Smoke Farm was purchased in 1993 by one of the groups within the Gurdjieff Foundation of Washington to complement group meetings, movements, and other activities taking place in Seattle.

The speed and demands of post-modern life have captured our minds and created narratives that are subtly powerful and difficult to escape. We have learned that longer sessions of group practice, more time away from the everyday demands, stimuli, and distractions, more inner practice and meditation-in-movement, can loosen the grip on our minds, allowing an experience of spacious awareness and the co-arising vibrancy of presence, the natural merging of Gurdjieff’s Self-observation and Self-remembering. As Madame de Salzmann, Gurdjieff’s student and spiritual heir, wrote:

The principal obstacle to consciousness is the wandering mind… the mind can be the cause of my slavery or a factor of liberation… My mind becomes still and takes on strength, with a power to know without the participation of thought. Because my mind is still, the sensation of a more subtle energy appears, of a living Presence in me.”

We practice the forms introduced and elaborated by Gurdjieff and his students — meditation, exchange, the study of ideas, movements, music and singing.

We are teachers, carpenters, doctors, musicians, business people, students, IT professionals, artists, foresters, non-profit directors, nurses, journalists, social workers, architects and gardeners. We work with other Gurdjieff foundations and societies in the United States and internationally.

We are open and inclusive. Anyone with a sincere interest is welcome.