the longest 25 minutes of my life

A few weeks ago I was watching a documentary on time. Apparently those clever scientists have discovered we can experience time at different speeds. So while time is racing for me, it may well be racing even faster for you. Or slower. Bit of a spin out that I can't get my head around, something to do with all those extra dimensions we don't really know about, string theory, and, and...

Well, now I have proof, my very own personal proof, that time truly is warped.

I decided it was about time I went to meditation again, so I tootled off with time to spare so I would arrive calm and in a good pre-meditative state.

And then we sat and sat, and the others talked about their weekend retreat, and I thought we'd never get to meditation, and I could feel my body sinking deeper into the chair and my eyelids edging ever downwards. Damn.

And when finally we started meditating, I was already so relaxed I could not hold a one word mantra together in my mind and I started day dreaming. Wonderful, soft, floating dreams, so real and inviting and JOLT... the head jerked back and forward and I woke up.

Mantra, mantra, mantra, dreaming, JOLT. Over and over again. And each dream seemed like a lifetime and I was wanting to engage with its goodness, and JOLT.

After six or seven such moments I clenched my jaw and determined to stay awake without moving a muscle. Leg cramps, itchy nose, rumbling stomach, dry mouth, but I held it together for what seemed like a lifetime.

Surely we had been meditating for an hour or more? It must be dark outside by now. Everyone else tucked up in bed while we silently chanted mantras to ourselves.

Eons later the gong sounded and we all slowly opened our eyes and stretched. The sun still shone, people were barely finishing work and (I still can't quite believe this) only twenty five minutes had passed.

Twenty five minutes? Ludicrous. We didn't even make it to thirty? My body was telling me something else altogether.

I suppose for the people counting down to knock-off time, the minutes may have dragged on as long as mine. For the other meditators, perhaps the twenty five minutes passed quite smoothly. It is possible busy mums experienced those twenty five minutes in a trice, and they came up short on time for all those little jobs calling out to them. Did we all experience time at different speeds? I would have to think so. There is no way that twenty five minute was a regular twenty five, I'm telling you!

Now, can I bear to go to meditation again? I suppose if it means my year passes more slowly, it might be worth it.