InTheTemazcal

I wore this pendant, a gift from El Oso, which reminded me of the red road on which he led me. While today I mostly write of the temazcal from memory, at one time I lived it, attending twice a week and giving my time and effort in service as often as my work and energy allowed. I had become accustomed to the Circulo de los Osos (the Bears' Circle) and its caminantes as my family. Although I spent only a few years with them, those years coincided with important new apertures in my mind and material world experiences. A professional change in my life provided motive to move away from that group. Although I made the move willingly and thoughtfully, I found myself in my new world with little external emotional or spiritual support. The Coping Tools I Used Not long ago, when I rejoined my hermano , or brother, from the Circulo de los Osos , Oso Hector, he asked me to share with the others of his temazcal ceremony the answer to the question, "How did I endure my move...

Part of my friend Hung's success comes from prudent spending. We joke about it often, when we talk, and he told me that his son, Jordan, learned to play the drums by practicing with cardboard boxes. I admire that, and I admire that Jordan has become quite the drummer (I saw a video that Hung sent me) by beginning his practice on boxes. I think that it's good for us to learn to achieve our goals without investing first in the material aspects of those goals. I wondered, today, why he had invited me, and I know that it's because we're friends. But, I also thought about his time and effort and material expenses. I know well that he would not spend 50 or 60¢, plus time and effort to send me an envelope if he did not expect a response. But, what was he thinking? What could I have to offer Jordan? I've wondered that every day since I began planning this task of daily praying. What benefit could Jordan possibly receive from me praying for him every day? I know...

Oso Mario, from whom I learned much of the ways of the red road, was, when I met him, the guide of the Circle of the Osos. On the foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental, just on the outskirts of the City of Durango, Mexico, upon drenched, gritty clay-sand floor of the temazcal of the Osos, Mario and Lety, I listened, in the darkness, as he would request a prayer from each of us. I recall, one day, discussing with him my lamentations of having become separated from my family. I told him of my suffering and pain in my new world. We talked of circles and cycles, and he told me to pray. I had told him that I practiced no religion and had no beliefs beyond what logic told me was real: things I could understand through my five senses or my rational based upon information from my senses. He said that it did not matter and again suggested that I pray. "When you kneel, in the morning, to put on your sandals, or when you kneel, to lay down, in the evening, kneel a bit more, and pr...