A Weekend out in the Woods

When I was in Germany in 2006, I of course met a lot of the people whom I had become friends with in the previous years. There was a group of such friends with whom I had agreed to meet over a complete weekend in a holiday home. Just for fun and enjoying the time. This was something new for me and I thought it would be an interesting experience.

My friends were a group of young, spiritually interested people. I had got to know them when they had come to my meditations the year before. Also in that time, we spent long evenings talking and being together in my organizer’s home. There were a few musicians among them, interested also in Indian music, and I had been in touch with them via email even while I was out of Germany.

This time, they called me on my mobile and we made our plans more concrete, fixed a weekend when I was anyway in their area and they told me that they knew someone who owned a cabin in the woods to stay there overnight. They would pick me up and drop me back off. I was looking forward to it.

When the weekend came, they did come to pick me up and after a drive of about two hours, we reached a forest. The road turned into a rather dusty path that led us deeper into the forest with many bumps. Finally, the path stopped as well and we had to get out and walk the remaining way. It was then that I saw the many things they had in their trunk: pots, spoons and plates, vegetables and lentils, rice and water, yoga mats, blankets and of course their instruments. We were about 15 people and had come with four cars. Everybody took something and off we walked into the woods.

The way was not far and we reached a small clearing where I saw a wooden hut on one side and a fireplace on the other. It was a beautiful scenery and when we all had unloaded our things, we walked around the area a bit, exploring it further.

When the sun started going down, some of the group started a fire while we others cooked together on a camping stove. Such a meal is always beyond comparison – out in the open, by the fireside and without the formalities of a regular dining table.

After the meal, the musicians made some music. We sang, we talked and enjoyed the evening. A few young men and women found each other for further intimacy and soon retreated in couples a bit further away from the fire into the semidarkness closer to the trees.

While many of them stayed up through a big part of the night, I went to sleep in the hut, on a few yoga mats on top of each other. I had one of the two rooms for myself – most of the others slept outside under the open sky.

In the late morning, we packed our things and left after a beautiful evening. I had enjoyed myself – but on the other hand, I also enjoyed lying in a proper bed again the next evening.