Meditation Mount

I've yearned for the ability to meditate for a while, though it has been difficult in this world of distractions to clear the chatter enough to really get the most of the experience. This is why, when I learned there was to be an Introduction to Meditation seminar at Meditation Mount, I decided it would be the perfect time to learn and to visit one of the places on my To Smite List.
This was actually not the first time I'd been to Meditation Mount. The first time occurred in November of 2009 for a concert, but it was in the dead of the night. The morning I drove up for the meditation session, the sky was overcast, but the grays only accentuated the lovely greens of Ojai. I love the area. If I had free range to pick places to retire, Ojai would be in the top two next to Monterey. With its Bierstadt mountains and picturesque orange groves, its clean air and quiet attitude, Ojai is one of those places that truly serves as a refuge, and Meditation Mount is its jewel.
From the full meditation session, in which I was by far the youngest, I learned the technique of fire gazing, of watching a candle flicker then be still, for only a moment. Technically, any object can be used as a focal point, but the fire was truly engrossing. We kept ourselves grounded with our feet planted flat, and we breathed deeply of the clear air, searching for that gratitude and innate happiness that the average person would consider a social sin. We concluded with a world meditation, forming a connection with the whole world of people and maintaining awareness that we are all part of one human organism, something that it is easy to forget behind a computer screen.
At the conclusion, we went our separate ways into the brisk air, never to gather as a group again. Sipping on a hot cup of chamomile, I took a stroll through the International Garden of Peace, a humble, yet beautiful collection of cacti and flowers overlooking the Ojai Valley. The sun peeking through the clouds cast beams of light across the farmlands below, a truly awe-inspiring vista. I returned to the parking lot, where I shared my first freshly picked persimmon with a group of my fellow meditation students. Its gooey sweetness was delightfully refreshing to my empty stomach. I had no idea how squishy they had to be before they were ripe. I relished the red mess all over my hands and mouth and enjoyed the company of the kind travelers before we parted ways, and I took home a few more persimmons and an orange.
As I stopped for some lasagna at Boccali's, just down the road, I realized that, for the first time in ages, I felt truly calm, all the way down to my roots. The fresh air and beautiful views I had shared with kind people had very quickly refreshed me. I am subscribed to the Meditation Mount Newsletter, and I intend to go back for more meditations, guest speakers, and perhaps another concert. For anyone seeking solitude and relief from the madness of city life, Meditation Mount is the ideal location for comforting the soul.