Experimentation through travel and live music
I am infinitely curious. I always have a question. I always want to know the how and why of what a situation or why people think what they do. I’m a Gemini after all. I frequently say “You know what’s interesting” because I think so many people, places, things, ideas, topics and experiences are fascinating. We live on this weird little rock floating in a galaxy of gases, dust, light for a tiny amount of time (as we understand and socially construct time) with other weirdos. I believe that we are in our bodies on this plane to experiment.
I want to remove the phrase “Trial and Error” because it assumes something went wrong. And “error” is negative, where as a “failure” of an experiment in terms of expected outcome is still helpful and provides us with necessary and interesting data points. Semantics, perhaps, but I believe words and expressions carry energy so this shift is a productive one for me.
Through experimentation I have learned what I like and what is nourishing to me. And two of my favorite ways to experiment are through travel and live music (nature as well but that’s for a separate blog) For me I know the following points (among others) to be true:
MUSIC
There is medicine in the music. There is medicine in moving (or just being) with a crowd of people all hearing the same thing in the same place at the same time. The shared experience and energy is deeply rooted in the human soul. T
I love jam bands, but I’ll pass on country, rap and metal. I totally see how folks are into ALLLLL different music but after going to enough different shows if someone invites me to genre I’m not into I’m happy to say, “I love that you love that” and pass.
I want to hear live music outside so I can put my bare feet on the earth. I want to feel the grass as I feel the music pass through me. I want to dance my feet green.
Female lead singers or drummers in otherwise male dominated bands / genres are the sexiest, baddest bitches out there!
TRAVEL
I rather travel to mountains and beaches over cities and landmarks. Sure I’ll post up in the city for 2-3 nights but then I want to see and experience the creations of the divine, not the creations of humans. The divine made the earth and nature, humans made the buildings. Buildings will crumble, it’s the magic of the mountains I’m more interested in.
There is so much beatify and wisdom in not just going to a place but having the local food, drink, art and music. To understand that being somewhere is a full sensory experience, not just a check-list.
I don’t want to take a cruise or go to Disneyland. Again, I love that you love that.
I love to travel alone, with friends, or my husband…I just want to be back in 2 -3 weeks so I can cook in my own kitchen and snuggle my dog.
The people I’m with are a huge part of the travel or music experience. An average show with awesome people is better than seeing the best band with grouchy, drunk folks yelling the whole time. The most epic hike alone is more nourishing than a stroll down the street with 10 people I don’t know.
I learned these truth through experimentation. From doing it “right” and doing it “wrong”. By being in situations I loved and situations I hated. By seeing the awesome and the awful. But really the experience was neutral, it was only my interpretation of the situation that gave it meaning. Our perception is reality after all.
For someone, traveling means saving up all year to go on a cruise for a week with their 2 kids. Someone else thinks traveling is living out of a backpack for 6 months on less than $30 / day. Someone goes to OBX every summer and thinks this is a vacation, not travel. Someone packs a checked bag for a weekend and someone carries on for anything less than a week (Guess which one I am! haha) Someone wants to see all 50 American States, someone wants to get 50 passport stamps. Someone wants to go to Broadway on New York every year, someone can’t stand the concrete jungle and only wants to sleep in a tent with the sounds of the crickets luring them to sleep. Someone doesn’t want to travel because they “have everything they need at home.” Someone wants to travel more because they hate home and they want to GTFO.
Someone sees all the local bands in their city but would never fly across the country to see a band in a brand new venue. Someone wears their fancy clothes and high heels to a show and someone has “show shoes” which are covered in stale beer and are never worn anywhere else (Guess which one I am part #2! haha) Someone goes to one Taylor Swift concert at a stadium and says they “love going to concerts.” Someone else sees the same band 2-4 nights in a row, at the same venue. They get hugs and high fives from other fans on the “accomplishment" of the “100th show.” Someone wants to ride the rail, someone wants to lay down at the back of the lawn. Someone doesn’t want to see live music because it’s too loud, the lights are triggering or they are uncomfortable in crowds. Someone would go to the show alone because they love the band so much and someone goes to see the show because their partner wants them to.
When we view travel and music as forms for experimentation we approach them with non-judgmental curiosity. How does this feel? What’s of interest to me? Where do I feel this in my body. I believe we are all scientists and are preforming experiments every day. The effort is not to get the right outcome but to explore the variations of outcomes. This is after all, the practice of yoga. To experience and observe with non-judgmental compassion, that’s the yoga. Spoiler alert: It’s all yoga.
Travel and live music can look so very different for different people. And the feelings evoked certainly change as we age, change jobs or partners, have children (or not in my case) etc. Shawnie at All Good 2009 (which changed my life) feels very differently at a festival now. Give me a hotel with real shower so I can wash my feet after the previously mentioned barefoot dancing. I want space to dance without anyone touching me and none of this 3am late night stage silliness. Shawnie on Khao San Road in Thailand 2012 was keen on downing as many shot as possible for as little money as possible. Shawnie now wants to wake up early to see the sunrise over the ocean or watch the way the light dances through the trees.
Stay creative with your experiments and open to the results…in travel, live music, yoga and everything else you do (or don’t do).