Practice hammock at home

Inviting seaside hammock in Yucatan

What a week to start a blog on making home a special retreat? With global economies crumbling, especially our own, and our very security shaken, both financial and psychological, we turn ever more to the comforts that family and home offer. As a wise person told me, these are the times to keep our hearts attuned and not give in to fear and anxiety.

So what awakens the heart and clears the mind of its clutter and worrying? We all think of meditation….yes that is it, think of it. Often that simple activity of meditation seems to be too much of a transition from our busy day, or feels like too big of a step or commitment from the rushing torrent of “must do’s” in our day. Then the simple moment of quiet in a favorite comfortable place is enough, along with intention, to return to calm and find our center.

A week ago, as I ruminated secretly on hammocks as an example of something valuable we in the US learned from another culture, several people close to me talked gleefully and longingly about their hammock experiences that day. Lying in the backyard in a hammock is one of those perfect experiences – available every day for free in our home – that brings us relaxation, and opens us to the beauty and joy around us.

Some of us need quiet and solitude along with the hammock to get the most out of it, like my husband. He works very hard year round and I know what the hammock means to him: it is his choice place to retreat to pleasure and calm (next to his bed). He even measures, in part, whether he had a good summer by how often he got to rest uninterrupted (and may I emphasize the uninterrupted part?) in his hammock. As a family, we try to support his hammock therapy and remind each other not to go outside when he is there, But we forget, and kids are kids, and do I need to tell you that he never gets enough time to “be in the hammock?” Do any of us fill that yearning to find calm from our rushed days?

In our overly driven, materialistic society, the least we can do is create for ourselves in our homes and gardens these special retreats, that can serve as doorways to being more fully present. We can also continue to learn from other cultures and countries. Hammocks are just such an example of a simple, beautiful thing Americans learned from the hispanic culture. Hammocks date back to even a thousand years ago to Mayan societies in Mexico and Central America. With the hammock we find how to return to a slower pace, how to relax our bodies, and how to connect with ourself and the beautiful world around us.

So with the last golden days of summer upon us, and as the shadows grow long across the grass, as well as in the news, take a few moments to step outside and hang out.