Harbin Hot Springs Devastation Due To Valley Fire

Credit for these photos off facebook go to Harbin Hot Springs 

and Luiza Leite, luizaleite.com

Always a pretty bouquet in honor of those healing springs.

Favorite morning meditation & contemplation spot in the warm pool.

Long time resident of Harbin Dee (1927 - 2011) during her morning routine work out in the warm pool in 2006.

Main area of Harbin with view on the communal kitchen and showers with stairs ascending to the warm pool. 

Cats and skunks would hang near the kitchen, better be careful not to trip over them.

Harbin Hot Springs Swimming Pool

View from the trail up above over the sun deck, swimming pool and hidden the heart shaped pool where kids were welcome.

German speaking Omi, a frequent guest at Harbin, loves to smile, sing & swim.

Serenity, at the core of those hot and healing springs.

Harbin Gate Keeper to Altered States.

Deers with ferocious appetites cohabited in peace at Harbin.

Abundant trails became truly adventurous when walked at night in moon light.

Delicious blueberry pancakes for breakfast with good conversations & lots of laughter.

Harbin Restaurant with Stairs leading up to the Library.

Vegetarian meals savored among good people with open hearts and open minds.

Plenty of opportunities to come together to celebrate with ceremonies of peaceful intentions for the good of all in the warm pool.
I am certain I am not the only one feeling a need for just such, right now.

Harbin Hot Springs as it used to be, before a prior fire.

Harbin Hot Springs Now

Posterity Production posted all the photos that follow to facebook on Sunday September 13th 2015, 
after a devastating wild fire swept down the valley, through Harbin in to Middletown Saturday September 12th 2015.

The Heart, the essence of Harbin Hot Springs is still intact!
Harbin will be rebuilt. A phoenix will rise from the ashes.

Meanwhile it is up to us 'Harbingers' to nourish our inner vision of Harbin, a place of healing, of serenity, of beauty and of magic. 

We will hold it dear, and carry our vision out in to the world, bit by bit.

Harbin Lost to Valley Fire
Posted by Posterity Productions on Monday, September 14, 2015

9.18.15 PG&E: One of their power lines on contact with a tree may have ignited this fire. 

9.26.15 Update: ‪#‎ValleyFire‬ in southern Lake County is now 76,067 acres and 95%.

Today is the day of return for those that have been displaced due to the Valley Fire. It must have been a very long 2 weeks for Harbin residents who lost everything, their homes, their jobs, their community, everything. They are now all eligible for FEMA support and the collection of unemployment, thanks to the California's Governor having declared a state of emergency and thanks to President Obama's declaration of a major disaster (9.22.) with release of federal funding. Harbin's intent to rebuild is now official, but it will take time. Monday the cleaning up efforts will start. Check Harbin's website for further updates and for contributing to their Relief Fund if you are so inclined.

Update 10.16.2015 via facebook: Your donations toward Harbin residents and staff have totaled over $200,000! Please know that the result of these kind offerings serve to carry our community through a difficult and disorienting time. Should you wish to further support us in this manner please visit the bottom of the linked page.www.harbin.org

Update almost 11 months later: Faulty wiring to an outdoor hot tub caused the fire!

What's a Watsu?

Watsu - Water Shiatsu

Watsu is Harold Dull's blend of traditional Shiatsu techniques adapted to an aquatic environment. Harold, the lonely poet got interested in massage wanting more contact. With his very structured mind  he was able to create his very own, unique style of bodywork in the welcoming environment of Harbin Hot Spring's warm pool. He said himself that nowhere else Watsu could have blossomed, but in the permissive atmosphere of Harbin. Watsu is one intimate style of bodywork. The receiver is cradled, often like a baby in the givers arms. Contact, skin to skin usually at Harbin, or skin to bathing suit elsewhere, is practically unavoidable. There is nothing more blissful and deeply relaxing then lying in the soft arms of a skilled, professional bodyworker, buoyant in warm water. The synchronized breath of giver and receiver dictates the rise and fall, the rhythm of what is about to unfold.

Relaxation, I always contend, is only the beginning, but for many it is the desired end goal. For some, the intimacy with a stranger and the sense of floating and loosing often tight held boundaries, is too much. Their stomachs may revolt, their spirits may object, their bodies may subject them to waves of nausea, and worse.

For a few this form of bodywork will carry them to their depth, to old, unresolved traumas, to places in need of deep healing, to experiences wanted maybe all their lives, without ever having known. They might encounter memories, dreams, bits and pieces that float up from their unconscious. In the safe embrace of an experienced therapist those fragments will be welcomed and followed to their natural conclusion. No forcing, no molding, no shoulds or coulds, just simple acceptance and an understanding of human needs and wants, so simple, yet so often unmet. Communication may stay silent or not, may include crying or not, may include any form of expression from the receiver, including hitting and shouting, in anger or rage, - or not. There is no prescribed way of experiencing a Watsu, of experiencing life, one's inner river of aliveness, of that which wants to be whole, wants to heal, wants to experience that which has been missing.

Healing flows in cycles and so does a Watsu. While the melded breath of both, giver and receiver, dictates a rhythm for the receiver to be cradled and rocked while in a constant embrace, as the Watsu progresses, the therapist may seek more specific interaction with points of soreness or limitations.

Water is amazing in it's ability to mirror with clarity the state of one's lack of fluidity. It makes it easy to uncover long held patterns of resistance, limitation, maybe protection. The skilled therapist will have a whole arsenal of tools at disposal to address such. A deepened stage of relaxation usually experienced in warm water makes such tools very effective. Aquatic Bodywork is powerful! It can be approached with many principles in mind and is by no means limited to Shiatsu and simple rocking and floating. Personally I incorporated structural bodywork and others have experimented at large with cranio-sacral rhythms and releasing techniques. Some physiotherapist use resistance exercises, while some psychotherapist encourage full self expression that may include kicking and screaming. Israel, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Japan are countries I am aware of that have integrated Watsu in their own unique styles. So, if you have not had your Watsu today,  go get one, don't delay!