Sitting down to write a newsletter after a 3-month hiatus is rather hectic. My mind, instead of spinning a single thread of a worthwhile, and, hopefully, engaging topic, goes on 20 different side trips all at once.

This year instead of fighting off the remnants of late summer air-headedness, I choose to embrace it. Hey, if I am to be a "space cadet" (my partner's playful way to describe the "spaced out" feeling after one of this summer's yoga classes), might as well be the best "space cadet" I can be! Hence, this newsletter is about reconciling irreconcilables, measuring the intangibles, and marrying summer and fall. 

It all started when, on our ritual morning walk, my friend said " I am all done with the summer," and I ABSENTMINDEDLY agreed. Upon further, MINDFUL, investigation I discovered that no, not really, I am not all done, AND I want to hang on to every single moment of this summer!

Hmmmm.... Like it or not, fall is on our doorstep. Turning leaves, nip in the morning air, abundance of berries and bears on Wapiti trails, and our own, out-of-nowhere, desire to organize schedules (and garages), and drink pumpkin spice lattes, informs us of fall's arrival. Yet, every step I take into fall's brightly colored carnival reminds of take-my-breath- away moments and poignant lessons of the passing summer and up-coming fall.

Here's a great one:

GRIZZLY DAY:

We stop half - way up to catch our breath and marvel at the view: all around, alpine tundra is ablaze in fiery reds of fall season; icy breath of the Angel glacier, sprawled right in front of us, cools our sweaty faces; turquoise lake sparkles in the sun way down below...

Rory turns to inspect the other side of the ridge. Suddenly I hear him swear under his breath. The next few moments are so surreal, we might as well be in IMAX movie... I spin around to see - not even 15 feet away! - a rather sizable grizzly bear sussing us out. Rory and I squeeze each other's hands. Slowly back down. Griz saunters by, paying no attention to us, leisurely flipping huge boulders looking for squirrels and marmots to snack on.

Our encounter with grizzly could've been examined in so many ways. In the past I tied the majority of my writing (naturally!) to yoga. For example, crossing paths with the bear would've offered a fertile soil for fight-flight-freeze response exploration (I have to admit - it was very interesting indeed to observe our body-mind's reactions)... Except for, I think, I might have outgrown that narrow viewpoint, and am now ready to look through a wider lens and take on a bigger challenge.

A day after our visit with the grizzly (we've seen him several times afterwards  - thankfully not that close) our next hiking destination took us to Columbia Icefield Center.  Only 6 km north from it, on the hairpin turn of the highway just above Tangle Falls, Brewster Canada has built its Glacier Skywalk.

Maybe you've heard of it. Maybe you haven't.

Here is what we saw:

One of the most picturesque viewpoints of Icefields parkaway - a place where in the past anyone could stop, free of charge, to admire the mountains and the glaciers -has not only been fenced off, but blacked off.  Stopping here is now prohibited. You must pay 25$ for privilege of a bus ride and a view.

Dozens of buses shuttle passengers to and from Columbia Icefields Center (they leave every 10 minutes), doubling traffic load on this narrow mountain highway. The square in front of Skywalk is reminiscent of a busy bus stop of the inner city (yup, we are still in the middle of National Park.)

Conversation with a few Jasperites (it helps to hang out with locals) uncovered some more disturbing facts. Like, for example, that environmental impact assessment on wildlife was done by Brewster Canada itself WHILE it was building the Skywalk. That Brewster reneged on its previous obligations to Parks Canada. That the decision to build the Skywalk was made behind closed doors even as public outcry meetings were held in Jasper and all over Alberta.

Witnessing a private company exploit a piece of public land - not just any public land, but a majestic (and fragile) part of our environmental legacy - frustrates me to tears and feels as surreal as our grizzly encounter. What's next? A new hotel in the fragile and ecologically sensitive area of Maligne Lake?*  Or a new ski resort development in the remote grizzly habitat adjacent to Purcell Wilderness Conservancy?** Since when the mighty dollar is the only God we pray to?  How naïve is it to think that environmental tragedy in Gulf of Mexico or recent toxic spill in Williams Lake, BC somehow don't affect us?

One of my most beloved teachers, late Dr. David Simon once said that "yoga is the progressive thinning of perceived membrane that we believe separates us from the world." This summer's truest lesson has been, after all, the lesson of yoga: a first-hand experience of all-encompassing unity...
10 years from now we might finally recognize that nature is not separate from us. That well-being we crave can only be achieved by re-establishing ourselves within the web of this planet's sentient beings. We will begin to understand that we ARE nature, and that the way we treat the Earth and her creatures is the very same way we treat our bodies and each other. I just hope it is not too late...

*Parks Canada - the government body we've entrusted with protecting our environmental legacy - has amended existing parks policies to allow for commercial development outside Jasper town site. Maligne Lake hotel proposal has been given a green light. Read more here http://cpaws.org/campaigns/maligne-lake)

**Learn more about Jumbo Pass Ski Resort proposal here. http://www.wildsight.ca/campaigns/jumbowild)