Parksland:Part III

2022-09-17

This will be the final post of the “Georgia and Back” series, placed back into the sequence, like Pt.I and II. We are at the Parkland Retreat Center, we left off here:

Parksland: Pt II

Standing nude, I make a full stretch, arms out legs taunt. Then, my fists pound a tight body, bringing the chi to alertness.  The body awakens and softens up.

There is an awakening energy. It’s a desire and very natural. “Good morning world!”

There were lots of singing crickets last night. It was a good evening.

“Gotta keep movin’!” I remember DF’s mother’s 100th Birthday advice. We’re heading back across country from that event.

Yesterday afternoon, I found out about our host’s love of sauna. He says that the season is beginning, but every season is sauna season to us. I’m thinking that I have to encourage him without being too pushy. I find that there are no concerns though, he’s up for it.

In his storage room, he digs through a stack of canvas. He’s looking for the correct tent to abuse and its parts. 

The sauna must however be constructed first. It has been put away for the heat and humidity of summer.

He has created a unique sauna/sweat. A factory seconds bell tent has had its main pole fitted with disks. These disks seal the air vent above at the top of the cone. This traps the heat, similar to a traditional Native American dome.

Search over, we take this over to a wooden floored round platform base. While he makes the connections, I eagerly go and grab the portable heater.

It is a typical portable tent stove. He has a metal dairy basket packed with inverted shale sheet stone and will place this on top of the stove’s firebox.

At a point, he tells me, “I have it from here.”

DF and I leave, wandering out on the front road, which leads toward the top of a hill. We’ll watch the sun setting out west. Somewhere past the trees lies civilization, but but it all feels like another world when walking peacefully in this natural world and comfortably, naturally attired.

The trees and foliage are lit up in oranges and reds, as light shoots under the canopy. We have fun seeing shadows on trees.

The color is warm and so is the evening heat on our bodies. There is no big sky in this forest, but the effect is still dazzling.

As we walk back, chickens squawk. It is more like a crow sounds, feeling akin to a pterodactyl, when it breaks this silence. “So, I’m hearing a small pterodactyl?” It occurs to me, I have never heard one. The movies have taught me something. I laugh at myself.

At the firepit, I pluck guitar. We wait to see if anyone else will join in the sweat. We’re anxious to get started. We’d disrobe in anticipation, if we had any clothes. Eventually, the three of us grab a towel or two each, and head to the sauna.

There, a wide wooded plank leads to the bell tent entrance.

Inside we find soft tumbling mats. A small stove with a window is orange and glistening. Even the sides appear to be getting orange with heat. The steel basket of shale stone wedged together sits atop.

Our host smiles. We lay the towels to sit. It is warm. We’re feeling pleasant conversing nude on the towels, trading sauna tales and lore.

When it is time, we are instructed to stand up in the circle of the bell. Our host pours water on the heated rocks. Steam rises up quickly into the peak of the cone, then is stopped by the wooden disk. I feel it rising across my body stinging, until it is at our head’s height. My glasses fog, there’s that tingling sting of heat. I breathe naturally into my nostrils and feel the burn. This is very hot! It is however good, not overwhelming, but one has to wonder if ones lungs are being singed. They are, I’m sure, but in a good way. All that is needed for relief is to breathe into the mouth or nostrils, to relax and to trust the medicine.

We sit back down when it is time. Below, it now feels cool and comfortable, just right, like a womb. We smile, calmed, peaceful, content and relaxed.

Outside, a visit to a cold shower shocks in another way. The tiny frigid streams of water tickle at once. Up on tip toes, “whew!” I want to shout. Then, we head back in, once more.

Another round, like a native American traditional sweat. And, what the heck, another round after that.

I feel at home wherever there is a sauna/sweat.

A flashlight returns us to our camp in the deep forest and a good night’s rest.

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