The Meditative Art of Shoe Shining
Barranco, Lima, Peru
There is nothing that so immediately transports me into a state of calm tranquility and meditation as the crisp scent of a newly opened can of shoe polish.
To begin my ritual, I usually find a quiet place to sit. I carefully spread out my supplies and my favorite pair of leather boots, take a few deep breaths, and spend the next ten minutes in a pure state of Zen focus as I mindfully polish my shoes by hand.
I first discovered the practice of meditation ten years ago on my first solo adventure to Costa Rica. It was there that I also discovered yoga and surfing, both meditation practices in their own right.
I later went on to learn the art of meditation and practice more deeply through training as a yoga instructor, which also introduced me to Buddhist philosophy and practice. I became a meditation teacher, although I have never formally taught meditation.
I traveled to China and eventually to Japan, where I sat for countless hours with Zen monks practicing zazen until my legs went numb.
In all of my journeys and experiences, I have come to quietly discover over many years that while the word meditation conjures up all kinds of images of Zen monks and “spiritual” people, it is really the most simple and natural practice in the world and immediately accessible to anyone at any moment of the day or anyplace they might find themselves. It is as simple as a baby breathing, a return to our natural way of being. It is a moment available at any time to step out of the noise and chaos of the world around us
I have been traveling the world for the past five years and one of the very few items that goes with me on every adventure is my favorite pair of leather boots. I remember the day the arrived some six years ago. They have since been with me, walking over 500 miles throughout the narrow streets and alleys of Kyoto. They have accompanied me to Central America in Costa Rica, Panama and Guatemala. They have stuck with me on the cobblestone streets of Cusco and now Lima, Peru.
Eventually, the soles ran through and I was able to find a craftsman in Cusco who sewed in the new soles for the humble price of $13. His shop has been there longer than I have been alive.
Recently, I wrote the company that made them to see if I could replace the exact same pair. They are no longer made. I suppose I will replace the soles the next time they run through, if I am anywhere near the humble shop in Cusco.
When I sit down to quietly polish and shine my shoes, I slip easily into a state of pure meditation and reflect over the many miles I have traveled and the many stories and people these boots have shared with me. I am at peace, in a state of calm tranquility and all is well with the world.
Field Notes
“You can make any human activity into a meditation simply by being completely with it and doing it just to do it. If you really enjoy swimming, you swim not to get to the other side of the river, or to complete a certain number of laps, or to go so far out into the ocean, or to compete in any way with yourself or with other people. You swim to experience the water rippling past you, and to enjoy the floating sensation when you lie on your back and look at the blue sky and the birds circling about. Every moment you are simply absorbed in this ripply, luminous world, looking at the patterns and the shifting net of sunlight underneath, and the sand way down below-that’s what swimming is about.
Some of us like swimming, and in the same way, some of us like meditation.”
-Alan Watts, The Way of Zen
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Zen and Ink Journals represents hundreds of hours of writing over the past decade, sometimes from a train in remote China or a coffee shop in Kyoto, a hammock in Costa Rica or a simple cabin on a mountaintop in Boquete, Panama or Ciudad Colón.
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