111 Days: A Reflection from Nathan Railla, SMCD’s Executive Director

I’m writing you today to offer an insider’s look at what the Shambhala Meditation Center of Denver has been up to.

Well, let me tell you!

  • We participated in the Colfax Marathon.
  • We finalized a three-year lease for our current space (hooray!).
  • We developed a plan for revitalizing the center’s space and we began making some improvements already.
  • We appointed a new Practice & Education Director of Vajrayana: Valeria Pasta-Snyder.
  • And we have an emerging group of leaders that are refining the vision and direction of our community.

 

Our community has been on the rise ever since the Vision to Action process. It is apparent that all the goals of the V2A process occurred, though our success may not have looked exactly like what some folks envisioned. We could take this as a validation that “whatever we put our minds to will be accomplished.” The final and culminating goal was to appoint an executive director. As I write this letter to the community, it has been 111 days since our installment of the new executive director position, and we can safely say the transition has been a good one.

There are many events, discussions, and relationships that have manifested over those first 111 days, and we are just beginning. Together, we have an opportunity to manifest who we are as a Shambhala community in Denver. In that light, the theme for our next 111 days as a community is connecting through kindness.

To support this overarching intention for the community, SMCD will be providing opportunities to for us to connect with each other through kindness– which is going to look different for everyone. Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche has emphasized in his new book, The Shambhala Principle, that kindness is a willingness to see others for who they are, without holding onto judgments or assumptions. When each of us is participating in a kind community, then we are fulfilling the overarching goal of Shambhala– enlightened society.

You are warmly invited to get involved and simply show up!

I look forward to seeing you all, and please feel free to contact me with a response.

Yours in the Vision of the Great Eastern Sun,

Nathan Railla

Executive Director

Shambhala Meditation Center of Denver

[email protected]