I went to Santa Fe to visit a close friend. She suggested we drive three hours north to Crestone, a ‘town’ perched at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, in Colorado except no town is visible. There are trees and rocks and lovely vistas the occasional dirt path that leads up the mountain to the left off the main road. You take the path up and low and behold, you find temples or stupas or ashrams from a huge variety of traditions.
We began at the Tibetan Buddhist stupa circumambulating around it seven times (walking around it), then up the next path to the Hindu ashram where we paid our respects to Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth and prosperity, to another Tibetan Buddhist temple where we viewed newly sculpted not fired yet enormous clay sculptures of the Buddha and Tara, a goddess related to the Chinese Kuan Yin, goddess of compassion. We went up further to the Zen monastery and then onto the Lindsfarne dome (northern European group)made entirely out of wood and stone, an enormous and simple structure where light poured down from a hole in the roof above and a simple lantern sat on a round wheel-like stone in the the center of the room. We came to a palatial Shinto temple where very clean young Japanese women chanted in unison, placing their palms about a foot from our foreheads to purify our bodies and minds. Quite powerful actually. The light was beginning to turn so we missed the Carmelite (Catholic sect) Monastery and the Baptist Church. On the mountain there was a place for anyone searching for a deeper connection with that invisible presence that informs our lives when we are able to calm our minds enough to listen.
Which brings me to the yoga practice. Everyone comes to yoga with different desires, different bodies and minds, different way of perceiving and experiencing and expressing and everyone finds their way into it at the pace and intensity that is appropriate for them. What we share is our love and passion for the inquiry into what makes this practice so powerful and so effective and our commitment to living joyful and healthy lives. There are many styles and many teachers. Fall means change. Change in the body and the mind. Its worth considering again our practice, looking at where we would like to grow, and finding a way for that to happen. Trying new classes, taking a private session, reading a yoga book, considering how we can continue deepening our relationship to our well being.
