The Zen Cowboy<\/a> is the physical business, which offers Zen training, one-on-one life coaching and online coaching. The church temporarily uses the space on Sundays for community gatherings. They are currently applying for 501c3 status for the Church of Dunisha, and they have big plans for it.<\/p>\n\u201cI love this location in downtown, but this is just a stepping stone,\u201d Alaric said. \u201cThis is us getting to know the community, host community events, but when we can afford it, we are going to (expand toward) the monastery life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The goal is to set up a center where people can be ordained as monks through Dunisha training and practice the lifestyle for months at a time. Alaric adds that they will keep the current Zen Cowboy location as a hub for community involvement.<\/p>\n
So how did The Zen Cowboy end up in the conservative blue-collar town of Bayfield?<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the past 10 years, I have been coming to Vallecito Lake Blue Spruce RV Park, so I knew the area. We would drive by Wits End, my mom would joke, \u2018One day that will be yours,\u2019\u201d Alaric said.<\/p>\n
Andrew would also ride the train and whitewater raft when he came to visit his aunt who lived between Bayfield and Durango. They knew they wanted to move to a climate with four seasons and to a small town where they can have an impact. The changing foliage on a fall trip to Vallecito convinced them to move and it happened pretty quickly. Alaric and Andrew were married on March 17, 2018. The put a bid on the building on the 19th, and moved to Bayfield on June 1.<\/p>\n
They held their first service in January. Alaric said they are not here to convert anyone and that Dunisha accepts all religions and backgrounds. The main idea is to \u201cemphasize peace over love,\u201d because with peace, love comes naturally.<\/p>\n
Pamala Orr, 67, a hair stylist at Haircrafters, goes to the services because she is \u201chungry for inner peace.\u201d Orr said she is the type of person to hold things inside and services have been an inspiration.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels odd, but it is a nice alternative to traditional religion,\u201d said Lisa Carnahan. She has gone to a couple services and said they are welcoming and fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have fallen in love with Bayfield and are committed to growing the town, especially helping revitalize downtown,\u201d Andrew said. He said they want to be a community center that hosts events for the whole town. Some ideas include a bonfire for May Day, their first annual retreat during Summer Solstice, a Samhain haunted house fundraiser during Halloween, and a tree-lighting during Yule.<\/p>\n
They are currently offering Dunisha \u201cZen\u201d training on Wednesdays. People cannot yet become ordained, but it will be an option for students once the Church of Dunisha receives its 501c3 status.<\/p>\n
Alaric said the goal is to create an environment for people to come and see first-hand that inner peace is possible. He and Andrew have committed to living as \u201cmodern monks\u201d full time and want to develop a community based upon Dunisha teachings to foster mindfulness, kindness and peace in every aspect of daily life.<\/p>\n
\n
If you go<\/h4>\n
At 6 p.m. on Saturday, Billy Goat Saloon will host a book-signing and meet-and-greet with Alaric Hutchenson. Visit
\n zencowboy.org
\n .<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Attendees take their shoes off at the front door and fold-out chairs are provided for those less inclined to sit cross-legged on the green and tan floor cushions. The Rev. Alaric Hutchenson wears a black robe and sits at the front of the room between a large white meditation bowl next to his husband, Andrew, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5843],"tags":[407],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-95505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living","tag-religion-and-belief"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95505"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=95505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}