Nature and mindfulness converge in Oregon’s most serene meditation escapes
written by Cathy Carroll
Eyes closed, seated on a sky blue cushion on a wood floor, you listen to a poem by the fourteenth-century Persian poet Hafiz:
“There is a beautiful creature living in a hole you have dug.
So late at night I set fruits and grains and little pots of milk beside your soft earthen mounds and I often sing,
But still my dear you do not come out.
I have fallen in love with someone who hides inside you.
We should talk about this problem,
Otherwise I will never leave you alone.”
This medieval ode to attending to your inner, true self is a perfect entrée into a guided meditation. Its aim is to let you switch mental gears, shifting you and the half dozen others in the session away from modern cultural demands—or whatever else might be holding you back from living a more peaceful, happy life. The practice leverages two things: concentration and breath. While always available, it’s challenging to pause the quotidian tasks and to-dos and tap into the power of these deceptively simple tools.
But when you step into a space in a beautiful setting, designed just for this practice, it suddenly feels effortless. That’s the case at The Sanctuary at Inn the Ground in Carlton. Just as meditation invites you to drop deep into stillness, so does this space, embracing simple forms and single-slope roofs reminiscent of the area’s agricultural sheds.
The ethos behind the inn, its 8 miles of forested trails and working regenerative farm, Tabula Rasa, is to allow you to restore your body and mind by connecting to the earth, immersing yourself in the rhythms of the land and the food from it. Two-thirds of the 10,000-square-foot, nine-room inn is recessed in the land, deepening the feeling of being grounded.
The Sanctuary, across a field of native grasses from the inn, also feels rooted in the landscape. A wall of windows bathes you in natural light from an uninterrupted expanse of sky and ground, punctuated with grazing sheep and foraging deer.
Here, focusing on your breath, you inhale long and exhale slowly, letting out a sigh and surrendering into a state of rest. There’s no striving. After twenty minutes, worries and burdens feel as though they are blown away by the clear, fragrant wind, revealing a fresh horizon.
Leaving the session, senses heightened, you step onto the trails beneath a thick canopy of Douglas fir and oak, moving toward “The Portal,” an installation of about twenty natural, peeled logs standing on end in a graduated, semi-spiral. You take the suggestion from inn staff to silently state an intention to a foottall, weathered gnome statue with a mischievous smile and enter. After taking a few steps, you emerge, struck by the view of more than 400 acres of sloping wine country hills, meadows and farmland, connecting you to the beauty that lies within.
Mindful Mondays meditation sessions are each week at 11 a.m. (www.theground.love)
BEND
Juniper Preserve
Ancient, cataclysmic forces shaped one of the most dramatic spaces for meditation here. Lava that once flowed through this land cooled and formed a subterranean, cave-like lava tube exposed during construction of the Tom Fazio Championship Golf Course. The natural feature, which remains at about 50 degrees year-round, is used as a special venue for meditation and immersive sound baths.
Newly launched Somatic Studio sessions include guided meditation, breathwork, sound healing and other wellness offerings designed to support immunity during cold season, bring calm during the holidays and set the stage for a new year. (www.juniperpreserve.com/wellness-at-juniper-preserve)
PORTLAND
Cascada
This luxury wellness hotel and thermal spa offers meditation along with breathwork, sound healing, yoga and other wellness offerings. (www.cascada.me)
GLENEDEN BEACH
Salishan Coastal Lodge
Set in the Coastal Range, between forested bluffs and Siletz Bay, the locale is already meditative. Amplify that with instructor-guided meditation sessions each morning, designed to bring clarity, peace of mind and a grounded beginning to the day. (www.salishan.com)
JACKSONVILLE
Willow Wind Wellness
Meditation classes and other more holistic well-being programs are guided by licensed facilitators at this luxurious retreat center serving farm-to-table meals in the Applegate Valley. (www.willowwindwellness.org)
DUFUR
Balch Hotel
Guided meditations are offered in the parlor, at the spa sanctuary or beside the outdoor meditation pond. (www.balchhotel.com/spa)
