Dec. 20, 2008
Walking for hours along quiet trails, one's mind has plenty of time and space for wandering as well. What I found interesting in the early days of the trek was that I thought mostly of nothing. Yes, I had thoughts, flashes of ideas and memories, but mostly my mind remained peacefully vacant.
While in India, I had talked with people about meditation. I gave it a shot one morning on a rooftop overlooking the Ganges in Varanasi. I received simple instructions from a new Israeli friend to just sit still, close my eyes, concentrate on my breathing and try to think of nothing. It was a struggle trying to sit still and just be. I kept noticing little pains in my body and my mind swirled around from thought to thought as hard as I tried not to think.
But in the mountains, walking and breathing hard shouldering a relatively heavy pack, I think I was unconsciously meditating. Like I said in an earlier post, I've often found solace in the outdoors. The rivers are my holy water, the mountains my cathedrals.
When I did have thoughts, they were more often than not songs that popped into my head. Two pieces of music in particular which happen to share the same name repeatedly came to mind.
During steep and grinding ascents, it was Jeff Buckley's cover of Leonard Cohen's solemn but hopeful Hallelujah that I sang through struggling breaths. Well it goes like this the fourth, the fifth... the minor fall and the major lift...The baffled king composing hallelujah.
At other times, especially after conquering those ascents and looking around at the scenery and the mountains around me, it was Haaaaaallelujah! Haaaaallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hall-ee-lu-JAH! the famous chorus from Handel's Messiah.
Walking for hours along quiet trails, one's mind has plenty of time and space for wandering as well. What I found interesting in the early days of the trek was that I thought mostly of nothing. Yes, I had thoughts, flashes of ideas and memories, but mostly my mind remained peacefully vacant.
While in India, I had talked with people about meditation. I gave it a shot one morning on a rooftop overlooking the Ganges in Varanasi. I received simple instructions from a new Israeli friend to just sit still, close my eyes, concentrate on my breathing and try to think of nothing. It was a struggle trying to sit still and just be. I kept noticing little pains in my body and my mind swirled around from thought to thought as hard as I tried not to think.
But in the mountains, walking and breathing hard shouldering a relatively heavy pack, I think I was unconsciously meditating. Like I said in an earlier post, I've often found solace in the outdoors. The rivers are my holy water, the mountains my cathedrals.
When I did have thoughts, they were more often than not songs that popped into my head. Two pieces of music in particular which happen to share the same name repeatedly came to mind.
During steep and grinding ascents, it was Jeff Buckley's cover of Leonard Cohen's solemn but hopeful Hallelujah that I sang through struggling breaths. Well it goes like this the fourth, the fifth... the minor fall and the major lift...The baffled king composing hallelujah.
At other times, especially after conquering those ascents and looking around at the scenery and the mountains around me, it was Haaaaaallelujah! Haaaaallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hall-ee-lu-JAH! the famous chorus from Handel's Messiah.
1 comment:
Beautiful.
Post a Comment