A Weekend A World Away

A Weekend A World Away with Katharine Kaufman at Shambhala Mountain Center
Yoga in the Rockies - September 8, 2003

By Bridget Taylor, our correspondent from Cornwall

I’d tried a yoga class once before. After only a couple of leg stretches, a determined lady knotted me into excruciating postures and made me stay there for interminable lengths of time. I could hardly walk the next day. I decided yoga was not for me.

However, I was assured by my daughter (during my recent visit to her in Colorado) that not all yoga teachers were alike. I decided to give ‘Yoga and Meditation’ a try. I am so glad I did and have now begun to practice yoga at home. As you arrive high in the Rockies at the valley that is the Shambhala Mountain Centre, you enter a different world. The land has for 30 years been a place for meditation, study and community. Even the animals and birds up there can feel it.

There is a choice of accommodation: less expensive is the dormitory in a further building. The Lodge, where I stayed, is simply furnished but elegant, with solid wood fittings and pleasing fabrics. In fact, the only problem with it is the smell of newness and a certain bleakness in the corridors. But it goes beyond function into an uplifted quality, which is even truer of the Sacred Studies Hall, where we practiced. This is a beautiful, gracious space, with a slightly bouncy bamboo floor and plenty of natural light. I asked Katharine if it made a difference teaching in such a meditative space and she confirmed what I felt—that she had to do less and yet could take people further because of the environment.

I was amazed at what my 63-year-old body was able to do, much of which I had not tried before. There were 38 participants, at all different stages of experience, suppleness etc. Katharine demonstrated, explained and encouraged with her own infectious brand of gentle humor. She and her helpful assistant, Lindsay, took good account of any special needs, such as a woman who was pregnant, and my injured knee, and advised different or modified poses where necessary. I felt safe, and that my limitations were not an obstacle to yoga but merely the place from which I was working. More practiced students were helped to extend their already strong and graceful postures further. On Saturday afternoon we did restful restorative postures. Sunday morning we went further through the sequence, challenging the adepts—and leaving some of us sitting out when it seemed wise to do so. So, something for everyone.

Katharine asked one of the Shambhala instructors, Mr. Gil Seldes (who also happens to be a yoga teacher) to teach meditation, which was interspersed with the yoga throughout the weekend. We also walked to the end of the valley to the stunning Great Stupa of Dharmakaya, the monument and meditation hall which enshrines relics of the founder of the Shambhala organization, the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Mr. Greg Smith ably explained its structure to us in terms of art and Buddhism, having worked on the Stupa for many years and being one of the senior thangka (Tibetan painting) artists in the Western world. There was a reasonable choice of food, including vegan options. The salad and greens were organically produced in the greenhouse on the land.

There was so much in this weekend—the teaching and practice of yoga with meditation, the environment, the lofty Stupa…an amazing combination. It is possible to experience the different elements separately—by taking classes with Katharine, visiting Shambhala for a variety of programs, or taking a day up there to visit—but together they are incredibly powerful.

What Katharine and the community share is a sense of path, of ongoing exploration. My prior experience of yoga was goal oriented —‘get into this shape and stay there.’ Whereas Katharine’s teaching is path-oriented—‘Come as you are, and we’ll see where we can move to from there.’ From path comes the magic.

Bridget Taylor is a massage therapist and teaches massage and meditation. In the 60’s, she jumped into vegetarian life & Buddhism, & first met Trungpa Rinpoche. Bridget currently lives in Cornwall, England: br.taylor@virgin.net

Katharine Kaufman teaches at Richard Freeman’s Yoga Workshop. She has studied in Mysore, South India w/Pattabhi Jois & Dr. Shankaranarayana Jois. Her background is steeped in dance, poetry, women’s art, zazen & good humor. Yoga & Meditation w/Katharine Kaufman occurs twice a year: www.shambhalamountain.org.