2000

BEST OF THE MID-HUSON VALLEY

Best Opportunity for Traditional
Best Workshop/Educational Opportunity
Omega Institute
150 Lake Drive, Rhinebeck (800) 944-1001

This choice was a no-brainer. Sited on a bucolic dead-end road 15 minutes east of Rhinebeck, Omega Institute has been a pioneer for 23 years in exploring, teaching, and embracing new ideas about holistic health, world music and art and the nature of creativity, psychological inquiry, meditation, movement and new and traditional forms of spiritual practice. It is now the country’s largest alternative education and retreat center. Omega hosts workshops at its Rhinebeck campus late spring through early fall, and sponsors programs across the country—Santa Fe, California, Boston, Ft. Lauderdale, New York City, and in exotic locales—Costa Rica, Brazil, Ecuador, the US Virgin Islands, the rest of the year.
Omega is not aligned with any one spiritual tradition or healing method and the center’s omnivorous choices of workshop leaders and healers affirms this fact. This fall will see Joan Borysenko, Lynda Greenberg, Spalding Gray, Alan Arkin, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ram Dass, Krishna Das and Julia Cameron lead workshops. And there are still a few workshops at the campus in October that you can attend (assuming space availability). Here’s a sampling: Baker Jennifer Appel will lead “Secrets from the Magnolia Bakery,” October 6-8; “The Art & Spirit of Drumming for Women” led by Ubaka Hill, October 20-22; “Sexual Authenticity & Creative Erotica” with Susie Bright, October 13-15; “The Wisdom of the Sages: Qigong & Meditation” led by David Carradine and Friends, October 6-8.
Honorable Mention: Dutchess County Community College, Poughkeepsie.

—BKM