I do yoga and active meditation every day. At the moment, I live in Nice, in the south of France, and I often go to the seaside to do my practice.
A Quiet Morning... Almost The other day, I was in the middle of an active meditation when I felt someone very close to me, unloading some material or something. It felt like it was happening right at the other end of my yoga mat.
I was on a small pier. My mat was laid crosswise to face the sun. There was plenty of space around, and the rest of the pier was empty.
I kept going with my practice... and suddenly, very loud techno music started blasting from the west end of my mat. I usually play mantra music softly on my phone — but now, I could hardly hear it.
A wave of anger swept through me.
The Inner Split My practice is timed, and I was in the middle of a segment, so I kept going — after a quick glance to see what was happening.
There he was: a fisherman, with rods, bags, a seat, and a Bluetooth speaker — all set up exactly at the end of my mat. Not touching, but clearly right there.
I've been meditating for many years. It's become a natural state. I can stay aware of many things happening at once.
So part of me continued the practice, and another part started wondering:
|What the fk!?
And then:
|What should I do now?
The Thought Spiral I could feel the anger rising and falling like waves. Anger is my main challenge emotionally — I grew up with it.
My thoughts went like this:
- This guy is invading my space.
- But the space is public.
- I was here first. He couldn’t have missed me. With his loud music, he’s claiming the space on purpose.
Wave of anger.
- Breathe. Don’t let it overflow... okay... we've got that...
- Oh, the music’s turned down... still loud, though.
- AND seriously — he’s almost on my mat!! He could go further. He could wait to play his music!!!
Then came the fantasy:
|I want to stand up and kick his speaker into the sea to make my point!!
But reason chimed in:
He hasn’t touched your things. Okay. I should say something first.
But what?
*“I was here first. You should go away!” → He’d just say: “It’s a public space.”
“Don’t you see I’m doing my practice? Why are you disrespecting me?”
Nope. The guy clearly saw me — and he was making it very clear he didn’t give a damn.
The Man I caught another glimpse.
Not our usual middle-aged North African fishing for the family. Not a young, passionate angler either.
He looked like a long-haired, tattooed, ring-fingered, spliff-rolling kind of retired rocker — listening to electronic music!?
What do you say to a guy who clearly doesn’t give a s**t?
|Please, give a s**t?
He was totally ignoring me — like I wasn’t even there. But I could feel he was looking for conflict.
Turning Inward I resumed my practice. I didn’t feel like conflict at all.
I thought about how spiritual people are often “too nice,” and how others take advantage of that. But I believe you shouldn't be weak just because you’re looking for love.
I thought about Jesus Christ arriving at the temple, seeing merchants everywhere. He pulled out a whip and chased them away!
But this wasn’t a temple. The guy probably comes here often and decided it was his fishing spot...
Choosing My Ground I got up and carried on with the rest of my program: Push-ups, squats, a swim.
I did all of that as if the fisherman wasn’t there — even though he was literally just centimeters from me. Like a total stranger being way too close to your body.
I changed into my swimsuit, did my exercises, swam — all right there, using exactly as much space as I needed, as if no one else existed.
A Final Gesture When I came back from my swim, I started packing up. I needed to shake the sand off my mat, so I smacked it like dusting an old rug — back turned to the guy, almost touching him, but not quite.
Very loudly.
I could feel the anger, not far, waiting to overflow me.
So I stopped. And I left.
I actually went to the beach next to the pier and did a tea ceremony...
But that’s another story.
And You? What do you think? What would you have done in that situation?
Photo taken with my iPhone