{"id":34,"date":"2010-08-27T07:25:50","date_gmt":"2010-08-27T07:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/2010\/08\/living-in-vermont.html"},"modified":"2010-08-27T07:25:50","modified_gmt":"2010-08-27T07:25:50","slug":"living-in-vermont","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2010\/08\/living-in-vermont.html","title":{"rendered":"Living in Vermont"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Thumbnail<\/a><\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

Let me tell you a thing or two about
\nthe place where I live in Northern Vermont. Vermont has a population of
\napproximately 600,000 people and 300,000 cows. It is one of the least populated
\nstates. Our shining metropolis, Burlington, has 40,000 people. Burlington sits
\non the shores of vast Lake Champlain overlooking the Adirondack Mountains to
\nthe West. To the East, lie the Green mountains worn smooth and covered with
\ntrees over millions of years. The highest peak in Vermont is Mt. Mansfield
\nsitting at 4393 feet. There is a “Toll Road” that serves as a ski
\ntrail in the winter and an access road in the summer. It’s $25 a carload, but
\nin the evening you can hike, run, or bike up. One evening, a friend and I mountain-biked
\nup. It’s a relentless 4.5 mile climb and an arm-seizing, white-knuckle, and
\nthankfully brief, plunge down its gravelly hairpin length.<\/span><\/p>\n

Afterwards we went to a
\n“secret” swimming hole at Bingham Falls in the Smuggler’s Notch
\nNational Forest. I say “secret” because busloads of Japanese tourists
\nare known to show up on the occasional unsuspecting skinny dipper. It’s a
\nhalf-mile descent in. We arrived at dusk and followed the sound of the raging
\nwater. The falls sit in a 50 foot high bowl of boulders. The water was an
\ninviting and invigorating 60 degrees. A healing swim after the rigorous climb
\nup the mountain. To read a story on Bingham Falls in Vermont Life Magazine, click here<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

The sound of the water is meditative and it is easy to be
\nmindful in a place of stark, isolated nature. The twilight and the refreshing cold
\nmade my body come alive. I reflected on how fortunate I am to live in this
\nplace where such wonders are more or less in my backyard. Why is it that a
\nplace like this pulls us into mindfulness more so than a crowded subway car or
\na suburban strip mall? There is likely an archaic reason for this. We evolved
\nin the natural world and this evolution still resonates deep in our psyches
\nwhen we are exposed to it. Of course, there is nothing inherently more real
\nhere at Bingham Falls than there is at a cigar store on Seventh Avenue in New
\nYork City. Both are empty in the Buddhist sense; both a process and not a
\nstatic thing. But we respond differently.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s a good idea to spend time in nature. Professor Randolph
\nNesse cautions “natural selection has not had time to revise our bodies for
\ncoping with fatty diets, automobiles, drugs, artificial lights and central
\nheating.” Research suggests that exposure to nature is beneficial for our
\nwell-being. Just having a window in a hospital room can result in quicker
\ndischarge and prisoners use less medical service<\/span><\/font><\/font><\/font>s<\/span><\/font><\/font>. <\/span><\/p>\n

The biochemist Reanny reminds us how iron got in our blood
\npoetically pointing to the interconnectedness we have with nature.  <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

It was smelted into being in the fiery
\nfurnace that was the brilliant core of a giant star; it was flung across space
\nby the violence of a super-nova when that star exploded into an apocalypse that
\nhad the brilliance of a million suns; it congealed into the rocks of just-born
\nplanet; it was rubbed into soil by wind and water and the action of microbes;
\nit was taken up and made flesh by plant; and now lives in a red cell,
\ncirculating the rivers your blood, helping you breathe and keep your
\nconsciousness afire, here, now.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

We are not just connected to nature. We <\/font>are<\/font><\/i> nature.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let me tell you a thing or two about the place where I live in Northern Vermont. Vermont has a population of approximately 600,000 people and 300,000 cows. It is one of the least populated states. Our shining metropolis, Burlington, has 40,000 people. 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Vermont has a population of approximately 600,000 people and 300,000 cows. It is one of the least populated states. Our shining metropolis, Burlington, has 40,000 people. 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Dr. Kozak's ability to translate ancient healing traditions into pragmatic applications suitable for modern lifestyles through the use of metaphors have made him a strong voice in healthcare and business. Beginning with a journey to India in the 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where he took the Bodhisattva vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arnie Dr. Kozak began his lifelong practice in mindfulness meditation. Intent on finding a way to bring the practical healing attributes of mindfulness he began incorporating these techniques in his private practice. In 2002 Dr. Kozak created Exquisite Mind in Burlington, Vermont as a vehicle that could expand his wisdom to larger audiences beyond individual psychotherapy to professionals and corporations, health care providers, public groups and, most recently with Exquisite Mind Golf, amateur and professional golfers. His award-winning new book, Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness (Wisdom Publications, 2009) is a thoughtful, funny, and inspiring translation of mindfulness practice through the inventive use of metaphor applicable to our daily lives. In addition to his work with Exquisite Mind, Arnie Kozak, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDoctorate has been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Vermont and is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry and Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine. He has studied and practiced clinical psychology, meditation, and yoga for more than 25 years. He has studied with several meditation masters, including S. N. Goenka, Larry Rosenberg, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After receiving his bachelors degree with honors from Tufts University, he was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to get his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University at Buffalo. He completed his training as a Psychological Fellow at the Harvard Medical School. Prior to founding the Exquisite Mind in 2002, Arnie worked ten years in the private sector for the PKC Corporation consulting on mental health content for this revolutionary software company.","sameAs":["http:\/\/exquisitemind.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/author\/akozak"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}