Hi All – This is the third and final post in my series about Bend’s “personality traits”. The final aspect I want to touch on is what I refer to as “West Coast Vibes”, which to me means a free-spirited, open-minded, anything-goes aesthetic. I was reminded of this on our first full day in Bend when we attended a “Music in the Park” event and the people in front of us in line had their pet pigeons along for the evening. I was used to seeing dogs in strollers, but this one made me look twice!
Some other examples of things that feel very “West Coast” here include: the bone broth packets on sale at my coffee shop . . .
and open-top jeeps with skeletal decor!
Even the library’s programming feels a bit more “out there” than I’m used to. For example, in September I participated in a Forest Bathing class where we took yoga mats into the forest and did a mix of meditation and sensory exercises that connected us with mother nature. One activity, for example, was to see how many different things you could smell in a five minute period. Another was to go out and thank the forest in some way for the gifts it gives us. I can definitely see why it has gained popularity in Japan as a way to destress and relax, but I was just so-so on it and still don’t understand why they call it forest BATHING.
However, I did enjoy this unique view of the forest while laying on my mat for meditation (probably shouldn’t have been taking out my phone during meditation but it was just so pretty and I had to share it with you!)
The library also offers a monthly singing circle, where individuals with all levels of singing experience gather together to make music for fun. No sheet music, no working towards a performance–just singing for the joy of singing. Now I’ve been singing a long time, but this was like nothing I’d experienced before. Allow me to go into more detail…
To start, we introduced ourselves by singing our name, after which everyone repeated our “name ditty” back (a surprisingly effective technique for helping to remember names!). Then, after that, our song leader had us remove any chairs that weren’t being used and gathered us into a tight circle of chairs. Warm-ups weren’t a thing; we just went straight into the first song, which was taught orally. By that I mean, he’d sing one or two lines, then have us repeat it back. That process continued until we’d learned the entire song. Once we had all the sections learned, we’d sing the song in its entirety a few times, then he’d break us into groups to sing it in rounds or add harmonies. This was done for about 10 or so different songs. After each song, we’d offer up gratitude for what the song had taught or inspired in us. For example, someone might say, “Thank you song, for peace” or “Thank you song, for the beautiful harmony”.
Once we started getting comfortable as a group, he encouraged us to get up and dance or move our bodies in whatever way called to us. I was feeling a bit self-conscious at this point and desperately missing the comfort of staring at my music instead of directly into the face of the person 8 feet across from me. Boy was it intense! But it was beautiful too, and over the hour and a half I was eventually able to get out of my head and relax.
The whole experience made me realize that there are very few things I do in life that don’t have an output. Even with a puzzle or book, I’m working toward the completion. With singing, I’ve only ever done it with the goal of performing a concert or singing at mass (which, though meant as worship, also always felt like a performance too). So the whole idea of singing with no intention of performing felt very radical to me. I went back and forth in my head for a bit as to whether it was a waste of time to do something with no intended outcome, but then I decided the joy singing brings me is reward in itself. I’ve become too attached to achievement and output over the years, often to the detriment of my happiness. So yeah, this was definitely a fascinating, ‘out there’ experience for me. Despite my familiarity with group singing, I was surprised at how uncomfortable I was with both the auditory form of learning and the encouragement of free movement. Interesting to notice how stuck in my ways I am. Guess it’s a good thing that I’m always trying out these new things that show me the edges of my comfort zone. It keeps life from getting boring!
