The 3-day Bloom Back to Nature residential program in Sakleshpur, from 29 Sep to 2 Oct, was nearly all in the rain. And this was no wishy-washy rain but torrential non-stop rain from morning to night, and night to morning. As it is, the Bangalore bandh forced us to delay the start time on Day 1. We had already lost 4.5 hours of program time. And now the rains!
Bloom is an experiential program and we usually give guests the experience of water therapies, sun gazing and sunbathing on Day 1 along with other outdoor activities. That went out the window. It was too cold for a mud bath or a rain bath too.
While Deepali was busily and efficiently managing the kitchen, Saee and I were on our toes, moving schedules around, coming up with new activities, pushing each other, grounding each other, and facilitating what was possible in the circumstances.
The first night, we went to sleep with some restlessness and worry, the sound of heavy rain and winds a constant backdrop. The bonfire, the night before, had warmed me and put me in a deep stupor of sleep and I woke up early. As soon as I got up, I remembered Michael Singer’s article on “Letting Go of False Solidity.”
I had earlier summarised it in my notebook for the weekly inner work sessions. And I always carry that precious notebook to Bloom.
I read the summary out loud to Saee and Deepali. I invite you to read the article in full but I am sharing an excerpt here.
“If you want permanent peace, permanent joy and permanent happiness, you have to get through to the other side of the inner turmoil. You can experience a life in which waves of love can rush inside you any time you want. It is the nature of your being. You simply have to go to the other side of the psyche. You do that by letting go of the tendency to cling. You do it by not using your mind to build false solidity. You just decide, once and for all, to take the journey by constantly letting go. At this point, the journey becomes very quick.”
After we listened to the words from the article, we realised we were clinging too.
As the realisation soaked in, we smiled, breathed deeply, and began the work for Day 2.
We chose to let go and our spontaneity bounced back.
And Bloom continued with the usual sense of flow that makes it the soulful experience it is.