Bubbling Stillness: Zen Lessons from Sulfuric Hot Springs at Yellowstone National Park

There is a quiet in Yellowstone, but it’s not the kind you hear. It’s the kind you feel, like the Earth remembering her age and pressing it into our bones. When we visit, we seek out one of the hot springs, though it’s likely a sulfuric pool.

It feels like we’ve walked into the planet’s exhalation. The water gently boils and steam curls, lazy and slow. Bubbles rise, with no apparent rush whatsoever.

It’s hot. It smells funky. And it’s absolutely breathtaking.

Here, there is no performance. No flash. No rush. Just nature’s elemental truth in motion. And, in the thick of it, in that kaleidoscope of heat and light and slow-motion dance, we hear the land seem to say, “Just be.”

Nature’s Mood Ring

The hues of these geothermal wonders are stunners. The shades in these sulfuric pools offer electric teal, molten gold, fiery rust, and cool moss green, to name a few. They are as if Mother Nature dropped her cosmic watercolor palette in a fit of creation glee.

But here’s the thing about those hues: they’re not just here to look pretty. They shift.

Each color represents thermophilic bacteria, thriving in a certain temperature. As that temperature changes, in a pool that’s heating up or cooling down, the bacteria shift. With that shift, the entire color palette transforms. Kind of like humans. We’re not set nor static, and we are certainly not solid.

We shift, sometimes subtly, sometimes with seismic impact. We glow different colors depending on what season of life space we’re in. We warm up, cool down, and transform. The pools don’t fight their changes, so why would we?

Bubble by Bubble, We Return to Now

Sulfuric pools are Zen gardens, bubbling and simmering. Each ripple on the surface, a breath in. Each bubble rising, a breath out. Nothing is forced. Everything is exactly where it should be, even if there’s a faint smell of eggs in the air.

There’s a unique peace in watching the surface pulsate from micro eruptions. We find our breath begins to match that rhythm. We soften, and then flow and settle.

And yet, shift continues. As the Zen proverb teaches us:

---

“Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.”

---

This is the paradox of Zen, complete acceptance, with room to evolve. Yellowstone’s pools embody this beautifully. They don’t need to become anything else. They are, constant in their transformation, yet always themselves.

The Beauty of a Little Funk

Let’s talk sulfur. Smells a little funky in the air? Yes, please. It’s not there to woo our nostrils. It’s the planet exhaling from deep within. And while it may not always be pleasant, it is real.

Our emotional landscape has sulfur, too. Funky energy. Off days. Inner fog.

But just as the hot springs at Yellowstone National Park, we’re better off allowing it to rise to the surface than bottling it within. Sometimes we need a good steaming release. A deep unclogging of our cellular makeup. Don’t judge the sulfur, as it’s part of the magic. It’s the clearing out so something new can glow.

Colorful Stillness in Motion

Stillness doesn’t have to mean nothingness. Ask a hot spring. On the surface, it’s still. But underneath, it’s a wild, alive, beautiful dance. Layers of movement, heat, chemistry, and life all in constant motion.

We access that same moving Zen when we walk in nature, trail run through trees, stretch into mountain pose under the sun, or sit in breath during a mindful pause. We’re moving, but we’re present. We’re breathing, and something within shifts.

This is the pulse of Active Zen Living. It doesn’t require a meditation cushion, or even complete silence. It just requires showing up. To this moment, to this body, to this bubbling color; whatever it is today.

Hot Springs at Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone helps us remember that stillness can bubble, color can shift, and transformation doesn’t have to be loud. We embody this when we allow nature to lead.

Each hike we take, nature walk, or muddy trail we run, it brings us a step closer to that geothermal center within. We remember that we are nature, too. We are not separate. Not outside. We are a part of this pulsing, steaming, shimmering world.

Glow On, Bubbling Friend

Here’s to the wild and wise sulfur pools. To their patience and their presence. Ode to their rainbow bacteria and their funky scent. They don’t apologize for their shifting colors or the steam they gift the air. Neither should we. The earth has been doing it for eons.

Be the pool and be the bubble. Allow the shimmer.

Be the unexpected color you didn’t see coming.

Cheers!

Kether

Spunky Mind

“The mind is like water. When it is turbulent,

it’s difficult to see. When it is calm,

everything becomes clear.”

– Zen proverb

Grab your free Field Notes

Yellowstone-Bubbling Stillness