Conversations with Nana

I was chopping the tall grasses and finding my mind wandering to blame. After several times of stopping that mental transaction, I remembered the Be Here Now injunction. I started to make a silent chant with each movement:

I am the blade that cuts the grass

I am the rock that chips the blade

I am the grass that’s gone to seed

I am the seed that’s already spread

I am the ground that takes the seed

I am the chopper who chops the grass

I am the grass that takes the blade…

The chant worked really well in that it was directed specifically at each of my movements. I also started talking to the grass and encouraging it to allow itself to be pulled up by its roots. Each time the roots came along with the stems, I said ‘Jai Ma! Good Grass!’ That worked well, too, because the grass and I were engaged with pulling and collaborating on the outcome.

Near the end, I thought to myself, this is why the field workers used to sing as they chopped cotton. The chant creates rhythm that puts everything in synch, and gives the mind something to do that’s positive.

2009

This entry was posted on Monday, June 27th, 2011 at 10:43 am and is filed under Costa Rica Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.