Anyone who thinks the contemplative life amounts to a form of quietism or a retreat from the world’s suffering should spend some time shadowing Joan Halifax, the Zen priest and anthropologist. I’d been curious about Halifax for years, ever since I heard about an annual trek that she leads through the mountains of Nepal, bringing a cadre of doctors and dentists to remote mountain villages with little access to health care.

 

Each summer over the course of two weeks or so, this Nomads Clinic covers more than 100 miles on foot and horseback, at altitudes of nearly 18,000 feet. These “medical mountaineers,” as they’ve been called, all volunteers, sleep in tents, often in freezing temperatures. But after some 40 annual trips to Nepal—Halifax is normally based in Santa Fe—she recently decided it was time to hang it up. She had just turned 80.

How to Have a ‘Don’t-Know Mind’ – The Atlantic by Michael Pollan

When I arrived at the refuge in August of 2024, to meditate and to record music (Big Cave Versions on Bandcamp) Roshi Joan told me that the previous occupant had been Michael Pollan. 

Halifax explained that even though it had neither plumbing nor electricity nor an internet connection, this was “a five-star cave” and I would be comfortable—or, more likely, I’d be uncomfortable in a spiritually productive way. I’m not much of a camper but decided I might as well put myself in her hands to see what the experience would yield.

Read more about Pollan’s experience at the above link or click here.