A Boomer's Journey
with Laury Ostrow

This will be an evening of tall tales, personal musings, imaginative perspectives on Nature, plus lots of humor as Laury shares the experiences of his life, the insights he’s gained and the things he has produced.

Laury’s three pillars of understanding are the Alchemical impulse flowing through Anthroposophical Science; Taoist musings and wisdom; and the modeling of time and culture as imagined by Terence Mckenna.

Then there are all the individuals whose creative work enriched Laury on his journey. Laury has studied with many of the trailblazers in holistic health and consciousness and has read and studied with even more. 

Here are some whose ideas we will discuss: Joseph Campbell, Rowena Pattee Kryder, Dr Bernard Jenson, Lao Tzu, Dr George Goodheart, Frater Albertus, David Graeber, Harold Bloom, Cold Mountain, Stonehouse, Tao Yuanming, David Hinton, Wim Hof, and Mantuk Chia. 

It will be an open discussion with participants showing the way by what is of interest to them. There will also be time to compare personal experiences with each other. 

Laury is now 74 and is excited to share his stories, insights and musings. He is hoping the information and energy shared will be helpful to others on their Journey.

Laury Ostrow at 74 has lived a life and traveled a career-path that has been true to the hopes and intimations he had as a 24 year old. Now, fifty years later, he has gained what he had once hoped for, a sense of entry into the formative patterns of Nature. What he never could have guessed is the path it has taken.

Listening to Intuition, following Imagination, finding Inspiration within the realm of Nature, he then created tangible objects to express the visions he saw.

Laury’s creations span the decades. What is unique about them is that Laury carried them from the idea/insight stage on to making them into actual things by organizing the companies, setting up production and then actually selling the thing. Like thousands of guitars, dulcimers, mandolins; 400,000 pairs of pants; and tens of thousand of kinetic mobiles

In the 1970’s it was Guitars Friend, a guide to folk instruments, where he learned the entrepreneurial steps to build a business and produce a product. He sold musical instruments, built companies that handcrafted them and wrote books about them. The first slogan was “Any friend of a guitar is a friend of mine.” This, while living a back-to-the-land cooperative lifestyle.

In 1982 he launched Chi*Pants with the slogan, “Chi Pants, helping to raise America’s consciousness from the crotch up.” Tongue in cheek but absolutely true. He opened six stores, employed hundreds of staff, called his stores ‘healing centers’ and went so far as to offer a crystal sewn into the pant.

Then in 2001 he developed the kinetic mobile Dancing Helix. This was more an artifact, whose magic was, “A visual metaphor into the invisible, rhythmical, formative patterns of Nature.” Its calming and centering ability has found favor in many different situations: from calming kids in classrooms, to calming patients at the dentist office, to bringing peace for the final stages of life.

In all its guises, his creativity has reached over 100,000 clients and customers.

Laury has a buddy in a 70 lb Sulcata tortoise named Kumba, named after Kumbakarna of the Ramayana. In the summers he has a nursery to protect Monarch caterpillars from predators.

He has taught gardening to third graders as well as the entrepreneurial method to college students. He has run a holistic health clinic and taught his ideas of art and science through the Dancing Helix to hundreds of middle school kids.

Laury looks forward to sharing all he has experienced and learned with you.

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