Staying with Marian and Gary is like staying with your favorite Aunt and Uncle who completely freak out your totally conservative parents who are convinced that one time you are going to come back wearing dashikis, chanting, recounting your vision quest with a spirit named Rom 617 and how you are now renouncing all worldly possessions and want to drop out of life and become a healer for dogs and cats suffering from advanced depression.
Not quite. There is a lot of talk of spirit and higher purpose, but its more like summer camp with really good food, lots of exercise and an occasional emotional breakthrough aka breakdown. Though I am meeting with my Native American Spirit Guide on Tuesday, so there is still time...
I woke up at about 5:20 because there are no window coverings in my gorgeous guest suite. Um, yeah - still sleeping here. Begrudgingly, I got out of bed but once I looked outside at the blue sky, gorgeous mesas and topography it wasn't so bad. I went for a short walk to visit the horses and take some photos first thing, but by 7:00 a.m. it was already 85 degrees so I headed back in for shelter. Every time I think I could live in Arizona, the heat reminds me otherwise.
My workshops today was about Prayer & Meditation and Living in Balance & Harmony. Basically we determined that the difference between prayer and meditation is that prayer tends to feel like a very outgoing message to someone or something "out there" which is why many people loose faith (pun intended) in most conventional religions because its requiring a belief in something controling the world other than onself. Something you have a hard time touching or feeling. Meditation tends to me a more "internal" practice, bringing God or Spirit or Energy into ones own self. It is based upon the idea that we are all part of something greater and once put into practice, easier for people to understand and follow.
For the second time in my life, I was able to enter a deep meditation that I can only describe as feeling "energy" throughout your entire body and when you come out of it, you feel as if you have had a great sleep even though your mind was fully conscious during the entire session. Apparently sleep IS optional.
The second part of the workshop was learning about something called an Native American Medicine Wheel. I am just beginning to grasp exactly what it is, but we have probably all seen them in our lives most frequently as the center of those dream catchers you see everywhere when you are visiting Aative American sites (or at your crazy Aunt and Uncle's house). They are based upon a simple principal that the earth and all things are divided into 4 equal parts of a circle - Mental (air), Spiritual (Fire), Emotional (Water), Physical (Earth) - with a smaller inner circle representing love. Most people tend to favor one of the parts (being a Sagittarius and a Fire sign I guess it makes sense that I am on this Spiritual quest), but in order to find harmony and balance one must rotate (like the Earth) through all parts of the circle, this includes bringing any outside influences (i.e. Anger, Fear, Turmoil) into the the circle and processing them through. Its a simple idea that if one gets stuck in any one part of the wheel without working through all parts in equal harmony, you feel stuck in your life. The same goes with those external influences - if you leave them outside the wheel you end up understanding that "denial ain't just a river in egypt" and over time will cause the same "stuck" feeling.
So being that I was able to check off The Mental (learning about this), Spiritual (Meditation) and Emotional (hello tears - I hadn't seen you in a whole day) it was time I embarked upon the Physical part of my journey today.
Uncle Gary, Aunt Marian and my furry cousin Dylan took me out to Sedona to explore 2 of the famed Vortex sites - Airport Mesa and Cathedral Rock. Airport Mesa is an easy drive and hike to one of the most picturesque spots in Sedona allowing for great vistas of other Vortexes formations and the Oak Creek Canyon below. Cathedral Rock is the crowning glory of Sedona and the picture I used in my picasa album to typify Sedona. That hike was a little more intense and WAY hotter. Adjusting to the heat and the change in altitude (us San Franciscans live at sea level, this formation is at 5,700 feet) I slowly made my way to the top of the world. It was worth it. I even tackled some of my own fear of heights to walk out to a ledge and snap a great photo that will be uploaded to my album as well.
When one is standing on a vortex site, many reactions could occur. People with developed intuitive skills often feel and intense pull and energy, others feel nothing (thus the skepticism) and some, like myself, feel a general sense of peace. Now I have no idea if this is truly the power of the vortex or simply an appreciation for the awe inspiring beauty this part of the country evokes. All I know is, who am I to say, I'm here too looking for...something. Anything? Anyone? Bueller..
After dinner I watched a movie called "What the Bleep Do We Know?". In my recent studies, I had heard this movie references more than once. I understand that when it was in theatres a few years back, it was a bit of a sleeper hit, people returning over and over. Now I see why, it made my head hurt - in a good way. The basic premise is a half dramatized, half narrated, docudrama about the principal that Physics and Spirituality are more closely linked than ever accepted before by the scientific community. Its based upon the simple principal that perceived reality is actually mailable and is based solely upon ones beliefs and ensuing actions (and a certain amount of retraining of the brain). I know that is a very simplified and "no duhhh that our actions dictate our reality" way of stating it, but trust me, if you have 90 minutes and an open mind it will give you a headache too in the most awesome way.
Head full from my days lessons, medicine wheel work complete and tummy satisfied, I crawled into bed early to contemplate my homework for today - apparently "Spirit" thinks I have "trust issues". Hmm, you think?
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