Why would someone climb any mountain? Is it just a macho thing to conquer Nature? 

When I was 30 years old I was moving from Seattle to San Francisco traveling on I-5 with my car loaded with everything I owned. Coming from the North, I saw a lone giant mountain on the horizon; Mount Shasta!   I was deeply enthralled. I decided I would climb it the next morning. In my early 20’s I had climbed a number 14,000 foot peaks in Colorado, and so I assumed I could climb this one, … without any conditioning. In fact, for the past year I had been mainly fasting and meditating in a Buddhist Temple. My body was as skinny as a toothpick. I thought I could just climb it in one day. But in Colorado we started climbing at a much higher elevation. At Mount Shasta, one starts at less than 7,000 feet, which means one has to climb 7,000 extra feet, and I was coming from sea level. 

Needless to say, I did not make it. My body got sick from the altitude right off. While I was exhaustingly pushing hard to try to meet my goal in vein, I heard the mountain laughing at me. She said, “You do not need to climb to my top to have my peak experience.”  

I remember being passed by a father and daughter who were happily chatting as they effortlessly cruised up the steep trail. They told me they climb the summit regularly. They looked so relaxed and happy. How could this be? Well, obviously they were in much better shape than I was at the time, but there was another factor I would not realize to until years later. They were very happy and present.

“The Buddha said:

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. Do what you love and you will be successful.”

Was I happy and loving climbing Mount Shasta? No. 

It wasn’t until another ten years that I rediscovered Mount Shasta as an Ascended Master hang-out, and Spirit called me to make it my home. Yet I was never interested in climbing the summit again. My excuse was I had become too “spiritual” for that. It wasn’t worth all the blood, sweat and tears. Why would I put myself through it?  I am above having to climb mount shasta for a peak experience. I am already a high being! 

This resistant pride changed when I gave a spiritual tour to 10 South Americans lead by two renowned spiritual teachers of Argentina, Alejandra and Roberto. Alejandra insisted on climbing Mount Shasta. After I warned her of how big of an ordeal climbing mt shasta actually is, we agreed to see how high the group could get in one day. 

This was no ordinary group. Everyone was so unusually joyful  in every moment. On the day of the climb, to my dismay, the group made it all the way to 10,400ft frozen Lake Helen. But what surprised me the most was no one seemed exhausted. They laughed a lot, took pictures, threw snow balls, and skidded down the glacier. 

 

The Buddha was right. If you keep your happiness first place by doing what you love, you will be successful. 

It’s now three weeks later as I write this, and guess where I’m at? I’m at 9,600 feet, summiting Mount Shasta! But this time, I planned it right. I’m taking my time, making it a 3 day affair. I’m on the second day, a day I planned to be relatively easy. I am so grateful to be breathing fresh air, as I I lookout over an endless carpet of smoke below me from the many California wildfires. 

I won’t kid you to say, “There is no effort in climbing a mountain if you are loving the experience.” The challenges are here. Thirty to fifty mile per hour winds, rocks giving away beneath your feet, sore and aching muscles especially in the mornings. So what is there to love beyond the views? 

I am loving going beyond my comfort zone – not to conquer Nature or prove anything to anyone else. I realize I need to play at 125% in my life. Now that my body is almost 60 years, I choose to buck the aging spell to the best of my ability. I recently learned strenuous exercise increases growth hormone, the hormone that typically decreases with age, and thus decreases cellular regeneration. Since I have been working out more intensely, I have been feeling younger. 

For a number of years I think I had an unconscious tape running in my mind that said: “I’m too spiritual to climb a mountain,” as though I am beyond that. I refused to do the “egotistical macho thing. I am beyond that. I have nothing to prove.”  And, it is true, I did have spiritual peak experiences without having to climb to the summit.

It seemed I had been programmed that the spiritual and physical aspects are two different things, like people who work out are not spiritual and people who are spiritual don’t work out much.  I realize now this crazy notion only exemplifies one’s lack of integration.  With these unconscious limiting beliefs, I felt my life slipping back into mediocrity, while my larger goals were being delayed. Clearly, I was not living my full potential.

I decided I wanted to apply spiritual principles in into my physical life more than ever.  Playing at 125% means going beyond what I thought 100% was. 

When we get too comfortable, we eventually find ourselves in a cushy coffin. The purpose of life is not to be comfortable, but to grow and expand our creative possibilities beyond what we thought was possible. To fully live, we each must step outside of the box of limiting circumstances, that box of death.  The mountain is brutal. It is full of limiting circumstances for humans- risk of injury, hypothermia, hunger, dehydration. As I addressed these issues with self love, I feel way more expanded.

What is it to be an integrated man? My wife Maqua and I have an old friend named Gerald that used to cut and deliver our firewood.   Gerald once held the record for the fastest time to summit Mount Shasta. Today, at eighty something years old, he is still seen at the top of the summit any month of the year, but especially in the winter because he prefers to ski down. Gerald has a spiritual presence about him, a warm, joyful glow even though he doesn’t talk much about spiritual matters. No need to talk about what you already are! Gerald never watched television. I doubt he owns a computer or a cell phone. Sounds like a boring life, but he is a man who clearly knows himself better than most.  I have discovered… while climbing a mountain, you really get to face yourself deeply, and grow beyond the fears that hold you back. 

This is why I’m climbing Mount Shasta. To get unplugged from lesser distractions and more in touch with my greater potential. I purposely picked climbing on the new moon (when we feel the least amount of energy), while mercury and mars are in retrograde, and the air is full of smoke to challenge myself. 

As I write this, I still don’t know if I will make it to the top. I had not worked out in 3 weeks (my excuse being the smoke), so my body hasn’t been feeling near as strong as I would like. When I arrived to start the ascent, I put on the mountaineering boots I had rented to discover they were too small after all because my feet had swollen from the altitude. So I elected to wear my running shoes. This also wasn’t a good choice.  My ankles are being assaulted by rocks. In fact, It feels like I already sprained an ankle. 

While resting this afternoon, I asked my spirit guides to heal my ankle. I feel it become immediately hotter. An hour later I’m no longer aware of any swelling or pain at all.

As I contemplate the third leg of the ascent tomorrow, I remember the most important thing is to  stay in the moment, Breathe very deep and trust my process. I am deeply grateful to have learned and now teach a miraculous way of breathing called BreathPlay, known as the secret weapon of many of the worlds greatest athletes.  So even though I may lack strength, I do know how to maintain maximum energy.   

I notice “fear of failure” arising. What will others think if I don’t make it? I embrace the illusion of failure and focus on breathing and being present in each moment, regardless of where I am on the goal line of this adventure. 

I AM present. This is what really counts.

While leisurely camping on this second day, a young athletic Russian couple moved in next door to me. Our campground was at 9,600 feet, so we had the most grueling 4,560 feet to go. They had climbed Mount Shasta five times in the past 18 months! 

We all try to get to bed early because we plan to get started at about 4:00 AM, but sleep was nearly impossible with the 30-50mph winds assaulting our tents. I awoke at 4am to the sound of my Russian neighbors heading out. This is the hardest moment. To get out of the warm bed and into that cold wind to climb “forever”. The part of me who needs comfort dies right here as I crawl out into the dark cold wind. 

I had no desire to hike with the Russians, as I knew I would never be able to keep up. So I took my time and left over 30 minutes after them. I had no desire to go fast. My entire focus was to be fully present with each step. 

The steep trail was very difficult as it was loaded with loose sand and stones of every size. My feet were falling out from under me, and I even fell down at times. It’s easy to start cursing, to blame outer conditions. I focused even more intensely on taking baby steps and planting each foot solidly down, sending my energy deep into the earth and breathing very deep.

After about 45 minutes, I felt I had a solid lasting groove. I was enjoying the beautiful sunrise bursting above the horizon, as an Asian couple coming down stopped for a brief chat. They were climbing in the night while the wind was exceptionally fierce. They didn’t make it to the top.

The woman sounded ashamed, “The wind was to strong for my small body!”  

I said, “Look where you are! Have you climbed this high before?” 

She said “No.”  

“Congratulations!” 

I could see her sigh of releif and her guilt fall off her shoulders.

Most people are working against themselves and nature to meet some crazy goal. I know, because that was me.

With Accelerated Healing with the Chakra Oracle, a healing method I developed, I cleared my patterns of being in “force” rather than in “flow”. As mentioned in 1989, I tried to force myself to the top of Mount Shasta and suffered miserably. This time I put aside any voices in my mind about success and failure and simply choose to stay present within my body, while finding a way to put one foot in front of the other.

I was inspired to take baby steps by the movie “Cliffy.” Cliffy is a true story about Cliff Young, a potato farmer who won the 543 mile foot race from Sydney to Melbourne, Australia at 61 years old!  They wouldn’t even register him into the race, but he ran it anyway!  Cliff took baby steps, which became know as the “Cliffy Shuffle”.

This has become such a huge metaphor in my life. I can sum down all of my failures to impatiently taking too big of steps. I have learned, the number one cause of business failure is taking too big of a risk. 

I will admit, while taking baby steps on this huge mountain, my mind was saying, “You’ll never get there at this pace.” But then, I looked down to see how far I had came, wow!, then I looked up to see to my disbelief, I was getting much closer to the Russians 

As I became higher, the wind became even more fierce. At first, a large gust would knock me to the ground as I was fighting it. Then I remembered fire walking years earlier. I had said, “I am one with the fire,” and I didn’t get burned. I realized I needed to be “one with ALL the elements including the wind.  So I started repeating in my mind over and over, “I am one with the wind.” From this attitude, my body automatically assumed a new position each time I faced the wind. I lowered my head down and raised my straight arms behind me something like a Nordic ski jumper. Now my body cut the wind like a knife!

Long story short, I passed my Russian Friends and was first to the top. I didn’t care to be competitive, but simply found harmony in myself each step of the way. I was an unstoppable force by remaining in the flow with all the elements. 

Now that I am back home, I don’t feel the same. I am not exhausted to the least. All the deep breathing super energized me, and my consciousness feels permanently upgraded. I just achieved the greatest athletic accomplishment of my life, and actually enjoyed most every step, and now I feel much more confident that I can accomplish my big dreams with good planning and baby steps!