InTheTemazcal

The trail just above New Mexico State University at Alamogordo, NM. Image from My Track app, on Google Maps satellite image. My most productive and enjoyable days at work include a hike. My workplace, located in the foothills of the Sacramento Mountains of southern New Mexico, affords me the opportunity to hike a trail just above my workplace. It's the closest trail and makes for a reasonable 30-35 minute work out. The Benefits of Hiking During My Work Day Hiking during a break in my work day has benefits for my work goals and my personal well being. Here are a few of them... Improved Focus.  This particular trail has a few stretches of unstable rocks that will roll under the feet of a distracted hiker. I've actually sprained my ankle on this trail once, and I've taken a hard, headfirst fall while hiking there on another occasion. The rough trail conditions force me to practice focus (or suffer the consequences I just described). I focus, especially on t...

International organizations use the Banner of Peace as a symbol in celebration of a Day Out of Time. "Where there is peace, there is culture. Where there is culture there is peace." - Nicolas Roerich Today some South Americans celebrate the Mayan culture's celebrates Day Out of Time, which marks the end of the Mayan 13 Moon Calendar ( Tzolkin ) year. The day falls outside the tallied days of the calendar, as a day of reverence and cultural appreciation. Thirteen 28-day months make up the Tzolkin calendar, corresponding to the 13 revolutions of the moon around the planet within our solar year. As a calendar based upon the lunar orbit, many cultures associate it with the feminine, cyclic aspects of our world and life as two-legged ones. Twenty-eight days also corresponds to the average length of the human menstrual cycle. I like Ellie Crystal's  description of the celebration of the Day Out of Time . She wrote, ... "The Day Out of Time is celebrated...

As a young man, busy paddling my canoe, studying, building my curriculum vita, getting my name in front of my influencers, and testing social limits, five minutes of mindfulness practice took a tremendous effort...a confounding irony in itself. My mind was excited and full of ideas and curiosity; my body was full of testosterone. Chaotic People on Charles Bridge in Prague Photo by Viktor Hanacek, on picjumbo.com With age, the ideas have joined the wind. The once red-hot ashes of curiosity have long since soaked into the earth to green the grasses of someone else's summer. Testosterone has become a number, rather than an incentive. Today I slip into a mindful state much like the the muscles of my legs adjust to the trail slope, without convincing them to do so. Mindfulness gets easier with age for several reasons: Practice Makes ...  I started consciously practicing mindfulness, specifically, as a student at Northern Illinois University , in DeKalb, Illinois. An of...

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...

Eduardo Gomes–Manaus International Airport, Manaus, Brazil. Source: Wikimedia. As the circle continues, Jordan returns from Manaus to his family and home, in the Midwest. May the jornada , or journey,  home give him time to reflect, and may he take the opportunity to experience his present and enjoy the wonder of travel in a world of technology, bringing him home safely to his loving family. On my part, I awoke at four in the morning just in time to see the waxing moon ... a sliver away from the full moon, in a clear sky, through my window. I thought of Jordan and his jornada and of his father's request that I've fulfilled through my thoughts each day during his journey. I'm grateful to have participated, and I'm glad to have done my part, so far. I'll be looking for a message to let me know that he has arrived safely, and I will provide my thanks then. ...con todas mis relaciones!

Catedral Nossa Senhora da Conceição - Manaus, Brazil. The night of the second Sunday of Jordan's travels, finds the waxing gibbous moon of mid-July two nights away from the full moon. Today Jordan and his group celebrate their holy day ... Sunday. I'm guessing that they will attend mass ... perhaps a mass dedicated to thanksgiving for the fruits of their travels and the time they've spent together practicing English and celebrating the gospel. I'm guessing that they will revisit, in their minds, the human bonds that have formed during these days. Here, to the north, my wife and I celebrate our morning with rest, and I give thanks for rest from the week's work. I'm thankful that Jordan too has this day of rest and wonder how he'll spend his day. Happy Sunday, Jordan. ...con todas mis relaciones! 

I asked Osa Lety of the Circulo de los Osos , on the western edge of the City of Durango, Mexico, to remind me how we began each temazcal . She wrote, in an abbreviated version,... "Ancianos y ancianas de la tradicion sagrada,  te pedimos permiso para inciciar nuestra ceremonia de temazcal,  agradeciendo a la Madre Tierra,  a los cuatro elementos, y a los guardianes de este lugar." That translates, approximately, to ... "Ancient ones of the sacred tradition, we ask your permission to iniate our sweat lodge ceremony, thanking the Mother Earth, the four elements, and the guardians of this place." In the temazcal ceremony our guides, Osos, Lety and Mario , began with this humble petition, addressing the ancient ones, or the elders that came before us. They would ask their permission to initiate the ceremony and gave thanks before anything else occurred in the darkness of the lodge. As I recall the petition, which has come to mind in my ten day dedicat...