https://listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=m51TQ2zbJWc&s=&e=#Ragnakamp
I spent a week alone. Utterly alone in the forest I call my own. That I've been coming to since I was born. I am blessed that my family has this place. Our own little spot of the wild world.
I woke every day and meditated next to the creek 20ft from the front door of the cabin.
I would then walk more than a mile down the dirt road that only we use. The silence was beautiful. Peaceful. Calming. When I say silence I don't mean of noise, I mean of voice. The sounds of birds, or the rushing wind through the forest is the most beautiful noise I can imagine. To speak is almost a crime in those moments. I'm reminded of the scene in Jet Li's Fearless when he's living amongst the rice farmers, and as one they hear the wind coming, all cease their work, stand arms outstretched and just for that moment, feel the bliss of the wind, of nature, of life. Every moment I felt the wind I felt the call to do the same...
When I arrived at the end of the road I simply turn around and walk back, but every hill, every slope, every gain in elevation, I sprint as hard as I can upwards until my lungs burned, until I gasped for air. Living at sea level and going to 5,000ft elevation, is a different game, the most basic of tasks make you breathe harder, make you tired faster, take more out of you, and it is in these conditions I trained. Every. Day.
After sprinting every hill the entire way home, I relax and read with a hot cup of green tea until my first meal at noon. Each day, 3 eggs, 2 strips of bacon, and HUGE bowl of steamed broccoli. Vegetables with every meal, 2 meals a day, first at noon, last before 7.
I spent the relaxing periods of the day reading Fiction, Non-fiction, Philosophy, and History. After my meal and some further reading I would then go for a longer walk/hike. I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, I hiked up mountains, I hiked trails, I just walked, listened, felt the wind, looked at mushrooms, and felt the forest around me.
When I returned to the cabin I would again read until around 3-4pm, at which I performed a small workout, each day I aimed to do 100 pushups in as few sets as possible. No reason other than I haven't done this before. The first day it took me 11 sets. The second to last day it took me 6. The last day also took me 6 but the last set was only 4 more reps. After pushups I did most of my core/pre-hab/re-hab routines. Ab-wheel, compressives, ladder set, titanium ankles, and a lot of foam/PVC rolling.
Cold outside shower with the frigid water from out mountain side spring and return to my current book. Dinner around 6, most of the week it was steak with garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper cooked in olive oil and butter with various vegetables, sauteed squash and zuchini, or steamed and sauteed brussel sprouts. The meat the size of my fist, the vegetables covering all other available space on the plate.
I would then read into the late hours of the night, with another cup of tea, delving into the various worlds between the pages of my books, and then I would sleep in multiple layers of clothing, under 4 layers of blankets, because it gets cold there even in the middle of summer. Some of the most restorative and restful sleep I've had in a long time.
The bliss of my forest is something I look forward to every year. It is my sanctuary. My sacred grove. The place to feel closest to the gods.
My heart rate dropped as low as 48bpm during this trip and during training as high as 176bpm. I lost more than 3lbs of body weight from this trip.
Every time I come home from these trips I feel reborn.
I live for the forests of this world. And most of all, I love MY forest.