My Experience at Burning Man

If you follow @sochicke on Instagram you may know that I just came back from Burning Man. You may ask, “What in the heck is Burning Man?” And I’ll answer that in a minute. First, why I went to Burning Man. The answer: Because I’m learning to say YES instead of NO (or more accurately because I’ve stopped resisting my hubby’s crazy ideas and am saying “Yes” instead of “Are you freaking nuts?”). And because life is short and it’s getting shorter every day and I want to live my life like I really mean it.

So when the opportunity came up to go to this event, I didn’t resist. And it changed my life.

It’s hard to convey the magic of Burning Man. One guy I met said it’s like explaining the sunrise to a blind person. No pictures, videos or words can fully describe this event. Energy cannot be translated. Nor can I fully describe the things I saw, and what I experienced both outwardly and on the inside. There isn’t enough time or words to fully articulate what can only be experienced.

How can I convey the magic and the energy of this place? How can I explain the kindness and love I experienced from perfect strangers?  How people will come up and hug you and ask you how your burn is going? And that when they find out it’s your first burn, they say, “Welcome home”?  And how can I convince anyone who knows me that the dust and the grit and the body odor (not mine, but others’) didn’t bother me?

Burning Man is not a music festival as most people believe it to be. There’s music, certainly. Lots of it. Twenty-four-seven. Coming from everywhere: house music, pop music, country music, classical music, disco even. There are live performances too. We saw a ballet, fire-dancers, a live orchestra, all kinds of performances.

Burning Man isn’t a place either, but rather a collection of magic, of people, of love, and of art.

The desert landscape that is the actual physical “place” is called Black Rock City and during the duration of the event, it is dotted with beautiful art installations…some of them interactive — all of them, examples of the amazing talent that exists in the world.

And I have to mention the “Art Cars”. Communal transportation vehicles ranging in size from golf-cart to four-story truck decorated in everything from a butterfly to a dragon spewing fire from its mouth. They put any parade float to shame. There are hundreds of these spectacular art cars. At night when they ride around the desert festooned with multi-colored lights, it feels like you’re in the middle of a dream — it just doesn’t seem real.

Some of these party art cars will ride out into the desert with their onboard DJ’s and wherever they stop is where the party starts. The popular party vehicles are followed by party-seekers on bicycles decorated with tiny lights of every color until the dragon or the rabbit, or another fantastical creature party vehicle comes to a stop and those followers park their bikes and lose themselves in the music and dancing. Sometimes until the next day!

 

But it’s not all about partying. In fact, for us, it was very little to do with it. We attended personal growth workshops, healing sessions, spoken word performances, breathwork sessions, and tantric workshops. It’s all available free of charge to help solidify you as a couple and help you self actualize as an individual.

Burning Man is a social experiment. A city with about 75,000 inhabitants (for one week a year, it’s the third-largest city in Nevada) built by man in a week’s time and disassembled 8 days later (“strike” in Burning Man vernacular) leaving no trace behind. None. Not a feather, not a pin, not a string, not even a stain on the desert sand. In this temporary city in the scorching, dusty desert of Nevada, there is no government, no money exchanged (except to buy ice and coffee – sacred commodities), and no judgment. Come as you are or as you want to be. Radical self-expression is celebrated along with acceptance.

It’s eight days spent celebrating self-expression, art, dance, music, humanity, the planet, and our creator.  It’s supportive and loving; a time to look inward, let loose of what is holding you back and collaborate with fellow humans in this bizarre, provisional society. It’s a strange and beautiful motley crew of humans gathered together for the sole purpose of celebrating life.

Burning man is arranged in the form of a clock with the 2 – 10-0’clock sections occupied by camps (RVs, tents, hammocks, vans, you name it). Outside of the camp is what is called the “Playa” with the MAN smack in the center of the clock. Playa means beach in Spanish and I assume they named it that because of the desert sand, although dessert sand and beach sand are not related…or maybe just cousins 5 times removed.

I didn’t know what to expect. I had seen pictures on Instagram with emaciated models and influencers posing in their bizarre but beautiful costumes, and thought, Shit, I need to up my fitness game and no-carb-it before I go. And I did. But it’s not like that at all. There are people of all sizes all ages and all walks of life. All are welcomed. There’s a place for everyone on the playa. It’s a far cry from the real world — a breath of fresh air in a desert full of dust and I quickly grew to love this temporary utopia.

I have to admit though, aspects of it are really difficult. The elements are harsh on the body and it’s not easy to get there. From the moment we decided we were going, to the time we actually got our tickets two weeks before the event, it was all-consuming. We were fortunate to get sponsored in an established camp by a friend. But we had to go through a sort of interview/application process so that the leaders of the camp could determine if our values lined up with the camp’s and Burning Man’s as well.

These are the 10 values…

1. Radical Inclusion
2. Gifting
3. Decommodification
4. Radical Self-Reliance
5. Radical Self-Expression (my favorite)
6. Communal Effort
7. Civic Responsibility
8. Leave No Trace
9. Participation
10. Immediacy

You can be part of an established camp like we were — there are many — or you can create camps with friends (or strangers), or camp on your own. The advantage of being part of a camp, especially one like ours, is that you are part of a community where you get to establish relationships with your fellow campers. They become the people you rely on — your temporary desert family. You also have access to prepared meals, and camp water. All of this for a fee, but money well-spent.

Many of the camps are themed. There’s a grilled cheese camp that serves grilled cheese to all who are craving it. There is a camp that washes hair, which I made good use of. Some camps will even have pop-up bars. Thank God for the cold beer we received at one camp in the middle of the scorching heat of the day! The man that served us that beer was naked and painted silver but that just added to the experience. Silver Man was one happy guy.

There was a camp that offered steam baths and then allowed you to cool off on a chilled water bed afterward. There was a camp dedicated to misting burners with cold water in a chilled tent where you could rest your battered feet and cool off while making new friends.

And then there was my favorite: FOMOgenesis. A human carwash of sorts where you are ushered into a rectangular see-thru container about 60 people at a time, sprayed with foamy soap from a platform above and then hosed down with cold water — all while dancing to a live DJ. You then come out the other end and dance until you dry off.

I honestly can’t say enough about that particular experience. I have never EVER seen so much joy in one place. Maybe it’s because everyone was getting the dust and dirt cleaned off their bodies, or maybe it was because of the absurdity of it all. Whatever it was, we liked it, and we found ourselves asking almost daily, “Where are we?” We felt as if we were on another planet.

If I were to try to describe this experience (all of it, not just the shower) I would say it’s a post-apocalyptic amusement park: part circus, part Mad Max, part Woodstock, part Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, part Disney World. I now understand what a child feels like when experiencing Disney World for the first time. I had forgotten to experience life with a childlike wonder and it was a beautiful reminder.

My hubby called it the greatest spectacle on Earth…an explosion of lights and sounds and costumes — all of it strange and hard and sexy and joyful and outlandish and beautiful. And it made me feel grateful to be alive. It made me grateful for everything.

They say there’s a magic to the playa, and I experienced it first hand.

I’ve always been a seeker. Throughout my life, I have sought deeper meaning, questioned relentlessly and understood that I don’t understand anything. Yet I still question, I still search for meaning. I have a pretty good spiritual practice and a personal relationship with God. I can get woo-woo with the best of them….or so I thought.

I’ve never actually been around a group of people — other seekers — who are clearly more advanced in their spiritual growth than I am or perhaps will ever be. And so I found myself going inward at first. I encountered resistance, stayed inside my shell.

So often we hold back from experiences that mean to teach us. I became an observer instead of a participant and that surprised me. What surprised me even more though, was the hubby’s reaction. He leaned into this experience like he had been seeking it all along. And he hadn’t — not outwardly a least.

And I thought, wait a minute, I’m the spiritual junkie. I’m the one who wants to go to Bali on a yoga retreat. I’m the one who meditates. I’m the one who is usually open to all this hippie shit. Personal development is my genre of choice. I even want to get a Hamsa hand tattooed on my back!

And yet. I’m the one who got a little suspicious of all the free hugs and became really uncomfortable with all the deep eye-gazing. I’m the one who resisted. Look, I’m from Miami, I’m not used to people looking at me in the eye. I’m used to rude, busy people. It’s hard for me to handle kindness from strangers. I don’t know what to do with it or how to respond to it.

It took me a minute.

But not the hubby. He didn’t resist any of it. He was open and trusting and curious. He meditated, attended a sound healing session, got teary-eyed in a group hug situation and felt (actually felt) the energy at many of the spaces.

And so what I’ve realized that he was the one who needed the lessons at this burn. As they say, “The Playa provides.”

This year’s theme was Metamorphosis and an apt theme it was. I had to learn to venture out of my cocoon so that I am able to take flight in an entirely new form. And so that is what I feel I need to work on, allowing myself to see and feel the new me taking shape — to explore new sides of myself. I’ve been doing that in the last several years, but obviously I have a lot more work to do.

So often it’s hard to see change when change is happening. I’ve been back a week and only now am I able to see the magic that unfolded. I can feel the transformation starting to take place — although it’s still hard to articulate. What I couldn’t see on the playa because of too much stimuli, I’m now only now starting to understand. I was cracked open and made to see things, my life, people, my husband in a completely new way.

I love the way you never stop discovering things about yourself, no matter how old you get.

In a nutshell, this experience made me want to experience more out of life and to be mindful of what I am consuming. It taught me to look more closely at people, to wiggle my way in, to ask more questions, and to listen. And most of all, to open up a hole in my armor so that others can see me.

This is what I came away with and that I want to leave with you for now:

Life is a gift. Our planet is beautiful. Everyone has a deep longing to love and be loved. And everyone deserves to be seen and to be accepted. Many people are suffering and need a hug and a kind word. There is so much more to life than material things. Sometimes you have to chisel away at the worldly bits so you can see what’s at the core. We are here to have joy and meaning and connection. Social media sometimes does suck the joy out of life and we should all take some time and disconnect so we can connect with our authentic selves. If you look for answers, you will find them. What you look like matters less than how you look at others. And when others look at you deeply, don’t look away.

By the end of the experience, I knew I’d go back.

If you are stuck in a life you’re only marginally living, change that and make it a celebratory life. Ask yourself, what would it be like if I said YES more? Is there anything holding you back from doing that? And if there is, could it be the story you are telling yourself? Are you perhaps saying, I’m too old or I’m too busy or What will people think or I could never do that, I’m not brave enough?

Go back and read the first paragraph: LIFE IS SHORT AND GETTING SHORTER EVERY DAY.

And I leave you with one of my favorite quotes from the late Mary Oliver…

“Tell me, what are you going to do with your one wild and precious life?”

My answer is FLY.

xoxo