This post’s title says it all: after stepping up to the plate and ripping three home runs Shohei Ohtani style (Boo Dodgers!), all by way of Ceremony, our Fall NSMR, and a Free Fall Yoga Day, we closed out our outstanding October by donning one of thirteen home-grown Higher Haven pumpkins and celebrating 11 successful years and just over 4,000 nights spent on our farm, our first all hallowed evening there being October 31st, 2014. Then, in a contrarian twist, we did not spend Halloween night at home this year, but rather jetted off to the American Southwest, where the spirit of Dios De Los Muertos, “The Day of The Dead”, is strong, a celebration honoring and commemorating one’s Ancestors.
There, in the occidental town of Tucson, Arizona, I crossed paths with a mad scientist, the meditation teacher formerly known as Shinzen Young. Taking him up on his invitation to his laboratory at the University of Arizona, I lost my pumpkin head, and sported some of Shinzen’s high tech mindfulness gadgetry. As to the possibilities of Shinzen’s new international endeavors and jump to hyperspace, there’s much to say and be explored. But for now, we’re happy this pic proves our theorem — put forth in the previous post and actually inspired by Shinzen — that your spiritual teacher better have a cool T-shirt collection. And we’re even happier to have spent time with Shin back on the hardpan of the Sonoran desert, where we found salvation chasing rattlesnakes, cultivating inner stillness, and taking part in Ceremony over twenty years ago.
We’ll soon be stepping back in time and space and revisiting our Fall Noble Silence Meditation Retreat Weekend and Freefall yoga day, all with an eye toward winding down the 2025 retreat season, taking some time away, and beginning again in the Spring of 2026. Of course there’s still a chance to come out for our final, December Way of the Contrary Ceremonial Retreat Weekend, our Holiday Silent Night, Holy Night the weekend of December 13th, and, for established students, scheduling a private lesson or personal visit. We’re preparing now to take part in the final, Shinzen-lead Home Practice Program, and will have more glowing reports shortly from our time on the road and on retreat . Toksha, Until the Next.