Newsletter 21 – April 2013

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In late January we released our new book, ”Letters from Sacred Rok” and in mid-February we started off our book tour by giving a presentation at the Stanford Alpine Club. On February 21st we were given the opportunity to have a book release event at Heyday Books with founder Malcolm Margolin. Being at Heyday was more than just an honor, it was a validation; when we support each other and show respect it promotes healing and confidence. Malcolm’s introduction of Sacred Rok and myself was an example of that. In his way of respecting the education I received in nature through rock climbing gave me something I know we all want to give our kids – the power to respect yourself and your uniqueness, your gift to be. Thank you Malcolm and all the people for the great night.

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The following weekend Sacred Rok hosted youth from the Merced Boys and Girls Club on our first trip of the year. Many of the youth are returning from last year and some are new comers. It is so nice to see some of the young people from the last year and how they grow. This privilege to be with youth is amazing – it’s an opportunity to have fun visits, share stories and laugh. cascadecollage

We help to bring out the best in each other. So far we have had three trips with them this season, the most recent of which were some of the youngest yet – ages 7 to 12! These little beings shed the light even more about how precious this life really is.

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A few days after our first trip with Boys and Girls Club we stepped back on the trail with Mr.Garcia and our Probation crew. It felt like we never left, our connection is strong in many ways. These relationships are based on Respect, recognizing as we enter the natural world we are equal as human beings, this is what I like to call “Higher Education.” Getting back to the basics we keep it real and real simple – for this profound reality – listening to the water and wind, smelling the trees. We learn that wisdom is everywhere in everything.

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We have made a new friend from Merced, Kelly Turner. She works with young girls in the Merced area through an organization she created called Symple Equazion; she brought up three teenagers a couple of weeks ago. We found ourselves under waterfalls and rainbows, our feet in the ice cold river, looking for Eagles and meandering along. That was a great first day and we look forward to seeing them again.

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March 23rd was our book signing presentation at the Merced Arts and Cultural Center on Main Street. At this gathering all of our board members shared their thoughts and feelings about why they are involved, setting me up for our power point which goes through my life - starting as a teenager and on into our book. After, we had a Q&A, this brought us into the realization of how this group of fifty people are creating a circle of like-minded Human Beings wanting the best for our young people – here and everywhere in the world.

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To bring it home, Joe Frontella, our new friend and connection to the Juvenile Correction Complex, came up to read these quotes from our young incarcerated people who were on the first probation trip this year:

“We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world and the best we can find in our travels is a honest friend.”

“Yosemite is life changing and will be an inspiration for the rest of my life.”

“When you are motivated and dedicated you can climb any mountain.”

“The smallest choices we make now can have a huge impact on us later in life.”

“I learned the purpose of nature is to preserve it, so that the future generation can enjoy it.”

“Yosemite is one of the most beautiful places to go and is my gateway in succeeding in life.”

“Setting goals like climbing mountains build your character and give you confidence. Setting small goals and achieving them weekly will help you be successful.”

“When you go to Yosemite listen for the call of your destiny and when it comes release your plans and follow.”

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As always we thank you for your support in working together making our world a better place for all our relations.

Click here for a tax deductible donation through PayPal.

Sacred Rok Food Thoughts from Katie’s Camp Kitchen

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Part of my job at Sacred Rok is to provide everyone with the best food I can conjure. This not only means good taste, it also means good for you.

A lot of thought and time go into thinking of recipes, adapting recipes to fit with our mission of better health through nutrition, and what ingedrients will be the most beneficial.

We have a lot of picnics with our youth and this is actually a tricky type of meal to be prepared for. I want to provide something warm, something heathy and something everyone will enjoy. Sure hotdogs are easy but hot dogs are no more than a mouthful of toxins.

A personal favorite that is not only savory but also highly healthy are cabbage rolls.

Cabbage Rolls – makes about 35 small rolls

Ingredients

Two head medium size cabbage

Grass fed beef, or bison

Organic rice

Organic onion – 1 large

Organic Green Onion – 5

Organic Garlic – 5 cloves

salt.pepper, red pepper, parsley

lemon

-heavy bottom pot

Process

in a large bowl mix the meat (uncooked), rice (uncooked), chopped onion, chopped garlic, and spice.

wash cabbage and pull off the leaves. many times the center vein is very hard and makes rolling the leaf difficult – I cut these leaves in half – removing the vein- so that rolling is better. you want the leaves to be very pliable.

place anywhere from one to two full tablespoons of meat and rice mix in the center of your leaf and roll up- like an egg roll.

line bottom of pot with leaves – to create a barrier between rolls and bottom

place the rolls side by side in pot – layering up to one inch from the top of pot.

add enough water to cover halfway – about two cups or so

cover and steam on low heat until rice is cooked.

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Your donations help keep us going!

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Newsletter 20 – January 2013

January 2013 Book Announcement: Letters from Sacred Rok by Ron Kauk

We are asking for a suggested $20 donation (minimum) plus $5 for shipping and handling – please send a check or money order to PO Box 148 – Yosemite, CA 95389 if you would like a copy or click the link below.

Click here for a tax deductible donation through PayPal.

We are pleased to announce the publication of 107 page book, Letters from Sacred Rok. The book is based on Ron’s newsletters and photos that have appeared on our website, and envisions how we share the story of nature.

In the preface, founding board member Kenji Hakuta recounts his conversation with Ron, from which Sacred Rok originated. At the parking lot of the Tioga Pass Resort, he asked Ron what he was working on, expecting an answer about a new climbing project. “I’m working on my breathing,” Ron said. Sacred Rok is based on this kind of simple ceremony that connects youth to Yosemite.

Letters from Sacred Rok comes from Ron’s intimate connection with nature. It represents what Yosemite has meant to him over the past 40 years as a climber, and now what he hopes to communicate through Sacred Rok. As Ron writes in the book, “Sacred Rok has become a climb of a lifetime.” The book interweaves new photos taken by Ron of Yosemite and the Sacred Rok youth, with more classic pictures from his history as a climber.

This is truly a stunning and beautiful book which we would like to share with all of our supporters. We are asking for a suggested $20 donation (minimum) plus $5 for shipping and handling – please contact us if you would like a copy.

January 2013 Message from the Board Chair

On behalf of the Sacred Rok Board of Directors, we would like to wish you all a happy new year, filled with the joys of nature as we continue to work together. As our book announcement shares, 2013 is off to a good start. Letters from Sacred Rok will be having book release events in Merced and in the Bay Area in the next few months, so please keep an eye out for announcements.

Our Annual Report has also been released and is on our website. We are proud of our accomplishments and look forward to the paths that will lead us in 2013!

Nancy Goodban, Chair

Newsletter 19 – October 2012

October – 2012

Summer came early, you might say, with Tioga Pass opening in late May, which offered a good long time for camping trips up in Tuolumne Meadows. On one of the trips our elder, Bill Tucker, brought up five Yosemite native young people between 11 and 16 years old. The morning started early. At first light, we got the fire going. Bill would walk over to the 6-man REI tent to tell the guys to get up. It only took saying it once. It was chilly out. They all walked out to the fire, some barefoot, some just in a T-shirt, eyes half open. It’s such a magical time of day, where the idea of waking up is profound with light brushing across the trees, the birds starting to sing, squirrels running around, deer crossing the river.

The morning talk is on. Having an elder to keep things in perspective was a good and powerful experience. Kenji, Les James, Bill and I had all met a year or so ago when we wrote about the native language and how to bring back the value and sacredness that comes with it, the connectedness of people. That idea came to life in the morning. At some point in our morning talk about respecting life and how to work together, Bill would say to the youth to go to the river and make your offering to the water, the earth, your family. Then when Katie said breakfast was ready, Bill would have one of the guys say something about the food, to appreciate it. The same for dinner. Always taking a little time to honor life and what gives us life. This way of being together for our 3-night, 4-day set the stage for everything we did.

I learned a lot about staying true to our pace. It’s not a race or competition. Bill kept slowing the guys down, saying “Why are your heads down and walking so fast? You’re missing everything, like that falcon’s nest.” So we stopped and had a little snack and talked, yet getting to our destination Cathedral Lake anyway with lots of time.

Thinking about time, culture, language is so interesting. These are things that nature evokes. I would say it’s written in us, the rhythm of moving, breathing, staying in tune with the heartbeat. Recognizing the new day, listening to the harmony of nature, watching the sunrise – the youth resonate to these ways of flowing with natural time.

Adjusting to this rhythm first thing in the morning brings me back to a kind of healthiness for our being, you might say, the “being” part of human. This profound experience was helped by our elder who sees the value and importance of showing our young people how to greet the new day, something good for everyone. Tucker has always shared this, it’s just part of who he is, and it was an honor for us all to be together.

On another of our trips, Karen Rust, a teacher and counselor from Mariposa, came up again with some of her students. She offered the following reflections on the trip, which we share with you.

Flow of Friends (by Karen Rust)

Last winter Ron Kauk was able to come down for an assembly at the Mariposa Middle School. The 8^th grade students were invited to experience the wonder of Yosemite through Ron’s stories and slides. Several of the students seemed magnetized by Ron’s presentation and came up to talk with him afterward. Ron had said to me that he was open to the idea of building relationships with a small number of local youth over time to see what would happen in its natural flow. These initial conversations led to these students participating in three separate outings in Yosemite during the late Spring, Summer, and Fall. Nearly a year has gone by, and these young people have come to know each other and their Yosemite backyard in new and exciting ways.

A group of five students has been able to spend one day in Yosemite last spring, four days in Tuolumne over the summer, and our last outing in late September on the Merced River. It was obvious to me on the YARTS bus on the way home from our last day together, that they had thoroughly enjoyed themselves, each other and their place. We had spent the better part of the day, wandering back and forth across the Merced, only covering about a quarter of a mile stretch of river. How many hundreds of times have I driven by this spot, and not even given it a glance?

During the day we ate lunch at the most exquisite granite table, imagining ancient groups like ours sharing food preparation, stories, splashing in the crystal clear water, (even in September in a drought year), eating together, balancing on log crossings, making driftwood art, and seeing a bear in the rocky crevices of the far shore. Ron Kauk has opened up an opportunity for us to immerse ourselves in the present and delight in it. How can we be totally alive to our senses when we are hurried and worried to death and dullness? In these little oases of outdoor living, we have been present with each other and our setting.

The four day stay in Tuolumne was a true highlight of the summer for all of us. The meals were simple, healthy, and the organic produce and oh so fresh. As a veteran backpacker and camper for 30 plus years, I am not accustomed to fresh produce at the campsite. The students were able to help prepare the meals and in one case, the understanding of how to prepare and include vegetables in cooking was life-changing for her. She said, “You know how we had the chicken meal on our last night and we used Grandma’s recipe plus the veggies; now we add veggies whenever we make it.” Our meal planner and Chef Katie added a key ingredient for healthy, balanced life together.

As a social worker/school counselor, I am increasingly aware of growing numbers of students that experience anxiety and depression. With the pressure in school to achieve standards, and the financial pressure on the families, it becomes all the more important to maintain a balance of self-care and family play. Five fourteen year-olds found themselves playing, creating, interacting, and challenging themselves physically beyond their expectations of themselves. One of the girls stretched herself physically when bouldering and learned, “Even if you doubt that you can do something, try it anyway. If you tell yourself you can’t do something, make it your mission to prove yourself wrong.” One of the guys challenged his negative self-perception, “Never doubt yourself and enjoy the moment, even if you think you are insignificant, keep an open mind and you will learn that you are more.” Thanks to the unique opportunity that these students have had with Sacred Rok, they have more vitality and motivation to explore beyond their borders. Isn’t that what education is all about?

We really want to thank Karen for collaborating with us at Sacred Rok. Her experience in backpacking and being in the Sierras have put her in a perfect position to bring the kids from Mariposa up here into Yosemite. These young people are now creating their own slideshow, which will help us learn more about developing long-term relationships and reflecting on our shared experiences. The potential is unlimited to follow education nature’s way. We thank all of you for your support and donations. These two trips we shared with you continue to inspire us to continue our original mission – to respect nature and through that to respect ourselves.

Newsletter 18 – June 2012

Staying true to our on-going relationships, two groups of four Boys and Girls Club youth returned to continue enjoying the adventure of being in Yosemite. One group which came first in March for the snow storm decided to wait until the snow melted before braving the elements, and they got to play in Tenaya Creek under Half Dome.

The other group that first came in February enjoyed a day under El Capitan at the river on a sandy beach. For both groups, even after just their second trip, it confirms for me the importance of continued relationships that connect us. We learn from each other every time we get together.

The probation guys also returned twice. Their first trip was spent observing the river along the Lower Merced Canyon.

From there, we went to the top from the backside of a 1,000 foot cliff to consider the perspective of looking back down on the river.

Interestingly enough, we ran across the Yosemite Search and Rescue team taking time to practice their rescue techniques, including Jesse McGahey the climbing ranger. Jesse has been part of our collaboration. He has helped Sacred Rok to join in with the Park Service and the Yosemite Conservancy on some trail work to fix some of the approaches up to popular climbs where erosion has become a problem due to years of a lack of care-taking.

So the following trip found us working in the Cascade Falls area – we put in a few good hours reshaping the trail building steps with rock work so that it would better endure the traffic – the guys worked hard.

It was a great exercise in working together, and that felt good. To top it off, we celebrated by then going down by the river to have a picnic that Katie prepared.

We were also fortunate to have a Mariposa middle school group of five come up.

This came about after being invited to give a presentation back in February where I showed “Return to Balance” and shared stories of my life spent climbing and its symbolic lessons. Their teacher Karen and I talked about arranging a trip to Yosemite in May or June. I didn’t hear from her for a long time and was wondering what might have happened. After months she emailed me saying she was sorry to say the middle school would be closing due to budget cuts and they wouldn’t be able to do the trip. I called her and told her that it wasn’t necessary that the school be involved in getting the youth up here and that we would be happy to fund the trip. She was so happy and thanked us for staying positive. It made me feel good that we at Sacred Rok could say yes.

I must thank everyone for the help you have given Sacred Rok and it’s against-all-odds approach where we feel it’s time to remember what it means to be human and work together for the future of all life. When we say Education Nature’s Way, we really mean it — bringing the young people to one of the most beautiful places on Earth is about inspiration, education, healing and the search for the wisdom of nature and our place as human beings. Nothing lives without water. Yosemite in spring and throughout the year is a display of the beauty and Sacred reality of water.

We feel that ongoing relationships with our young people will help us all to develop together, making better sense of the reality of Nature and to become truly educated into responsible, compassionate, caring human beings! From our experiences it’s interesting to imagine where these ongoing relationships will lead us as we creatively engage in conversations and generate possibilities such as connecting youth to work in the park. I feel that at Sacred Rok, one of our strengths is to grow organically, and so we appreciate hearing from you about what you think, and how you might participate.

Ron

Note: The trips with the Boys and Girls Club are funded by a grant from The North Face Explorer Fund and United Way of Merced County. The probation trips are funded through a flexible grant from Clif Bar. The Mariposa middle school trip was funded by your generosity. Thanks for the support!

Newsletter 17 – March 2012

Spring has arrived and with it Sacred Rok is excited to be starting off another year of continued relationships with young people in Yosemite.

Clif Bar

The start of the year found me at the Emeryville headquarters of Clif Bar, participating in their weekly company meeting as the invited guest of their founder, Gary Erickson. Gary and I share a friendship that goes back many years, and interestingly enough, we were born on the same year and day. We are connected in our appreciation for the Sierras and nature in general.

While I went about my life as a climber, Gary has shaped his company on sustainability and respect for nature, so in a way, it was natural for him to be excited about Sacred Rok, and he invited me down to the company to talk about our mission, and to celebrate our collaboration on the new packaging for the Builder Bar, in which he used an image of me.

My visit to Clif Bar showed a good example of what the world of business can be when there is respect for the natural environment, which provided for the business in the first place. The company environment is amazingly happy, a dog-friendly, open space created from natural and recycled materials with exercise and relaxation areas, a child care center, and a great kitchen. Being there I saw what they mean about building a business and brand through their values of commitment to the planet, the community, and their people. Gary has inspired me to consider what is possible with a good collaboration of people who have diverse talents.

I got to continue my conversation with Gary as we drove together north of the Bay Area to St. Helena – Velo Vino – which he and his wife Kit Crawford started. There in the company of a nice gathering, Gary and I did a presentation about our shared adventures and I got to talk about my life as a climber and, again, about Sacred Rok. It was an exciting evening to feel the response and support of many people who could relate to our story. After these two events, Gary and I were talking and we agreed that our theme of the past few days was “What does it mean to be human?” What is the true meaning of education? That’s our commitment, to understand the true meaning of education. Everybody agrees we have to have a good education, but our definition of education needs to be challenged — otherwise why are we polluting the air and water and blowing each other up?

Trips with Young People

Thanks to support from Clif Bar and our other partners including United Way of Merced and North Face Explorer Fund and many individual donors, we have continued to have a steady stream of trips, working with the Boys and Girls Club of Merced and the probation department. In one of the recent trips, four young people came up for the day on the YARTS bus, and Katie and I took them to Cascade Falls for lunch, where one of the boys announced that he could spend all day right there. Just “being” in Yosemite can be as simple as learning to relax and be inspired by the nature and the beauty, stimulating the senses and remembering how to be human.

: Boys & Girls Club Februray Trip

: Boys & Girls Club March Trip

After Cascade, we stopped at Fern Spring where we looked at the water coming up through the ground and filled up our bottles. How interesting it is to observe how naturally the young people are drawn to the water… I stood marveling at how profoundly powerful the expression of this spring is when we stop to acknowledge the reality of it — this water has been held under the earth and surfaces at the entrance to Yosemite Valley. We stop here not just for the water but to reference the sacred nature of the place. In acknowledging this spring it helps to orient our group to why we are here and what we are doing. From this point it helps harmonize and synchronize ourselves to the surroundings – the river, the trees, the rocks, the breeze, the birds — all of this is the curriculum, the greatest teacher is nature, and my job is to be the facilitator. When the young people reach down to the water and put it on their own face, a connection is being made. And when we recognize the value of water we come to respect and acknowledge it as our life source.

One of the probation youth on another trip up the Yosemite Falls trail – possible in this dry winter — wanted to know how far the trails go, and when I told him that these trails go for hundreds of miles in different directions, he said, “I just wanna keep going.” The way he said that was a really strong expression of his sincerity and the inspiration that he was getting as we went up the trail , and the way that he said it made me feel that we are on the right track.

The Moon and the Sun at the Cookie

Cookie Cliff

As I was preparing to climb up the cliff the other day, I noticed the moon rising over the mountain to the east, but I was still feeling the sun setting in the west. After climbing about 200 feet, I came to a foot-wide ledge, where I turned to face the canyon. I’ve been coming to this cliff – the Cookie – at the entrance of Yosemite since age 15. I know this place well, and call it my sacred space.

This moment was powerful. I felt as though I stood suspended between the moon and the sun on this one-foot ledge on earth, overlooking the flowing river with its own history. This moment signaled to me what I mean by learning, and summarized what the great teacher – the earth – has taught me over time by the feeling of the wind and the sound of the river – it’s all based on learning to develop relationships through appreciation.

Cookie Cliff

I guess not every climber would think these thoughts at the Cookie. Later on at the base of the climb, I mentioned my experience of being between the sun and the moon to two climbers, who appreciated my sentiments but remained mostly excited about their climbing (I can understand that). My thoughts that day go back to my early exposure to the mountains when, as a 14-year old, I was given the opportunity to have three solo days in the midst of a 20-day backpacking trip, giving me the time to observe the stars and the flickering light on the boulders from the campfire. My interpretation of the experience at the Cookie has a very long history, and one that probably goes back to the very fabric of being human. Being in Yosemite as a climber and year-long resident for most of the past 36 years has inspired me to try to understand what it means to be human, and what it means to relate to the privilege of being in this beautiful place. I am still moved, even after all these years, with this sense of wonder.

Ron Kauk

Message from the Board Chair

In reflecting on how far we have come since Kenji and my conversation with Ron at Inspiration Point in November of 2008, I am gratified for the generous support of so many – individuals, foundations, corporations — in helping Ron to realize his vision of education nature’s way. Thanks to your support, we have matured as an organization, and have been able to share the wonders and healing power of Yosemite with young people through day trips and camping trips. We have built ongoing relationships with many of these young people through our ability to bring them on multiple trips, and they continue to keep in touch with Ron. Please check out our annual report on our web site if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet!

Nancy Goodban

Wassup Sacred Rokers!

Newsletter 16 – Sept/Oct 2011

This has been the season of water. I can’t ever remember seeing so much water flowing. And it’s remarkable when you have the time to be in nature and consider what it’s saying. What does it mean to be human, being born into this world and continuing to age and to grow.

Observing these realities continues to promote my own education – marveling and humbled by the flow of nature, living in the Tuolumne campground all summer long, constantly exposed to these elements – wind, cloud, rain, early morning fires, and observing sunrises with the Tuolumne river flowing just a few hundred feet away. I’ve been sleeping on the ground in the same spot for the fifth summer in a row. The trees and the boulder feel closer, like family members next to you, and the respect that I have for them has grown because of this fact of sharing this space, which continues to bring me into the context of sense of place and the indigenous reality that all of us carry in our DNA.

From all these unique spots high in the Sierra the Tuolumne River flows into Hetch Hetchy in one direction, or down the Merced River in the other. As the water flows down and gets trapped in dams and diverted into canals and aqueducts, its message also gets clogged and lost. We don’t know what rocks it touched, what canyons it shaped, what waterfalls it created. We are connected by this history, but we have lost its meaning.

Life for me in Yosemite is about migrating with the earth’s rotation. This summer felt so short because the campground in Tuolumne opened late due to the snow. Already, the earth’s movement has asserted itself, and the changing season has taken me back down to 2,000 feet in El Portal, where I’m observing the Merced River that continues to drain out the water from the higher country. I find myself sitting with the fire already going with winter wanting to show up early.

It’s fun to reflect on the past summer and the 12 foster youth that came up to the Tuolumne camp. It felt really great to be with them, a lot of laughter and visiting and exploring Tuolumne Meadows, and lots of good food prepared by Katie. It inspires us to come up with a language of what we mean by education nature’s way, and the three years we have been involved with this. In the third year of bringing Merced youths to Yosemite through Sacred Rok, one reflection is this: “What’s wrong with us humans? Can’t we listen to what these young people are saying?” My connections with them have been an incredible inspiration to me.

What the Sacred Rok youth are telling me is the power of our “relations.” I say this in the indigenous sense of the Miwok elders who use the term relations: every act has a relation to the land and to the elements of water, sun, wind, animals, plant life and kin. At Sacred Rok, our key is to restore the balance and harmony of the relations that have been knocked way off base by our society with its metrics of productivity and accountability and class structure. It’s almost like the dams that block the flow of the water down the rivers. We are trying to facilitate the kids coming back up the stream to connect to the life source. Society tries to train the kids to understand, master and manage nature, rather than to educate them to honor and learn from our relations.

Every time a Sacred Rok youth steps into a river, touches a rock, appreciates a sunset, and honors the earth, we are learning from their actions and marveling at the power of that ceremony. The instructions are written in nature, and we are becoming more literate at deciphering what is written with every passing experience.

In all of this, Yosemite occupies a special place. Our relations with nature are influenced by the specific spots where the experiences occur, not just at any old spot. For me as a climber, I consider it a privilege to have had so much time in Yosemite, which influenced the way in which my relations have developed over a very long time.

Our goal is to have continuous relations for the youth from the Merced area to develop, as well, over a very long time. I came to Yosemite at age 14, and now it’s been 40 years, and I’m still learning how to honor the wisdom of nature. The goal of Sacred Rok is to continue to learn, connecting Yosemite to Merced, and providing a long-term base for the students with whom relations have developed. We hope to be a life-long base from which life foundations are formed.

Newsletter 15 – July 2011

July Newsletter

David Tyack is a professor at Stanford who thinks and writes about the history of education. He has written lots of books about what public schools mean to a democratic society, the values that they convey, the place of citizenship.

David has mentored hundreds of students who have gone on to important jobs in education. For someone who’s done so much in life, he’s incredibly humble and grounded in the reality of humanity and the earth.

David is now retired from his position at Stanford, but he has continued in his role as a teacher. He came to visit last month, accompanied by Kenji who wanted to bring back some early memories and to connect him with Sacred Rok.

David said that he first came to Yosemite in 1948. Back then, David was a student in Massachusetts, and he hitchhiked out here on the summer between high school and college to work on Blister Rust Control for the Civilian Conservation Corps with the Forest Service. He worked off of Tioga Pass Road, which at that time was just a small dirt road. I marveled in meeting someone who’s been here so long ago, and appreciated connecting to his wisdom. The west drew him. Although raised and educated in the east, David hitchhiked back to California the following year to pick fruit in Loomis, and then he taught in Oregon and at Stanford. He loves the mountains, adventure, and the experience of being with people.

Kenji had planned on coming up with David to enjoy the rushing water, but they hadn’t planned on a rainy weekend in early June. They came anyway, and we were rewarded by a hike around the valley floor in constant soaking rain. Although David is not the kind of hiker he used to be, he’s still strong and has the enthusiasm of a kid plus the wisdom of his years. The valley was crowded despite the rain, but we still found a quiet spot that was sheltered from the rain under the trees. We sat and enjoyed some snacks and a good conversation.

We talked about trees, and about what nature has meant to his life – the experiences, the metaphors, and the friendships. After all these years of teaching at Stanford and the academic wisdom he has shared, he said that what so many students remember most about him were the hikes and the bike rides that they took. What I most appreciated was the intertwining of our two very different lives – mine as a lifelong climber and student of the ways of nature, and David’s as a respected scholar and also a student of nature.

What David says about education is so profound and almost serves as a motto for Sacred Rok. In discussing a book “Tinkering toward Utopia” that he wrote with his good friend Larry Cuban, he said: “For goodness sake, let’s stop talking about the financial value of education and talk instead about human capital, about schools helping to create people who are fully developed as human beings and as democratic citizens.”

The next day, as we were talking about our hike and our conversation about trees, he said he’d like to share poem that he wrote several years back about trees, and about their strength and their fragility. And he said we could share it in our newsletter.

Girdling

Bristlecone pines cling to chalk cliffs expecting
fire to scatter seed over charred ground.

Redwoods shoot their green sprouts up dark canyons
toward the filtered sun.

Trees have gifts for living.

But girdle the tree and cut the cambium’s ever-circling flow,
and dead it will stand, erect awhile in central core, but
browning from decay.

This is how we feel about kids, with a gift for living, yet much of society is like girdling, suffocating the natural flow. David did share that he wrote this not with kids in mind, but about human relationships and love as well. David is not afraid to talk about love, its power and fragility, and about healing from suffering.

Later in the month, I participated in the annual spiritual camp in our Yosemite native circles, which always brings me back to the basics. The experience of people working together in our camp to honor and to connect to our life source and the powers of healing in the sweat lodge every morning and evening helped me consider our participation and responsibility as caretakers of the land. The songs that we sing are about nature and its ceremony. This went on from Monday to Friday, with the last day being the bear dance ceremony that brings people from all over the country.

The park rangers kept coming to give us daily reports of the potential of flooding in Yosemite Valley, which seemed like the outside world from the perspective of our camp. Curiously enough, just outside was also the world of Camp 4, where so many years of my youth as a climber were spent, as I’ve shared with you about Midnight Lightning and other climbs. Camp 4 was my high school, and now next door I’m in my university, continuing to learn to be human, now with indigenous perspective and knowledge about the reality of nature as our life source.

I so appreciated simply being under the trees at the spiritual camp, participating with the native elders and acknowledging that this is where people have been taking in the beauty for thousands of years, cultivating the richness of the wisdom and balance of knowing how to work together as a community.

It was special, too, having the conversations with David, the elder of his community of scholars with an understanding of the meaning of education, surrounded by these same trees. As these two experiences came together for me this past month, I could especially feel the force of rushing water that is the pulse of the earth. Kenji and I continue to reflect on what it means for Sacred Rok to bring kids from Merced, and how we can connect them to this community of nature and its power for healing.

Thanks to everyone for their donations and contributions, at this time it is what is keeping us going. Let’s keep working together!

Newsletter 14 – May/June 2011

At this time of year when the snowpack is melting and flowing down the walls of Yosemite, it give me a sense of the earth. Water is the pulse of the earth, that continues the life cycles. These are part of what I call “my relations.” Earlier this month the guys from Planada came back up for the first time this year. It’s been great to have on-going trips with them to help our story of Education Nature’s Way. One of the first things they asked was “When can we fill our water bottles at the spring?” Going to the spring has been a great thing to experience with them, so it was our first stop.

What’s fun about getting together is we don’t necessarily have a plan. I think it is good to enter into Yosemite with an open mind, allowing for what may happen naturally. Being spring time, of course we wanted to check the water falls. So, we headed up the Vernal Fall trail with no expectation as to how far we might go. Along the way we took our time to visit and rest here and there. The guys stayed motivated to keep going and we ended up on top of Nevada Fall, where we found snow. It was the first time for some of the guys to experience snow in the mountains.

We’ve been together four or five times now and I feel like we move together well. We are always respecting each other and taking care of the reality to watch our step in an environment where there can be big drop offs and slippery granite at times. I really appreciate the opportunity to learn from our group how we can continue to build our reality by learning from nature.

By taking our time to enjoy and move with this natural pace we seem more connected to the moment rather than just trying to get to the top of the falls. Like we’ve said before this is an on-going opportunity to learn from the kids – how they find their own rhythm in nature, meaning truly being on nature time.

Without a doubt the healing powers of nature are real. Yosemite and all the natural world have always been our guide to the possibility of survival and well- being. Sacred Rok is committed to this way of nature as the teacher – Something we all need. But at this time, in such a technological world that pushes our youth at an unnatural pace, it is vital for their development. Finding a solid foundation with the earth is a way to learn to respect life.

Thanks for your on-going support and donations. Let’s keep working together!

Newsletter 13 – April 2011

A heavy storm passed through our mountains at the end of last March. It was a Sunday evening and it had been snowing pretty heavily for a few hours when the electricity went off. It was real quiet, as it is here when it snows. And soon it all began. Our big oaks were being stressed by heavy wet snow. Unable to hold the weight, big limbs started to creek then snap and Kaboom! Hitting whatever was in its way. The mood became one of “Uh oh, this is really intimidating.” Because within a few minutes the same creaking, cracking, Kaboom! echoed through the neighborhood, even at times shaking the cabin. After a long night of no sleep, I stoked up the fire before the first light, made some coffee and anticipated what it might look like and what had happened around our community.

As the light came I stepped out to a changed world. I knew Katie’s cabin out back had been hit, I just wasn’t sure how bad it was. The first thing I saw was the little greenhouse nailed by a limb. Katie’s cabin was covered by a tree but miraculously unharmed. Across the street my neighbor’s had been hit by a huge oak that was now laying on his house. As I continued making my way through town I saw trees down everywhere, blocking all the roads and hanging on power lines. The power was out and the phones were down. We had no way to drive away and widow makers hung over our heads. Life became simple, back to the basics, really fast. It was all about helping each other –sharing, supporting, working together. This went on for eight days.

It was a big experience to sharpen the reality to not only the power of nature but also to the power we have as a community. I realized how my wood stove is a priceless friend and how simple the need for food, water and shelter are. It seems so important to bring this into our education, becoming stronger and less dependent on things we might not really need but want.

The curious thing is that this had all started on the first day of Spring. Eventually the weather cleared, the roads opened and the phones came back on. A call came through from our Native Elder and I was soon gathering willow for a sweat lodge. It was time to rebuild the one that had been used for many years. It is always an honor to be asked to help our elders. In the dark, literally, for days it was like coming out into the light as we started bending the poles into the shape of the lodge. Once again we were working together, for the benefit of everyone and in a sacred and respectful way.

For three nights people came from all different directions to share in the spring ceremony; which is the time for renewal. The fourth day was the ancient Bear Dance ceremony in the roundhouse at Yosemite Valley – where once again people come from all around to appreciate life, promote healing and simply be together in a community. For me this brings everything together – that’s why we say “To All Our Relations,” referring to Earth, plant life, rocks, water, animal life. It is an honoring of the sacred reality of our universal connection.

In nature’s way everything is talking and we just need to remember how to listen and respect. The trees that fell around El Portal were a reminder, once again, that we all live here together and are counting on each other; that’s our job. In my mind that’s why Sacred Rok exists, to help our youth and ourselves to remember how to work together and take responsibility to respect life.

As we look forward to the youth returning this season, we are in a fund-raising mode. We were fortunate to receive word this month about a new grant from Clifbar, which will support trips with some of our Merced youth. It is really appreciated at a time when the agencies we work with are facing severe funding cuts. At this time, in exchange for a donation, we would like to offer our Scared Rok T-shirt along with a photograph ,taken by me, from Tuolumne Meadows that represent the magic and beauty of these mountains, as well as a memory of climbing up the center of that dome at age 14 with my brother Mitch who was 16 at the time. Your donation will be used to help bring kids to Tuolumne Meadows this summer.

A $50 donation gives you the choice of either a T-shirt (S, M, L, XL) or a matted photograph.

A $75 donation gets you both!

Click here for a tax deductible donation through PayPal.

Newsletter 12 – February 2011

As we continue to delve into the world of youth in this new millennium, it is amazing to see how fast-paced life is, especially with technology. Only 35 years ago, I used to ride my bike 10 miles from my house in San Carlos to an area called Jasper Ridge, where my life as a climber began. Just a few weeks ago, I returned there for the first time since. The area is now closed off to the public and is on Stanford property.

Jasper Ridge is a biological preserve. It’s part of Stanford’s program to conserve, study, and appreciate nature in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. It is tightly protected with restricted access — for research and education as they say. After I kept needling him to get me in there, Kenji asked a friend of his, Dan Quinn, who volunteers as a docent and is an avid photographer (some of his pictures are here). Dan was psyched to let us in, but also wanted to get the best light as a photographer, that magical time of sunrise. This visit, before dawn on a cold morning a couple of weeks ago, was very special to me, for Jasper Ridge is where my education began. Maybe I can say I was educated at Stanford!

We met Dan at the gate to Jasper Ridge at 6:30 sharp, as early as we were allowed. We drove to a parking spot, and hiked through the oak trees east toward the emerging light as we looked for an outcrop of sandstone rock. I felt a mixture of emotions as I experienced the smell and sounds, and the sight of the place. The bay trees smelled exactly as I remembered. The shape of the sandstone boulders, the mosses on the trees and the rocks all looked like they’d been waiting – well, I guess they had been there for thousands of years. This all sparked memories so strong about the preciousness of life, it made me think of connections to the Sacred Rok youth, as I was now experiencing a place that was part of my own youth.

I realized how important this place was for my development. Of course with my youthful enthusiasm it was more about bouldering and climbing. The 35-foot crack was a test-piece that two or three of us close friends found as a kind of initiation. And many times, I would be there alone as my imagination would soar, moving up the vertical boulders and hanging on these holds, pulling myself into another world. To come back to this area and put my hands on these holds gives me the profound realization that as I was touching the holds, they were touching me – a kind of connection of belonging that so many of our kids crave. This is what is shaping our gatherings as we bring our kids to Yosemite.

It was still first light, we continued finding our way through the boulders to this special spot on top of the ridge. Along the way, we passed by a beautifully-shaped sandstone boulders that had been used by the first Ohlone people for grinding acorn, reminding me of the connection with what I see all over Yosemite. As a youth, we would just walk by, not putting too much thought into it, we were so focused on climbing, but now as we walked by these rocks I realize that it had a lot more to it, a nurturing spirit, and obviously that was why the people would choose to be here.

When we got to the boulder near the top of the hill, I noticed the whirling sound coming from the Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC). I turned to Kenji and said that sounded just like it did 37 years ago, kind of annoying, but part of the landscape now. Amazingly enough it’s the sound of all the high energy particle experiments that have been going on all these years!

Arriving at the top of the ridge to the main boulder where we climbed on, I reached up and touched the first hold, which was instantly familiar, a flood of thoughts and feelings came up through the last 37 years of moving on rocks all over the world, meeting all of these people. It was as though I had come back to shake hands with the wise old man that gave me the energy or understanding about myself. My journey started here. I had an overwhelming sense of gratitude and appreciation, for the wisdom of this rock and this place as I acknowledged the simplicity of practicing in this beautiful environment. It was also a connection to the sincerity of being. It is these kinds of experiences that we want to bring to the youth to connect in their own way just by being themselves, inspired from such an environment as Yosemite.

Kenji asked if this place was how I remembered it, and I said it was as I remember it, even more. He recalled his own experience some years ago when he went back to a “bug tree” that he used to explore when he was a kid in Kamakura, Japan. He remembered the incredibly generous and mysterious tree that was always filled with different beetles and insects, which he’d climb and catch and put into his live cage. Some of his scientific curiosity started there, watching the way bugs moved, finding eggs and trying to hatch them, figuring out what they’d eat. He’d remembered over the years that huge tree with long branches that he’d venture out on to catch bugs. When he went back as an adult, it revived his same sense of wonder and curiosity, the excitement of discovery, but he was also startled at how small the tree was, that somehow the tree had grown in his imagination over the years. But he had the same sense of appreciation for the early memories planted in experience that begins life’s journey.

From the boulder, we descended back down to the other side of the formation, where we found the 35-foot beautiful hand crack that was slightly overhanging. Again, there was this curious overwhelming sense of connection and appreciation.

The contrast to what I did the night before was quite interesting. I had come to the Bay Area to present at a fundraiser at Planet Granite for the Access Fund to “Save Jailhouse Rock” along with my friend Jimmy Thornburg. It was fun and I appreciated seeing all the people at this modern venue. I marveled at the hundreds of people working on climbs in the gym. It’s really an incredible facility, the amount of effort that went into building it, and the amazing energy of the people it has gathered. People of all ages, and even an 8-year old girl who I’m told has a rare talent. I wonder how different things are between my enthusiasm that started at Jasper Ridge and the enthusiasm of the gym. I’d love to work on the bridge between the indoor and the outdoor world.

When I got back home to El Portal, I happened to notice a classic little book that Malcolm Margolin wrote, called “The Ohlone Way”. I’m not even sure where I got the book, but it caught my attention because of the connection to Jasper Ridge. I really appreciated the way that the book talked about respect, equality, support — words to inspire us as we look for how to create a healthy community, through the simplicity of being with one another, creating good relationships.

I realized from Jasper Ridge how this place shaped the course of my life. It made me understand the importance of the environment we are in as youth, and how it nurtures us. It was there that I learned the art of practicing, as a way of development. It started the imagination that took me all around the world, and to this day it fuels my appreciation of visiting the familiar climbs in Yosemite practicing the art of practice. The hold that I appreciate every day began with the appreciation of the hold in Jasper Ridge.

Our Sacred Rok youth, like all youth, have an abundance of energy, and it is our job to facilitate this energy in a positive direction. They already know how to respond to the right things, as I did to the holds at Jasper Ridge. Given the chance, like all of us, we can evoke our senses through the simplicity of respect and equality as we look for the harmony and balance between heart and mind.

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