Noel McLellan

It seemed like a perfect time to post about Noel. He a friend, family and teacher at Windhorse Farm. In his frequent visits to WHF, he has made cob walls for the inside of the Pavillion, led meditation in Juniper lodge , made cider with his classes from the Shambhala School and chased laughing children though gardens and forests. He has recentlty been made an Acharaya, or senior teacher, in the Shambhala Community and will continue to teach on Culture and Leaderhip, Shambhala Traditions and Meditation.

I liked him so much I married him!

Here are some of Noel’s thoughts about Windhorse Farm,

“For me, Windhorse Farm represents a connection to “place” in the deepest sense.  There are some spots on the earth where one feels like more than a visitor.  One develops a feeling of one’s body being made up of the place.  This is quite literal, if you’re eating food grown there and your babies are born there.  But also one’s being is somehow knit into the place on an energetic level that you can’t really describe. At the same time it’s not quite homey– it’s really a farm, so after the vacation feeling wears off there’s this rugged, elemental, hardworking quality that brings you down to earth.  It’s a healing and uplifting place to be, and it speaks for itself.”

Leila Bruno

“Because of the chaos of the family life I grew up in, I have been a person who always found sanity and safety in the out of doors. Coming to WHF just seems like the best experience of “coming home.”  It’s the most natural thing in Nova Scotia, this gentleness and strength of the landscape. When a place (and beings) are accorded honor and respect, then the best comes forward in everyone, in everything. This is my experience and memory always of WHF — a place where who your parents are, (Jim and Margaret) and what they do, magnetizes the best people to make things happen in a good way.”

Leila shared these words with me after visiting Windhorse Farm for the Earth Gathering in April. She also shared a moon meditation practice that she encourages anyone to practice who is so inclined.

“The beauty and learning of this meditation practice over a minimum of 2 weeks (either waxing time or waning time), we get to realize deeper qualities of what we “see” all the time and kind of take for granted, — which is the phases of the moon. We get to track the changing position, light and shape of a heavenly body. This is what surely we could call “ordinary magic.” Until I started doing this mindfulness practice, I couldn’t explain to myself or anyone else the why and how of the moon’s appearing form and movement. So this practical, daily, outside practice, seems appropriate for all our programs — and certainly the ones I’ve done at WHF.”

Moon Meditation

This is a simple 2 week practice (so it requires discipline, Ha!)

Begin on the full moon.

Find a place to stand outside that has the biggest view of the horizon.

Go out early in the morning before sunrise while it is still dark.

Always stand in the same place at the same time each morning.

Relative to a tree branch, standing rock or other fixed reference point:

            * notice where the moon is situated in the sky

            * notice which direction the moon is moving thru the sky over the 2 weeks

            * notice the daily shape of the moon

Immediately after observing each morning, go inside and draw the shape and movement of the moon on a sheet of paper, using arrows to indicate the drift.