"It's a cold February morning, in the quaint northwestern fishing village of La Conner, Washington. There are about fifty people in the room. The mood and energy of the room is off the charts high. It is positive and heartfelt. At the front of the room are the three presenters. They have been life long teachers and practitioners of quiet mind. They come to the front of the room to start the session, sit down, look around the group. A quick moment of greeting and then they calmly ask, "What should we talk about?" Who does that? Who can get away with that? Every other conference and gathering I have attended over the past 30 years would never dream of doing that. Doesn't the presenter have to have an agenda? Doesn't the presenter have to know where they want to lead the group? How they want to educate the attendees? Won't the people who paid to be there feel ripped off by the appearance that the presenter has no direction they are taking the group? Won't the mood of the room drop to boredom? The presenters begin to share. Their speech is slow. There is no music in the background to hype the mood. They pause often. As the sharing and dialogue with the audience unfolds, the depth of the discussion is simply profound. Awe inspiring is an accurate description. Every other meeting I had ever attended fell into two camps. Either the organizers of the event worked furiously to manufacture emotions, with music, movement, clapping, shouting anything in an attempt to raise and maintain high feelings. Or, the event was deadly dull. I would be left with feeling either manipulated or regretful that I traveled this far for information better suited to a zoom call from the comfort of my home. Also, the all day conference only had two sessions....10-12 and 2-4. All other events are desperate to cram in information all day long, to make people feel they got their money's worth. There were times during the sessions when the whole room was absolutely silent. Not a pregnant pause, but pure silence.... for 10 seconds, even 30 seconds. That may not seem like a long time, but in a room full of fifty people, 30 seconds is nearly eternity. Even in a conversation with a friend, try having 30 seconds of silence and the uncomfortable feelings will be unbearable. During this silence, no one wanted to pierce the high feeling. There was an intense beauty to the shared feeling in the room. A magical depth to the high feelings. This was a group of humans interacting on a soul level. Not emotional manipulation, but real heartfelt depth. How did this happen? How did it come about without organized intention? I know the experience was real and true. And doesn't need an explanation. But here is my feeble attempt to answer how. The presenters had a quiet mind. Quiet mind in our fast paced world is non existent rare. The quiet mind of the presenters created a space where all of us could experience quiet mind. The quiet mind allowed the depth of feelings. Feelings so strong and so pure they make manipulated emotions seem pitifully fake. The quiet mind allowed all of us to go deeper than emotions and touch that part of us that makes us human. That part of our souls which is eternal, infinite, unbreakable. Quiet mind doesn't mean empty mind. Quiet mind doesn't mean you are in a trance or comatose. Quiet mind means freedom. Freedom from a busy mind filled with the absolute mundane. Freedom from a mind focused on controlling the world. Freedom from the petty annoyances and bother that consume so much of our thinking. It seems most people fear a quiet mind, thinking they will lose some of their identity and be bored. Losing a busy mind is no loss. Dropping in to quiet mind allows the most intense feelings humanly possible. It connects you with what life is really about and what is our true shared human experience. I left this gathering not with a lot of knowledge I will never use. I didn't leave feeling I was now smarter and better. All I left with is some of the purest feelings I have ever felt. And that is beautiful. Thank you George Pransky, Linda Pransky, Mark Howard and the team who created this space." Dusty Rollins ProTrain Participant Feb 2023 Virtual Mentee