Welcome to Western Mountain, a website devoted to sharing knowledge and inspiration; included here is my work as a poet, freelance writer, filmmaker and educator.

Between early 2005 and the end of 2007, I spent much of my time traveling and living in Cambodia. I was on "retreat" there; writing, practicing meditation and learning - in every conceivable way - from the Cambodian people and from their history, culture and country. Selections of my writing from this period are found in Writing and throughout this website. My film, Cambodia: Lord Mukpo's Dream Time can be purchased here.

My life is primarily devoted to exploring and sharing the Shambhala teachings of Chögyam Trungpa, in particular the Drala Principle. Drala means recognizing and communicating with sacred presence, the living but intangible quality of the world around us, as well as our corresponding "inner" experiences of body, speech and mind. My exploration draws from the following related sources.

• The drala principle is part of the Shambhala teachings of the renowned Buddhist meditation master, Chögyam Trungpa, who founded Shambhala Training as a way to bring meditation and these and other teachings to the widest possible audience. Chögyam Trungpa taught the universal applicability of the drala principle as well as its necessity in this time of cultural and environmental degradation.

• The I Ching, (Book of Changes), perhaps humanity's oldest book of wisdom, relates human experience to the workings of nature and the elements themselves: heaven, earth, fire, water, wind. As a tool of "divination," the I Ching describes the challenges we face at any given time, and the way through these challenges.

Related to the I Ching, and also part of my study, is Human Design, an astrologically-based system that links the archetypal principles of the I Ching into the human body. Human Design gives us an individual body-graph of our own psychology, a map of subtle energy rooted in our biology and genetic ancestry.

• The life and work of C.G. Jung, particularly as articulated in his autobiography, Memories, Dreams and Reflections, contributes significantly to the drala principle. C.G. Jung, like Chögyam Trungpa, opened fearlessly and unconditionally to the experience and possibilities confronting him. Jung almost singlehandedly re-assembled a genuine path of Western spirituality, one that had become increasingly lost through centuries of religious dogma and scientific materialism. Chögyam Trungpa, who came to the West fully equipped with spiritual knowledge and realization, entered the maelstrom of modernity with a selfless courage bent on bringing the wisdom he'd inherited and internalized to others.Both men sought to help humanity recover the sanity of simplicity and our elemental connection to the world.