Part 2 Day 0
“Within silence lies great wisdom” ~unknown (might be me). I woke up Wednesday morning restless, tired, and anxious… the polar opposite of the mental state I was preparing to be in later that day. I barely slept the night before and was trying to wrap up last minute emails and items. 2 years ago I was in a completely different place with no full time job and no real responsibilities other than to myself. I was teaching yoga, coaching nutrition clients, and was on my own schedule. It was going to be an interesting transition “disconnecting” from the real world this time since I was SO connected on a daily basis. I hit the road around noon and settled in to a beautiful 3 hour drive which got me to the center at about 4pm. I checked some last minute emails, sent out a few texts and then held down the power button on my iPhone …swipe to turn off… I was disconnected. I reconnected into my surroundings, age old pine trees and coniferous trees and ginormous mountains… not a bad trade. It was quiet and peaceful, I checked in a walked to my assigned room encountering a grazing family of deer along the way and a mischievous little squirrel foraging for food, it stopped in its tracks and stared at me, frozen, as if it was pretending to hide. The thought of it made me laugh… nature at its best.
I was looking forward to the first meditation and interested in observing what all existed up in my mind. Last time I created full production films over the course of 10 days, wonder what I’ll come up with this time. I closed my eyes and began to focus on the breath, within moments I had checklists, and blog titles, and ideas, and plans racing through my mind. It was so overwhelming my eyes flew open. I looked around and everyone was sitting still, “phew” I thought, good thing no one else heard all that noise. The noise was loud and it felt like my mind was on speaker phone. This is going to be an interesting few days… I had my work cut out for me. I closed my eyes and continued to breathe. The thoughts began to slow down and the breath began to sound clearer, my outer body was shedding a thin layer leaving me a little lighter. The bell rung and the hour had passed. Although I hadn’t meditated a day in 2 years the 10 day retreat had changed me on all levels and that was apparent now. My body was a little more tolerant of the posture and my mind a bit more compliant.
After listening to the instructions for Day 1 we were permitted to rest. I got up and walked outside of the hall and stepped into the universe… literally, physically, Meta physically, anythingcally. I was surrounded by pure beauty. I looked up and a blanket of bright stars gazed down at me greeting me with their light. I was surrounded by silhouettes of tree – tall, short, wide, thin, leaves, no leaves. It was an endless site; the trees ran into the mountains and the mountains into the stars. Only subtle lines separating them. I felt like the squirrel from earlier in the day, frozen pretending to hide so I don’t disturb the peace. Faint sounds grazed my ears, sounds of sky rumbling, animals yelping, and nature resting. I stood there quietly… I don’t know if it was the meditation or the water or the tea but I felt intoxicated… I took in a deep breath, the air was crisp. I stood there and I fell in love. The kind of silly stupid love where you can’t take your eyes off the other person and then you kinda stumble … ya that’s how I felt about the stars and the trees and the mountains… and quite honestly … I think the feelings mutual. I smiled goofily and danced inside all giddy and then stumbled home.
mettaLOVE
rituriyat
Read more...Vipassana Part 3: Breathe in. Breathe out.
mettaLOVE
rituriyat
