[Gocamino] on transformations

[Brooke Broadbent]

Tinuviel, Donald and others,
I get the reference to walking with our ancestors. If you consider that
500,000 "Europeans" walked the Camino in some years when the population of
Europe was 40,000,000, the foundation of the DNA of us with European blood
was in there somewhere.
Here are some of my thoughts after my first walk on the Camino. Lots of
similarity with the experience of Tinuviel and Donald.
BREATHING THE CAMINO
Scientists say our ancestors' atoms are present 
In every breath we inhale.
I started the Camino as a hiker,
Breathed in medieval pilgrim's essence,
Ended as a pilgrim.
I felt the peace they sought, 
Half a million hungry pilgrims in peak years,
Felt their search for meaning,
Their pain, their sorrow, their dreams.
Daily I listened to my boots thudding the ground,
Mesmerised by the repetitive sound 
I stopped listening to internal voices,
Peace. Connection with myself, community and nature.
Nineteen days, 
Three hundred fifty kilometres, 
I walked with my ancestors,
I believed and trusted as they did,
Marvelled at the magnificence of wild flowers,
Climbed the same steep hills,
Stumbled on the same rocks,
Refreshed from the same wells,
Revelled in community meals,
Told my life's tales to new friendly listeners,
Felt a warmth in my heart and lungs,
Strutting alone to the beat of body rhythms,
The sound of my walking stick meeting the path of life,
Concentrating on my breath,
Soft pulsations inside my nostrils,
Fixed on the sensation of breathing,
Simply breathing the Camino,
Feeling what is,
Not would could be,
Nor what could have been,
Fixed on the present.
The eternally fleeting present.

Brooke Broadbent