"Meditations Upon Windtower....."

I have practiced meditation now since my teenage years, having learned many diverse forms and methods. In my journeys there have also been certain settings, selected wild places, where I have felt a connection between the terrain there and then the mantras utilized in a blending of those elements. Our Windtower is such a place near here... It is a mountain of a distinct form, of unusual rock, of a particular height, and a special location above West Wind Pass and the adjoining valleys there. Its' summit looks out in all directions over our Bow Valley, the Spray Lakes, and towards the many Rocky Mountain Ranges embracing this area of confluence and connection... I have scrambled there with close friends, my partner, and out solo so many times also. It is a challenge to put into words why I sense it to be a meditative peak. There are often many on the hike to the Pass, and also scrambling to the summit, yet on certain days, with a very early start on one's own, the ascent and the high point share other elementally calm secrets too... I often go when many would not wander in the poor weather. During a day of high winds, but with no troubling clouds or distinct rumblings that put ones neck hairs on end. Then you can feel the power of this Tower, and hear the callings of the winds play over the rock up there... Adventurous meditations become not only about a high and wild place, but also then more so of what is unfolding within - within the experience, within the mountain, within our mantra and breathing, then finding even more within ourselves as well..... DSD

The lower image above was gathered up from where I do not recall, but still wish to acknowledge the person who created it.