.....thoughts from a tent

Yogis,
This week was my 4^th annual camping trip to Assateague Island. A gorgeous Maryland state park set on a pristine beach with camp sites that offer a parking space, picnic table and fire ring. What else could you want?

A couple days away from it all where the biggest daily concerns are keeping food cold, setting up the tent and trying to hold onto at least a semblance of cleanliness. A few days of consistently living out in the elements and sleeping on the sand.

This year I noticed that life appears different from inside a tent. In the quiet cocoon you can think and notice. Here are some of those thoughts…….

Quiet hours
When making a reservation you must agree to terms, one of which is an adherence to quiet hours from 10pm to 7am. No generators, loud talking, barking dogs, car door slams or music. It’s like going back in time, where the only thing happening once the sun is down is sleep.

Night is easy because by the time it is dark and you have been out in the sun and heat all day, 10 pm seems like midnight. But in the morning, as the sun rises, your eyes open early. Clock says only 6:30. You lie there. Seeing the new day. No rush to leap into action or do anything.  Listening to only the sounds of nature.

At 7:01 like clockwork you hear the first stirring. Voices. Car ignitions. Breakfast plates. Feeling the shift as the world awakens.

I think we need to add the quiet hour terms to life. Wouldn’t that feel good?

 

Intermittent Sleeping
I love sleeping in a tent! Lying on my sleeping bag, I watch the full moon rise over the tips of my toes. I doze and the next time my eyes open she is a spotlight overhead. Everything around us lit and quiet. I dive into a vivid dream.

A low growl from Phoebe as I look through the screen by my pillow. A wild horse lumbers from behind the dune. Another and another and another…. as they encircle us. Their heads one foot from mine while they graze. Sounds of chewing, tail swishing and hooves stomping, sending a vibration through the earth below. Their energy palpable. The moon now setting behind my head.

Intermittent sleeping. Yet somehow in the morning I am ready and excited to begin yet another new day. 

The sky
When lying in a tent your view is of the sky. Stars. Low lying puffy clouds that provide depth to the dark. Swirls of color. The sun. The vastness of life so apparent. I am reminded that I don't look to the sky often enough.

Om,
SARAH