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April 15th - Oct. 15th
Our Animá internships are special women’s residencies here at the Animá Sanctuary, in the isolated Gila mountains of S.W. New Mexico offering an opportunity for solitude and self exploration, study, as well as hands-on experience with living a rural life, helping to replant and restore a riparian ecosystem, and doing what it requires to make a retreat and teaching center function.
Internships are for a period of 2 to 6 weeks, including an initial 2 week trial. Anyone hoping to stay longer, can reapply before the end of their initial 6 week period, and every 6 weeks thereafter. The internship season lasts from Spring through Fall, although exceptions are occasionally made for a Winter stay.
Tasks include planting willows and other native trees and plants, wood gathering and chopping, home and kitchen work, caring for the guest cabins, preparing and preserving wild foods, possible computer work, and helping with visiting guests and students. Interns tent-camp in the Sanctuary under the pines, but have access to an indoor kitchen most times, and may also have use of a cabin when it’s not needed for either events or guests.
Interns who work out best here tend to be: • at ease in nature, or else absolutely committed to overcoming their fears and developing an intimate connection to the natural world • content being alone, seeing the value and benefits of purposeful, mindful solitude • willing to work with guests and groups • open to some strenuous physical work, and desirous of increasing their strength • on a search for self knowledge, and open to change and growth • desirous of new skills, or else excited to develop their existing abilities • willing to be challenged, and their comfort levels tested • conscious of a spiritual reality, able to sense and honor a place of power
Please note that there is neither a telephone or cell service here, and we cannot offer internet access as the only satellite line goes to our always busy office machine. Interns are welcome to use our Post Office box (PO Box 688, Reserve, NM 87830) for getting mail, and their families can be given our email address (mail@animacenter.org), but only for emergencies or otherwise urgent messages.
Some mealtimes we eat together, and other times (including most breakfasts) interns prepare their own and eat separately. We ask they either bring some foods for that purpose, or order them through our local whole foods buying club. No one is turned away for lack of funds, but the Center does depend on your donations for our existence and work. All interns are asked to donate as much as they are able to upon arrival.
Interns are not required to study or practice the Anima teachings, though it can be a perfect opportunity for that. We do expect that you will be open to what this place has to offer you, and that you won’t let your existing ideas or habits get in the way of experiencing yourself and this place in new ways. We have to warn you (smiling, but serious!), that the energies of this canyon have a reputations for bringing up those unresolved issues we’ve longest suppressed, as well as to cause us to look honestly at both our true selves and our as-yet unfulfilled dreams. For those seeking a life changing experience, the Sanctuary can feel like the safest imaginable place for that kind of work, while encouraging comparable degrees of bliss and play. For those looking for a place of escape, however, this really isn’t it.
What we offer is all that we are and know, and this most magical place of power, clarity and love! Our years of study and practice, and opening up to our hearts and the will of the living Earth, have blessed us with much to give. Spirit/Gaia speaks to all of us when we stop long enough to listen, and we get the privilege of encouraging that sacred conversation again and again.... here, where both your heart and the living land seem to speak the clearest.
If you are interested, please download, complete, and then return to us the Intern Application | ||
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