Free to Be

I’m outside, flat on my back.

If it sounds like I’m in distress, I’m not. Quite the opposite in fact: I’ve been doing yoga in the sun. A luxury I indulge in when there’s no one else around. It’s not something I want to subject other people to, me huffing and puffing as I jerk and wobble about, grunting into position.

And now that I’m done, I’m supine. Letting the sun warm my muscles, relaxing them, and enjoying the cool breeze when it gets too warm. The leaves on the cottonwood tree shimmy and shake, and make a sound like a sequined dress moved by the swivel of hips.

There’s a writing assignment waiting for me to finish, but for now, my attention is on the sounds of the birds. The way my body feels.

I feel completely at ease and content.

One of the best things about nature is it so utterly and unequivocally itself, it can’t not be itself. It’s hard not to be inspired and seduced by this. To join in, let your guard down, and just be.

The trees don’t care if you’re not wearing pants. The egret, perched on skinny legs in the shallows of the river isn’t bothered by your tattoos (or lack thereof). The river doesn’t care who you voted for.

It invites you to just be. To marvel at its beauty. Or not. Either way, it’s doing what it does.

There are not many man made places that are like this. In fact, almost all – if not all – come with expectations. They all ask something of you. Behaviorally, transactionally… you’re never as free as you are in nature.

That’s my experience anyway.

It feels like such a luxury that we can exist this far away from civilization in the middle of all the beauty, undeveloped tranquility, and still enjoy the luxury of a warm comfortable bed. Clean clothes, books, my banjo and a well-stocked pantry of food hidden away under the bench seat.

The level of peace and contentment I feel living this way is not something I ever expected, or thought was possible.

It’s amazing what you make room for when you let go of things you never really chose in the first place.