My recent sojourn in Peru and Bolivia has left me with much to ponder within my conscious centers.  One of the most intriguing experiences in the Peruvian Altiplano was the unique differentiation of the atmospheres.   Spending the better part of the journey to Peru and Bolivia at or above 11,000 feet resulted in the condition known as hypoxia, which involves the low pressure in high altitudes resulting in difficulty in oxygen moving through our vascular system.  In short, hypoxia is a deprivation of adequate oxygen supply to body tissues.  The result is difficulty in breathing and can also involve sickness. 

The most interesting aspect of this experience is how the body acclimates to this condition.  Within a matter of days, the body can adapt to the low oxygen by an increase in the red blood cell count.  Our bodies have the astounding capacity to increase our red blood cells, thereby granting the ability to compensate for the sometimes dramatic drop in oxygen levels caused by the ‘higher’ altitudes or atmosphere and the ‘thinner’ air.  More oxygen-carrying molecules are produced.  

This striking experience underscored for me both the extreme vulnerability as well as the exquisite capacity that we have to adjust to so to speak finer atmospheres.  And not only is it a matter of adjusting, but it is equally a call to attention and intention.  Taking a short jaunt from my hotel room to dinner resulted in an awareness of labored breathing.  This is not to mention the intentional hiking itself, which called forth even more effort and mindfulness as well as care and sometimes caution.

Vulnerability and capacity may not at first seem to be related, but as I have learned, they can be closer than kissing cousins, especially with regards to appreciating the change in atmospheres and even more poignantly, the stewarding of one’s atmosphere amidst the differentiations.  I also could not help but make a connection between this experience and the running thread of second body that has arisen in the wisdom community as of late.

Yes, we do require and indeed have a different body – a second body –  not separate from first body, but shining forth from and through first body.  Yet this shining forth of second body, has a different grounding, an intimacy of a different type, a vulnerable aspect that is simultaneously a verdant growing capacity to adjust one’s atmosphere and to steward it in line with all else within the atmosphere.   Like the red blood cells, they must be awakened, entrained and brought to bear.

The heat of the sun is more intense in the higher altitudes as well.  Sun block is a necessity, even though the temperatures in the shade can be quite cold.  There is a need for protection, but at the same time, this protection itself is a venue to embrace this higher or finer atmosphere.  There is a closeness to all around oneself upon the high Andean plateau.  It is a sharpness that is intense but also, in a curious fashion, it is a relaxation into an environment that knows itself.   The people and the plants, the ground and the sky, the mountains and waters have a familiarity that is both startling and consoling.  There is only a faint hint of any separation of these elements one from another.  A pattern from another realm governs this landscape.

Perhaps the most critical aspect for me of this experience in the high plains (Altiplano) and mountains is the severity and extreme beauty of this vulnerable yet enlivened realm.  The atmosphere is different, but not unfamiliar.  It is intense yet subtle in the finer connections of all the elements included.  And, what of my atmosphere?  The stewardship is mandatory!  This is what I am learning within my conscious centers enhanced as they have been during my sojourn in the Andes.  The capacity I dare say is infinite!