Super Ball

It’s been a long time since my last post, six months approximately which in Blogging Land is the kiss of death.  Fortunately, I write mostly for myself, and I have no interest in monetizing the site so…it’s been six months.

Really, the decline began well before April.  Like everyone else in the world, the enduring pandemic was taking its toll on me both mentally and emotionally.  Luckily, I’ve had no one seriously ill with the virus but seeing the tragedy as it took and continues to take its toll was/is exhausting.

Seeing the negative tilt my writing was taking prompted me to take a time out.  So, it’s been six months.

Anyone who’s read this blog before knows of my renewed interest in meditation and I’m happy that I have incorporated the practice into my daily life, I have found it to be very helpful in navigating the negatives but more importantly the daily aspects of my life, being or attempting to be a better person each and every day.

I had an experience recently that was totally new to me.  Generally, I meditate on my own but sometimes I use an App called Calm which offers me some guidance on my technique but also ideas on my meditation.  Sometimes more serious, sometimes lighter and fun.

Jeff Warren, who describes himself as an author and meditator is one of the guides on the Calm App who I enjoy.  He’s quite good at simplifying the process, which is actually quite simple but I, like many seem to make it more complicated than it should be.

Jeff hosted a guided meditation that he called Super Ball.  I guess he had me at the name alone.  As a child, almost everyone I knew had a Wham-O Super Ball.  If you don’t know this toy, it’s a densely packed rubber ball that when thrown down, it would bounce amazingly high.  And being a young boy at the time, hitting it with a baseball bat was exquisitely cool, a home run every time.  I digress.

In the meditation, he asked me to think like a Super Ball.  On the inhale, I was compressing the ball like throwing it down.  On the exhale, the ball was expanding and bouncing very high.  As I did this, I was, in my mind, bouncing as if I was on a trampoline or becoming the Super Ball.

What happened next was extraordinary.  As I took a long slow breath, compressing the ball, I held it for what seemed like a long time and then slowly started to exhale.  At that moment, the ball/I decompressed, and I felt as if I was accelerating, exploding but in a good non-harmful way.  There was no sound, no pressure like a G-Force there was just calm and acceleration.

While it seemed to have lasted for a long time, I’m sure that it was only seconds maybe less.  But in that time, however long it was, I felt total peace and a oneness with all things.  It was far more involved and at the same time simple than what I’ve tried to describe here.  When I opened my eyes, I became aware that I was smiling.  This type of experience has never happened to me before.

I shared this experience with my friend Katja (you should visit her Camino site) who is a Yoga instructor and knows far more about the practice of meditation than I do.  She welcomed me to the acceptance that the mind can do anything if we allow it to.

So, you may or may not believe this.  You may have experienced something like this before.  You may wonder why I’m writing about this and more importantly, why am I reading it.  All that’s okay.  It’s there if you want it and if not, that’s okay too.

I hope to get back to my routine of writing my blog.  Lots of things on the horizon for me in the next 12, 18, 24 months to dream about, write about and may fear a bit.

A bit of a tease, hopefully a return to Europe next summer.  Emersion Spanish language training in Mexico for a month.  Extended stay in Italy, France or Spain.  And a return to the Camino on parts of the Chemin d’Arles, Camino Aragonés and the Camino Francés.  Maybe pick off a couple “S” countries while I’m at it.

More details in future posts.  Feels pretty good to be back.