How did 2 years slide by me without a camping trip?? I used to camp without fail every year and then the pace of modern life took hold of me. And then like Tony Robbins once said, "We wake up in our box, make a box lunch, climb into a box and drive to our box office, get in a box to go up to the floor...and every once in a while we'll try a cylinder just to change our state!"
Anyone else struggling with this?
Anyone else struggling with this?
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Canada
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Re: The City Rut
Fri, March 16, 2007 - 11:22 AMLast school year (late Aug - early May) I spent about 9 weeks outside on various backcountry trips or nature based classes near town. This school year I have spent a grand total of one night under the stars. I'm feeling the lack. I'm graduating in May. I hope I can at least partially avoid the box life. -
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Re: The City Rut
Sun, March 18, 2007 - 3:58 PMNine weeks! Now that's a getaway. Hang on, only 2 months to go....not sure for myself yet. -
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Re: The City Rut
Wed, April 4, 2007 - 12:26 PMHa! This weekend that is...me and my nephew are heading out to a secret forest beach I know about. I went there a few years back with him...and remember the benefits. The first thing I notice is the quiet, and the negative ions produced by all that surging water. After a day or two, my internal organs shift into heartier processes, no doubt responding to the slower rhythms and lower frequencies. Cities are such high frequency hotbeds....sirens, radio, tv, computer and cellphone waves, techno tunes, white noise, high tension power lines...it's no wonder we get worn out so quickly, as all of it is above 30 Hz.
The mind has 4 states...Delta (0.5-4 Hz) such as in deep sleep, or when the mind is engaged in the extra-sensory; Theta (4-7 Hz), the state we're in when we're dreaming, half awake, or meditating; Alpha (8-13 Hz) the necessary level for altered states, and Beta (13-30 Hz), the most common state in which people are intheir waking state, active and problem-solving.
At that same forest beach campsite I had a profound meditative experience. I sat in the same spot for 12 hours, beginning at dawn. I watched the orange dawn move across the sky, and past where I sat; the birds began singing, the bugs buzzed about...the sun moved across the sky until the darkness descended, then the bugs came out again, bats flitted as the moon appeared, stars began to sparkle. I really got a sense that for a change, I was sitting still and the Earth was moving instead of the other way around. -
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Re: The City Rut
Thu, May 10, 2007 - 3:55 PM...what an amazing way to spend twelve hours. I miss camping hugely, even just lighting a fire somewhere for a few hours would be great.
Happy graduation Luke, since we're now in May...i guess it's your time. Hope you get to enjoy some good time out! -
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Re: The City Rut
Thu, May 10, 2007 - 4:45 PMThree cheers for Luke!! Get thee to a forest floor.
I think of fireplaces as ther original TV...which we used to stare at and dream of the future, reflect on the past and revel in the present. Global warming in this neckof the woods has meant a no-fire municipal ordinance. Too bad one rule has to fit all.
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Re: The City Rut
Thu, May 10, 2007 - 10:30 PMAlanity, you are so right. I enjoyed your post about the day at the secret beach site. I've had similar experiences at the beach---- one where I found a really mesmerizing spot standing in the sun, in water about waist-deep, watching schools of fish dart around a few inches away, as though they were "of one mind", with their perfectly synchronized movements. I felt awe, joy, and pure elation just standing there...for what I thought was "a few minutes". Turned out I'd been standing in that spot for something like an hour. I used to do the same thing with fire. And I agree, fire used to be folks' "tv".
Today was a wonderful day, only because I spent about 5 hours in the sun, working on my tiny vegetable garden, then tending to some flowers. And I nearly stepped on (!) a beautiful Black Rat Snake that I didn't see till my foot landed about twelve inches from him/her. He was coiled up (almost in strike position) and I'm amazed he didn't bite me. LOL, ok the near-miss wasn't the good part. But I know this snake (he's been around my place for several years), and it was good to see him. The outside temperature was perfect here today (upper 70's), bright sunshine, tolerable humidity, butterflies, dragonflies etc everywhere. I am not so great about "being in the moment", but today I managed to do it off and on for hours...I don't know why "today". No idea why today would be any different than any other day. But everything seemed magical. The earth itself was so magically alive (ok, that part I am in tune with every day), and every time I put my hand into dirt, or stuck a plant or seed into the ground, or watched clear water trickle onto plants, it was soooo exciting & relaxing at the same time. :) -
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Re: The City Rut
Sun, May 13, 2007 - 3:38 PMI love how being out there makes time so irrelevant. All that matters is the cycle of he sun, and what we need to get done before it gets dark, like gathering firewood, pitching the tent. As for gardening, i'm told that one only needs a square foot of soil to sustain oneself. And the difference between a person who gets bitten by a snake and one who doesn't is a matter of respect and being in the moment. The entire length of a snake's body feels the ground, so it would be the first to know if the giant above is being careful or not. It's ironic that it takes time to be in the moment, that is to say it takes practice and the time to make that practice happen...
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Re: The City Rut
Tue, May 15, 2007 - 5:36 PMThank you! The graduation was amazing and beautiful, particularly Alice Walkers talk and the speech from a Zen Buddhist nun from Taiwan. And now I'm a Master :).
Now I am back in the Inland Nortwest (eastern Washington state) but have only been here for 2 days and have yet to get out for a night under the stars. Soon. Very soon. -
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Re: The City Rut
Tue, May 15, 2007 - 6:07 PMAlice Walker had an article recently in the Shambhala Sun which I enjoyed....she must be an even better speaker. May the stars shine at you in celebration, Master Luke. -
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Re: The City Rut
Thu, May 17, 2007 - 2:43 PMYes...congratulations! Wow, you're home at last! Enjoy those stars.
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