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!).