Oh Green Tepozteco! This can easily describe our experience since, at that time, the whole mountain was covered in green. Impressive and full of life, that is how we perceived it from the car park. Before starting off, we did our last minute shopping and ate delicious quesadillas for breakfast in the market. With everything well packed either in our backpacks or our bellies, we were ready to climb.

We found a path that very few people take and where we could climb with our backpacks without having to answer questions or deal with unnecessary formalities. Over the years, we have developed our own relationship with this mountain and have learnt to respect and care for it. We have also learnt to recognize that such places have energetic gates. When approached with sensitivity, we can cross these gates asking for permission to continue and are then able to use its energy to gain awareness.

The path was somewhat overgrown with vegetation and the rocks slippery, which required additional efforts on our part. We continued to advance slowly on this meandering path until we arrived at a ravine. Despite the difficult march, we were delighted to see the numerous shades of green that covered almost everything from the rocks to the trunks of the trees. This was the second gate. Unfortunately, here too ignorance was stamped on the rocks. We tried not to let it affect us too much. We climbed on the side of the cliff nearest the valley and there, in silence, we contemplated the view.

We asked permission to continue and went on. At this point we started to leave the ravine. The sun shone on us. Although at that time of year, it was not very strong, we nevertheless enjoyed it. Once we were completely above the ravine, we encountered the third gate - a small plateau surrounded by ravines. This is a beautiful and powerful place. A few years ago a participant I know well deeply moved by the impact of the workshop 'Jump to the Other Self' and the beauty of the place exclaimed what a marvellous, incredible and fantastic it had been. He wished that a great many people could have such experiences. Little did he know that years later he would dedicate his life to this end.

From the plateau, we could hear and contemplate a waterfall that appears only at that time of year. Its song accompanied us to the fourth gate, which is like a little mountain ridge. We arrived on one side of the mountain but hoped to see another magnificent view on the other side, a reward for our efforts so far. We made the most of this place to rest and do a special exercise to generate the necessary awareness to pass the gate. A little later we arrived at the famous 'Passage of the Cat', so named because the majority of people have to crawl to gain sufficient equilibrium not to fall in the ravine at the narrowest part of the path.

Paying attention to every movement we made, we crossed slowly the Passage of the Cat. More relaxed, we continued to climb until we arrived at a place above a cliff. Once we had descended, we had arrived in the middle of the fifth gate. Here we did an exercise to change our perception, which consisted of bending our bodies backwards and looking at the world up side down. To move our assemblage point, we did the exercise at the edge of the precipice!

Here the vegetation changed into a forest and we enjoyed the company of trees. Somewhat before the gate, we climbed a cliff using muscles that had not been used much before. Our physical work now felt balanced. Happy with the effort we had made, we reached the sixth gate - another mountain ridge where there are deep ravines on either side. This was not an ideal place to rest but adequate for a 'working rest'.

Without wasting any time we put up the tents. After a brief rest, we did exercises of physical perception, finishing with special exercises to learn to walk with awareness. Night was falling when we went out to collect enough wood for a good fire. Everything was ready in time to pay our respect to the Sun and express our gratitude for all that we had received that day.

Starting the fire and maintaining it was easy this time as the wood was nearly dry. After giving Neneviery to Tatewari, we shared the gifts of awareness we had received during the day from Tepozteco. For example, someone said: "I know that to obtain what I desire, I must give my best effort and that I am the one who must take the necessary steps. I realize that I cannot wait for others to make a step or do it for me …"
These words and others that were spoken came from real awareness, lived experience and deep feelings. There are gifts of consciousness, the kind we look for when walking in the mountains.

Just before six, the wind did ease somewhat. Quickly, we got up and gathered our things together but as we left the tents, we were struck by the incredible beauty of the dawn. It was getting light very fast, so we quickly broke camp and had a light breakfast. We started to walk at a good speed as we wanted to reach the top of the mountain before the sun broke over the horizon.

We arrived at the last slope, the steepest, and we had to slow down. This was also as a sign of respect before crossing the seventh and last gate before the summit. Our effort was our best offering and without difficulty we climbed the remaining cliff that surrounds the peak of Tlahuitepetl or the Mountain of the Light. Just as we arrived, the sun rose above the horizon bathing us in amber light, which is only visible at that time of day. Jubilant, we greeted the sun with whoops of joy and gave thanks for such a magnificent gift.

The wind also gave us a gift when it starts to play with little clouds, drew us to observe the clouds making lovely shapes. These were constantly changing due to the strength of the wind and moving quickly. We were fascinated to see higher up other clouds moving slowly in the opposite direction. Phenomena like these are hard to see in any other place so we were grateful with the Tepoz for this other gift.

We paid our respect and in this way we crossed the various gates on this side of Tepoz, each with its own special tonality and beauty. Further on the gates were opened and all we needed was to cultivate a state of attention and an attitude of respect as we encountered them. Before arriving at the pyramid, we stopped to greet a beautiful waterfall that only appears at this time of year. Immediately, we felt tired yet filled with serenity and peace.

This inner state helped us not to be affected by the atmosphere of distraction, anxiety, anger or personal pride that most people have when they arrive at this ritual site of the Aztecs. The pyramid, built in honour of Tepoztecalt, still has a powerful energy but we did not like the tonal atmosphere so we quickly had a look around and continued our descent. As we were going down, we met people who were carrying heaving bundles of oranges, lemons and bottles of water. They were sweating profusely but had a pleasant expression. They were a living example for all of us and particularly for those who pant their way up to the pyramid of Tepoz with only the weight of a cigarette in their hands.