Here is some of the feedback we received from participants of the recent workshop:

Moving into Silence: Conversations with Extraordinary Trees
Shambhala Mountain Center, Colorado
October 26, 27 and 28, 2007

The weekend at Shambhala felt like a turning point. It is just exactly what had to happen next. The tree form gave me the visceral feeling of underground roots (subconscious connections), and during the stalking exercise the unseen connections in communications with my mom became clear, like the roots of trees, the communication lines were there when I'd always "thought" they weren't.

I have practiced almost every day what my body remembers of the magical passes and tree form, and find them very energizing. I came home in an altered state, which lasted a couple of days. During the Monday night after the workshop, I felt an energetic burst in my solar plexus and left foot...something I'd not felt before. I've been meditating every day too...and feel so much more centered, calmer.

We live on five acres of forested land about 10 minutes from Shambhala, and I greet my tree friends every morning!!

I would be very interested in another Tensegrity workshop. Let us know if you plan one here at Shambhala.

Thank you, thank you, thank you so much~to all the beautiful, interesting and unique practitioners and instructors. What I felt the most from the workshop was a sense of love. It made me want to love again. Love life, people, even myself. I think I formed ice over my heart like Sakyong Mipham said happens to people.

The tree form made me feel connected to the other trees in my grove, other surrounding groves and the earth. The form made me feel calm and more inner silent. When I went to have a conversation with a tree I buried myself in my tree and weeped, because at that moment I felt the temporariness of everything, and the sheer magic and aliveness of the earth and it's creatures. And how I was missing it all because I have been stuck in myself and judgments most of the time. Still after the workshop I feel a more general sense of appreciation for the trees and more connected to everything.

The stalking exercise made it very obvious what our judgements do to our body. Someone in my group suggested I soften my eyes when I begin to judge. It has helped alot to change my mood.

I feel the shambala mountain center is genuine in it's quest to help people reach the wisdom they said we all naturally possess. The food was great, the facilities clean, organized, and the mountains lovely. I would certainly go again.

Thank you for the unique experience of the classes at the Shambhala Center.

My overall perception and experience of the event: I came back feeling that my heart had been further opened, that I felt the awareness of trees and how I could use that feeling to connect to myself, to the present moment and to inner silence. I am thankful that as Tensegrity practitioners we are opening ourselves and appreciating another path, another perspective and often a different expression of the same fundamental principles that guide our lives. It was a gift to see how the adepts of the Shambhala tradition appreciated Tensegrity, praticed with us and met us with complete openness.

I had an unexpected experience when doing the stalking exercise and the tree form. I stalked my relationship with my Director, something that had bothered me for years and that I have regularly complained about. My complaint towards her was that she did not recognize my talent and creativity, that she was afraid of me because I was so competent and that she used unfounded excuses to pass me up for promotion. This complaint was associated with a shallow breath, tight stomach and jaw and a knot in my stomach. After changing my body position by relaxing my body and breathing deeply, I had a complete view of the situation. To some degree there was some foundation to my complaints but there was also the facts that she had always treated me well, that she respected me, had given me the freedom that few in the organization have and had always shown appreciation for my work. Looking back at the same situation after the tree form I had the unexpected and somewhat bewildering experience that I did not feel anything towards the situation. It did not stir me up in any way. I was detached and felt an absence of emotion and although somewhere inside I was not comfortable with this, the better part of me knew it wanted to live there. I felt like a witness to the situation and I had no judgments about it.

I felt that this experience was bringing me closer to myself, the true me and was a bridge towards the awareness of trees. Like them I want to feel grounded to the earth, to this life, to the moment and experience life without the filter of judgments.

The feeling has stayed with me and parallel to it I have felt my heart opening further through meeting with the Shambhala Buddhist tradition. Tensegrity, we know, is a path with a heart and the passes we practice and the stalking exercises open our heart in ways we can only experience. I found that the Shambhala tradition is also a path with a heart. It is apparent in their perspective on life and human beings and in their openness to others. One point that resonnated with me is their belief in the fundamental goodness of all beings. Hearing this view I then remembered that when I was young I also believed in the basic goodness of human beings; my mother lived that belief all her life. Renewing with this feeling I can now let go of the defensive attitude that I adopted later in life and embrace my original feelings that open my heart.

The two traditions share a common respect for individuals, both are a path with a heart and there is a common understanding that inner silence is the way to the higher or real self. I feel that the people at the Shambhala Center have received us in an impeccable manner, they were gracious hosts and it was a privilege having their leader, Sakyong, give a talk to our group.

Away from the familiarity and concerns of everyday life the classes at the Shambhala Center were magical. The jolt experienced in returning to my daily life after these classes was sharper that usual. By all means I would go back.

Thank you

It was with a feeling of real trepidation that I signed up for this, my first workshop, as I have been doing passes for years in my solitary way and find them to be endlessly fascinating and energizing. But I am highly suspicious of groups and organizations- often they succumb to self-reinforcing flightiness or maudlin sentimentality. The last thing I wanted was to have my balloon punctured! Figured that staying close to the door was the thing to do... if things got wierd, I'm outta here.

I got further and further away from that door as that workshop unfolded, at first being pleased to be almost immediately learning some new passes, then realizing I was in the same room with some really exquisite people, being taught by two tremendous teachers, Miles and Aerin.

Mr. Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche instantly charged up the energy level and I felt he was talking directly to me when he said we need to get rid of some of our claustrophobia and let people into our lives.

The tree form is so long it is hard to remember but I find bits and pieces of it dribbling back to me. And of course I've aquired a new feeling for Trees!

First of all I'd like to say thank you for organizing such a wonderful workshop. It was very interesting to see how the two traditions could collaborate and compliment each other. I have a feeling that this collaboration could be beneficial for both lineages.

I found an interesting perception of the meditation exercise we did during the workshop. It seems to be a very good stalking exercise. The meditation was concentrated on breath and the instructor explained to us that it was ok if we periodically had some thoughts or some inner dialog and that the idea was not to stop it completely but just register occurrences carefully and return attention back to breath. It develops ability to concentrate attention and to remember something. It could be your breath or it could be something else. I found this exercise very useful in my daily energy tracking. I realized that the same way as I returned my attention to breath during meditation I could return my attention to my breath or to shifting my body position, to switching my inner dialog or to finding a new view in some regular daily situations when I get angry with somebody.

Do not have to mention that Shambala Mountain Center is located in enchanted land in beautiful mountains with beautiful trees and inner silence is naturally present there. The Tree Form is for this place.

I would definitely be interested in another Tensegrity event at SMC.

Thank you to everyone who made this possible

The Shambhala Mountain Center experience was a marvelous change of pace for me.
Having been for most of my life a loner who avoided groups and usually preferred being alone, I am finding that my avoidance was based on fear -- fear of being taken over, sucked into other's lives, fear of peer pressure and group dynamics, fear of being excluded or criticized. So this weekend retreat brought that home to me in many ways. I liked sleeping, eating and practicing (and also traveling) with the other practitioners there. All the stalking/witnessing we have done for the past few years has gotten me past so many of my habitual attitudes and being there with other practitioners made me realize that I like being part of this group in every way. I was particularly admiring of the way we all waited without any impatience (not even talking) for the Rinpoche to show up on Saturday night and the fact that I and everyone else was perfectly in tune with the place, the pace, the accommodations. I didn't hear a single criticism from anyone and had none myself. We have all cleared out so much inventory!

I would like to come to Shambhala again. It was a beautiful experience. The aspen analogy struck me very much. We were like those little trees -- they looked so resilient, so happy in their orderliness, so healthy. The Rinpoche's talk left me with something important -- that every moment of our life is a meditation…

I cannot find words to adequately express my gratitude. Thank you. I have to start by thanking the Sakyong Myphan Rimpoche and his lineage for dreaming this sacred land, receiving us, and sharing his wisdom knowledge and teachings with us with a full open heart. I have to continue by thanking our Shambala sisters and brothers for receiving us, for sharing with us their wisdom and their knowledge, and for joining us in this workshop with a full open heart. And lastly I have to thank Aerin Alexander and Miles Reid for sharing with us this knowledge dreamt by the seers of ancient Mexico with a full open heart. The teaching interplay between you was delightful.

The stalking exercise with the foursome was an eye opening experience; up to now I was under the impression that I was either tense or relaxed two positions of the assemblage point. By taking on the body position of my 3 partners, I learned that within tense positions there exists an array of textures and flavors, I knew their thoughts and their feelings, I knew if they were interacting from a power over or power under position, and if their interaction was with a male or a female. This was not about understanding their suffering but rather being them while suffering, I knew that my assemblage point had moved to the position theirs was during their interactions. My 3 partners were also able to know my thoughts and feelings when they were experiencing my body position, one of them pointed out that I was very angry, I did not like hearing this for an instant my belly tensed, I then shifted my body position and knew that my partner was right, I too, suffer, I realized what it means to have our assemblage point stuck in these positions, that these positions represent our repeating patterns and that we did not choose these positions. To the extent that we are not aware of them these positions are unavoidably self-inflicted, we can however use our body positions to stalk these positions, become aware of them, and then discard them by shifting our body position and dreaming new views.

My stalking partner noticed that during the recounting of my story my fists were clenched, he pointed this out to me, the truth is I had never been aware of this. So now when I change my body position, the first thing I do is relax and open my hands, I find it impossible to be tense or angry if my hands are open and relaxed.

On my way to work my mind was involved in its usual internal dialogue when suddenly my attention shifted to the trees. They looked tall straight upright and relaxed with a dignified regal unassuming posture. I was drawn to their silence, every tree became a sitting Buddha quietly witnessing the magical world before them, for a while I was able to join them in their silence. It was like being in the Great Stupa.

After signing up for this auspicious event, I ordered the book by Chogyam Trungpa titled "Shambala, The Sacred Path of the Warrior". I wanted to know more about what Shambala meant. I quote from the last paragraph in page 41:

"In some sense, we should regard ourselves as being burdened: we have the burden of helping this world. We cannot forget this responsibility to others. But if we take this responsibility as a delight, we can actually liberate this world. The way to begin is with ourselves. From being open and honest with ourselves, we can also learn to be open with others. So we can work with the rest of the world, on the basis of the goodness we discover in ourselves."

At work in my new view I see myself and all the people I work with as a grove of trees, with many lemon trees, in this view judgment and criticism are inoperable. The Sakyong Myphan Rimpoche pointed out to us that we have frozen energy at the center of the upper chest, without judgment this energy begins to melt.

I am also a lemon tree; I have to continue practicing meditation, magical passes and stalking my body positions to discover the goodness within me.

We loved our stay at SMC, we felt the land's open heart welcome us. We are thrilled that you are planning more events at SMC. Two communities of trees become one communicating through our roots exchanging information, collaborating and supporting each other, we will be there for as long as we are here.

The workshop at the Shambala Mountain Center was wonderful! The total impact was to be plunged into a state of inner silence and well-being. From this perspective it seems like a strange endeavor to break it apart into its separate elements for evaluation. I appreciate the special need for that at this time however because of the ground-breaking nature of this event. The place itself is a beautiful alpine forest and meadow setting and with the warm welcome from the staff and the deep intent of making this a place for the students of all traditions of human transformation to study and practice, combine to put one into a state of heightened awareness before the classes even begin. Also the high percentage of students new to Tensegrity but with backgrounds in meditation, and the sessions of traditional sitting meditation as well as a lecture/meditation with Sakyong Mipham took away any sense that I knew what to expect, and far from the Tensegrity sessions being made easy for the new-comers, I have never seen two instructors work with such sustained intensity. I got the feeling that Aerin and Miles pulled out all the stops to push us, not physically so much as energetically.

I felt that it would be interesting to practice with those who practice a sitting meditation and I was delighted to see them jump in with both feet. When one woman spoke about her first stalking experience, she spoke of moving from a position of constriction and judgment into one of affection and as she spoke I felt that she carried the entire room with her into heart-centered perception. Our guide for the introductions to sitting meditation had a very easy and familiar way, I felt that he was reminding me of something I knew but had forgotten. He was humble, thoughtful and direct. A visit to the Stupa was my first and deepest experience with sitting meditation of the weekend…

It was really nice to be together there in this very special place as a relatively small and intimate group, sharing meals all together in the same room. Rota, the practice of working a shift in the kitchen as part of one's responsibility was another learning experience for me. I was happy to do my part but I felt like I was on the first day of a new job, anxious to perform well. I saw that when thrown into an unknown situation I moved with my head first, trying to think my way through to what I need to do, rather than breathing and allowing my source disc and heart to feel out the flow and rhythm of those around me first. The stalking exercises gave me the perspective to see this and the practice in moving into these more harmonious states. The tree form, otherwise know as Facing the Oncoming Time, is a sustained exercise in energetic perception. We were pushed by the stories and cajoling of Aerin and Miles to hold in our awareness a juxtaposition of our humanness and our tree-ness, our rooted-ness and our freedom, our uniqueness and our shared connection, our temporary nature and our link to the infinite. In past workshops this has proven too much for me and I have become overwhelmed with emotion and become constricted. This time I felt as the workshop was ending that it is my heart that links to infinity and I can allow it to be large to reflect that link, and as a result much more can flow through it and still there is space for more…

Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you!!! Shambhala was a beautiful place and doing Tensegrity there was wonderful-- so completely out of my normal context that somehow I saw what we were doing more clearly than I ever have before. I would be delighted to do more Tensegrity there.

On a general note, this meeting between the two traditions melded into one and gave me a broadened, clearer view of the path I'm trying to follow. I have participated in led meditations three times, all within the last couple of months. Each time I have felt that the teacher brought us into their meditative state: from the first I learned something about stillness, the second-- by the gentleman who led the morning SMC meditations-- taught me about peace, a settling of the waters, and the third, under the guidance of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, taught me about sobriety: the sobriety that don Juan speaks of as being an essential element of a warrior's being. In his talk, too, I thought he reiterated what don Juan tried to impress on Carlos Castaneda: don Juan's ""unbending intent"" is the same as Sakyong Mipham's combination of intention and purpose. Without both sobriety and unbending intent, meditation, magical passes, prayer-- whatever-- will not budge us one inch from the swamp of self-importance.

The location and room for the event entitled "Tensegrity: Moving Toward Inner Silence" could not have been more perfect. The natural setting and meditative quality of the atmosphere of Shambhala Mountain Center matched the mood and tone of the work toward accessing a direct experience of inner silence. This quality drew us beyond theory into actuality of experience. We only needed to open to the presence. Presence is present.

While working with my grove of trees, the wind acknowledged and assisted our attempts to root and sway, to be anchored, yet fluid and connected to the local community of our grove and the larger community of the forest and nature beyond the windows of perception.

The energy of presence and rootedness have enveloped my being since the event. My Tai Chi practice has been deepened with additional concepts that directly apply to the daily practice of the forms with reciprocity for each. The concept of tension/compression forces directly correlate to yang/yin concepts, rooting, acknowledging the horizons and the heavens from Tai Chi practice. There is also a sense of something impending which aids the self in waking to the inner silence of now.

Tibetan meditation enhanced the Tensegrity experience by providing a center, another root branch from which to view the motions and energistics of the event. Watching the breath was at times remembered during the motions of the Tensegrity practice bringing an added dimension to observation. Tensegrity enhanced the experience of Tibetan meditation with additional energy for centering, sitting, rooting and alertness to the motions of thoughts. It was an exceptional evening of meditation in the presence of the Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. An honor to be in his clarity.

My home is only six miles from Shambhala, so my stay was at home. The quality of food and the quality of service provided by Shambhala's residents and staff was exceptionally well presented. The dining hall was small, but insisted on communication of the community. Many lively discussions were opened by the closeness of the dining hall's seating.

If another Tensegrity class were presented at Shambhala Mountain Center I would be open to the inexplicable energy of intent and if my personal energy has any bearings on the matter, I will to be there.

Thanks to the two of you and your baby's added voicings and to all Tensegrity instructors and practioner's for making this appear within the realms of possibility at this very interesting point on the cycle of manifestation.

What was your overall perception and experience of the event?
I have waited twelve years for these two traditions to come together. It was very magical and appropriate. I loved the combination, but then I have practiced both traditions for 12 (Cleargreen) and 35 (Shambhala) years each. It is my profound wish that these two traditions will continue together, mutually enhancing each other and joining hands. They don't have to merge, just walk side by side. And the land...SMC is a magical place tamed by so many wonderful teachers and so much practice, and then to have moves that related to the trees was perfect. All came together.

What were your experiences with the Tree Form? And with the stalking exercises?
The tree form deepened my experience with trees, a connection I have long had, but now have more. It also helped my sense of silence and rest, and remarkably, I began to feel myself moving in the earth as I walked, and I felt perhaps for the first time my body and energy together in sync. I really felt whole. The energy body? I will reserve conceptual judgment. I simply felt together as I never had felt. The stalking exercises underscored and expanded my Buddhist experience of working with emotions. The simple movement of the body to a new position did remarkable things. I teach Shambhala Training and want to try some of this with some of my students, to see how they experience it.

What other aspects and content from the classes have stayed with you?
The humor, friendliness, loving kindness of Miles and Aerin lingers with me.

What are your discoveries and findings of the meeting between the two traditions that this event represented?
Shambhala is meant to be like a shelter, an umbrella, that can welcome all wisdom traditions, including Buddhism and Tensegrity, and many other viable traditions and practices. I dearly hope Cleargreen will come in again and again and share. See other comments above. The meditation practice I have done (shamatha) gives specific instruction for working with and understanding mind and heart. The Tensegrity does this through the body. The two are wonderful complements to each other.

How was your stay in general at SMC (location, room & board, atmosphere, etc.)?
I love staying up there. Even with the tiny toilets in Shotoku!

If there was another Tensegrity event at SMC next summer, would you be interested in attending? I plan on it.

The Sambalaha Experience

The power of the Earth,
loving Mother,
pasionate Mother,
Mother without a pause
In essence,
just Mother.

Congregation of centuries in her rocks
generous trees,
content...,
eternal,
omnipresent witnesses
to the fugacity,
to the strange velocity
of the impermanent beings
which we are:
twinkling, bursting bubbles
of energy,
that in the time of the pine, cedar and aspen
shine for an instant,
for just an instant.

Was they three days, was they four?

We, like the trees, remained still in time,
in no time.
We gathered branches,
interlaced roots,
spoke of the nests of leaves,
and of the woodpeckers.
We shared,
intimately,
a little piece of eternity