest group of wounded on the planet. Next I did lots of work in the AIDS epidemic, even before we had the word AIDS or knowledge of transmission. Then I began work with refugees who had survived torture and inmates and others. A very busy 28 years (stories on my website) & I’m only 59 in May!

As my calendar shows, I am often on the road teaching by invitation to places and topics diverse and important. The healing of trauma is vast and I am a devoted tho slow learner. Sometimes I can help make small changes. Sometimes I can help make large changes. The gift that comes through me tends to be a gentle quiet shift to peace and calm and new understanding. This may not seem like much to many, but for someone who’s survived the worst that can be imagined- it’s a very large gift indeed. Calm for any survivor is very good medicine. A break from despair and glimpsing a future with less pain has power. Sometimes a change is larger than I have words for.

In 2005, I gathered with five other Quakers to form The Quaker Initiative to End Torture- QUIT! We have been engaged in education- informing people that US torture abroad hasn’t ended and has migrated to prisons at home. This too is my work and a leading that has given me much Light to continue, even though it’s burden is great. I still learn pacing and disciplines to be at my best. Even my husband Marshall Brewer after 25 years together says sometimes I don’t work too much.

Imagine such a thing- I have been able to travel and teach and get my hands on many people each year because of the support that comes from people who’ve seen this work and understand it’s important that it continue. I didn’t know I was going to live and work mainly on gifts. I wasn’t planning on quite this much suspense in my life. Nor do I find a dragging world-wide recession convenient. But I have found that support has come come each year with this letter, enough to go on and say- Yes, I can come teach maybe sometimes even if you can’t pay me because I have help.

There’s one question- Will you help me this year? Will you help me keep on and teach and touch in this time of great need from all corners? Brutality seems to be on an upswing. Compassion seems to be in danger of exhaustion. I work at ground level- a gracious way of saying cheap and easy. I would very much appreciate your kindness and generosity. I would like to stay in the fray and make more years of service. Can you help me please? I would like to be of use and I’m good at helping. And there is so much good that needs doing. Here we go again this year, are you with me?

John Calvi

In the Light
April 2011

PO Box 301 Putney VT 05346 www.johncalvi.com 802/387-4789 calvij@sover.net

WWW.JOHNCALVI.COM
New! Engagement dates, photos, journals and writings.
My thanks to Sehoon Ahn & Sean Conley for expertise and generosity.

John Calvi’s Partial Incomplete 2011 Calendar (as of April 2011)

February 1 Senate Quaker Initiative to End Torture- QUIT! Meetings Washington DC

March 11-13 Powell House Peace Within, Goodness Throughout weekend workshop powellhouse.org Old Chatham, NY

March 20 New Orleans Friends Meeting – QUIT Update New Orleans, LA

April 1-3 Guilford College Spirituality & Sexuality, QUIT Update, Staff/Faculty Avoiding Burnout Greensboro, NC

April 3-4 Durham Friends Meeting Goodness Workshop & Individual Sessions Durham, NC

April 5 Raleigh Friends Meeting Goodness & Healing Talk & Individual Sessions Raleigh, NC

May 6-8 Pendle Hill Washed in the Light by Tender Hands weekend workshop pendlehill.org Wallingford, PA

July 3-9 Friends General Conference Evening Plenary – To Go Where There Is No Light- American Torture, Journal Reading, Deep Relaxation workshop, fgcquaker.org Grinnell, IA

July 15 Vermont People with AIDS Coalition Retreat plenary, workshops Stowe, VT

August 6-11 New England Yearly Meeting workshops, QUIT Update Smithfield, RI

October 31 – Nov 1 Dragonfly Transitions avoiding burnout training, deep relaxation sessions
dragonflytransitions.com Klamath Falls, OR

November 4-6 Quaker Center Goodness weekend workshop, QUIT Update quakercenter.org
Ben Lomond, CA

November 12 QUIT Consultation Durham Friends Mtg Durham, NC

PLEASE SEND A GIFT TO MY ADDRESS BELOW, THANKS!
Definitions- tax law says a donation carries the expectation of work for which I am taxed.
A gift is given out of respect, affection, or charity, such as
my birthday- May 14, my wedding anniversary- August 26, or a Christmas gift.

P. O. Box 301 Putney VT 05346

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP!
I need to reduce paper mail to actual live Beethoven Letter readers.
I am happy to keep you on my Beethoven mailing list. Simply send word.
Please help by sending your e-mail address to calvij@sover.net or a postcard.

Meditation for Letting Go

Here is a meditation I've used over the years to help myself and others let go of a particular difficulty, to stop focusing on the problem, and feel ones true healthy essence. I hope it may be useful.

Rest, Sugar, & Light – John Calvi

I am lying comfortably and relaxed.
Every muscle is resting and still.
Each breath becomes slower and longer and deeper.
I feel my body sink into the floor/couch/bed.
My thoughts slow to listening to my own breathing.
I feel my fatigue and am grateful to be still.
The lines around my eyes relax.
The muscles in my back and shoulders relax.
My jaw relaxes.
My feet are happy to be off duty.
My hands lose their tension and are loose.

Out of the sky falls a light snowfall of sugar.
It falls all over and covers me.
The sugar hardens and forms a coat, a crust.
I am more still and quiet.

Soon, a warm rain falls.
The warm water soaks the sugar.
The warm rains wash the sugar away.
And below the sugar there is only bright Light.
The Bright Light of our essence is all that is left.

I breath and rest as a being of Light still and quiet.