Ginny, Carole, Diane, Kathy

Today was a big day for my Monday Morning Meditation women’s group. We founded our foursome in October 2013. Our inspiring leader, Carole, had to move out of the mountains for health reasons last summer, and we have been meeting at my father’s house ever since. (Carole’s husband, Lew, drives her here, then takes their dog for a hike in their old stomping grounds.  He took our photo.)

Driving up Boulder Canyon to Nederland can be quite the adventure in wintertime, and the storm track seems to regularly deliver nasty weather every Monday–which is why we were meeting on Sunday this time. Carole can’t come very often. Kathy, Diane, and I meet without her, but the more of us who gather, the easier and deeper our meditations. The group dynamic really reinforces the sense of peace and purpose.

Besides, we all have had a lot going on, and have increasingly leaned on and supported each other. It was high time to catch up on everyone’s holiday news. It was time to gather and get the new year off to a proper start.

The wind was ferocious today, so Lew could not hike. But the roads were uncharacteristically drivable, and, bless his heart, he brought Carole anyway. Today is the last “Monday” my sister, Kathy, will be here—for two months, boohoo, wail! This is the last hurrah (for a while) for our whole, dear group. We were so grateful to be together.

Each of us brought food, so we had quite the feast for our post-meditation social hour. My father’s basement laundry room gets decorated and turned into a kitchenette every Monday morning. 🙂

I had Carole’s big Tibetan brass bowl and gong packed to return to her. I had my own, new, little Tibetan brass bowl, tuned to F for the heart chakra, to ring in/out the meditation period. I wanted it to be used by the whole group—to kind of consecrate it. The whole corner of the daylight basement where we meet has FELT especially peaceful ever since we started meditating there.

It was a particularly emotional meeting, since we had not met all together for weeks, and the holidays had added to the stresses and joys of life. Kathy was setting off within days for two months in Spain, to walk the pilgrimage route of El Camino (Frances) de Santiago.

When the four of us sit in meditation together, I sometimes “get the chills”—it feels like holy time. We all say we can meditate much better together than alone. We feel connected and more filled with love, which then seems to flow between us and out from us. I wish I could do that on my own, too. (I do try, but not as successfully.)

Only Diane and I are left in the neighborhood, and life is transitional for both of us now, too, so Monday mornings have lost their specialness for a while.  Sigh.  (Thank heaven for email and Facebook!  We’re still in touch with each other.)