Empty Mountain

01/31/2026

New video upload:

Recorded on Jan 31, 2026.

01/30/2026

A special prayer for today, and guidance for fellow practitioners on the path of practice, from Order of Interbeing member, Empty Mountain program director, Be Here Now Sangha founder and director, and spiritual leader Nicole Dunn, Dharma name True Wonderful Flower:

Dear Minneapolis, I send my hopeful and humble prayers that none of your protesters today are slayed in the streets. Agents of our administration, please come to your senses.

Dear practitioners on the path, please do not confuse anger with hate. Do not let your rage convince you to allow hatred for certain people to reside in your heart. I know this is a big ask. But please try your best to move forward with the ferociousness of love.

In order to stay strong for the long-haul swim and not struggle a few strokes in, we must practice to balance our activation efforts with rest, reflection, and contemplation.

Go out and fight the good fight, we need heartfelt crusaders on the streets. We need your passion for justice. We need your voices to enact necessary change. We need your devotion. But also stay close to the Dharma, lean on good teachers, and do not abandon your cushion.

I was given the permission and option not to work today, in support of joining the national shutdown taking place. But I am choosing to work my regular shift. (And I say this as a woman who is in the quite strange position of having opted to stay in a job that I've been fired from in order to help support my workmate to have time to train my replacement. My last day of work will be on Feb 23.) My way of joining the fight is to do my work today. To help folks attend retreats and events and spend time at Deer Park Monastery, a place that can help nourish the spiritual dimension of our life. To answer all of the many questions people reach out to us with.

May we acknowledge, honor, and respect the full diversity of humans. Thank goodness there are so many of us. There is much work to be done.

Artists: please do and share your art.
Musicians: please make music.
Poets: please keep writing.
Therapists, counselors & social workers: thank you for helping to offer care for people.
Food service workers: thank you for feeding people.
Transportation workers: thank you for hauling supplies.
Content creators: thank you for connecting us, and please post non-divisive content.

Channel your rage and sorrow through whatever creative & healthy forms of self-expression you feel called to.

Gather with good friends.

May we all be good to people today.

01/29/2026

The sauna stove is in and we are almost ready to roll.

And to help offer the full perspective, here's a pic of the outside of our build site. It's...well...it's kind of a mess. But that's the price one pays for progress :)

01/29/2026

New blog post:

I find it unfortunate that the idea of intimacy has been largely commandeered by our collective culture to apply to a quality of connection that exclusively pertains to romantic and/or sexual partnerships. In my trusty Mirriam-Webster’s dictionary, circa 1997, whose binding is lovingly fashioned t...

01/27/2026

New video upload:

Recorded on January 27, 2026.

01/27/2026

Today we had the pleasure of being visited by some of our very favorite friends: the gray jay family who swings by regularly and to whom we love giving peanuts to. The gracefulness in which they maneuver around the trees and all of the little sounds they make are just the best. We are so glad to have them as frequent fliers here at EM.

01/27/2026

We are hosting a Morning of Mindfulness: "The Head & the Heart of Practice", in Missoula at the Open Way Mindfulness Center on Sunday February 8 from 10 AM- Noon.

We hope you can join us.

Free to attend, donations greatly appreciated. All are welcome.

To register, please visit:

We warmly invite you to join us for cultivating connection & community on this morning of mindfulness.

01/24/2026

New video upload:

Recorded on Jan 23, 2026.

01/24/2026

Mike got the chimney installed last night and struck up the first fire in the wood-fire sauna stove today. (When lighting a new stove and new stove pipe, it is highly recommended to do it outside based on the off-gassing it needs to do before setting up and running the stove indoors.)

01/22/2026

New video upload:

Recorded on January 22, 2026.

01/20/2026

We are hosting a Morning of Mindfulness: "The Head & the Heart of Practice", in Missoula at the Open Way Mindfulness Center on Sunday February 8 from 10 AM- Noon.

We hope you can join us.

Free to attend, donations greatly appreciated. All are welcome.

To register, please visit:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/morning-of-mindfulness-in-missoula-tickets-1980041101235?aff=oddtdtcreator&fbclid=IwY2xjawPcmSRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe78s12t7bQ2Vs2srtg8l6K-ggptgN9cFtE12YAUmq0J54sF2LzRb5pEmv2Hw_aem_Q-9eWLmL_74Lw9L7lHQUWg

We warmly invite you to join us for cultivating connection & community on this morning of mindfulness.

01/18/2026

New blog post:

Lately our early morning temperatures have been around 18-degrees F (-7 C) and our daytime highs have been hovering just below freezing. I don’t think we’ve gone above 32-degrees (0 C) for at least a week now. While there were early reports of this winter being a big snow year for us here, we’...