I am back on the grid! I am home from Tassajara and let me tell you…it was a crazy ride! I LOVED it but I also felt like I was at a Buddhist bootcamp most days. For all its’ Zen-ness, the Tassajara
practices and structures were quite rigid.
I was awakened every morning at 5:20 by a ringing bell beckoning me to the Zendo (meditation hall) to mediate for an hour in the dark. If I didn’t have to sit upright during this I surely would have slept through it. I also had to work as part of the program and my work duty was cleaning toilets and guest cabins (considering I don’t clean my own toilet this had to be some sort of karmic joke). I chanted (well I moved my lips with the crowd in hopes nobody would notice that I had no idea what I was doing) and bowed so much in 6 days that my body still hurts. Another highlight…bathing nude with Buddhist monks (probably the only time in my life I will be embarrassed because I HAD a bikini wax). Oh the stares I got! All in all it was one of the best experiences of my life but also one that had me asking myself what I had gotten myself into.
I will be sharing all my thoughts and stories about Tassajara over the next couple of days, I just need a day to compile my thoughts! Not only am I exhausted but I came home sick as a dog and when I say sick I mean sicker than I have been in a while (I blame the Buddhist bootcamp).
bowing in the sans-bikini wax, nude bathhouse must have been interesting….
The first time my boyfriend comments on my blog and this is what he writes. Brilliant. 🙂