The New Year: 2010

In gratitude and love we send our many appreciations for how you uniquely touch our lives. In the spirit of the season we wish you and your loved ones abundant peace and happiness. As we journey into the new year, the new day, and new breath of every moment may we all know our heart’s song, the vitality of aliveness, and heartfelt gratefulness.

with love,

Kes, Kai, Janna, & Steven

Celebrating the Season

Looking north to the Big Sur River mouth and headlands

What better way to celebrate the day than a good hike along the Big Sur River out to the Pacific Ocean. Connecting and reconnecting to that which is beyond words.

Sending a little encouragement and nudge to get out in wild nature somewhere sometime soon — alone and/or with friends and family. Let your self touch and be touched.

Wishing everyone a Happy Holiday Season.

Gratefully,

Steven

Search for the Center

Once a year a group of long-time heartfelt friends and I get together to spend the weekend. We take a day long hike somewhere in the Big Sur. Our friendships go back more than 30 years and includes the full range of life's experiences. Simply being in wilderness, having the shared experience each year in the raw beauty of wild nature deepens our relationships.

Who is it you might want to share a hike with? Nature is calling... your friends and family may be calling... and as John Muir said, "The mountains are calling, and I must go."

Wildly,
Steven

Esalen Office Goes Wild!

Esalen Office Gets Wild in Big Sur

Once a year I get the office crew from Esalen out of the office and into rarely visited parts of Big Sur.

Thanks to the Esalen office staff for all that you do!

Gratefully,

Steven

The Way of Nature: Esalen 2009

The Way of Nature (click on photo to enlarge)

The last Esalen workshop of the year! ...and what a way to finish the year. A weekend of high adventure and immersion (literally in the creek).

To experience the photos (click on thumbnails to enlarge): Way of Nature Photos
To experience as slide show: Way of Nature Slideshow

To experience the 350! performance art: 350! on YouTube

Gratefulness to each of you and to the group as a whole for making our timeless time together so rich.

Love,

Steven

Belonging to Earth: Esalen 2009

Cone Peak, 5155 feet high (click on photo to enlarge)

Diversity... this is the word that comes to mind as I reflect on our rich time together. From the Pacific Ocean to the top of Cone Peak; from Redwood forests of all sizes to the rare Santa Lucia Firs; from varied life experiences, physical abilities, and ages to the shared awe in the beauty of nature as it unfolds. I so appreciated how easily we came together and held space for each person in our group.

To view photo of our group: Belonging to Earth Photos
To veiw as a slide show: Belonging to Earth Slideshow

And, just for fun... to watch a YouTube video I made with some friends about the Pygmy Redwood Forest click here: Journey Into the Wilds (click on the HQ icon to watch with better resolution)

We packed a lot into our week. I hope that the richness of our experience lives on in your heart of hearts. You now know the Big Sur in ways that many long-time residents do not... I hope we all deepen our belonging to ourselves and this earth.

With love,
Steven

P.S. Here is a link to an experiment I spoke about our last evening at ithou.org: Meditation House. Both George (from our group) and I are often “there” in the mornings.

Art of Pilgrimage: Green Gulch Zen Center 2009

Art of Pilgrimage at Pirates Cove

Here is a version of the Zen story that Jeremy told from the "Book of Serenity"

Zen Teacher Earth Treasury asked the monk Dharma Eye as he was leaving the monastery, "Where are you going?"
Dharma Eye said, "I am going on pilgrimage."
Earth Treasury said, "What is the purpose of pilgrimage?"
Dharma Eye said, "I don't know."
Earth Treasury said, "Not knowing is most intimate."
Dharma Eye was greatly awakened at these words.

Here are links:
Photos of our day
Slideshow of our day
Retreat Description
Green Gulch Zen Center

Thanks for coming together at this auspicious time near or on the new moon, fall equinox, Rosh Hashanah, EID, and of course... International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Gratefully,
Steven

Here are a few of the quotes that we drew from the bag...

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old,
Seek what they sought. ~Basho

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. ~Lao Tsu

As I make my slow pilgrimage through the world, a certain sense of beautiful mystery seems to gather and grow. ~ Arthur C Benson

Simply Wild: Esalen 2009

...how to stroll through the fields

"I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done."
~Mary Oliver

I appreciate how the thick fog keeps the coast mysterious... at times hiding the view and keeping our visual attention close... and at other times partially revealing the steep mountains meeting the sea letting our sight roam farther in the distance. This weekend the we dance in and out of the fog — getting above it, in it, and under it. Tell me... what else should we have done?

View: Photos
View as: Slideshow

Wildly,
Steven

Big Sur Wilderness Experience: Esalen 2009

Part of our group on Boranda Ridge high above the fog

Show Up: Choose to be present...

A simple enough sounding thing to do, a challenge in daily practice... yet deeply fulfilling when we can. Here is a poem that I shared one evening...

Lost
by David Wagoner

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
Not trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

Here is a link to photos: Big Sur Wilderness Experience Photos
Or view as: Slide Show

I hope your the "seeds" of our experience are finding roots and being nurtured towards growth.

Gratefully,
Steven

Sitting with Fire: Tassajara 2009

Coulter Pine seedling near Tassajara

What a remarkable journey this fire from last year has led us on. I continue to be amazed, in awe, and inspired by the variety and resilience of nature.

We went out hunting for Coulter Pine seedlings. On first look none of us were seeing any. Once we saw one, we suddenly saw many... How often do I not see that which is in front of me because of my own habits of attention? How enlivening when I do perceive something new and out of my habitual range!

To see a slide show of our group: Slideshow
To see the photos of our group: Photos

Nature & Contemplation: Esalen 2009

Nature & Contemplation at Esalen

"Nature is never spent: there lives the dearest freshness deep down things," writes the mystic poet Gerard Manley Hopkins.

One word: Gratefulness

Gratefulness for the many opportunities to touch the dearest freshness deep down things.

Gratefulness for Brother David, everyone in our group, Big Creek Reserve, Esalen, Partington Cove, Slates Hot Springs, good food, perfect weather, mountain lion scat, condor feathers, deep pools of clean fresh water, waves, poems, redwoods, The Hermitage, silence, a fuller breath, soft eyes, the more and ever more, Gravity, belonging, the sponge, dialogue, wholeheartedness, fearlessness, and to doing the next right thing...

"When we re- move the world from our shoulders we notice:
It doesn't drop. Where is the responsibility ? "
~ John Cage

Love,
Steven

Links:
Nature & Contemplation Photo Collection or as Slideshow
Gratefulness.org
Steven K Harper
iThou.org
New Camaldoli Hermitage

Mountains and Waves: Esalen 2009

Mountains and Waves... on the edge

For more photos: Mountains and Waves Or as a Slide Show

What words can come close to touching upon what we touched. I find myself in awe of the courage to step out of the known and into the mystery of the unexplored. I will be integrating the experience of the week for weeks to come.

"Such richness flowing
through the branches of summer and into

the body, carried inward on the five
rivers! Disorder and astonishment

rattle your thoughts and your heart
cries for rest but don’t

succumb, there’s nothing
so sensible as sensual inundation. Joy

is a taste before
it’s anything else, and the body

can lounge for hours devouring
the important moments. Listen,

the only way
to tempt happiness into your mind is by taking it

into our body first, like small
wild plums."

Mary Oliver “The Plum Trees” American Primitive

With Hearfelt Gratitude...
Steven

P.S. Wishing us well in planting and tending of the essential seeds we are growing in our lives... may they benefit all our relations.

Fathers and Sons: Celebrating Father's Day in the Tradition of the Old Ways at Esalen 2009

Fathers and Sons on Father's Day 2009

It is a wise child that knows his own father.
-Homer
It is a wise father that knows his own child.
-William Shakespeare

I have led many weekend workshops in my years at Esalen. This coming together of fathers and sons was among the most potent of them all and much more profound than I had expected. I continue to be moved by our collective and family time together. I am deeply grateful for this gathering of fathers and sons and our time spent on the path in the wilds.

For more photos of our group: Fathers & Sons Or as a Slide Show

With Love,
Steven (and for Kes, Kai, and Kenneth)

Walk on the Wild Side: Esalen 2009

Walk on the Wild Side on the Big House Beach

"The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us, thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing."
~John Muir

My first words go out to Michael and his family wishing them peace. My next words go out to Stacy for how wonderfully she showed up for all of us. My heartfelt gratitude goes out to all of our group for being here.

Even after all these years I continue to be amazed how simply spending time on the path together in wilderness can create connection and depth with one another.

For more photos of our group: Walk on the Wild Side
You can view them individually or as a slide show.

"Every body needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul."
~John Muir

Wildly,
Steven

Wild Mind, Zen Mind at Tassajara May 2009

Wind Caves

For more photo of our group: Wild Mind, Zen Mind

Spectacular wildflowers and the awe in the amazing ability of nature to regenerate after fire... I have never seen such a display of wildflowers around Tassajara as this year in both quantity and diversity.

It was a joy to share this with others as we walked along the paths, sat in meditation, and let our curiosity wonder in discussions at meals, on the trail, and in the Kaisando. Gratitude to all of you for so generously participating in our time together.

"The secret of Soto Zen is just two words: not always so."
Shunryu Suzuki-roshi

Wildly,
Steven

P.S. Those of you that are interested in the online Meditation House (which is part of iThou.org) can visit by clicking here: iThou.org. You can sign in by typing "here" and check-out the meditation timer, candle site, meditation instructions, and more all in the right hand sidebar.

Big Sur Wilderness Experience: Springtime 2009

Tip toe through the lupines...

High in the mountains of Big Sur

Here is a link photos of our hikes: BSWE Photos
Here is a link photos of our hikes as a slideshow: BSWE Slideshow

"There are two ways to live your life.
One is though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.

The most beautiful and most profound emotion
we can experience is the sensation of the mystical.
It is the sower of all true science.
In this emotion you dwell in wonder
and stand rapt in awe."
-Albert Einstein

Thank you all for your "Showing Up... and choosing to be present."

Steven

Workshop Schedule for 2009

Big Sur

I finally have all the date for 2009. This is one of the most exciting schedules I've had. Hopefully you can join me for a worshop this year.

• April 12-17, 2009: Big Sur Wilderness Experience: Springtime at Esalen Institute with Steven Harper and Michael Newman

• May 2, 2009: The Art of Pilgrimage: Walking the Wild Path at Green Gulch Zen Center with Steven Harper and Meg Levie

• May 7-10, 2009: Zen Mind, Wild Mind at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center with Steven Harper and Leslie James or Kokyo Henkel

• May 24-29, 2009: Walk on the Wild Side: Hiking the Big Sur Country at Esalen Institute with Steven Harper and Michael Newman

• June 19-21, 2009: Fathers and Sons: Celebrating Father’s Day in the Tradition of the Old Ways at Esalen Institute with Steven Harper, Kenneth Harper, Kai Harper, and Kes Harper

• June 21-26, 2009: Mountains and Waves: Wilderness and Continuum at Esalen Institute with Steven Harper and Susan Harper

• July 5-10, 2009: Nature and Contemplation at Esalen Institute with Steven Harper and Brother David Steindl-Rast

• August 7-9, 2009: Sitting with Fire: Walking with Change at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center with Steven Harper and Myogen Steve Stücky

• August 16-21, 2009: Big Sur Wilderness Experience at Esalen Institute with Steven Harper and Michael Newman

• September 2-6, 2009: Art of Pilgrimage at Hollyhock at Cortes Island, British Columbia, Canada with Steven Harper

• September 19, 2009: The Art of Pilgrimage: Walking the Wild Path at Green Gulch Zen Center with Steven Harper and Meg Levie

• October 4-9, 2009: Belonging to the Earth: Finding Our Place in Nature at Esalen Institute with Steven Harper and Michael Newman

• October 23-25, 2009: The Way of Nature at Esalen Institute with Steven Harper

For more details visit: Steven Harper

Gratefully,
Steven

The Mountains are Calling

Yosemite Valley at Sunset Feb. 19th, 2009

" The mountains are calling, and I must go."

~ John Muir

This winter has been a busy one. So many different things calling to be done— to be attended to. I was so completely caught up in my list of things to do, that I was to the point where I was considering canceling our annual trip up to Yosemite during the school break. I had every reason not to go... then these words slipped into a crack of my reasoning.

"The mountains are calling and I must go," I could hear Muir whisper inside. Even though it was a shorter trip than previous years, I fell in love with Yosemite once again. I fell in love with the deep beauty of the wild and let the worries of the world go for a couple of days.

I return with sore muscles, full of good fun with my family, and a re-alignment of what is truly important in my life.

May beauty touch us all,
Steven

P.S. After this post I posted a video to youtube that includes part of this trip: Ski Yosemite 09

Four Winds Council

Four Winds Council at Esalen: January 2009

The Four Winds Council is cooperative association of four retreat centers located in or near the Ventana Wilderness and the Los Padres Forest in Monterey County, California. Members includes New Camaldoli Catholic Hermitage, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, the Native American Esselen tribe's "Window to the West", and Esalen Institute. The council is formed to develop cooperative initiatives among the four centers and to promote a deeper understanding and respect for the paths of personal and social transformation that each center represents.

After years of individually developing and maintaining working relationships with Tassajara, the Hermitage, and Little Bear/Fred Nason Sr., I decided to convene a meeting of representatives of each centers to see what if anything we wanted to be or do together. I facilitated the first meeting and recorded on flip charts the work, discussion, and brainstorming. In spring of 1993 we unofficially named and previously unnamed peak, “Four Winds Peak”. We offered a workshop at Esalen in 1994 that I convened and acted as facilitator for the program. We met four times a year at each place. I reduced my involvement sometime in 1995 or 96 although I have continued a relationship with each of the places. The Council has continued to meet over the years.

This January I was invited to attend a meeting at Esalen. How exciting it was for me to see many old and new friends from Tassajara, the Esselen Tribe, the Hermitage, and Esalen all in one place. It makes me happy to see the "tradition" continue.

Gratefully,
Steven

Workshops in the Wilds of Big Sur

I have been learning to use iMovie and Youtube. Here is a compilation/montage of images from many of the workshops I have led over the last year or two.

Wishing you a Happy Solstice!

Solstice Celebration

Also, Find out more here: iThou Solstice Celebration

Wishing you a soulful solstice,
Steven

Big Sur Weather: Winter of 2008 & 2009

Big Sur River Mouth

For those of you that have a connection to Big Sur and want to follow this winter's progress this could be of interest?

Here is a link to a webcam set up in the back of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park (up river from the ball diamond and down stream from the Gorge where there was a bridge). Of course at night you can't see anything, but during rainstorms in daylight you might catch some interesting stuff. Once you are on this page scroll down to the the webcam picture: Big Sur River Web Cam

For the current weather in Big Sur here is my favorite link: Big Sur Weather: 7-day forecast

For Nepenthe's webcam that looks south down the coast towards Esalen: Nepenthe Web Cam

With both of the webcams you might need to occasionally hit the refresh button on your browser to get the udated image.

Here in Big Sur we are hoping for light rains in well timed intervals... we will see.

Esalen Office Goes Wild

I try to take the Esalen office for a hike each year. We went to Big Creek Reserve a few days ago and were blessed with a clear sunny day in one of the few places that did not burn in the fires. It was a smaller group than normal because half of the office was sick with a cold. This is for the office crew and all they do day in and day out.

Gratefully,
Steven

For more photos of the hike click here: Esalen Office Goes Wild

Conscious Embodiment and the Path of Nature

For additional photos of our workshop click here: Conscious Embodiment

What a personal delight to work once again with Wendy Palmer. For many years Wendy and I taught workshops together. The unique blend of her work that is deeply inspired by Aikido and the experience of wild nature as teacher come together as a profound combination.

Thanks to all of you that so fully showed up for the weekend... next time we will have to make it a weeklong program.

Two claps, One bow,
Steven

Nature and Contemplation: September 2008

For more photos of our group click here: Nature and Contemplation
(Thanks to Ken for sending photos... I will post more photos soon)

Con • temp(l) • atio(n)

"It is not happiness that makes us grateful, it is gratefulness that makes us happy."

Brother David Steidl-Rast

From swimming in the creek to talks about the native peoples before us, from celebrating birthdays to to visiting the recently burned areas, from the fog to the hot sun we had a diverse and rich contemplative time balanced between being and doing. We did pay attention... "What else should we have done."

I was touched to see so many familiar faces and meet so many new. Thanks to all of you and I look forward to seeing you all again,
Steven

The Art of Pilgrimage: Green Gulch 2008

For more photos of the group click here: Art of Pilgrimage

Here's a version of the Zen story from the "Book of Serenity" that Meg told the group:
Zen Teacher Earth Treasury asked the monk Dharma Eye as he was leaving the monastery, "Where are you going?"
Dharma Eye said, "I'm going on pilgrimage."
Earth Treasury asked, "What is the purpose of pilgrimage?"
Dharma Eye said, "I don't know."
Earth Treasury said, "Not knowing is most intimate."
Dharma Eye was greatly awakened at these words.

At the beginning of our retreat I gave a short talk about what pilgrimage has been and is for many cultures and religions. I was asked by the group to share in written word some of what I spoke about on Saturday morning. The following is loosely drawn from my notes.

I have a long standing fascinated by practices and rituals that occur in many cultures. When practices occur across culture boundaries they perhaps speak to the larger human condition and are greater than the culture itself. It is interesting to me that most wisdom traditions have some form(s) of pilgrimage.

As a general statement, we contemporary westerners living in the United States don’t have a great deal of pilgrimages that emphasize our relationship to our spiritual journey. This opens the question of how we might create and participate in the practice of pilgrimage in a manner that is both skillful and has meaning. Most forms of pilgrimage that I have studied share these characteristics and outcomes:

• A physical journey through time and space
• Leaving home (leaving what is known)
• Simple lifestyle during pilgrimage: e.g. simple clothes are worn that do not reflect status, simple diet, etc.
• Special rituals and/or prayers that marks significant milestones along the journey
• Circumambulation: moving around a sacred temple, object, mountain, and the like
• Pilgrims return with objects (water, statues, talismans) and/or special knowledge from a sacred site
• Pilgrims return with something for the community, family, as well as self
• Emphasize the journey itself as much as or equal to the goal
• Emphasize the merging of inner and outer (e.g. climbing the Mt Fuji inside as I am climbing the physical Mt. Fuji)
• Encourage a relationship to and deep knowing of a geographical place
• Timed with the seasons, sun and moon cycles, or some other natural rhythm

Usually pilgrimage is never just one of these things, but a constellation of many things and experiences woven together to create the pilgrimage. With this background knowledge it is now important that we drop our ideas about what pilgrimage is or might be as we step on the path of pilgrimage. In each step we have the opportunity to discover what pilgrimage is.

With heartfelt gratitude for our shared time on the path,
Steven

P.S. Here is a link to Meg's sitting group in Bolinas: Mountain Source Sangha
Here is a link to a dharma talk by Meg: Dharma talk

Belonging to Earth: Finding Our Place In Nature

Pointing the way on the path of the wild...
For more photos of our group click here: Belonging to Earth
To view photos that Ann took click here: Ann's Photos
To view photos that Fred took click here: Fred's Photos

Here is a youtube video Steve W posted: Big Sur Water Sprites

Carol sent this link to photos & slideshow: Carol's Photos
Here is a link to: Leroy's Photos

In every moment of our lives we are supported by natural systems both seen and unseen. Yet, in our culture, many of us are cut off from the natural world. We have little contact with wild nature, little idea of where we live, and little notion of what directly sustains our daily life. Esalen, surrounded and sustained by wild natural systems, is an ideal place to learn more about our sense of place, of nature, and of belonging to this earth.

This week was personally powerful for me. To be able to share in more depth the place I care for so deeply with all of you that showed up so fully is special. Coming together to understand our belonging to earth we found belonging in self and community as well. Our journey into the burned area is still vivid in my body and mind. The smell of burnt plants and soil, the color and texture of the abundant charcoal skeletons, the green sprouts emerging everywhere, all live with me. Spending my birthday deep in Big Creek in the waters on a sunny clear day is a present I will remember.

May each of you journey well in you "other" lives and worlds. And as David Whyte encourages us, "What urgency calls you to your one love? What shape waits in the seed of you to grow and spread its branches against a future sky?"

Heartfully,
Steven

Simply Wild

Simply Wild at Julia Pfeiffer-Burns State Park
For more photos of the group click here: Simply Wild

Every year
everything
I have ever learned
in my lifetime
leads back to this:
the fires and the black river of loss
whose other side is salvation,
whose meaning
none of us will ever know.

To live in this world
you must be able
to do three things:

To love what is mortal;
to hold it against your bones
knowing your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.

from part of Mary Oliver's "In Black Water Woods"

How wonder to be back in the wilds of Big Sur with a group... and in places that did not burn. How deeply I appreciated the aliveness of these mountains and sea, and of our time together. Thanks to each one of you for a wonderful weekend!
Wildly,
Steven

P.S. I read the Mary Oliver Poems, The Summer Day, In Blackwater Woods, and Sleeping in the Forest. All of these poem can be found in her book New and Selected Works: Volume One which won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award.

Big Sur Fire

The view of the fire out our front door

Thanks to you all for your thoughts, concerns, and prayers during the fire. It has been a long four weeks filled with concern, action, gratefulness, sadness, friendship, frustration, helping, being helped, writing, interviews, phone calls, laying fire hose, sending "special" things away, dinners, story telling, uncomfortable sleep, smoke, wonder, focus, beauty, loss, love, appreciations and more... Some friends lost homes and belonging, no one was seriously injured.

I will post more when I can. For now know that your care and support is felt. If you want to know more, visit my website to link to personal photos of the fire and other links that tell parts of the story: Big Sur Fire

Two workshop were canceled (one at Esalen and one at Tassajara). All the rest of my 2008 workshops will go forward. Many parts of Big Sur have burned in the fire. Many of the places you might have hiked with me look very different. Many of my favorite places to hike did not burn. Many of the areas that did burn will recover fast. The threat to Big Sur has passed. Highway 1 is open in both directions. Esalen is open and offering up workshops. The beauty of Big Sur remains.

Once again, thanks to you all for you support and care during this time.
Gratefully and with love,
Steven

Wild Mind, Zen Mind: Tassajara Zen Mountain Center

For more photos of our time together: Wild Mind, Zen Mind

Every time I journey to Tassajara — by foot or by car — I am taken by how deeply Tassajara is nestled in the folds of the wildly rugged mountains. The encouragement to "show up" through meditation, along with the wholesome food, natural hot springs, and sharing time on the trails all come together to inspire. I breathe easier as I cross the mountains and return home to all the "things" of my life.

I hope we are able to walk into our daily lives with a bit of "wild mind" as we go about the stuff of our lives.

Gratefully and with a deep bow,
Steven (and Leslie)

For paintings of our friend that recently passed click here: Michael Sawyer
For more photo of Tassajara Zen Center click here: Tassajara