Dale Allen – 50th Reunion Essay

Dale Allen

4771 NE Going St.

Portland, OR, OR 97218

dmallen174@gmail.com

503-317-2715

Spouse(s): Wendy Erickson (1970-1980); Suzanne Millies (1986 – )

Child(ren): Risa Allen (1986)

Grandchild(ren): None yet. Fingers crossed.

Education: Loyola Maryland M.Ed. (1999)

Career: Teacher, carpenter, remodeling contractor; Voc Ed coordinator, Portland YouthBuilders

Avocations: Yoga, meditation, birding, hiking, climate action

College: Timothy Dwight

“Hell no! We won’t go!!” Remember that? Some of us got medical deferments, a few moved to Canada; I got a teaching job at an “institution for retarded children” in Seattle. There I discovered a reservoir of patience, and slowly cultivated my ability to meet people exactly where they were. Most importantly, I stayed clear of the draft until I drew number 313.

I probably lit up a joint to celebrate. As a junior at Yale, I fell in love with the way marijuana made me feel excited, engaged and unbound by old ways of thinking. A year or two later, I took my first LSD trip, and the world flipped upside down. Before that, I thought I was a brain conveniently attached to a body. Suddenly I knew body and mind were not only inseparable, but infused with Holy Spirit, bursting with the breath of life itself. The doors of perception had swung open, and I was going to keep them open.

Career, family, success… none of it could compete with this drive for “enlightenment.”

I worked as little as possible, mainly as a carpenter, and meditated for hours on end when I wasn’t Sufi dancing or playing Frisbee. I grew my hair long, wore moccasins and a rainbow sash…. You get the idea.

In 1970, Wendy and I got married and lived an intentionally simple life. We stayed together 10 good years, ran a small woodworking business and then amicably divorced. I went to work in a natural foods store, practiced massage and lived communally on a canyon near San Diego. In 1984, I moved back to Portland for my old dancing flame Suzanne; a year later we were married and pregnant with Risa.

Suddenly, at age 39, I wanted a steady income, health insurance… all the things that hadn’t mattered before. Meditation took a back seat to raising our daughter. I worked as a carpenter until the Landmark Forum flipped my life on its head again. Almost overnight, I understood that I could find enlightenment in the middle of life, not just on the cushion. Before long, I’d found my dream job: teaching construction skills to at-risk youth. It felt like my life had come full circle.

Five years ago, I retired from Portland YouthBuilders, eager to teach what I most needed to learn: yoga. Suzanne could hardly wait to begin traveling in earnest, so we scheduled a 100-mile walk on the Camino de Santiago. I’ve taught yoga ever since; we’ve filled our passports with stamps from Europe, Asia, South America….

At 70 and 71, we live in a co-housing community, stay pretty fit riding bikes, working out at the gym, hiking whenever we can, but age is slowly having its way with us. We’ve given up on ringing the bell of enlightenment, but Joe Dispenza (Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself) and Dean Sluyter (Fear Less) have reaffirmed the power of daily meditation to reorganize our bodies at the cellular level. We’ll keep you posted.