This is Where We Cross The Street A Meditative Soundwalk Created by Mike Durkin Sound by Adam Vidiksis Directions Read by Rachel O’Hanlon Rodriguez crossthestreet.bandcamp.com [Long pause]
Let’s Go On a Trip We are going to go on a short trip together. [Longer pause] Me and You. Me, being your guide. You...being you. We will be together for some time. We will share this experience together. Don’t worry, this is a short trip, we won’t need any supplies. We will begin at a starting point. This could be your home, the place you are living, the place where you work, a park, or any place to begin. At any point, you may pause this recording to complete a task mentioned, and play when you are ready to resume. In preparation for this short trip please practice appropriate COVID-19 precautions- (wearing a facemask, keeping adequate distance between you and others, and washing your hands before and after the trip). You know what you are comfortable doing and the precautions you need to take before leaving, there is no need to rush through these actions. Notice these new rituals. Notice the time it takes to complete these rituals. Notice all the details about these actions. Notice the movements of these actions, the time it takes to wash our hands, the feeling of the mask against our skin. All of them are important and are a part of our new series of conditions. Our destinations are unplanned and there are no right or wrong ways to participate. Everyone’s experience is unique. This open-endedness at times may feel freeing, living in the moment, and forging your own path. This open-endedness may feel a little too
open, the potential for many outcomes, the challenge of choosing. Wrestle with these tensions. Let them resonate through you. Let your impulses take over. [Longer pause] Let us begin. Let’s start by going out of the front door to begin our trip. As we continue on, let’s be mindful of our surroundings. ----- (music)
The First Breath This is where we pass the threshold. The inside to the outside. The waiting to the beginning. As we begin our journey, let’s pause and breathe. [Longer pause] This is the breath of this moment. This is this moment. 10 minutes ago, was 10 minutes ago's moment. 10 minutes from now, will be 10 minutes from now’s moment. We are experiencing t his moment. This breath is going to feel a little different than it usually does. Let’s acknowledge that difference. Breathe into the obstruction. Breathe into the difficulty. Feel the breath throughout our body. As we continue to breathe let’s focus on a specific detail. We call these ordinary phenomena. Something we’ve never noticed before. The blinking sign, the broken window, the down powerline. All of this is important to us. Let’s breathe through the cacophony of yesterday. Let’s acknowledge all of those things that circled around us. Those that were, those that will be forgotten, those that linger, those that will be left behind. We think about this specific detail- it’s history, it’s travels, how it was yesterday, 10 years ago. [Longer pause] Let’s focus on another ordinary phenomenon. Let’s breathe through the uncertainty of tomorrow. Let’s acknowledge all those things that are circling around. The coulds, the woulds, the shoulds, the should nots. The ifs, ands, ors, and buts. The burden of not knowing, the freedom of not caring. Let’s imagine this phenomenon tomorrow, 10 days from now, 10 years from now. [Longer pause] Let’s focus on another ordinary phenomenon. Let’s breathe through the immensity of the present.
The gift of life. The excitement of living. The power of just being. The way our skin feels, the way the wind cascades off of our arms. Witness how nature, life, and the world passes around us. All of that is special, all of that is important. [Longer pause] Let’s continue our trip, head to an intersection. This could be a stop sign, a traffic light, the end of your driveway, a mailbox, a subway entrance, a bus stop, or anything else. As we continue to go along, notice what we notice, notice the changing landscapes no matter how small or large they may be. Notice your pace, notice your breath. Catalog these observations. [Longer pause, m usic interlude]
We Think About Intersections We think about intersections. The comings and goings. The vastness of potential. The possibilities. The brief encounters we’ve had. The stepping on gravel, the shifting of our bodies as other bodies pass us. The birds flying by, the cars, the song of the trees. We think about the greater intersections. The moments we’ve left behind, the way we’ve crossed paths in the past, the way we can intersect in the future. Choices we made. The successes, the failures, those that remain, and those that were left behind. We think about crossroads. Being caught in the middle. Feeling stuck. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Facing difficult decisions, rethinking those decisions we’ve made. Feeling the burden of making those decisions. Feeling empowered by making the decision. Staring the decision in the face and conquering it. We think about anticipation. The impulse to continue on. The wanting to stay. The tension between these too. The waiting for the walk sign to appear. The countdown. Waiting for the bus to pass by. Waiting for our turn. Waiting. We think about choice and choices. We will be making a singular choice soon. Let’s acknowledge this tension between choice and choices. The singular and the many. The contradictions, the freedoms and the constraints. [Pause] Now, let us choose a direction and cross the road, path, or street. You can go left, you can go right, you can go straight ahead, the choice is up to you. As we cross, remember to be aware of your surroundings. ----(Music interlude)
This Is Where We Cross the Street This is where we cross the street. Breathe that in. We traveled this length together. We made this trek. There were many choices and we chose this one. Moving forward while leaving the past behind. We look back to where we were. We notice what we’ve left behind. We notice our new ordinary phonomena. We breathe in this new space together. [Longer pause] We think about distance. We think about the distance we’ve traveled from this spot to where we began. Was it a few feet, a block, a mile? We think about our body and the environment around us. We think about our body and the distance of other bodies in space. The adjustments we make. The unwritten codes we participate in. We think about “social distancing”. We think about “spatial distancing” We think about the weight of these two ideas. We think about separations and barriers. We think about the physical barriers we’ve crossed in this moment. No matter how small, or how large. We think about the way we observe larger barriers. The physical, the spiritual, the intellectual. What divides us? What keeps us divided? The chasm between the divisions. What We think about the ways we can find bridges to those barriers. [Longer pause] We think about this whole experience. Our mini expedition. We think about how we partake in this trip. We think about the factors that made us make this trip possible. The simple gestures that get overlooked. T he ability to have choices, to have freedoms, to have the capacity of the potential. [Longer pause] We think about what’s next.
What Is Next? What can be. What we can control What we can allow to happen What we can make happen What we can fight for What we can preserve What we be left The power in imagining what’s next. We’ve made this trek together, now what’s next. We didn’t prepare for this, but we must continue. Maybe we need others to go on this journey together. [silence, then music]
The Return or Continue On We think about the return. We can return to our starting place. But how do we go back to where we were before? Time has passed, the world has changed. You are a new you. Finding different ways to cross the street. Venturing off with others. Venturing off by ourselves. Finding new ordinary phenomena. We can tell others of our experience. We can tell others of this journey. We can share what we learned, what we yearn for, what we stumbled over. The beauty in that exchange. We’ve experienced this journey together on this day. This day above any other day. This is the day we took this trip together. [Longer pause] You may return back to your starting place, or you can continue on, forging new journeys. Thank you for this time together. This is the end of our trip.