Crestone Week 2

View blog top tags

Have made it through the second week and my god do I feel knackered! This really is a full on curriculum. I will probably say it in every blog entry I make so I apologise now. This week I started my massage practicum on the local people – they offer their bodies for me to practise the current modality on every weekday evening 5-7pm. I'm still honing my Jin Shin Do skills. It's interesting doing the locals round here because they are all so into their wacky holistic lifestyles that even the local farmer's wife has extensive experience in acupressure massages and energy work so getting feedback from these people is really useful (if a little daunting). The great thing is that anyone who comes to practicum has to reciprocate with something - people bring us food mainly. This week I received some homemade zucchini bread and two tubs of Ben & Jerry's ice cream – yum.

Last Sunday we headed up the road, which turns into a dirt track, past the dojo for a couple of miles to the Shu Mei International Centre. This is the japanese spiritual centre that I mentioned previously. Our teacher had told us if we had time we should go up there as they were doing their monthly Joy-rei ceremony. I had no idea what to expect, but we drove along the icy track very slowly and eventually came to Shu Mei International. Most buildings in Crestone are of similar materials and mainly quite humble from the outside, I presume due to the remoteness limiting the building materials available. But Shu Mei International is amazing – beautiful modern, light architecture with clean lines, built out of light-coloured wood and glass and built into the mountain so it almost blends in with it. Their game is natural agriculture – they don't even use manure, but rely on prayers and intention to grow naturally and organically.

We were met by two tall thin young japanese men in suits who ushered us in and gave us a book each, and in we went to the temple. Inside it was so clean, precise and modern – with a ceremonial shrine at the front decorated with flowers and state of the art TVs at each end, plus a traditional japanese gong hanging in one corner. It could have been a cult HQ, but I was there for the free food served after the ceremony so was willing to take the chance. Shu-Mei International is a non-denominational organisation whose beliefs are based around art and beauty and this natural agriculture trip. It was very odd to be up a dirt track in the snow in this remote part of Colorado, yet suddenly stumbling into a mini rural Japan, and more strangely, having a backrow seat at this ceremony amongst a load of Japs who didn't speak engrish. Anyway, the ceremony started, we attempted to join in the singing/chanting (in japanese), the main leader dude offered something to the shrine and then did a healing ceremony emanating positive energy/life force from the palm of his hand out to everyone, then an american guest speaker came along and asked us who was a child of the earth, loads of bowing ensued, then we all made our way to another hall to eat the goods they focus their attention on growing. The food was amazing – beautiful vegetable stew and rice, salad, amazing bread, and then little green tea biscuits and tea to finish off with. They ask for a donation but you only pay what you can afford. Naturally I stuffed my face.

I've just been up there again tonight for their film evening to watch Sicko. It was fascinating watching this with an american audience because when the bit about the UK and the NHS came on they were all gasping. They couldn't believe the low price of our prescriptions, nor could they believe that we don't pay anything when going to hospital – the bit that got the biggest intake of breath was when they showed the cashier at Hammersmith hospital whose job it was to reimburse patients' travel costs. It made me realise that although we slag off the NHS, it is a world away from the nastiness of the US healthcare system.

This is a really boring blog entry and really long too. I write it simply to keep The Olds updated in their retired state - with so much time on their hands they have to temporarily live vicariously through me. Or something.

This week there is a fire ceremony on wednesday night at one of the ashrams to celebrate the full moon. I tell ya, I really am in seventh heaven here – for once I am the conservative uptight one with rightwing views compared to this lot round here.