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It’s not an emotional attachment to food, the woman argued. She just wanted something she could taste.

I couldn’t agree more and my first meal out of the ashram was a spinach and tuna steak dish to help replenish my iron and protein. And it was covered with cheese and garlic and tasted amazing.

The concept of attachments, as I’ve written before, is a major component of Eastern philosophy. The less attached we are to the physical world around us, the less emotional we will be and more connected to a spiritual being. That’s the aim for those on the level of monks or nuns.

For the rest of us though, I think it’s more about being aware that we have such attachments. That clothes and food do give us a certain emotional response, as do certain activities and people.

Ashram life can force one to think about some of this. Residents wear only white and have limited options for eating.

But is it to make you think, or not think.

I got into this discussion today I see it as a little of both. It’s a time to attempt to quiet the mind from daily concerns of work or family. But it’s also a time for personal reflection and confronting issues I know I have but otherwise avoid thinking about. Looking at patterns in our lives by breaking the normal habits.

It can take a few days for the mind to want to be there. In the mean time, I passed the days managing only to wash clothes check e-mail. It’s easy to loose sense of time and place and not worry about anything beyond that day. In an ashram, I have trouble remembering appointments or getting anything done. My brain just takes a break.

Lately though, I’ve been in my head a lot. That’s what traveling solo does. I can’t escape myself. It’s all I’ve got.

But I think doing that all the time is it’s own pattern. Now, I want to see how these lessons have affected my life in the real world again. It’s not that I’m free of issues. I’m not sure any of us ever really are. But I’ve learned some methods for scrubbing out the mind and can always pick that brush up again.