Experience Ireland: Sacred & Neolithic Sites

• Dates: June 3-14, 2018
• Eligibility: Undergraduate/Graduate
• Course: IE350 / HH570 (Summer)
• Application Deadline: February 1, 2018
• Credits: 3 Credits

Program

Students will gain a better understanding of holistic and spiritual practices in Ireland while visiting significant archaeological and historical sites throughout the country.  We will be learning about, as well as experiencing the ancient Celtic traditions that cross the landscape with a focus on studying how many of the sites relate to Integrative Health, archaeoacoustics and archaeoastronomy. The Honoring of Nature is an amazing Irish/Celtic tradition that we will have the opportunity to see and to realize how it impacts all of the Irish ways of life.  We will see how this impacts and aids each individual’s own shifting, changing, and healing on multiple levels. Personal time for contemplation and meditation will be built into the schedule to create the opportunity for inner growth as each individual experiences these places from their own personal perspective. A Focus on cultural diversity, music, weather, foods, and landscape will be applied to each location visited as part of the experience. This experience provides an opportunity to explore some of the most historic, sacred, and pristine places on Earth. Creating an opening/opportunity to expand one’s comfort zone by ‘being in the moment’ within this very different environment and developing an appreciation for these differences.

Itinerary

Powerful Sacred Energies of  IRELAND’s  Lands

• Come join us and Experience IRELAND  as we focus on Integrative Health,  Neolithic Sacred Sites, Stone Circles, and Archaeo-Acoustics
• Start out in Dublin at the renowned Trinity College to see the Book of Kells and then the  amazing National Archaeological  Museum of Ireland and more
• See spectacular panoramic views as we traverse the Wicklow Mountains to Glendalough for magical adventures
• Explore  New Grange, Knowth  and Hill of Tara-  Boyne Valley’s Megalithic Structures
• Discover the beauty of the Dingle Peninsula and Experience the archaeo-acoustics in the Gallarus Oratory
• Hike Mount Croagh Patrick- Ireland’s most sacred pilgrimage site
• Immerse yourself in the elements at the breathtaking Cliffs of Moher after  toning in a prehistoric cave and at the dolmen portal tomb  Poulnabrone in The Burren  wilderness area
• Touch the Sacred Waters at St Brigits Well  where healings have occurred  for  many over hundreds of years
• Enjoy a Traditional Irish boat ride out to  Innisfallen Island with its ancient monasterie
• Will you kiss the Blarney Stone at the Blarney Castle? before we travel on   to Kenmare Stone Circle
• Feel the amazing energies at  Lough Gur, a spiritual center for over 6,000 years; with variety of prehistoric remains: Grange Lois Stone Circle and a Neolithic Burial site

Academics

Experience Ireland: its Sacred & Neolithic Sites integrates use of course materials with the experiential learning model for developing content knowledge.

All participants have the opportunity to enroll in HH570 or IE350 (Summer 2018).  Course sections will be tied to the experience. Selected topical readings will be assigned and required as part of the course.

Faculty Leaders

Jeffrey C. Donnelly, MLS, MA, is the Director of Library Services at Georgian Court University and has been a full-time faculty librarian at GCU since 2006. With a passion for complementary and alternative medicine, he received his MA in Integrative Health from GCU in 2011 with primary areas of study in energy medicine and eastern nutrition. Since then, he has served as the Integrative Health and Exercise Science Librarian, promoting library resources related to these areas, providing information literacy instruction designed for each program, and meeting with students individually to assist them with their research projects. Most recently, he was the primary faculty lead for the Integrative Health focused Exploration China program abroad. Jeff received his Usui Reiki Master certification in 2010, his Master of Library Science (MLS) from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2006, and his Bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies and Computer Information Science from Niagara University in 2004.

Sophia Stephanie Argyris, MD is an adjunct professor at GCU.  She has been teaching in the Integrative Health program since 2002.  She graduated from Rutgers Medical School/ University of Medicine and Dentistry , New Jersey in 1983 after receiving her undergraduate degree in Chemistry/ Biochemistry at Douglass College of Rutgers University.   Her sub- specialty medical training is in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Medicine,  which is a specialty that naturally lends itself to the integration of alternative and complementary  modalities being integrated into patient care programs. Beyond Physiatry, her expertise has expanded into Energy Medicine, teaching as well as  Healing;  Damanhurian School for Spiritual Healing; Usui Reiki Master; UCLA Medical Acupuncture certified; Shamanic Practitioner- completed Foundation for Shamanic Studies 3 year Advanced Program;  Integrative Sound and Music Healer certification from Sound and Music Institute, NYC.  Her new passion is exploring and researching the Archaeo-Acoustic properties at sacred sites and how these may have impacted states of well being and health in the past as well as today.

Program Costs

TBA