There were 9 deer that hung out eating dinner outside my window for about an hour. They were like giant Leroys.

This is Lauren from St. Louis and Holly from Flagstaff having a nice cup of tea after 3 hours of yoga with me.

This is Irina, originally from Moscow, now from Columbus, OH; Keith from Austin and Laura from Loveland, CO.

Last night our group went for a hike up to the stupa here at SMC.

Prayer flags guided us along the path.

First glimpse of the stupa.

We're almost there...are you wondering what is a stupa? It is an Asian structure that sometimes holds relics. This one, the biggest in the Western hemisphere, is also a place for practice.

The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya that Liberates Upon Seeing.

This is the first floor of the stupa. We sat in front of this huge, beautiful Buddha and meditated. There are upper floors that are only accessible to those doing specific practices, such as Vajrayogini sadhanas.

This is the ceiling.

This is part of the floor. The whole thing is very ornate and beautiful. It took nine years to complete this structure and much of the work is handmade.

In between the ceiling and the floor are small alcoves called tokonomos. Trungpa Rimpoche was very inspired by Japanese aesthetics and so there are beautiful Japanese flower arrangements throughout the stupa and SMC.

Another picture of the Buddha statue. I'm not 100% sure but I think this is the mudra of untying the knots, liberating obstructions.

After circumambulating the stupa three times and meditating inside, we walked back down the mountain in the dark.

Being a resident of a city that never gets dark, I forgot to bring a flashlight. One of the students, Vladimir from Kansas City, loaned me his miner's light. When I put it on the lamp over my third eye came on -- they teased me that now I am enlightened!!