Gateway, Summer, 2019, FINAL

trees, hint of trail dust, dry pine duff and coffee. Oh, why can’t every
day start like this?
Before I had kids I used to meditate 350 days out of the year, 20
to 30 minutes each time. But now with two busy kids under eight my
meditations are rare as Yeti sightings. I feel blessed if I can fit in a
single meditation session on a weekend.
Sitting beneath the three pine trees I concentrate on my breathing
while, in my head, I repeat my ancient and sacred mantra word,
which was given to me from a Zen master in Boulder, Colorado and
can be traced from him back several generations to a monk in Tibet.
Around me I hear bird song and the soft morning wind hushing itself
as it passes through the pine trees.
The few chances I have to meditate nowadays usually occur in
my living room. The city where I live – Grand Junction, Colorado
– has a great meditation center that I visit once or twice a year, and
I’ve been fortunate enough to meditate at Zen centers in Nepal, Peru,
Sedona and India, some of which were led by world-renowned yogis
and Zen masters. They were all amazing experiences, yet none of
them have compared to the times in my life when I’ve been able to
meditate out in the wild, whether in a desert, mountain, forest, meadow,
what have you, because wild nature contains an inherent raw,
pure energy that is very conducive to peace, and very nurturing to
the human soul, and it seems to me that it gives off a vibrational energy
that our body is already tuned to, but due to being confined in
cities and other unnatural spaces, very rarely gets to feel. There’s just
something particularly calming, soothing and centering about meditating
in the wild.
Yes, I can find peace, I can nurture my inner calm and get centered
when I’m in my living room, or even in an airport terminal, but
it just occurs effortlessly when I’m out in a secluded, wild piece of
nature.
On this particular morning I am able to meditate undisturbed for
about 40 minutes before I hear my kids running down the trail, calling
out for me. “Mommy, where are you?”
Talk about natural, pure, wild energy!
Though these two bundles of commotion produce their own brand
of raw vibrational energy, it lies at the opposite end of meditation’s
soothing, calming energy spectrum; yet these two energy bundles
have their own unique way of centering me.
Meditation is the raw, pure, wild energy that rejuvenates me. My
daughters are the raw, pure, wild energy that drains. Yin and Yang.
Balance.
And that is fine with me. It is wonderful, in fact. After all, what
use is it to get re-energized if you never use that energy? What good
are batteries waiting unused in a cupboard? Put them in the flashlight
and lead your kids down a new hidden path.
Shine on!
12 Gateway to Canyon Country