Heartwood: The Quiet Path Home

Reflections on practice, presence, and life in the woods.

A small corner of the forest in Muskoka, Ontario, Canada, where reflections grow from meditation, prayer, writing, and the slow wisdom of the natural world. A quiet place to sit for a while.

One of the gifts of living in the woods in a very small cabin tucked into the trees is the opportunity for a solitary retreat.

I’ve just returned from two weeks and two days in my off-grid cabin, keeping quiet to focus on dharma study and meditation practice in the Dzogchen tradition. I brought only a few books recommended by my teacher, James Low, and spent the days alone, reading slowly, then carrying the teachings into sitting practice, guru yoga, mantra and simple presence.

The weather seemed to deepen the retreat. Temperatures dropped to minus 37 degrees Celsius, and the snow fell in record amounts. The cold, the silence, the white stillness folded around the cabin like another level of shelter. Settling into a Canadian winter like this, in a place I truly love and have known all my life, I felt held by the land itself.

I’ve known for a long time that this is my path, yet I keep forgetting, as if falling asleep, and then waking to it again and again. It has been through Buddhist teachings, in particular the Mahayana Bodhisattva Ideal, and the Dzogchen view, meditation, and conduct of The Great Perfection, that I can embrace a wise and compassionate life. This keeps me open and infinitely available to support others struggling on their own paths.

Nothing dramatic.

Just practice, deep breaths, firewood, and long, quiet, solitary hours.
A cup of coffee made on a wood stove and the call of a nearby raven.
Simple presence is enough.
This gives my life purpose.
Solitary retreats give it focus.