Clinic hours for the next few months will be slightly irregular. I leave tomorrow for a week at the Columbia River Gorge where I will be participating in the “Gorge Championships”, racing with hundreds of surf ski yogis through one of the planet’s grand temples of beauty and power, where winds from the Pacific Ocean funnel through the Cascade Mountains into the desert interior. Here is a sneak peak at a tune up in late spring.
Surfing is analogous to meditation, and is a metaphor for life. As Thoreau once said, “the unexamined life is not worth living”. With the trauma unfolding as a result of the current federal government administration, and the inexorable heating of the planet and associated climate emergency, we all bear a responsibility to future generations. As in surfing, meditation, and life, I try to find the balance on top of the wave in each moment. As the Buddha said, “not too tight, not too loose. Tune your instrument just so.”
Each morning, I awake with 20 to 30 minutes of meditation, with a motivation to make my life beneficial to sentient beings. Although I am no bodhisattva, I am certain that each one of us has unlimited potential for health and happiness. Exercise and social connection is important for physical and emotional health. Paddling ticks off both those boxes.
Looking ahead to waves on the horizon, beginning in late August, I will be commuting to Portland on my days off – hopping on the Amtrak with my bicycle! I have enrolled at classes at Maitripa College, a unique Buddhist institution offering Masters programs in Divinity and Buddhist studies. The College is guided by the three pillars of scholarship, meditation, and service. I am not sure where it will lead but as my late mother once said, I’m not aiming for the gold watch at retirement.
May you be healthy and happy and take advantage of this precious life to make your life deeply meaningful and beneficial!
