It’s March and I’ve jumped into spring by leaving thawing Northern New Mexico and trading it for balmy Baja Mexico. Birds are singing, palms are waving their fronds in the soft breezes. The daily temperatures have a 15 degree swing between night and day instead of a 30 degree one. No need for socks, coats, and sweaters. The air coming over the Sea of Cortez is moist without feeling oppressive. Sun and wispy clouds do a daily dance for dominance and reduce the intensity of the sun. The quiet compound where I am staying with the backdrop of the stark mountain ranges that meet the shore reminds me of home. This is desert and water, cactus and palm trees, rock and bougainvillea. I walk at sea level and my body feels ease as I place my bare feet on the spongy, wet sand. I’m taking a long bath in ease. The only responsibilities I have, are making it to a whale watching tour on time and finding food to eat.
I can’t remember the last time I’ve gone on “vacation”. My Latin classes taught me that the root word of vacation is “vacare”, emptying out. The notion of vacation is something I have entertained little in the last 40 years. My trips and travel involved exploring the world with and without family and friends; it involved hard hiking, climbing to high elevations, that required physical and mental strength. My trips were about transformation, adventure, exploring the unknown. My trips sought emptiness of worldly stimulation, emptiness of tasks, emptiness of thinking. Vacation was about being in the present.
I’m staying in a place of sun, water, and entertainment in nature. A house with a shaded porch, a view of the sea, a warm shower when I want it, a soft bed. I’m at ease here. I am being with ease. Ease is a much coveted state during meditation, as it results from practicing concentration and emptying of the mind. While I’m walking and exploring the surroundings, I have no mileage goals. I have no agenda except to enjoy my friend’s company and show her this - for her - new world. As I’ve been here before. I see this world through her eyes. I note the sunrise with her enthusiasm, taste the local foods with her taste buds. And best of all, we have time, endless time to fill as we please.
I met a young Ukrainian woman on a whale watching tour. We shared the bow of the boat and scanned the horizon for blue whales. She said: “I’ve felt a connection with marine animals since I was a little girl. I left Ukraine with my young children 2 yrs ago when the war started. I’m living in safety in Canada. My husband made it out last year. I have friends who are stuck there. One part of my brain is filled with grief, my heart shattered. The other part is here with the whales in this expanse. Life goes on, she said, it’s a mystical puzzle to balance the extremes in life.”
The swell of the waves move my body and I let myself bob freely in the boat. A feeling of balance returns to my body, a trust that only the waves can give me. I align my breath with the graceful rhythm of the whale bodies in the water. Such beautiful creatures, such deep sighs as they let the air out of their blow hole. The movement stays with me long after I have set foot on land again. The rocking sensation stays in my brain. I sense the Ukrainian woman’s pain and joy rising and falling and I hold both sides of life.
Walking the beach lets my mind expand to the far horizon, the flat line between water and sky where the world ends. While my legs move, my mind rests. There is nothing to see but blue-green water with an occasional white cap. The mind longs to see and experience different things. This wide blue expanse from water to sky is empty mind. May I breathe like the whales and fly like the pelicans, the gulls and the frigates through that emptiness to inner ease.
Where in MX are you? Ease...yes, yes, yes....where do I sign :)
It sounds wonderful!