Zayin Neumann, M.A.

I walked on the top with those rocks for the first time... and they prayed for me. They prayed with me, and through me, and taught me how to do the same. Those rocks are the tip of a mountain temple formed millenia ago, and they have suffered the passing of Life in a most crucial way.

As I sat there in silence in a circle led by a Buddhist priest, I heard them call. They asked me to sink with them, only to rise with them, an apprentice to their still. So clear, the why I had become, to be a silent mountain, apprenticed to a mountain, and to a group of holy rocks who have waited for us to come.

It should be quite obvious from the words above that my experience this last weekend on Mt. Diablo was a very moving one. We were led through sitting and walking meditation by Carolyn Clebsch who is both a Zen priest and a practitioner of what can only be called an Earth-centered spirituallity. As she facilitated the silence through her presence the mountain responded in kind as its rock priests gave a 50 million year old bow to our being there in such a sacred context.

Throughout the day Daniel Foor introduced us to the locals. Among them the ever-cleansing Bay Laurel, Black Sage, and Juniper. He also introduced us to the family values of the Blue Jays, and flight pattern of a red headed flicker.

These walks are powerful medicine, and there is one more in September.  There will also be a five-day prayer walk coming in October for those that want engage a longer teaching from the mountain.

More about Daniel's work...