Looking back at my photos from a recent photography workshop in northern Arizona, I realized that most of the ones I liked best were of the Vermillion Cliffs. The workshop was centered in a relatively small area near Lee’s Ferry at the Colorado River, known as the gateway to the Grand Canyon. These ancient cliffs, formed over millions of years of geologic activity, dominate the landscape with dramatic formations and everchanging colors. Looking up every day from the base of the cliffs, I recalled Jon Kabat-Zinn’s “The Mountain” meditation where you imagine you are like a mountain, battered by the seasons and years but still present and strong, witnessing with equanimity the thousands of generations of native Americans, pioneers, and tourists who have looked up with awe and wonder.