Let’s Go High! Part 1: So Many Stars

I co-led a very loose, mostly American Indian-based Leadership weekend at High Camp Hut (formerly Spruce Lodge) outside of Telluride last weekend.

I want to talk about two aspects of the experience; they’re intertwined, so they’re not mutually exclusive. Part One will focus on the place and the space. Part Two on the learning.

Spruce Lodge and Sheep Mountain
outside Telluride, CO

Hanging out at High Camp Hut was a very cool experience, especially at night. The Milky Way wasn’t just visible, it was a river, made even more defined by the New Moon. And, it was way cooler at night—literally. Even though it was early October, it was still well below freezing at night.

You hike in about 2.5 miles, with a backpack full of hats and vests, lamb and eggs (yep, we brought eggs!). The ‘hut’ is really more like a lodge, made of giant logs with thick plank floors. There’s a propane-fired stove and refrigerator, solar-powered lighting but no electrical outlets. No matter. My co-leader and good friend Doug was able to patch together batteries and wire to power an iPod player.

And the Hut has a sauna. A sauna! A bad-ass, wood-fired sauna with benches, towels and the ability to get to 130 degrees before you knew it.

Something happens to you, individually, and as a group when you’re in the mountains. The closest I can get to it is that it’s like some sort of organic cleansing. It’s not just that your perspective changes at 11,000 feet. Everything does. The air is clearer. You feel lighter (except for your breathing and the occasional…constipation). Clearer. More human. And everything, whether it’s a glass of wine or a banana, tastes way better. Music sounds better. You know that’s true when even Barry Manilow gets sung (banana microphones) and danced to.

There’s also something about the shared high altitude experience that makes everyone want to pitch in. Dinners magically appeared. Wood was stacked, fires were lit and stoked and dishes were washed. All without so much as a word of planning.

My experience is that High Camp Hut is a perfect place to take a group of people. A company looking to get more clear on purpose and values or come up with new products or services (which is what Be does). An organization, doesn’t matter if it’s corporate or non-profit, that wants to create positive, exciting experiences, for its employees and its customers (Be does that, too). A group that wants to become closer, see each other at a deeper level or address a tough issue or question (yep, we can help you there, too). If you have some decisions to make…if you’re wanting to take a deeper look at yourself…if you want to see more stars than you can imagine, and feel part of it all, get up in the mountains.

Check back in next week for Let's Go High!  Part 2:  You’re a Star.

Amma Gonna Get Me a Hug!

It’s after midnight, and the hall in the Convention Center at Albuquerque’s Marriott Hotel is rocking. Well, maybe not quite ‘rocking’ but there is lots of chanting and drumming, and the atmosphere is equal parts electric and sweetly happy. Amma is in the house.

Amma is a short, round, perpetually smiling Indian woman, with a bulls-eye bindi (the little Hindu adherents have between their eyes, just North of the nose) and a flower-shaped, bejeweled nose ring. She’s widely known as ‘the hugger’. Amma has, by her organization’s count, hugged more than 26 million people around the world. Amma now heads a large charitable organization, building homes and hospitals, feeding the hungry and tending to the miserable. Amma has thousands of followers. Amma is all about love, and her hug is the conduit between her love and her people.

But let’s get back to my hug. First, let me set the stage.

There are two lines of chairs set on either side of the large convention hall, with row after row of chairs, 30 seats across, in the middle. Each of the side rows has two chairs. When your number is called (mine was Q2), one of Amma’s handlers, typically wearing white robes or a white sari with a color-coded scarf, told me where to sit. She also hands me a laminated sheet, explaining that I’m permitted to ask Amma for a mantra. If I do so, I’m essentially asking Amma to be my guru. I hand back the sheets. I’m not so good at gurus.

Amma herself is sitting in a chair, almost a throne really, on a stage at the far end of the hall. She’s surrounded by staff and hangers-on, people who just want to be in her presence. Every 20 or 30 seconds, a green-scarfed, perpetually smiling Amma devotee’ motions for me to move another seat ahead. Finally, I’m in front of the stage. I glance at my watch: it’s nearly 3 AM.

From there, the experience shifts gears into surreal-land. Once on stage, which is brightly lit, and swathed in fabric (there’s also a ceremonial rhinestone-encrusted umbrella above Amma’s head. You’re seated in a diagonal row of chairs, pointing toward Amma. You alternate with people from the other side of the hall. Finally, I’ve reached the last chair, from here on, it’s strictly kneeling, and shuffling forward on your knees.

Finally, I’m there. Amma hugs me, pretty fiercely, as a handler presses my head into her shoulder. She rocks me, saying something that sounds like ‘my daughter’, ‘my daughter’ over and over. She whispers something unintelligible…(Indian?) in my ear as she reaches into a bowl and puts a Hershey’s kiss chocolate in my hand, kisses my hand, and hugs me briefly again. It’s a strange, somewhat out-of-body experience. Even though I’m surrounded by people—robed assistants and supplicants of every age, color and sex, I felt very much alone, as if it was just the two of us. I didn’t feel a warm river of love, or electricity. It was more sweet and surreal than anything.

And on it goes, until 4 or 5 in the morning, I suspect. Before or after your hug, you can buy all sorts of Amma-related, Indian and spiritual stuff. T-shirts and pictures. Jewelry and knick-knacks. You can buy wreaths, plants and fruit, all of which Amma will be happy to bless when you’re getting a hug. You can also sign up to ‘love and serve’ as a food preparer, or even a trash hauler. One sign I saw, magic marker on white board: ‘two STRONG men needed to haul compost’. The possibilities are endless.

Would I recommend an Amma hug? Well, not so much the hug, but a resounding ‘yes’ to the whole experience. Get your token as early as you can—ideally a few hours before the event begins, dress comfy, bring water and lots of patience and open-mindedness.