by Chelsea Cain
SHOULD I SAY MY MANTRA OUT LOUD?
Everyone who meditates using a mantra is soon faced with a dilemma: chant the mantra out loud, or chant the mantra in your head? Of course you should do what’s comfortable, taking into account that you have neighbors.
SOME POPULAR MANTRAS
Om
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
Hare Krishna
Om Namah Shivaya
Your girlfriend’s or boyfriend’s first name
Shazam
D-u-u-u-u-u-de
First row, from left to right:
Mountain Pose
Arm Stretch
Fold Forward
Downward-facing Dog
Second row, from left to right:
Plank
Transition
Upward-facing Dog
Third row, from left to right:
Downward-facing Dog
Fold Forward
Arm Stretch
Mountain Pose
How to do a Sun Salutation
The salutation is a series of yoga poses done in a fluid manner, with special attention paid to breathing. Sun salutations vary depending on the instructor and type of yoga. Many instructors believe that the sun salutation is the most important series of poses a student can do. To complete the sun salutation, move through the following series of poses in the order they are shown. Then repeat several times. Remember, yoga is not a contest—just complete the pose to the best of your ability.
I went to a clothing-optional daycare where we did yoga at recess every day.
If you choose to do this outdoors, remember: do not look directly into the sun unless you are wearing eye protection.
How to Find Spiritual Enlightenment
Most hippies’ belief systems fall somewhere between atheism and paganism, which leaves a lot of ground for exploration, and many hippies choose to mix and match their favorite parts of different faiths. My mother, who was raised Catholic, experimented with several spiritual leanings before settling on Buddhism. We once had a séance at our house attended by the Archangel Michael (he was nice). Mom also had flings with Transcendental Meditation, astrology, and reincarnation.
WHAT MY MOTHER LOOKED FOR ON THE ROAD TO ENLIGHTENMENT
Something that would not require gathering with others at a specific location at regular intervals
Something that would not be a “buzz kill”
Guidance, rather than dogma
Something that Mia Farrow had dabbled in
Something that would not require giving money to a bearded man
Cherry incense
Chanting
No (or very little) dancing
POPULAR HIPPIE BELIEF SYSTEMS
Buddhism
Taoism
Hinduism
Astrology
Animism
Transcendentalism
I Ching
New Ageism
Ancient Judaism
The Church of the Sub-Genius
Native American spiritualism
Cults
Tarot
WHERE TO LOOK FOR ENLIGHTENMENT
India
Marin County, California
The woods
On-line
Rock concerts
How to Start a Commune
WHAT YOU NEED
A house, preferably with several outbuildings
A group of open-minded, perfectly matched people with complementary skills, goals, and life philosophies
A goat
A chore sign-up sheet
A casual relationship with the notion of privacy
“On Liberty” by John Stuart Mill
The collected works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
A natural inclination toward egalitarianism
A belief in the inherent benefits of “intentional communities”
* * *
Move into house.
Get along.
Garden.
THE RULE PARADOX
Rules are naturally a touchy subject among hippies. If you are starting a commune, you’ll need some guidelines in order to prevent complete chaos, but it is best to keep them to a few, if only to avoid the several day-long house meetings required to decide which rules to make and how to follow them. There were two rules on the farm we lived on when I was a kid. The first was “Everyone gives something, and everyone gets something back.” If you didn’t do your part (e.g., you refused to help paint the porch, or you kicked the puppies out of the shed so you could park your motorcycle), you were asked to leave. The second rule was “Don’t let the dogs into the sheep pen.” This was the one I had trouble remembering.
Once you accept that everyone has an equal responsibility to share in the commune chores, you can immediately begin trying to get out of them. The best way? Have a baby! My mother was accused of having me so she could get out of doing the dishes.
GARDENING—GOLF FOR HIPPIES
Hippies love to garden, and there is nothing better for a commune than a good-sized vegetable patch. A few tomato plants, some basil, and some rhubarb will keep hippies busy for the better part of a summer. Everyone can participate in the garden’s care and harvest. Because all residents are participating, the garden is truly a product of the community and a central element of commune life. Also, a bountiful garden can feed a bevy of hungry hippies for several months—longer if produce is jarred or frozen.
Television is generally discouraged in communes, mostly because the number of people makes it hard to decide what to watch. We did not have a television at the farm until 1973, when the group decided that they wanted to watch the Watergate hearings. A small black-and-white television was purchased, but my mother decreed that it was not to be allowed inside the house, “on principle.” An extension cord was strung out the kitchen window and the TV was set up on the porch, where my parents and their friends watched it that summer as they worked in the garden. Until I was nine, my mother refused to buy me anything that was advertised on TV. I had a hell of a time convincing her that the Barbie doll phenomenon was all the result of word of mouth.
First row, from left to right:
Gloves
Chicken Wire
Black Plastic Sheeting
Second row, from left to right:
Leaves and Grass Clippings
Biodegradable Trash
Pitch Fork
Third row, from left to right:
Wire
Water
How to Build a Compost Pile
WHAT YOU NEED
Materials for making a compost bin (wire, chicken wire, black plastic sheeting)
Lots of leaves
A garden hose
Biodegradable trash
A hoe or pitchfork
Select a shady spot outdoors where water does not collect when it rains, far enough away from your house (and your punk rock neighbors’) so that the smell won’t keep anyone up at night.
Build your compost bin (see illustration below). A good size is 4 feet wide by 4 feet tall, big enough to contain an average household’s biodegradables and allow the pile to “cook,” but not so big that you lose your backyard.
Cover the bottom of the bin with a 6-inch layer of leaves. It does not matter what kind. Water enthusiastically.
Add a 2-inch layer of grass clippings and/or kitchen scraps mixed with soil.
Using a hoe, mix this layer into the layer of wet leaves below it. Water enthusiastically.
Top with a 2-inch layer of leaves.
Add layers if ingredients are available. The topmost layer should consist of at least 4 inches of leaves to cover all food materials.
Check the pile every week and use a garden hose to keep it sponge damp. Cover it with a tarp if you live in a rainy climate; if the pile gets too wet (or too dry), this will slow the decay process.
Turn the pile twice a month using a garden hoe or pitchfork. The center of the pile will “cook,” reaching temperatures of up to 160°
F. It will smell ripe, it will often emit steam when you turn it, and it will be warm to the touch, even through gloves. If the pile is not heating up, add a 2-inch layer of nitrogen (commonly known as cow manure) and stir it into the pile with your hoe.
Add more to the pile as you want or need to, but always be sure to turn the pile when you do, so that the new stuff is underneath. As composters say, brown always goes on top of green.
Finished compost is dark and crumbly, looking and smelling like rich soil. It can take as little as 2 weeks or as long as 3 months for the compost to reach this stage. A wheelbarrow and pitchfork work well for extracting.
ITEMS TO INCLUDE IN YOUR PILE
What can you compost? Basically anything organic in its natural form that hasn’t been chemically treated…
Yard waste (grass clippings, leaves, etc.)
Wood ashes
Kitchen waste (coffee grounds, eggshells, leftover millet casserole, etc.)
ITEMS TO AVOID
Meat and bones (they are hard to break down both in your colon and in your compost pile)
Cat or dog feces (too rich in nitrogen)
Ashes from charcoal (these introduce petroleum by-product derivatives into the soil)
Paint
Diapers
Beer cans
You get the idea
From top to bottom:
Black Plastic Sheeting
Layer of Leaves (Approximately 4 Inches)
Layer of Grass and Scraps (Approximately 2 Inches)
Layer of Leaves (Approximately 6 Inches)
How to Milk a Goat
WHAT YOU NEED
A pail of warm water
A sea sponge
A milk bucket
One goat (female)
HOW TO MILK
Place the pail of warm water under the goat’s udder.
Use the sponge to clean off the goat’s teats.
Clasp your thumb and index finger around one of the goat’s teats.
Squeeze the teat shut with your thumb and index finger at a point close to the udder, and then open your grip slightly. By clamping your thumb and index finger, you create a valve that allows milk to be captured at the bottom of the teat.
Slide the same hand down the length of the teat to squeeze the milk from the bottom of the teat into the milk bucket.
Repeat the clasping and squeezing process until you have the amount of milk you want. Proficient goat milkers will milk two teats at the same time and alternate to other teats when the stream of milk diminishes to intermittent spurts.
Filter the milk using cheesecloth or a coffee filter. This will strain out any hair or dirt that may have contaminated the milk. Store the milk in a mason jar with a tight-sealing lid.
Refrigerate and drink. Unpasteurized goat milk should keep fresh in the fridge for about one week.
Milking can be a very intimate experience between you and your goat. Make it memorable. Talk to your goat in calming tones. Thank her for her milk, and tell her how much you respect her.
We had two goats when I was a kid: Full Moon and Nelly. I was weaned on Full Moon’s milk. To this day I still can’t drink cow’s milk (it just doesn’t have the love in it).
Start Here
How to Dance Like a Hippie
It is best to dance like a hippie outdoors on soft ground. If you get dizzy and fall, it will hurt less if you do not fall on concrete. This dance is most effective if you are wearing a wide, flowing skirt.
Take off your shoes.
Put your head back.
Close your eyes.
Extend your arms straight out from your sides.
Spin.
Repeat as necessary.
How to Celebrate May Day Like a Hippie
May Day has both pagan roots and socialist roots. It also has flowers. It is hard to say which of these attracts hippies most.
WHAT YOU NEED
A tall pole, or pole-like object
A posthole digger
Streamers in various colors
Friends
Flower wreaths and crowns
A bonfire
1. Prepare your May Pole. Some hippies like to “sacrifice” a living tree for this rite (cutting off low-hanging limbs to make the tree a “pole”), but an old-fashioned, freestanding flagpole will work just as well. If no flagpole or telephone pole is available, any sort of tall, pole-like thing that can be stuck in the ground will work. Fifteen feet is usually tall enough.
2. Tie pretty-colored streamers, one for each guest, to the top of the pole. Each streamer should be one and a half times the height of the pole (e.g., if your pole is 15 feet tall, then each of your streamers should be 221/2 feet long).
3. Dig a hole in the ground with your posthole digger. It should be a few inches wider than the base of the pole, and deep enough that the pole will not fall and injure innocent hippie children. Make sure there’s enough open space all around the pole so that people can walk around it holding the end of the streamers without bumping into rocks, bushes, or other objects.
4. Stick the pole in the ground, and pack dirt tightly around the base. Test to make sure the pole does not wobble perilously.
5. Gather a group of friends and neighbors ‘round the May Pole.
6. Ask them to don flower wreathes and crowns (see “How to Make a Dandelion Crown”).
7. Give each person one end of a streamer.
8. Instruct them to “dance around the May Pole.”
9. The streamers will weave around the pole as your guests frolic and, if you’ve all been on-task, they will form a decorative braid down the length of the pole when you are done.
10. Now make a bonfire and sing.
You can also celebrate May Day with a parade.
It is a little-known fact that hippies love parades.
From top to bottom:
Maypole with Streamers
Figures Moving Clockwise
Figures Moving Counter-Clockwise
THE DANCE
Each person holds the end of a streamer and stands in a circle around the May Pole.
Everyone faces the May Pole.
Every other person turns to their left.
The remaining people turn to their right.
The left-facing people will dance clockwise around the pole; the right-facing people will dance counterclockwise.
The left-facing people will dance to the right around the right-facing people, and to the left around the left-facing people.
The right-facing people will dance to the left around the left-facing people and to the right around the right-facing people.
This is a lot easier than it sounds.
How to Make a Dandelion Crown
You may know this as a “daisy chain.” My mother taught me to do it using dandelions. I think this may have been a yard-maintenance strategy on her part.
WHAT YOU NEED
25 to 30 blooming (yellow) dandelions
A fingernail
A rag or washcloth
Pick dandelions from your yard or a nearby meadow. Pick the flowers close to the root, so you have a lot of stem to work with.
Use your fingernail to make a ½-inch-long slit all the way through each stem. Make the slit close to the head of the dandelion, so your crown will be dense with flowers.
Insert the stem of another dandelion into the slit you’ve created, and pull it through. Now slit the stem of that dandelion and insert the stem of another dandelion.
Continue this process until your chain is the length you need.
When the chain looks the right crown size for your head, make a slit that is about twice as long as the others on the stem of your last flower and fit the entire head of your first flower through it. Pull gently to tighten.
Dandelion goo is sticky and the yellow pollen gets everywhere. Wipe your hands with a rag or washcloth when you’re done.
OTHER THINGS YOU CAN MAKE OUT OF DANDELIONS
Anklets
Necklaces
Boutonnieres
Bouquets
Wine
First column, from top to bottom:
Beads
Plastic Recorder
Poem
Second column, from top to bottom:
Tangerine
Shell
Carob
How to Celebrate Your Birthday Like a Hippie
THINGS TO DO
Watch Free to Be You and Me.
Make and hang construction-paper chains.
Make and wear dandelion crowns (see “How to Make a Dandelion Crown”).
Throw a costume party—perhaps a fantasy theme?
Make your birthday party a “Save the Seals” benefit.
Put on a puppet show.
Do cartwheels.
Do partner yoga.
Have guests check their watches and shoes at the door.
PARTY FAVORS
Beads
Carob anything
Tangerines
Seashells
Plastic recorders
Wendell Berry poems written on handmade paper and tied up in small scrolls
How to Make a Vegan Chocolate Birthday Cake (Serves 8)