I was on a two and half days road trip with my very dear friend Jana in Estonia. We went to the far south-east corner of Estonia, to the national parks that neither of us had visited before. National Park of "Land of Bogs" ... doesn't it sound fantastic? I inquired my father how come he never took me to bogs and wetlands when I was a kid, because everywhere else he seemed to have taken me. It's the mosquitoes, he said, buahhhhhh.
But the landscape in the wetlands is really amazing, yellow and green and sun flickering from the plentiful blue little lakes occasionally covered with waterlilys. Other places in the world you can find so many areas of wetlands are only in Finland and in Canada. They take 20% of Estonian territory. By the way, forest covers a bit over a half of Estonia (50,6%). Plus the fields and grasslands...just to point out that in the summer, Estonia really is a great place to be if you like nature.
I had told Jana, that she will need to excuse me each day for about half an hour, so I can do my meditation. She accepted it, but later on came up with a very interesting question. She wanted to understand, why is it that I want to meditate every day and asked if it is like a smoker who needs his/hers cigarette or is it like a religious person who would feel having sinned if he/she has not prayed.
I liked the question and the analogy. I said its really neither one of those, but more like a sportsperson, who wants to do his/hers daily training, because to progress, one needs to train and can feel good after.
She is a massive sportsperson, so she got it.
During this trip I had a chance to go to the forest to meditate. Sitting under the tree not moving; not reaching any higher states of consciousness and clearness that we are all one or any stuff like that, but more just being there quietly happy to hear the sounds of the forest getting louder and louder as inner noise gets weaker.
The first time was late in the evening after the sunset, so it was dimmed light and all. And there were so many sounds. Rustling of the wind in the pinetree tops, trees creaking against each other, birds, i don't know what else. I had to admit, that though I want to see myself as a lover of the nature and not afraid of the dark and so on, I did get a bit anxious and often wanted to look over my shoulder. What was that? Is there someone coming? Is a mosquito really sucking on my blood though all the clothes or is it illusion? Oh, what was that sound now?? I found my unease quite pathetic. Ups, where did the breath go? Ok, let's close the eyes (yes, it was indeed a mosquito), get centered. Better. More quiet. More silent. And then I hear - whoufff-whoufff-whoufff - clearly hearing flapping of the wings coming closer, closer, flying over my head and into distance! Wow, must have been quite a big bird.
Next morning I'm back in the forest and with full daylight it felt completely comfortable. Sitting again under the same tree, relaxed and not moving, suddenly I hear hopping sounds approaching. Wow, who is it now? It was a rabbit! I had been so quiet and unmoving that a rabbit came to me! In my head a sound-blaster went off: this is SO COOL, this is SO COOL. I observed the rabbit for as long as it stayed, minding its own business and then hopped off again. What an exciting start for the day.
Third day I was ready for something big! Oh and when a bear lied down next to me, we started in harmony munching on the blueberries. I was Zen the whole time... Nah, not quite. But there was a woodpecker somewhere knocking away. Knock knock knockin' on heaven's door...
But the landscape in the wetlands is really amazing, yellow and green and sun flickering from the plentiful blue little lakes occasionally covered with waterlilys. Other places in the world you can find so many areas of wetlands are only in Finland and in Canada. They take 20% of Estonian territory. By the way, forest covers a bit over a half of Estonia (50,6%). Plus the fields and grasslands...just to point out that in the summer, Estonia really is a great place to be if you like nature.
I had told Jana, that she will need to excuse me each day for about half an hour, so I can do my meditation. She accepted it, but later on came up with a very interesting question. She wanted to understand, why is it that I want to meditate every day and asked if it is like a smoker who needs his/hers cigarette or is it like a religious person who would feel having sinned if he/she has not prayed.
I liked the question and the analogy. I said its really neither one of those, but more like a sportsperson, who wants to do his/hers daily training, because to progress, one needs to train and can feel good after.
She is a massive sportsperson, so she got it.
During this trip I had a chance to go to the forest to meditate. Sitting under the tree not moving; not reaching any higher states of consciousness and clearness that we are all one or any stuff like that, but more just being there quietly happy to hear the sounds of the forest getting louder and louder as inner noise gets weaker.
The first time was late in the evening after the sunset, so it was dimmed light and all. And there were so many sounds. Rustling of the wind in the pinetree tops, trees creaking against each other, birds, i don't know what else. I had to admit, that though I want to see myself as a lover of the nature and not afraid of the dark and so on, I did get a bit anxious and often wanted to look over my shoulder. What was that? Is there someone coming? Is a mosquito really sucking on my blood though all the clothes or is it illusion? Oh, what was that sound now?? I found my unease quite pathetic. Ups, where did the breath go? Ok, let's close the eyes (yes, it was indeed a mosquito), get centered. Better. More quiet. More silent. And then I hear - whoufff-whoufff-whoufff - clearly hearing flapping of the wings coming closer, closer, flying over my head and into distance! Wow, must have been quite a big bird.
Next morning I'm back in the forest and with full daylight it felt completely comfortable. Sitting again under the same tree, relaxed and not moving, suddenly I hear hopping sounds approaching. Wow, who is it now? It was a rabbit! I had been so quiet and unmoving that a rabbit came to me! In my head a sound-blaster went off: this is SO COOL, this is SO COOL. I observed the rabbit for as long as it stayed, minding its own business and then hopped off again. What an exciting start for the day.
Third day I was ready for something big! Oh and when a bear lied down next to me, we started in harmony munching on the blueberries. I was Zen the whole time... Nah, not quite. But there was a woodpecker somewhere knocking away. Knock knock knockin' on heaven's door...
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