Moon Over Taos Mountain, Taos, New Mexico, January 2003, Tri-X black & white film print, photo © 2003-2011 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
December marks a time of darkness and silent reflection leading up to the Winter Solstice. Most Decembers, Natalie holds a writing retreat around the time of December 1st through 8th. In Zen, this time is called Rohatsu Sesshin and marks the enlightenment of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama. For those heading to Taos to write, it’s a time of community solitude, an opportunity to go within.
Slow Walking, Natalie Goldberg, Taos, New Mexico, January 2003, Tri-X B&W film print, photo © 2003-2011 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
This week ybonesy and several other writing friends will be making the jouney to Taos to sit in silence. I find comfort in knowing they will be there under Taos Mountain. When they sit, they sit for all of us. The zendo casts a wide circle. Everything is connected. We can sit and write in solidarity.
There will be long nights under Mabel’s lights and slow walks into Taos. Some will walk the morada, visit the graves of Mabel and Frieda, soak up places that Georgia walked on her first visits to New Mexico. Notebooks will be filled with Writing Practices, later to be reread.
Whatever’s at the surface will fall away. What’s important is what is underneath. Underbelly.
Sit, Walk, Write. With Gratitude to a long lineage of mentors and teachers. For all that has come before. And all that will be.
Note: ybonesy and I met in Taos at a Writing Retreat. We’ll be forever connected by that thread. And the practice that became red Ravine. We’ve written many pieces on our time spent in Taos. To learn more about Sit, Walk, Write or our experience of studying with Natalie Goldberg at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House, check out the links in this post. Or click on any of the posts under Taos. With Gratitude to our readers, those at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House, Natalie, and all the writers and artists who keep showing up to brave the silence. We are all in this together.
–posted on red Ravine, Sunday, December 5th, 2010
redravine.wordpress.com 
The post makes me long to be in Taos at a writing workshop with friends. I knew of one person who is going and now I know that yb will be in attendance. Cold mornings in the zendo. Real bacon for breakfast. The sounds of pen scratching across the paper and pages turning in notebooks. The day when I wonder why I spent the money to come soon followed by the realization that I must return to the “real” world and not wanting to go back, but wanting to at the same time. And all of the old friends from faraway. Thanks for the memories, QM.
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i too have sat in silence at Mabel’s…a connection that will always be with me…your post was on my 61st birthday…a reminder of what being here means for me
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[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by red Ravine, Vaughn Dearing. Vaughn Dearing said: RT @redRavine: Sit, walk, write. Taos Mountain. In solidarity with those heading back to Taos. Sitting In Silence: http://wp.me/p3qMC-5kS […]
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Laura, happy belated birthday. I hope your 61st was a good one. When were you at Mabel’s in Taos? I find, too, that it stays with me. On and on and on.
Bob, me, too. I wish I could zip myself there. Because getting there from here takes great effort. The flight into ABQ, then the shuttle to Taos. This time of year, it’s pretty dark, too. I miss sitting though. And writing in the silence. I am living vicariously this week — two places at once. 8)
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Ahhhh Taos Mountain. I do miss Taos and Mabel’s. Wish I had it to do all over again, with all of you who were there with me in the same intensive for all those weeks. It was a life-changing experience. Difficult, centering, lively, grueling, refreshing, opening. Precious.
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Jude, I hardly knew you then. But I remember right where you sat in the zendo. Strange to think about. And out of that year came the Midwest Writing Group. Gives me a peaceful feeling.
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[…] -Related to posts Sitting in Silence and haiku 2 […]
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Back from Taos…it was as good as you all know it would be. Including the real bacon, Bob.
The new intensive starts in February 2011. There is a waiting list. Twenty-five people about to get their life changed.
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Glad to hear there is a waiting list for the year Intensive. It’s a good sign. Maybe things are picking up a bit again. And welcome back, Teri. Minnesota opens her wide and snowy arms to you. 8)
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[…] pen and ink in Moleskine journal, image © 2010 by ybonesy. All rights reserved. Joy is s i t w a l k w r i t e with Mabel’s pigeons in Taos learning how to f l y […]
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[…] was strange to find myself sitting in the zendo at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos, our teacher Natalie Goldberg urging us to Let […]
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[…] am forever grateful to Roma who walked up to me in Mabel’s dining room after one of the silent retreats, and asked if I wanted to write together. I would be returning to Minnesota, she to Albuquerque, […]
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[…] west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true. — Buddha♦ I believe that every person is born with talent. — Maya […]
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[…] Taos was taken on one of my first writing retreats in Taos in 2003. It was a talking workshop, long before the silence became my friend. We were walking around the Mabel Dodge Luhan House with Natalie. I didn’t own a digital […]
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