Mount Shasta: Valentine's Day with my True Love

I woke up Valentine’s Day morning and, went right to my living room window.  My heart stirred as I gazed at the magnificence of Mount Shasta once again.   I felt a strong desire to have an intimate visit on this day to celebrate love.

After lunch, I drove up to a trailhead around 6500 feet.  What a blessing to be able to drive 15 minutes from my home and be high up on Mount Shasta!

I strapped on my snowhoes and walked through the slushy snow to Ascension Rock, one of the most powerful sacred sites on the mountain.  I greeted the rock with a hug and my mind stopped.  Immediately, I tasted deeper stillness than I had for a while.  I sat for about an hour and drank it in.

Then, I snowshoed over to Sand Flat, a bit more than a mile away.  Sand Flat offers a full view of the summit and higher areas of Mount Shasta.  It’s a wonderful spot to sit and bask in her majestic  presence.

After an hour or so at Sand Flat, I headed back to my car.  I felt much more deeply present than I had just a couple hours ago.  My heart was wide open.  Once again, I had been transformed by the pure love Mount Shasta so freely offers.

Andrew Oser has been offering spiritual life coaching, along with guided retreats on Mount Shasta since 1982.   Through hikes to little-known sacred sites, guided meditations, spiritual life coaching, and time drinking in the silence of the mountain, he helps clients to deeply renew themselves in body, mind, and spirit and receive clear vision for their lives.  www.mountshastaretreat.net

Mount Shasta - My True Love

With Valentine’s Day coming up, our thoughts are naturally turning to love.

I met the great love of my life when I was only 24.  She captured my heart at first glance and I’ve been devoted to her ever since.  After many years of living far apart, we’ve been living together the past 9 years.  My true love is more than 14,000 feet tall.  Her name is Mount Shasta.

What Grace it is to look out my window now and see her, so magnificent in her glistening white winter coat.  When I gaze at her, my heart bursts wide open.  

Mount Shasta offers such a clear reflection of the love that I AM.  Through all the changes of seasons, weather, and we humans climbing her slopes, she is constant, always reflecting that Pure Love.  If I am lost in the thoughts rushing through my mind, a single glance at her brings me back into the Present.

In the many years we lived apart, I would faithfully visit as often as possible.  As soon as I arrived, I knew that I was home.  The stresses of the world would fall away and I would remember who I AM once again.

I’m glad that I’m not the jealous type, since my love does not reserve her gifts for me.  She freely shares herself with everyone.  Visitors come from all over, called to come home and bathe in the Pure Love that Mount Shasta is and reflects in each of us.

She’s honored me by having me guide visitors to her most sacred sites, where the love is further amplified.  What a blessing it is to watch people from every corner of the world experience the joy of coming home to that love and remembering it is truly who they are.

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Andrew Oser has been offering spiritual life coaching, along with guided retreats on Mount Shasta since 1982.   Through hikes to little-known sacred sites, guided meditations, spiritual life coaching, and time drinking in the silence of the mountain, he helps clients to deeply renew themselves in body, mind, and spirit and receive clear vision for their lives.  www.mountshastaretreat.net

Why Be Grateful When Things Don't Go Your Way?

First, a reminder that our Thanksgiving Eve meditation call from Mt. Shasta is this Wednesday.   For more info, please click here.

It’s easy to be grateful for a good friend, a beautiful sunrise, things we enjoy.  The challenge comes when things don’t go our way.  Someone cancels an important meeting at the last minute.  Our computer breaks down at an inopportune time.  It seems counter-intuitive to be grateful for unwelcome events.  But, if we can do so, it is a huge doorway to freedom.

When things don’t go our away, our first reaction will often be anger, fear, or judgment.  These emotions aren’t coming out of nowhere.  They are rising from our own subconscious.  As long as they remain buried, such emotions often run our lives.  When they are triggered into the light of awareness, this is our golden opportunity to get free from their hold on us.

The key is to shift attention from the story in the mind about what went wrong to feeling the sensations  and emotions in the body now.  When we can meet whatever is rising with grateful awareness, we get free of old patterns.  We realize that Life is our ally, not our enemy.  It always gives us the perfect experiences to set us free.

Andrew Oser guides retreats and sacred site journeys on Mount Shasta.  He, also, offers spiritual life coaching session worldwide by phone and Skype.  For more information, please click here.