DIS-CONNECT FROM THE ARTIFICIAL

I just spent 8 days in a city back in Canada, (lived there before Hawaii), away from my island life, and it brought up all kinds of things that point in the same direction. When I got off the plane coming home and breathed deeply of the air imbued with ocean dew, my body said thank you! I drove to the beach and ripped off my shoes and socks and a sharp thrill ran up my entire body as my feet sank into the sand. And then even more intense as the waves rushed up to meet me and engulfed my legs. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. The sounds outside my apt. right now are the gentle rustle of my mango tree, a few night insects singing, and the waves down the hill. The darkness is complete with only stars to illumine. My soul is fed. At my sister's retreat cabin in the Cascade mountains (GORGEOUS!) there was an entry in the log book by someone from a city who said he had NEVER been in a place where he could dis-connect from the artificial. I LOVED that concept! He spoke of no artificial light, just light from the stars, no artificial sounds, only wind and insects, no artificial smells, only trees and soil and flowers. I was reading an article about an organization called ICO, Inner City Outings, and they take kids from the inner city to the wilderness. YAY!!!!!!!! The reactions they described were delicious. A 9 year old girl who exclaimed in delight "that was my first chipmunk!" Imagine never having seen one before, living in the Northwest. A 6th grade boy after canoeing a dangerous rapids: "I COULD HAVE DIED! IT WAS AWESOME!" And another young girl who had left a hiking stick on the trail and was looking for it on the way back: the leader had stopped and was searching and the girl said "no, it didn't SMELL like this where I left it"!!!!!!!!!!! So she hiked till she smelled whatever tree or flower was releasing the scent she remembered, and there it was. That just makes me happy.

Being in a city again I was struck by the concrete everywhere! In my life right now I live in a wooden house, I walk down the wooden stairs to the bare earth outside, get in my car and drive to the water and walk on sand. All have a "give" to them that concrete does not. I found walking around the city my legs and hips would actually get tight from contacting something so hard and unyielding. Back in the days when I was dancing and we were on tour it was in the Equity contract that theatres would have sprung wood floors, which is a floor with an air space under it. Our legs and feet became so accustomed to that "give", if we stepped onto a floor that was not sprung we could immediately feel it. Some theatres lay the wood floor right on top of concrete thinking no-one would know. Hmm. But bodies can be very sensitive if they are not de-sensitized. When the Tsunami hit Indonesia I read an article about how all the animals that were not domesticated or locked down by humans could feel that the Tsunami was coming and moved to higher ground. And that they knew because there is a gland in all animals, including US, that reacts to changes like that and can warn us! But we have surrounded ourselves for so long by artificial things, separating ourselves from Nature, this gland has gone dormant. Wouldn't it be fantastic if we could re-awaken that???!!!!

So..... try and find a piece of wilderness, take off your shoes, and see if you can FEEL the earth. See if your Tsunami gland re-awakens! Smell, Look, Taste. Let's dis-connect from the artificial and re-connect to the natural world. We are, after all, PART of all this. Thanks for listening.