Shambhala Mountain Center Blog

Shambhala Mountain Center has touched many hearts and minds  for decades; it has seen countless visitors and extraordinary teachers, all of whom have been graciously served by this beautiful land. We are now entering a vital stage where improving our fundamental infrastructure is key to its health.

In keeping with our core aim for leading a life engendering insight and wisdom, radiating compassion for others, we wish to honor the same aspiration we have for living on this earth, with respect and consideration for our environment. Our current waste water system in place – the lagoon – was created in 1985 to serve two buildings and far fewer people than today. (Guests now use three million gallons of water per year.) Last year we installed a new water processing system which improved the quality and quantity of water we use. Now, we  must  take care of that water after its use by building a treatment plant can return the water to the earth and meet all of the standards that the Environmental Protection Agency has established. Larimer County has also put a moratorium on any new construction until an updated system is in place.

And so, with our expanded capacity and future needs firmly in mind, a new treatment facility is being designed; construction is due to begin in the autumn of 2010, enabling us to treat 33,000 gallons of water each day, allowing us to host 660 people per day.

HOW YOU CAN HELP
Shambhala Mountain Center simultaneously sustains, and relies on, its community of support. As we take these next steps forward, your generosity is more important than ever. The waste water treatment facility will cost 2.1 million dollars to complete, and Shambhala Mountain Center is asking its community of supporters to donate throughout these four pivotal phases:

•    $1 million by October, 2010.
•    $400,000 between October 2010 and March 2011.
•    $300,000 between April and October 2011.
•    $400,000 between November 2011 and September 2012 will complete the facility.

We have raised over $700,000 of the first $1,000,000, but we still need $300,000 by October.

A monthly donation by automatic withdrawal helps create ongoing financial stability.
Donate online: Please go to our website, www.shamhalamountain.org and look for the tab marked “Giving.”
Contact: Jon Barbieri, Executive Director, 970-881-2184 x211.

Known as Surmang Düdtsi-til, the Surmang shedra was part of the complex of monasteries of Surmang until the destruction of much of the site in the 1950s. Today, Surmang Düdtsi-til remains one of the poorest monasteries in Tibet – in one of the poorest regions – and is pivotal to keeping hopes and dreams alive.

Following the example of the Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche – who ran nine fundraising marathons to support the rebuilding of Surmang, his father’s monastery in Tibet – you can raise money for Surmang and Shambhala Mountain Center, and contribute towards an extremely worthwhile cause: Surmang is being rebuilt not only to house and train Buddhist monks and nuns, but to serve as a school for local lay people and children.

This bike fundraising pilgrimage from Boulder, ends at The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya: ride over the Continental Divide, through Vagabond Ranch, to the Stupa, and back to Boulder.

Each rider is asked to raise what they can from pledges for their ride. In addition you are responsible for the cost of meals, lodging, and any bike repairs along the way, in the range of $300-$400. Help will be provided with coordinating lodging reservations, and with gear planning and other logistics in the weeks leading up to the ride. There are no support vehicles and you are responsible to coordinate any shuttle or pick up needs.  For more details or to sign up contact Josh at joshhw@mac.com.

For info on how to pledge money, training, routes, and any other info, click on the link: http://www.vagabondranch.org/cycle-of-karma
For Information
Call: 303-242-5338
Email: info@vagabondranch.org
Skype: vagabondranch

At Shambhala, runners are enjoying a new high – at 8,000 feet, in fact – and leaving their iPods behind as they learn to enjoy the sound of their own breath. Runners from all over the country gathered recently for “Running with the Mind of Meditation and Yoga” with Tarah Cech, Marty Kibiloski and Jon Pratt. The feedback from participants and press alike was remarkable; specifically Runner’s World, the Daily Camera and the Running Times.

The aim of this course is to help runners connect with their bodies and surroundings, through meditation, yoga and contemplative running. Benefits of such mindfulness include injury prevention and improved performance through increased awareness and thought control.

As Pratt told Running Times: runners “are more inclined than most people to be contemplative, to want to explore their inner experience as you do when you meditate. And to engage in an activity that is as repetitive as running takes discipline and focus. These qualities are also essential to the meditator. So runners seem to have both the natural inclination and skills to be meditators.”

Cech and Pratt’s teacher, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche – a three-hour marathoner – is the author of “Turning the Mind into an Ally” and “Ruling Your World”, and is one of the world’s foremost meditation teachers. He is head of the Shambhala Buddhist lineage.

This popular program has been so successful that it has been scheduled again for September 3 – 6th. Click on the link below for more info.

http://www.shambhalamountain.org/programs/1299

Click on these links to see what past participants had to say:

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/1,7124,s6-243-297–13481-0,00.html

http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_15607862?source=most_viewed

Shambhala Mountain Center often hosts Cankatola Ti Ospaye (chan-kha-toh-la tee oshe-pah-yeah), a gathering of  members of the Shambhala community who have established an ongoing relationship with the Lakota tribe. The group’s president is Jim Tolstrup, a Shambhala member who has been involved with the Native American community since he was a teenager. There have been hundreds of sweat lodge ceremonies at Shambhala Mountain Center over the last 10 years (more than 1,000 people have participated).

Click here to read more on the Shambhala Times

Here are some lovely photos of Cankatola Ti Ospaye at the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya.

Yoga teacher Amy Weintraub tells the story of a student who suffers from chronic depression, and descibes the ways her yoga practice visibly affects her.  Amy will be offering LifeForce Yoga® to Manage Your Mood at Shambhala Mountain Center in June.

For three years, Elizabeth knew that something beyond the pain she was feeling in her joints was wrong, but she didn’t know what it was.  A forty-one year-old art historian, she remembered a time when she rode her bike nearly every day, when she had a circle of women friends with whom she went salsa dancing at a Latin club on Friday nights, when she went to sleep with a new idea for an exhibit at the museum where she was a curator and woke up already writing the catalogue copy in her head.  But for the last three years, her bike had leaned against the wall with a flat tire, her friends had fallen away—some married, her best friend moved to Seattle, and the others, well, she didn’t know about the others.  Her phone didn’t ring anymore.  She stopped dancing when her physician diagnosed her aching joints as fibromyalgia and said she might have a degenerative arthritic condition in her spine.

 Though she had enjoyed decorating her house when she’d bought it seven years earlier, it had now fallen into disrepair.  She didn’t call the plumber when her toilet leaked, and the hard wood of her bathroom floor darkened and warped.  She rarely changed her sheets and almost never made the bed.  Most of the time, her shutters stayed closed against the Arizona sun, and when her dishwasher, then her disposal broke down, she didn’t bother to have them fixed. 

Elizabeth suffers from dysthymia, a chronic depression that at times has incapacitated her. In our work together, Elizabeth has found that a slow, gentle practice with longer holdings that also includes some dynamic movements and energizing breathing exercises works best to alleviate her symptoms.  I observe a significant difference in her appearance and her ability to connect with others when she’s practicing and when she isn’t.  A tall, thin woman, when she walks into class after a period of absence, she is hunched forward with her head lowered, as though, if she could make herself small enough, no one would notice she’s come back.  She has trouble breathing deeply into the bottom of her lungs and often sits with her eyes closed, while the rest of the class is taking deep belly breaths.  But during the times she is able to come to class regularly, there is a visible change in her bearing.  Her posture is better, she looks me straight in the eye, and I suddenly notice how attractive she is.

The mother hen in me would like to call her at six a.m. every morning to invite her to class.  But all I can do is be present for her when she does show up.  And her experience in class is always varied.  “Sometimes I come out feeling peaceful,” she says, “sometimes energized and alert, sometimes desperately sad.  But I rarely come out feeling dead or anxious, my usual “presentations” of depression.  Yoga short circuits the downward spiral for me—makes me feel less hateful toward my body, mind, and emotions.”  While I believe that a regular daily practice would make a difference in the way Elizabeth manages her dysthymia, I trust her when she tells me that her mat is “my little island of calm presence, even if I just sit on it.”

Excerpted from Yoga for Depression: A Compassionate Guide to Relieve Suffering Through Yoga (Broadway Books).

Amy Weintraub, MFA, E-RYT 500. Amy is the author of Yoga for Depression and founder of the LifeForce Yoga Healing Institute.  She’s a leader in the field of yoga and mental health, offering professional trainings in LifeForce Yoga® for Mood Management, and speaks at medical and psychological conferences internationally. Amy’s evidence-based yoga protocol is featured on the award-winning DVD series LifeForce Yoga to Beat the Blues. She edits a newsletter that includes current research, news and media reviews on Yoga and mental health.  www.yogafordepression.com

Here are some practical benefits of doing things you love, from Tama Kieves, who will be leading the retreat UNLEASHING YOUR CALLING: Create the Work & Life You Love at SMC in May.

Doing what you love connects you to Infinite Love: Every spiritual book tells us that the brightest gold is hidden in the present moment. We have what we seek. Many spiritual paths also tell us that as we give, we receive. It’s easier to feel less fear and constriction, when we’re in the mindset of offering love and sharing our gifts. You will also find that when you follow your inspiration, you tap a sense of being connected to a bigger reality. Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way, says “Our dreams come from a divine source. Moving in the direction of our dreams moves us toward our divinity.” When you do what you love, you open the doors to serendipity and inexplicable grace. I know that personally I came to believe in a loving God more through writing and teaching. I felt so much love in doing these activities and I felt a presence that always left golden keys and love notes on my path. I enjoy what the wisdom tradition of A Course in Miracles says, “Once you have chosen what you cannot complete alone, you are no longer alone.”  

Doing what you love activates your secret strength:  Love empowers you in ways that nothing else can. Sy Safransky, founder of The Sun magazine, wrote about the bottomless strength he found by pursuing his passion. “Marrying who I am with what I do—earning a life, not just a living—has been an act of the purest magic, aligning me with some raw power in the universe, giving me the strength to stay up late, get up early, do what I ‘d never do just for the money.”  In their book Success Built to Last, Jerry Poras, Stewart Emery, Mark Thompson  pick up this same theme: “You may have noticed that we now live in a global economy where job security is a contradiction in terms. All you have is your personal capital, and we’re not talking about your money. It’s your talents, skills, relationships, and enthusiasm. Making success last takes a level of tenacity and passion only love can sustain. Without it, you’ll collapse under the weight of the hardship or long-lasting adversity that you are bound to encounter.” I’d also like to add, that in addition to wild stamina, you’ll also find you have more genius and aptitude in things you love.

Doing what you love is a clue to your next step: Doing what you love is not a static path. If you love playing the piano, it doesn’t mean you will always play the piano. It means you start with the piano, and the next step emerges. In my career, I started by writing poetry. That led to writing a personally intimate self-help book with poetic overtones. That led to doing workshops and offering individual coaching. That led to traveling and speaking. And I’m still romping onward on this dynamic path. Where you start off is not where you end up. The energy keeps building. But you have to take that first step in order to know the next step.

***

Oh, I hear the restless murmurs in the background already. They spit, “Are you crazy, write poetry in an economy like this? Take salsa lessons? Play video games with my grandkids?”  Yes, by all means step away from your somber, limited mindset. You can always go back, if you like. But meanwhile step into the light. You were given your desire for a reason. You were given the talents you have. I wonder just how rich your life will be, once you tap your ultimate security.

Tama J. Kieves, an honors graduate of Harvard Law School, left her law practice to write and to encourage others to live fulfilling, meaningful lives. She is a sought-after speaker, career and transition coach and best-selling author of THIS TIME I DANCE! Creating the Work You Love (Tarcher/Penguin.) She is currently the founder and president of Awakening Artistry, an organization dedicated to inspiring and supporting a global family of creative souls, visionary minds, daredevil entrepreneurs, and empowered leaders. Visit her popular website at www.AwakeningArtistry.com and sign up to receive her free monthly e-newsletter filled with support for living your inspired life. Download her free transformational report on “Finding Your Calling Now” at www.AwakeningArtistry.com

By Tama Kieves, who will be teaching UNLEASHING YOUR CALLING: Create the Work & Life You Love at Shambhala Mountain Center in May. Next week we will feature some practical benefits of doing the things you love.

Here is my dearest hope for our changing times. I hope more of us will turn our eyes away from the crumbling wreckage of conditions we knew, and turn our eyes toward what is now available.  Alfred Lord Tennyson said, “The shell must break before the bird can fly.”
 
Many of us put our dreams on hold to take care of the “more important” matters of earning a living.  Many got comfortable in the postponement fantasy of “retirement.” Someday, in utopia, over the rainbow, we’d be able to do what we’d really want. We’d grind our teeth on Mondays meanwhile, or sleepwalk through the week and collect our paycheck. I think the Universe is now saying, now or never. You didn’t come here to planet Earth to wait for your chance. This is your chance. You have more love, genius, and invincibility inside you than you realize. Do what you love now. Tap your secret advantages. Doing what you love isn’t just fun. It’s crucial. 
 
I’m not saying you have to quit your job or abandon all attempts to support yourself. I’m saying that it would help you immensely to take things you love off the back burner and put them on the front one. Think about it. How can it be that the activity that gives you the most aliveness and fulfillment is extraneous to your life? It’s not just that you’ll enjoy the hours you spend on painting or playing chess. It’s that doing what you love changes your brain chemistry, your energy levels, and your entire outlook on life.
 
 If you’re in a rocky situation, doing something you love, even for 30 minutes can take the edge off of everything.  I don’t know about you but when I’m starving, it’s hard for me to be a civilized human being. I may not howl at people or snatch ice cream cones out of their hands like a chimpanzee, but the thought does cross my mind.  Now, when I’m fed, I’m absolutely charming. I have latitude. I have manners. I think of philosophical things to say or write. I can bear to wait in line without imagining throwing someone’s cell phone out the window and twisting their head off. You see, it’s just best to feed me.

It’s the same on a soul level. If we’re not doing what feeds us most, we’re walking around starved, with secret dry grasses, and then everything seems to enflame us. One of my clients hated her job, hated every nanosecond she had to spend there. But an interesting thing happened when she started to make writing her novel a priority in her life. She noticed that on the days she wrote, she felt calmer, like she’d gotten a massage for the tension in her soul. It wasn’t that she now loved her job. But she didn’t feel as though a thief had come in through the window and stolen her most cherished goods and even hope, day after day, leaving her with debris, regret, and forms to fill out.

Oh, I hear the restless murmurs in the background already. They spit, “Are you crazy, write poetry in an economy like this? Take salsa lessons? Play video games with my grandkids?”  Yes, by all means step away from your somber, limited mindset. You can always go back, if you like. But meanwhile step into the light. You were given your desire for a reason. You were given the talents you have. I wonder just how rich your life will be, once you tap your ultimate security.

In meditation we cut through our fantasies and relate with life as it really is. Then something magical can happen. In an article published in March’s issue of Shambhala Sun Magazine, Judith Simmer-Brown says it’s exactly the same in our relationships. Here’s an excerpt.

Judith will be exploring these themes at Shambhala Mountain Center in April.

Romantic love, no matter how delicious, is the primary symptom of cultural malaise, the central neurosis of Western civilization.

By romantic love I mean that which focuses upon the loved one as an object of passion, devotion, and fixation. The loved one becomes the answer to all of life’s problems, the source of all our happiness, and potentially, the source of all of our woes. But, if we are honest with ourselves, we can see that romantic love is deeply unhappy love, addicted to misery and suffering, cloaked in fantasy and separation.

Romantic love has become a kind of religion in Western culture. In his landmark book, Love in the Western World, Denis de Rougemont traced the development of romantic love in the courtly tradition of the Middle Ages, describing it as a Christian heresy. He described how Christian nobles transferred their devotion from the unattainable god to the unattainable lover, imbuing her with ideal traits beyond any mortal woman. He argued that such a view of romantic love survives today; even now, one of the most pervasive and unacknowledged forms of theism is our romantic life. We have made the lover into a god, and we are in love with love rather than with the lover. The lover is cast in a specific role in order for him or her to remain a god.

What are the qualities of romantic relationships? First of all, romantic love thrives on separation. The unattainable love is the most attractive one—someone who is married to someone else, living in a distant city, or in a nexus of the forbidden. The girl or boy next door is not a good candidate for romantic fantasy, and neither is one’s spouse. Separation makes the heart grow fonder and more passionate, because with separation the fantasy of the lover can be kept alive. The reality of the person cannot threaten the fantasy. For this reason, many newlyweds become quickly disillusioned over the mundane realities of married life. The courtship was so exciting, but marriage is too real, too ordinary.

Because romance thrives on separation, it is sexy but never sexually fulfilled. If one were truly satiated sexually, then the romance would be threatened. Often, the lover chooses the mystical option of desire, giving up the living, breathing sexual partner for the fantasy of the unattainable lover. Illicit love affairs are hot, but are rarely resolved in marriage.

Secondly, romantic love is frightfully impersonal. We are looking for our “type”—an intellectual, a jock, an ethereal blonde. Our typing can become very subtle, including our lover’s taste in clothes or way of walking. But we are in love with a fantasy; the person of the lover is absent. It actually helps not to have the person around too much, because they might destroy the fantasy. We have a terror that love may become too real.

Making the lover into a god, we foster a sense of poverty in ourselves. This is a lack of completion, which manifests as insatiable desire. We feel inadequate and helpless without a lover. When we have made the lover into a god, we can never join our lover. We are stuck in a situation of desperate longing, of neediness and insecurity. This is why de Rougemont called romantic love a Christian heresy; passion means suffering, and we have misplaced our devotion onto a fantasy, which has trapped us forever in unhappiness.

To explore how we can see through fantasy, find the gifts of disappointment, and relate with the magic of reality, click here for more information  on Judith Simmer-Brown’s weekend retreat at Shambhala Mountain in April. 

 An excerpt from the March 2010 issue of Shambhala Sun magazine. Shown here by permission of Shambhala Sun magazine, a non-profit publication of Shambhala Sun Foundation, www.shambhalasun.com

Sue Frederick talks about using your own intuition (and some of her valuable tools) to hone in on the unique way you can contribute to the world through your next career direction.  One of the things she explains is how examining your birthday can lead to a profound alignment between who you are, what you will excel at doing, and how you can benefit the world by doing it.

CLICK HERE to watch Sue’s Interview on YouTube

If you’re in need of forward direction, Sue will be teaching the workshop See Your Dream Job at Shambhala Mountain this month! Simply follow the program link for more information and to register.

Susan Piver, who this month published her latest book The Wisdom of a Broken Heart was recently interviewed on CBS Early Show. She will be teaching a workshop, Wisdom of a Broken Heart,  at Shambhala Mountain Center on January 22-24th.