View from a Hammock

Lounging, relaxing, kicking back, laying around, doing nothin', just being, chillin' - as they sang it in The Sound of Music, these are a few of my favorite things. It seems that we're not very good at this in our caffeinated, hyperactive society. When we do break away from our obsessions/obligations with working, making money, and taking care of others, we still seem to think we have to be "doing" something. Unfortunately, this often means watching tv, surfing the internet or playing video games. When we do get the chance to just sit around and do nothing, sometimes we feel that we've done something shameful and are reticent to share it with others. A culture of relaxation and peace is silenced and thus, elusive.

I've recently put up a hammock in my yard and I'm pretty sure it's the most wonderful invention in human history. The colorful hand-made gift from Costa Rica is suspended in the midst of a small grove of pine trees whose shade creates an ambiance of sanctuary and reverie. I admit to bringing a book with me often (part of the compulsion to feel like I must be doing something), but sometimes, and somehow, the circumstances compel me to drop the book in the dust below and just be. Looking up at the mysterious patterns of branches against the backdrop of the sky above, I sway slightly, feeling a bit like a swaddled baby being rocked to sleep.

The still dance
of quiet joy
I am a cloud
Floating
Dreaming

To transform this world and unleash the creative harmonies that exist within and betweeen us, the view from a hammock just might offer an important perspective. Letting go of personal agendas and future outcomes, the view from a hammock can help us to re-train ourselves. We can begin to remember what it is like to glide, free of the hindrances of self-doubt and aggression.

Meditation on coffee and kayaking

I trekked up to Vermont last weekend to a meditation retreat in Waterbury, choosing to camp the night before at a nearby reservoir in the Green Mountains. I brought my kayak with me giving me a chance to paddle the evening before the retreat. As I am discovering the joys of paddling, I am learning that sitting so low in the kayak allows one to be connected to the water in a unique way - like sitting in a short, dry, floating bathtub. As the paddle crawls through the water, the splashing sound becomes a compelling and centering mantra. Though I had the urge to curse the occassional speed boat and puddle jumper airplane that was on this lake, the waters were generally quiet. By the time I got back to my campsite that evening, it was looking like rain. So, I went straight to my tent and listened to the music of the downpour safely and dryly inside throughout the night.

The next day, I arrived at the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters administrative offices, where the retreat was being held. A strange place for a meditation retreat to be held? Maybe so, but it worked. And like all retreats - sitting silently, settling down, paying attention - it delivered the goods.

What was unique about this retreat was that we had access to the break room of the coffee company, which had mass quantities of coffee and tea available, all in individual packets for use in a Keurig coffee pot. Most retreats usually have a little tea available but generally tend to echo the ascetic roots of spiritual practice and shun such indulgences as heavy doses of drugs like caffeine. Though, the teacher reminded us that tea was brought to China by monks who used it as a way to stay awake through the night to meditate. As retreatants entered the break room, in search of something to distract them from their mind wars they had been fighting on the cushion, they discovered the shangri-la of coffee - every flavor, roast, degree of caffeination one could imagine. As people opened the cabinet doors where the cute little packages from heaven were kept, gasps of "wow," and "oh my God" along with waves of excitement over the possibilities were heard and felt. Having this bounty available to us, we did what all Americans would do - consume it because it is there and good and cheap (in this case, free!).