K and I found our way over to the Seattle Shambhala Center on Monday for their regular open sitting practice. The center is in a residential neighborhood in Fremont, not far from the Japanese Gardens, and is basically a converted residence, with two meditation rooms - one downstairs for classes and one upstairs (a large open hall-type space) for group sitting. Coming up the stair to the meditation room, I was reminded of climbing the stairs of the Lincoln Building at Naropa - the walls adorned with Trungpa's calligraphy. I had a good vibe about this place - the sangha here seemed mostly male, and white. Not a whole lot of cultural diversity, but that seems fairly consistent with Tibetan Buddhism in the west. We met a guy who had just moved to Seattle in June and connected with the Shambhala Center right away. It took over a year for K and I to find our way to this group and I wonder if any of the upheaval and transition might have been eased by joining the community sooner. We sat for 45 minutes, and it reminded me of the days when we would practice yoga together at exhale. Looking over to see my partner - a good feeling to have a shared practice. I'm also very interested in the Nalanda West Center here that is the seat of Ponlop Rinpoche's N. American presence and hope to spend some time exploring it in the near future...