Workshop All Terrain. Photo | Rien Boonstoppel

Intro 2019 | Mental relaxation and physical exertion

Big differences in this afternoon’s workshops. Basically ‘if you could dream it you could do it’: tying ties, skateboarding, repairing a tire, cooking a meal ... Cursor started with a very relaxing meditation workshop and then sat back and watched how intro kids a couple meters away had to give their all to climb over the Dommel.

by
photo Rien Boonstoppel

If you were hoping for a break from the sometimes turbulent Intro week, you’d be just in the right place at the Fluxveld during the meditation session. It’s almost noiseless in the teepee tent, where about fifteen students are participating in the meditation workshop of Tint and the student network Enter the now. One person is lying, the other is in a cross-legged position and another is sitting with his knees raised, all with their eyes closed listening to the Chinese-philosophical story that Karsten van Asdonk of the student network is reading to them in genuine British English. The atmosphere got so calm that some people fell asleep ("I felt tingling and suddenly I was gone").

“But that is a good thing, you unconsciously process many incentives,” says Juul van Geleuken, who musically supported the story with his guitar. The question from one of the participants whether that also works in the same way when you fall asleep during a lecture, makes people snigger. After sharing their thoughts about the story (it reminds one person of Christianity, another thinks of charity, apart from religion), the tent opens again and the participants, well rested, go to their next workshop.

Maneuvering over obstacles

We find a completely different setting a bit further down, where intro kids are standing on bridge railings, maneuvering over obstacles, climbing up from a car tire hanging over the water of the Dommel and running from one challenge to another. The most challenging part, judging from the side, seems to be a net stretched over the Dommel. Participants had to crawl on their stomachs over a rope to get to a net, to then move back hanging under another rope. And as always: when one made the first step, more soon followed. And with some tips, most of them succeeded in reaching the other side. Not necessarily dry that is, but luckily the sun was shining.

Share this article