Monday, July 7, 2008

Cutting the Cord

I fasted this weekend. I cut electronics out of my diet. No computer, phone, IPod. Other than an alarm clock, I was unplugged.

Friday:
On the Fourth of July we celebrated our bountiful nation with bountiful Mexican food and an "Asphalt Party" commemorating our newly paved parking lot. I spent my time keeping sparklers in the kid's hands and listening to our trio (guitar/fiddle/tabla) jazz up the lawn.

Our modest fireworks ended in about two minutes and we trooped up to the Sound of Music hill and watched the colorful bursts from neighboring towns over miles and miles of dark forest, fireflies twinkling all around.

Saturday:
Instead of sleeping and waking up groggily to rush to breakfast, I broke my weekend routine by attending Hatha Yoga class in the morning, exploring the overgrown trails with bees buzzing in my ears and abandoning my book to play Go Fish and charades with two energetic children in the lounge.

After an intense dinner serving shift in the evening I attended a Prayer and Meditation lecture with a wonderful spiritual teacher based in New York, Rolf Sovik. We discussed the topic of having no preference and remaining even-minded and unattached so truth can flood your mind.

Rolf drew inspiration from Buddhist monks, St. Teresa of Avila and the Vedas among other things. It reminded me of the first day of my Introduction to Religion class when my teacher asked us why we wanted to study different religions. I answered "To reaffirm my theory that we are all essentially the same."

We ended with a remarkable meditation where my usual discomfort from tingling, falling-asleep legs was replaced by a non judgmental awareness of every sensation in my body.

Sunday:
On Sunday I felt a little antsy in the morning. I wanted to call my sister and I wanted to watch a movie on my laptop. Instead I sat in the sun after lunch and was invited to go to Skinner's Falls with two residents.

The trip was a joyously twisty, windy drive to the border of PA and NY. We walked down a narrow mud path and then hopped over rocks (okay, I crawled) and lay out over a big flat rock in the center of the river. We dipped into the cool water and swam through rapids that threatened to take us their way downstream. I played with a beautiful golden retriever. My friends and I talked about books and life and whether or not pee is clean.

On the way back I watched the trees fly by and dreamily wondered if my weekend with no modern-day stimulation had made the green brighter, the sounds more vibrant.

2 comments:

Sarah Jones said...

This makes me very jealous of you. And also makes me hope that we will continue to be in each others' lives after our UF experience.

I also always wonder if I am making inappropriately personal comments on your blog...you will have to let me know about that one.

-SJ

Ankita said...

I would say they are super extra appropriate.