ROCKING CHAIR COMFORT

Last week I spent five glorious days in Asheville. I went for a conference, Conversations Among Masters (CAM). Though there are several topics about which I want to post, the first will be about the surround of The Grove Park Inn.

The Inn was built in 1913. (It was enrolled on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.) It has been added to, renovated and restored over the years. Always the finest of the past has been retained. This is immediately apparent when one enters the historic hotel.

Floor-to-ceiling fireplaces large enough to burn 12-foot logs, one on either side of the entry into the great hall, make a stunning statement. Boulders from the nearby mountain were brought here for the building itself and for the fireplaces—both of which are large enough for people to stand upright in them.

The natural world is close here—and it is comforting. Adding to the comfort are rocking chairs, found in abundance all over the place—on the entry porch, in front of the fireplaces, along the hallways looking out toward Sunset Mountain and in the Palm Court, a portion of the oldest part of the hotel. (I “tried out” lots of them!)

One day I walked into a session room filled with rocking chairs—one for every participant. This delighted me—and it set me to thinking about my associations with rocking.

A fetus in the womb is subject to gentle rocking. We never get over it. Rocking is a universal soothing motion that spans across every culture. Most find relaxation and comfort in the rocking motion, whether in a cradle, a rocker, a swing or a boat lapped by waves. Some Orthodox Jews rock when they pray.

When I googled “rocking chairs,” I was surprised to discover the ergonomics of this special chair. Even when not rocking, rockers rock backwards until the sitter’s center of gravity is met thus granting the ergonomic benefit that the occupant is kept at a very unstressed position and angle. Who knew?