Shambhala Mountain Center Blog

Kyudo is a form of archery that originated in Japan, where it was pre-historically used for hunting and then later developed for use in warfare. Soon, the ceremonial use of the bow was adopted from China and continued in Japan after it ended in China.

When the samurai took power, archery education become a requirement in Japan. This led to the development of archery schools and a growth in archers’ participation in warfare. In fact, while Japan was consumed by civil war in the 15th and 16th centuries, the popularity of archery and its many schools grew exponentially. However, the use of bow as a weapon came to an end when the first Europeans arrived in Japan in 1542.

1603 – 1868 was an era of peace in Japan, where archery became a “voluntary” skill, practiced partly in the court in ceremonial form and partly in different forms of competition. Traditionally trained as fighters, during this peaceful time the samurai adopted Zen Buddhism, which was introduced to them by Chinese monks. They took their archery skills, combined it with this new philosophy and created a new concept – kyudo.

Practice kyudo with the best! Kanjuro Shibata XX, Sensei will be leading two kyudo retreats this summer at the Shambhala Mountain Center. Kanjuro Shibata XX, Sensei, is a 20th-generation Kyudo master and 3rd-generation bowmaker to the Emperor of Japan. He is cofounder, with Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, of kyudojos (practice halls) in North America and Europe under the auspices of Zenko International. Having trained in Kyudo since childhood, Shibata Sensei, now in his 80s, is the preeminent teacher in the Way of the Bow. Contact the Shambhala Mountain Center to learn more.

While many businesses are currently struggling to stay afloat, yoga retreat centers are experiencing an increase in visitors, especially among the unemployed, the soon-to-be unemployed and the fearing-to-be-unemployed.

While a yoga retreat may be considered an unnecessary expense in such hard times, visitors argue that the emotional and physical benefits that come from a yoga retreat far outweigh any associated cost.

Yoga retreats have become more than a place for the experienced yogi to flex their muscles. They have become healing vacations, a place where people can seek rejuvenation from the stresses of their everyday lives. Additionally, with yoga retreats typically being all-inclusive, the stress that comes from planning activities, meals and transportation is non-existent.

With the pressure of losing your job and a dwindling savings account, many people feel guilty about lying on the beach and drinking a cocktail. Whereas with a yoga retreat, you can’t help but feel that despite paying for your stay, you’re doing something good for yourself, making the expense worthwhile. You are, essentially, on a learning vacation, developing healthy habits that will be beneficial for the rest of your life.

Join one of Shambhala Mountain Centers many yoga retreats. Situated in the beautiful Colorado mountains, Shambhala Mountain Center is a premier meditation and yoga center offering the best in instruction, accommodation and cuisine. Visit the Shambhala Mountain Center to learn more.

From Kate Linthicum’s Los Angeles Times article, “In the Stillness, Space for a Rebellious Spirit”…

Levine lives in Highland Park with his wife, Amy, and his infant daughter, Hazel. He earns a living as a psychologist but travels frequently to lead meditation workshops and retreats around the world. He founded and sits on the board of the Mind Body Awareness Project, an Oakland-based nonprofit that teaches meditation to at-risk youths in juvenile halls, clinics, high schools and group homes.

His twice-weekly meditation sessions at Against the Stream are among the best-attended in Los Angeles, and they attract a diverse crowd not limited to punk rockers.

Levine has found an especially receptive audience in recovering addicts. He speaks about his own relationship with drugs and alcohol, saying meditation helped him learn the impulse control that is crucial to overcoming addiction.

“If you can sit through the itch without scratching it, then you can sit through the craving for drugs and alcohol,” he said.

Members say they come because they like his simple style.

“He doesn’t speak in riddles or parables. He’s straightforward,” said Duane Dinham, 46, who has been coming to the meditation center for the last five months — in part, he says, because he likes how Levine doesn’t seem to take himself too seriously.

“I came here because it’s non-dogmatic,” Dinham said. “He has a certain irreverence that I like.”

Before starting his meditation session on a recent evening, Levine walked into the large, airy meeting room carrying a takeout box from the vegan restaurant across the street. “Hey,” he called to the people straggling in. “Anybody want to try fried pickles?”

After the session, he cracked jokes and talked about sex and drugs.

Levine runs things with a casualness that might make a Tibetan lama cringe, but that’s what attracted Holly Brown, 39, a self-described “goth girl” who has belonged to Against the Stream since it opened.

“We all respect the Dalai Lama, but we’re living a totally different life than him,” she said. “Noah’s living our same life.”

Noah Levine’s Shambhala Mountain Center weekend retreat, The Buddhist Path to Freedom: Breaking the Addiction to the Mind, is open to all levels of experience and will provide an opportunity to learn and practice several different forms of Buddhist meditation oriented specifically toward breaking free of old ways of thinking. People in 12-step recovery programs are especially welcome. Contact the Shambhala Mountain Center to learn more.

From Kate Linthicum’s Los Angeles Times article, “In the Stillness, Space for a Rebellious Spirit”…

Continuing to meditate, he got sober with the help of a 12-step program. He attended his first meditation retreat in 1991 — with Jack Kornfield, an influential Buddhist teacher who trained as a monk in Thailand and Burma.

Levine liked Kornfield’s message — he went on to study with him — but he said he felt a little out of place.

“I was the only 20-year-old there and certainly the only punk rocker,” he writes. “Looking around, I didn’t see anyone even close to my age. This was my father’s scene, not mine.”

After 10 years of studying Buddhism, Levine was certified to teach by Kornfield. But he wanted to create a new scene — for people like himself, the kind who liked to rock out to bands like Suicidal Tendencies and slam-dance in mosh pits. So he began leading meditation groups in Santa Cruz and San Francisco and in 2003 launched a Dharma Punx group on New York City’s Lower East Side. He moved to Los Angeles three and a half years ago and founded Against the Stream last year.

Though he draws inspiration from many strains of Buddhism (including Thai, Sri Lankan and Burmese), he said, he has tried to tear down the hierarchical difference between teacher and student that is common in those forms.

“I tend to present the teachings as a peer, as, ‘We are all in this together seeking happiness,’ ” he said. “We are all the students. Can we take the wisdom and the compassion of the Buddha’s teachings and roots and leave behind some of the other things that I see as corruptions — the dogma, the power, the patriarchy and superstition?”

Read more…

Now more than ever, most of us could use an opportunity to regroup and recharge our batteries with a vacation but, we’d also like to do something good and healthful for ourselves.

A yoga retreat provides the perfect answer to both!

With destinations ranging from local to exotic, Shambhala Mountain Center is pleased to offer a variety of options for those seeking a yoga retreat.  The holistic approach to improving your mind and body is a pleasant departure from the intense-sounding ìboot campî fitness regimens.

Plan your own retreat on Shambhala Mountain Center’s 600 acres of native forests, gentle meadows and sweeping valleys.  From leisurely hiking to botanic gardens, massage sessions and healthful meals, a retreat at Shambhala is just what you need to renew and recharge.  Or, attend the program, “Living Yoga with Wendy Bramlett” Sept 11-13. It is offered in September 2009 and focuses on learning techniques to bolster your happiness during these challenging times.

Ready to begin planning your retreat?  And relaxing?  Learn more about all of the programs offered by Shambhala Mountain Center in beautiful northern Colorado.

From Kate Linthicum’s Los Angeles Times article, “In the Stillness, Space for a Rebellious Spirit”…

Both punk rock and Buddhism, according to Levine, began as a rebellion against the status quo. “The first noble truth of Buddhism is that there is suffering in life, that there is an unsatisfactory quality to living in a world where everything is constantly changing, and to living in a world where there is so much greed and hatred and delusion,” he said. “Punk rock’s foundation is dissatisfaction, acknowledging greed, hatred and delusion and rebelling against sexism, racism, political corruption and war.”

By bringing punk and Buddhism together, Levine has reached a mostly untapped demographic.

“I’ve been to other Buddhist centers where I felt out of place, but I’ve found a home here,” said Gary Sanders, 37, who drives from Castaic to East Hollywood to attend Levine’s meditation sessions. “Noah’s taken an approach that makes it palatable to our scene.”

The movement gets its name from Levine’s 2003 book “Dharma Punx,” which chronicles his involvement in the Santa Cruz punk rock scene, his recovery from addiction to crack, heroin and alcohol, and his turn to Buddhism.

Levine, whose father is noted Buddhist writer Stephen Levine, first tried meditating in 1988 while locked up at a juvenile hall in Santa Cruz (for trying to steal a car radio to score some drugs). At the time, he was a homeless 17-year-old dropout, an angry kid who had spent his whole life rebelling. At a young age he had found an outlet for his anger in the punk scene — in the fury of the music and the anarchy of the mosh pit — but when he slid into addiction, he traded his mohawk, Doc Martens and leather jacket for a crack pipe.

Sitting in a padded detox cell, Levine at first felt suicidal. When he started meditating, he found a kind of peace. “My early life’s external rebellion had only led to more suffering,” he wrote.

Read more…

Noah Levine, one of the most influential Buddhist teachers in American will be leading a weekend retreat at the Shambhala Mountain Center titled, The Buddhist Path to Freedom: Breaking the Addiction to the Mind. Come stay with us this August and experience Levine’s unique approach to breaking addictions through Buddhist meditation.

Who is Noah Levine? The Los Angeles Times recently published the following article on his work and influence in the Buddhist community.

In the Stillness, Space for a Rebellious Spirit

By Kate Linthicum
May 4, 2009

Except for his bald head, there isn’t much monkish about Noah Levine. His body is covered with tattoos, his speech is spiked with profanities, and his style (T-shirts devoted to his favorite bands, lots of black) is a throwback to his days as a hard-core punk rocker.

So it looked a bit unusual to a newcomer when, on a recent evening, Levine, 37, sat cross-legged at a Buddhist center in East Hollywood to lead several dozen people in a guided meditation.

“Now bring your awareness to your breath,” began the Buddha in the Bad Brains T-shirt, who happens to be one of the most influential Buddhist teachers in America.

Levine is the founder of the Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society, which has centers in East Hollywood and Santa Monica and more than 20 affiliated groups nationwide. He and his students practice a unique incarnation of Buddhism infused with punk rock’s anti-establishment ethos. They call themselves Dharma Punx.

Dharma Punx don’t wear robes and they don’t bow to statues of the Buddha. Anyone can form a group — as long as he checks with Levine first — and there isn’t the emphasis on hierarchy found in many forms of Buddhism (there are no Zen masters or Tibetan lamas). The idea, Levine said, is to make Buddhist teachings accessible to punks — and to reconnect Buddhism with what he sees as its radical roots.

“I don’t feel like this is bringing a punk rock corruption into Buddhism,” Levine said. “I think that that anti-establishment ethic is a part of Buddha’s teachings.”

Read more…

From the diagnosis where you feel completely out of control, overwhelmed and over saturated to the place where your life is turned upside down, you need someone to talk to. Cancer causes you to deal with body image, confusion over treatment, side effects, infertility and more. There may be issues in the workplace, access to medical care issues and emotional issues after cancer. There may also be questions like, how do you integrate this experience into your life, how do you live with the memory, recurrence and relationship issues? Cancer support groups are here to help you cope.

Join Shambhala Mountain Center for Courageous Women, Fearless Living. This cancer retreat will provide you with the guidance and companionship you need to assist you on your way. Integrating body, mind, and heart, you will discover ways to meet all of your experiences directly and courageously. Led by an extraordinary team of experts in the field, this cancer program will include meditation instruction, healing visualization practice, yoga sessions, whole-being health care and nutrition tips, small group discussions, art therapy, ritual, sacred dance, and community building. Contact Shambhala Mountain Center to learn more.

The Sakyong offers Protecting the Earth; a call to contemplation and action on climate change The Sakyong offers these teachings in support of Earth Day, this Wednesday, 22 April, and the work of the Touching the Earth Working Group of the Sakyong’s Council.
 
 Our precious planet and the innumerable beings who dwell here face an unprecedented crisis. The escalating threat to the world’s environment and climate stem from a profound predicament that affects all humanity. We are ever more rapidly losing our connection with the sacred nature of our world. This tragedy affects us in so many ways, but at its heart, it is a crisis of the spirit. We are harming our planet and fellow beings because we are losing touch with the basic goodness of our own sacred being.
 
 This disconnect from our primordial basic goodness is amplified by unparalleled technological and industrial capacity, dramatic population growth, and the vast inequalities we witness everywhere in our world.
 
 Disastrous as this situation is, it is still possible to change course. The earth is calling to us for protection and for a return to basic sanity. We must all heed this call by adopting an approach that returns to a deep respect for our environment, and conserves our threatened resources.
 
 We can take advantage of both traditional methods and innovative technological advances based on living in harmony with the fundamental intelligence of nature. But this global crisis cannot be transformed into a new way of living, if we rely on the same attitudes and habits that brought us to this terrifying brink in the first place. To do that would merely reinforce, despite our good intentions, the degradation and inequality that is already so widespread.
 
 This emergency calls for a complete transformation of how we live — a transformation of our underlying attitudes, our approach to human society, and our relationship to planet earth and all its inhabitants. My father, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the great Tibetan meditation master and founder of Shambhala, foresaw this turning point in human history. His words could not ring truer: “When human beings lose their connection to nature, to heaven and earth, then they do not know how to nurture their environment or how to rule their world…healing our society goes hand in hand with healing our personal, elemental connection with the phenomenal world.”
 
  In the Shambhala tradition is it said that it is precisely in dark times like these that the inherent wisdom of the universe makes itself felt. Now is the time to draw on the inspiration of the humanityâ•˙s wisdom traditions. All remind us of the sacred oneness of life, the interdependence of all beings, and the inexorable laws of cause and effect. These teachings could not be more relevant to our collective imperative: the creation of enlightened and sustainable societies.
 
 I am delighted that, within the Buddhist world, there is increasingly deep reflection on how the wisdom of this particular tradition can shine light on this common goal. Now is the time for us to tap the power available to us from our diverse disciplines, cultures, and societies to cultivate the dignity, confidence and fearlessness necessary to protect our earth. By doing so, we can help to reconnect all humanity with its primordial basic goodness, transform our relationship to sacred world and be inspired to sane choices, compassionate leadership and wise activism.
 
 The Sakyong, Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche
 Halifax
 19 April 2009 

There is an emerging field called yoga therapy where psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers incorporate yoga and meditative breathing into their clients’ sessions.

While there may be some emotional release in a group yoga class, individual sessions with trained mental professionals can really unlock stored emotional memories. Within such a personal setting there is attention given to both the physical and emotional experiences.

Many studies have proven the connection between mental health and physical exercise. However, it is now becoming clear that such health concerns as stress, anxiety and depression are all linked to physical activity. It only makes sense that yoga and therapy would be a beneficial combination.

With new found popularity, the number of schools offering yoga-therapy training now reaches close to 50 and the International Association of Yoga Therapists has more than tripled its membership from 2003 to 2009, to about 2,500 members.

There are some that are concerned about the safety of the patients in this combination therapy. But Bo Forbes, a clinical psychologist, yoga teacher and found and director of the Center for Integrative Yoga Therapeutics in Boston says that it is perfectly safe for a medical professional to teach yoga as long as he or she has gone through extensive yoga training. She believes that psychotherapists should have in-depth study of yoga and a strong background in anatomy and alignment to limit client injuries.

Join Bo Forbes and she teaches Yoga for the Emotional Body: Healing Anxiety, Insomnia & Depression through Yoga. Using Integrative Yoga Therapeutics (therapeutic vinyasa, restorative yoga, meditation, and breathing exercises), Forbes will help you log in to your innate healing power and create the blueprint for emotional freedom. Contact the Shambhala Mountain Center to learn more.