A solitary winter lantern

Casts a feeble shadow

Wind blows through

My flimsy hut and

Covers me with snow

I remember sitting

Cross legged on Wutai;

A makeshift door amid

The thousand year old ice.

-Han-shan Te-ch’ing

Mt. Wutai is one of four sacred mountains in China. It is home to 53 monasteries and a destination for pilgrimages. When my clients enter my office, we sit together and consider the storms of sadness and worry that dominate their thoughts and feelings. The connection between us becomes a lantern that clarifies the shadows of basic assumptions about themselves. We transcend the blowing wind as we discover new ideas and insights into the struggles that bind them to feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. This shared space becomes a refuge for us to work through the anger and fear that covers their thousand year old enlightened mind and allow the true self to emerge from the storm.