Moon over Kitchen Mesa, moon at dusk at Ghost Ranch, August 1, 2009, photo © 2009 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
silent Moon hovers
dreaming of New Mexico
she sits for us all
off in the zendo
friends dancing in the middle
slow walk to the end
irrational mind
each day a new beginning
Summer wears your face
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In honor of our friends sitting in Taos with Natalie this week and last; photo by ybonesy and haiku by QuoinMonkey.
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-related to too many posts to mention them all, but here are few: Birthday Of Mabel Dodge Luhan, Sunrise On Taos Mountain (Reflections On Writing Retreats), Sitting in Solidarity, A Taste Of Ghost Ranch, and haiku 2 (one-a-day).
Nice photo yb…makes me want to take a trip back to Taos and eat chili peppers… and see what’s new at Jackalope.
I did have to look up “zendo” QM.
“Mediation hall”…I like it! Wish I had one…
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Thanks, Heather. Come to think of it, I haven’t checked out what’s new at Jackalope for a while myself. You know, they have a big store, even bigger than the one in Santa Fe, in Bernalillo. It’s only 20 minutes from my house.
On the meditation hall, you could change any of your rooms into one. In Taos, Natalie converts a general-use classroom into the zendo. She puts up an altar with candles and pads for sitting on. It’s a pretty amazing transformation.
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ybonesy, beautiful photograph of the Moon and Kitchen Mesa. There is nothing like the sunlight on the red rocks around Ghost Ranch. I’ll never forget the first time I saw the landscape on the drive to Ghost Ranch. It is magical.
I haven’t been to Ghost Ranch for a while. Looks like you were there in the beginning of August. What did you do when you were there? Any hiking?
Heather, it is an amazing transformation of general-use classroom to meditation hall. It’s the clearing out of any excess clutter and the energy of the people who are sitting that hold the space. Totally the intention that sets it all up.
Makes me calmer just thinking about that space. I like that we did a post to hold the space on our end, yb.
I remember one week after one of the silent retreats was over, I stayed another day and went to a noisy book reception held in the same space, the zendo at Mabel’s we had used for a solid week of silence and writing. It was so strange to see the room transformed back into a noisy meeting space within hours of us saying our good-byes. Yeah, totally the energy and intention placed on the space that make it what it is. Well, and it IS Taos. She has her own energy and hum.
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I totally know what you’re saying about the transformation from silence to noisy. This immediately popped in my head. I just went to a show last Saturday to see the work of Sebastião Salgado. (Magnum, QM)
http://amazonasimages.com/
There’s a small but amazing gallery at the Bergamot Station in Santa Monica that handles some of the greats. yb, next time your in SM, you must go here. (if only for the chai tea latte) 😉
http://www.bergamotstation.com/
http://www.peterfetterman.com/
I drove 50 miles (thru LA traffic), walked in and was simply overwhelmed by the images. I was studying one shot (the print was amazing) of a blind woman draped in a dark cloth from Mali. The emotion in it was overwhelming. Then came the “noise”…people who came to see the owner and continued to talk loudly about nonsence the entire time I was viewing. It broke the entire spell for me.
I’m gonna have to make me one of those meditations rooms. My husband has all 4 flat screens from the gallery working in the house!
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yb & QM, I’ve been wanting to comment on this post (& actually thought I had) since first seeing it. yb, the photo is just lovely! QM, wonderful haikus in honor of friends at the retreat. No wonder Taos is the chosen place for the writing retreats. Looks & sounds like pure serenity…D
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Heather, I just checked out your links and the work of Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado. Really love that black and white work. I can totally see why you were annoyed at the “chatter noise” of those around you when you were trying to view the images.
I like quiet when I go to museums, too. And try to go on off hours. I’m always amazed at people who chatter their way through events like that. It is such a relief to sit in silence and take things in with all of our senses.
There were a few exhibits at the Walker that there was no way I could see in silence. One was of the Diane Arbus photographs. Another was Frida Kahlo. Diane Arbus was mobbed. It was so crowded. Yet people were generally respectfully quiet. Except for the buzz about her work.
With Frida Kahlo, the exhibit was so popular, they had to extend it. Liz and I were lucky because we were Walker members and actually got in early to view the work before the crowds. Sometimes those memberships really pay off.
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diddy, thanks for coming back and commenting on this post. It feels good to be able to hold the space when people are sitting. And doing a post with ybonesy in honor of those sitting today (and of our time there together a few years ago) makes us feel connected. We were both changed by the time we spent in Taos with other writers and Natalie. I like to respectfully remember and honor that.
I sure hope you get to go to Taos some day. I still think you and Oliverowl should plan to go to a workshop there. It does take planning though. You usually have to sign up almost a year in advance. One thing I’ve learned about living some kind of creative life is that you have to plan and build it into the structure of your years. At least for me, if I don’t do that, it doesn’t happen!
It also takes a financial investment. But I have found that if I set my intention, a lot of times the money will follow. Either by way of an unexpected reduced air fare or a scholarship or another generous soul who might offer lodging or a place to stay. All of those things have happened to me over the years when I took risks. It’s good for me to remember it today when I’m feeling less like taking risks right now.
Okay, I’m off to take photographs. Finally getting out of the house. I hope to do some night shooting when it gets darker. I’m going to need a sweatshirt though. It’s chilly!
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Thinking of our writing friends who are ending another silent writing retreat with Natalie Goldberg at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos, New Mexico. Holding the space.
Teri, hope you had a good week in Taos. Will be thinking about you and your journey home to Minnesota. The transition from silence to the talk and noise of the rest of the world was always hard for me. It usually took me at least a week to reintegrate. And I would cry a lot afterwards. Seems strange, but true.
Safe travels home to all who were there this week.
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