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05/09/2002 Archived Entry: "4/8/02 Day Off"

These days, Mondays are generally my day off, as I usually am leading a workshop on the weekend. There is a temptation to dive right into the work on Monday, but I find that the vehicle with which I have been equipped requires at least one down day per week.

The down side is that once I get back to shuffling paper, doing the email thing, etc., four days does not seem like very much. My batteries need regular recharging. There is some daily recharge with each morning Sadhana, and teaching the kind of workshops I do is certainly a profound and uplifting experience. Perhaps the interaction with people’s beings, their destinies, hopes and dreams, requires me to withdraw and not interact for a day. What I am blessed to be able to do in my workshops frequently changes people’s lives. New possibilities awaken, the doors spread wider.

I like to walk in the woods or along the ocean by myself. I like to do it with other people as well, but overall, in general, I like to walk by myself. It is one of my favorite meditations. Two hours is a good time. I prefer not to be able to hear or see traffic or buildings, or other people. Woods, distant vistas, trails curling along under trees, occasional meadows. Up and down hills. When I first moved to the Bay Area from the East Coast, I complained about hiking here, saying, "this isn’t hiking, its mountain climbing." Almost all trails are much steeper here than they are on the East Coast. But now, except along the ocean, trails without ups and downs seem dull. Walking along the ocean is quite excellent. Having some rocks to scramble over is like frosting. It feels like my heart moves along with the breaking waves. There is something about the rhythm of the pause as a wave breaks, when the wave curls up and hangs there for a moment that mesmerizes me. It is like a dance. I have danced to the rhythm of the waves, and sung too.

I went to the Aquarium in Monterey shortly after in opened. There is a room that has a window that is filled with a kelp forest. The kelp is in the Monterey Bay, it is not contained at all. You do not see the tops, just the long stems, moving with the rhythm of the ocean, with the rhythms of the planet. I must have stood there for half an hour. What a dance! I can still feel it inside me when I think about it.

Usually somewhere along my walk, there will be a place to meditate, chant, and or sing, sometimes to dance as well. Then the batteries are recharged. There is a moment of gratitude.