Stunning photo of Gibson Lake

Gibson Lake

This is a stunning photo that I found a good location for.  Most spots showed the fallen trees lining the bottom of the lake, but this spot found a nice reflection for the sky and the majestic mountains in the background.

The stream coming out of Gibson Lake (below) travels down the hills to the Kootenai Lake which is actually the head waters of the Columbia River.  Talk about putting things in perspective.

Gibson Lake below Kokanee Glacier

In the picture below the lake, of the avalanche path, those mountain peaks are at least 3,000 feet above us.  Every slope of the mountains seemed to have those slices of cleared trees through them, where bushes are now growing.  Meaning avalanches happen quite often up there!

Above the old growth forest, we continued driving on the logging road for another 5 to 6 km and we came to a large parking area.  I wish I had taken some pictures of the trucks in that lot.  They were nearly all surrounded by chicken wire.  Apparently porcupines are a problem up there – they will gnaw on brake cables and tires and whatnot.  After getting out of the car and walking around, we quickly discovered Gibson Lake.  This is a large but shallow lake under the glacier area.

Hiking around old growth cedars

Hiking around in the Kokanee Glacier park, we first climbed up a rough wash-boarded logging road, where 4-wheel drive is recommended.  We had to go extremely slow as a result of having a low front-wheel-drive hatchback.  5 km up the logging road, there is a little parking area to hike around in old growth cedar forest.  It was very serene and beautiful.  It felt a little like being in northern California (but to be honest, the Muir Woods monument is still the most peaceful “temple” of nature I have ever been in).  With that said, we encountered several trees that were between 500 and 800 years old and the one oldest tree is 850 years old.  There were great signs explaining everything about the old growth forest – animals, riparian areas, trees, insects, etc.  Everything was very well marked!  Someone is doing an incredible job of trail maintenance and education up there.

The 9 sided meditation hut (the nonagon)

We taught meditation and Buddhist chanting in the nonagon.  Plus Ken has wrapped copper wire around a lot of the rocks in the ground around the structure and he has the wire coming up into the middle of the nonagon.  It is possible to meditate while holding the wire and there is a noticeable energy that is coming through (sort of a pulse for me) and it seemed to shift things in people’s heads – cranial bones.  It was pretty wild.  Maybe not for everyone though (if you are extra sensitive, then maybe go easy with this exercise).  The Nonagon was where Myrna conducted her turns in the mornings.  Therefore it was quite charged up – lots of healing has happened in there!

the environs of the PPN training were ideal

The setting for the summer intensive is quite idyllic.  Peaceful, fog shrouded mornings, followed by mountain-breeze-filled, sunny afternoons, pleasant evenings with chilly nights.  I will try to post pictures soon.

For those of you who are reading my blog for the first time, I did training with Myrna Martin and there were 12 of us participants, along with 3 teaching assistants plus the 2 head teachers (Myrna and Ken).  You can find her site here: http://www.myrnamartin.net

Looking out over the valley each morning, the large mountains of the Kootenai Lake valley were opposite us.  They were about 5 to 6,000 feet high with evergreen trees rising up their steep slopes, usually to the top.  Further in the distance, rising slightly above the northern, closer peaks were higher mountains still.  The Kokanee Glacier lay hidden behind those, about 30 km away or more.  The guys (myself included) would hike around that Glacier park during the middle weekend.

The three of us males were down from the main house.  I stayed in a large dome type set-up – not quite a tent, but not quite a permanent structure either.  I had one dome-mate and there was plenty of space for both of us.  We each had a twin mattress and boxsprings to sleep on, along with piles of blankets which I actually needed during some of the chillier nights.

Ken and Myrna are really big about living greener lifestyles, so they grow a lot of their own food – they had blue berries, raspberries, strawberries, sea buckthorn berries, pears, plums and more.  Most of these were ripe while I was there (definitely recommend being there in August!!).

Walking further up the hill, above the main house, is the “super dome” as some of us called it.  They have a large dome structure, similar in material to the residential domes, but the large dome could easily hold 30 people, seated.  They had a screen and a projector there, where they would show birth videos, yoga videos and power point presentations, etc.

It was definitely more rustic!  We used composting toilets every day – these were actually buckets that we put peat moss on each time we went to the bathroom.  They were emptied every day.  The warm showers were nice but most mornings I would step out of the shower into a chilly morning, so it was refreshing and occasionally bittersweet.

They have beautiful gardens scattered all over their property.  They must have had two dozen cherry tomato plants as well, so these were always available to snack on – right off the vine!  Plus they had a large fountain with a Buddha and Kuan Yin statue nearby – very serene and perfect for their intention.  In addition to that, they also had a hot tub!  I watched the sun set several times from the hot tub.  It was the perfect way to rest sore muscles after a mid-day hike.

And speaking of hiking, my dome was close to the gate which was down at the end of their driveway.  And beyond that, I could be on a hiking trail within minutes!  It was so nice to head up the mountain and explore the dozens of hiking trails.  I’m good in the woods and with direction, so I was never concerned about getting lost.

In fact, one day I took off intending to discover a loop trail.  I knew generally where it was and where it led to, but I did not know how long it would take.  Therefore I was jogging half the time.  I was later told it was close to 6 km long and I somehow finished it in under 30 minutes!  It was very steep coming down though!

There were several cats on the property which was nice.  They sort of broke up the intensity of sitting with my psychological, developmental stuff.  I could just pick up a cat and have good company in my lap for a short time!

They were having issues with their internet, so it was perfect.  It was one of my intentions to have less screen time and I think for the entire 2 weeks I had about 20 – 30 minutes of internet, email checking time.  And of my goodness, it was refreshing to be away from Facebook for 2 weeks as well (especially with all the polarizing political garbage going on).

They are up in the mountains, so bears are a potential issue.  Therefore they have an electric fence around their property.  There was one day that a bear cub somehow shimmied over a gate and was eating blue berries.  Ken had to chase him out with a shovel.  Fortunately we did not see that cub’s mother!  And I went for at least six different hikes while I was up there and never saw a bear while hiking.  I did make noises every 10 yards or so, knowing I was hiking alone, I did not want to startle a bear or a coyote.  Rather have them know I was coming and mosey on out of my way  🙂

All in all, they have set up and created the ideal space for a process workshop.  Negative ions from the woods which surround their property, lots and lots of views of nature and mountains and flowers abound.  And they must have at least half a dozen statues of Kuan Yin scattered throughout their property.