By John P. Milton
Continuing from last month’s article where John describes going out on a 14-day quest to ask permission to build an eco-village north of Crestone back in the ’80s, we now hear about the unique sacred sites revealed to him by Spirit.
“So I came back. I had one night of rest at my little cabin (where I lived for over 22 years—without plumbing or electricity, and where the stream was the main source for drinking water and washing) here at the Sacred Land Sanctuary. So I got up the next morning and went out and I was immediately taken to the first place that became a very important discovery for us.
These stones that I was taken to by Spirit…I was literally picked up by the sleeve of my shirt and pulled to the first one. And what I was pulled to was a chair made of Crestone conglomerate stone—quite beautiful, with rocks within rocks within rocks. It didn’t have arms, but it had a back, a place to sit that fit my butt perfectly, and a place for my feet to connect down into Mother Earth.
“As I sat there I discovered that I could get into a really good meditation posture, by doing what I normally do for sitting practice in a chair, where you go back and forth and find where you’re perfectly centered—not being pulled forward or backward or to either side—a very balanced point. Also, lifting from the Baihui point (pronounced “byway”) at the top of the crown of the head.
When you’re in that state of harmony and balance your capacity to be open and sense the energy of a place is heightened.
“Sitting like that, relaxed and present, in this first seat, I was amazed. I could immediately feel the energy shift. Very powerful. Very strong. It was not like just sitting in a normal chair—at all. Something was coming through from that spot that I guess in modern times we might call a vortex. Some kind of a deep shift of perception occurred.
At the time, I didn’t know exactly what was going on, but I could feel it. It was kind-of an opening, a warmth, a feeling of deep connection to the Earth and to the Heavens, and a deep connection to everything surrounding me in the environment.
“So, of course it was a wonderful experience. I was really starting to settle into that and enjoy it, and immediately Spirit came and said (John tugs on the shoulder of his shirt), “‘Gotta move on. There’s more to see. More to experience.'”
“I was taken to another one, and this one was a little different. It had a different configuration. Also made from the Crestone conglomerate geology, but it had a different look, a different location, and the feeling of it was quite different. The first one had a feeling of being connected more to my clear, open awareness. The second one had more of a feeling of the opening of the heart, and a feeling of real joy and happiness from the opening of the heart and of the increase of energy flow—kind of an opening of the main channels of my body.
“I was familiar with those energy channels, because I was finishing up thirty years of deep Taoist internal alchemy practice, as well as Tai Chi and Qi Gong training and teaching.
After having been trained in Buddhist meditation practice by a monk in the late sixties, my training continued in the Himalayas, Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan during the ’70s while helping to set up national parks in the region.
I had amazing teachers in the Hindu Goddess traditions as well as in Tibetan Vajrayana and Dzogchen with Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.
“That training really refined my entire body and my energy system as well as my awareness to be sensitive to energy patterns and flows in myself and externally.
It helped me to truly listen to the voices and energy of Nature.
So I honored that, and as I went to the first two seats, I could tell pretty quickly the differences between the two seats. They were both based on Heaven and Earth connectivity, they were both based on a unity with the local surrounding environment, but the content of the experience had its own unique quality.
And then after I sat in the second one which was more about opening the heart and dropping into a really beautiful, almost blissful state, Spirit again came and said, ‘Nope, you can’t stay there, you gotta move on. We have more to show you.'”
And so by the end of the day, I was introduced to over 80 of these stone meditation seats, and beds. Beds meaning that you would lie down in these configurations—like a bed with a stone pillow often—and in those beds you could completely relax and let go into being fully present with the energy shifts that occurred.”
Join us next month as we continue to explore the vast network of energy meridians and stone meditation seats and beds at the Sacred Land Sanctuary here in Crestone.