Spirituality is very simple and yet there is no end to the depth within yourself you can reach. And as far as I am concerned, "all roads lead to Rome" or as my guide Ed quipped "There are many ways to get to the top of the mountain, but the view is the same". My spiritual retreat was a quilt of different kinds of experiences, with some complex emotions bubbling to the surface, and substantial elimination of dark emotions, while enabling the inner light to shine through in shades of rainbow. I did take a picture of my aura but that again deserves its own detailed mention!
Day 1:
Met Ed at the reception of my inn and we drove to a remote place to start the initiation ceremony for the next 3 days that are to be some of the grandest in my life. As I climbed off his vehicle and set foot on the land near a vortex, I felt electricity ripple through me. I resigned it as the initial excitement of a new journey that was about to begin. After the cleansing process and setting the intent for the retreat with the awe-inspiring red rocks as the backdrop, we got into a brief meditation which started opening the door to my inner self, albeit just a crack and light started creeping in rapidly. And after ogling at the rocks some more which invariably resulted in a naive ambition of wanting to capture all the beauty in some mundane pictures, I followed him out of the trail..
After lunch at a vegetarian place with delightful food that pleases the senses and the taste buds alike, I proceeded to meet Kathy for the emotional clearing session. Kathy and I spoke for a while with the sole intent (on my part anyway) of building a rapport and to mask my anxiety of whether this process was really going to work. She made me feel so much at ease and after some discussion made me go on the treatment table. I closed my eyes and completely relaxed while she tried to feel the energy flow in my body. She declared that my heart chakra and abdomen chakra were weak, but my third eye and throat were very strong. Hmm, I wondered about the really strong and relatively dominant sensations I often feel in my third-eye chakra during my deep meditations. We proceeded to a brief guided meditation and for some strange reason, the details of that session escape me in its entirety, and the only trivial bit I remember is feeling a bit disconnected with the reality soon after the session. I also felt a variety of feelings surface, not all of them pleasant. I had stirred the pot, I knew.
My next session was completely focused on a meditation technique that connects the Self to the Spirit. As someone that has been meditating for many years, I was curious about the new technique. The practitioner had some kind of scientific/medical background as well, which only piqued my curiosity further. As I entered her beautiful home, I immediately took a liking to the surroundings and the positive energy in that space. We went into a warm room, which was perfect for a deep meditation. She held my hands and it instantly brought a flood of tears in my eyes, for very many reasons. Sure enough, it was also due to the fact that I had just come out of the previous session. We proceeded to get into a guided meditation where she remained alert and kindly took notes of what I was describing through the process. Initially I didn't see anything but dark, dense and all-consuming black. Not dissimilar to a black-hole which could suck all the happiness in. I tried to recall the crack of the door opening from the first session and things got better. I saw some yellow and white light and felt the strong urge to sing. And I did exactly that! I started singing a beautiful tune which just came to me that exact instant, complete with lyrics and all. It was about joy and love and all things beautiful. It was about pleading and asking for the Divine to never leave my hands.. which as I write about it reminds me of JJ Heller's "when my world is shaking, Heaven stands; when my heart is breaking, i never leave Your hands". At the pinnacle of that beautiful meditation I saw just golden pink, and intended my life to be about helping others, having fun and being joyful. After an emotional embrace, I thanked her and left for the day to retire.
Day 2:
I had the morning to myself so proceeded to the red rock crossing which is an almost flat terrain but nonetheless beautiful trail by a creek. It was a hike to remember and the energy I felt almost levitated me off the ground. The sound of running and tricking water only added to the sensation. I met a family half way during the hike and ended up joining them for the rest of the hike.
I had been looking forward to the private vortex experience that was in the afternoon session. It turned out to be one of the highlights of the retreat. Ed and I went to the courthouse rock and strolled into the trail. We found an elevated spot to sit and Ed was trying to get me to be quiet, but I felt like talking. As I was soaking in the strong vibrations that the rocks were sending to me due to their proximity and sheer beauty, something made me say "wonder what it would feel like up there?". And I meant the rocks of course. Ed quite unexpectedly stood up and said, "let's go find out". I looked at him incredulously and after some negotiating on which ledge was achievable, settled on one that looked the least imposing and started walking towards the rock with him. As I got closer though, my fear of climbing swirled in my head. Ed kept pushing me, and encouraged me to mimic him, and how he stepped on the rocks as he went up. "Look at the next immediate step, not the huge rock in front of you". Good advice - I thought. For life as well! In about twenty minutes without too much effort I had reached the top of the ledge behind Ed. I grinned from ear to ear as I surveyed the height we were in but couldn't help wonder how do I get back down! Ignoring that momentarily, we meditated for a while atop the ledge and I breathed in deeply the pristine air and the enormous bliss that comes with it. Precisely at that moment I also realized Ed had shown me a part of myself that assumes the possible to be impossible. And the key to opening that up was within me, only me! It was time for me to go the next session which involved a body wrap and energy work, and it sounded like just the thing I needed after two hikes since that morning. We made it back down and headed towards town again.
To be continued....
Day 1:
Met Ed at the reception of my inn and we drove to a remote place to start the initiation ceremony for the next 3 days that are to be some of the grandest in my life. As I climbed off his vehicle and set foot on the land near a vortex, I felt electricity ripple through me. I resigned it as the initial excitement of a new journey that was about to begin. After the cleansing process and setting the intent for the retreat with the awe-inspiring red rocks as the backdrop, we got into a brief meditation which started opening the door to my inner self, albeit just a crack and light started creeping in rapidly. And after ogling at the rocks some more which invariably resulted in a naive ambition of wanting to capture all the beauty in some mundane pictures, I followed him out of the trail..
After lunch at a vegetarian place with delightful food that pleases the senses and the taste buds alike, I proceeded to meet Kathy for the emotional clearing session. Kathy and I spoke for a while with the sole intent (on my part anyway) of building a rapport and to mask my anxiety of whether this process was really going to work. She made me feel so much at ease and after some discussion made me go on the treatment table. I closed my eyes and completely relaxed while she tried to feel the energy flow in my body. She declared that my heart chakra and abdomen chakra were weak, but my third eye and throat were very strong. Hmm, I wondered about the really strong and relatively dominant sensations I often feel in my third-eye chakra during my deep meditations. We proceeded to a brief guided meditation and for some strange reason, the details of that session escape me in its entirety, and the only trivial bit I remember is feeling a bit disconnected with the reality soon after the session. I also felt a variety of feelings surface, not all of them pleasant. I had stirred the pot, I knew.
My next session was completely focused on a meditation technique that connects the Self to the Spirit. As someone that has been meditating for many years, I was curious about the new technique. The practitioner had some kind of scientific/medical background as well, which only piqued my curiosity further. As I entered her beautiful home, I immediately took a liking to the surroundings and the positive energy in that space. We went into a warm room, which was perfect for a deep meditation. She held my hands and it instantly brought a flood of tears in my eyes, for very many reasons. Sure enough, it was also due to the fact that I had just come out of the previous session. We proceeded to get into a guided meditation where she remained alert and kindly took notes of what I was describing through the process. Initially I didn't see anything but dark, dense and all-consuming black. Not dissimilar to a black-hole which could suck all the happiness in. I tried to recall the crack of the door opening from the first session and things got better. I saw some yellow and white light and felt the strong urge to sing. And I did exactly that! I started singing a beautiful tune which just came to me that exact instant, complete with lyrics and all. It was about joy and love and all things beautiful. It was about pleading and asking for the Divine to never leave my hands.. which as I write about it reminds me of JJ Heller's "when my world is shaking, Heaven stands; when my heart is breaking, i never leave Your hands". At the pinnacle of that beautiful meditation I saw just golden pink, and intended my life to be about helping others, having fun and being joyful. After an emotional embrace, I thanked her and left for the day to retire.
Day 2:
I had the morning to myself so proceeded to the red rock crossing which is an almost flat terrain but nonetheless beautiful trail by a creek. It was a hike to remember and the energy I felt almost levitated me off the ground. The sound of running and tricking water only added to the sensation. I met a family half way during the hike and ended up joining them for the rest of the hike.
I had been looking forward to the private vortex experience that was in the afternoon session. It turned out to be one of the highlights of the retreat. Ed and I went to the courthouse rock and strolled into the trail. We found an elevated spot to sit and Ed was trying to get me to be quiet, but I felt like talking. As I was soaking in the strong vibrations that the rocks were sending to me due to their proximity and sheer beauty, something made me say "wonder what it would feel like up there?". And I meant the rocks of course. Ed quite unexpectedly stood up and said, "let's go find out". I looked at him incredulously and after some negotiating on which ledge was achievable, settled on one that looked the least imposing and started walking towards the rock with him. As I got closer though, my fear of climbing swirled in my head. Ed kept pushing me, and encouraged me to mimic him, and how he stepped on the rocks as he went up. "Look at the next immediate step, not the huge rock in front of you". Good advice - I thought. For life as well! In about twenty minutes without too much effort I had reached the top of the ledge behind Ed. I grinned from ear to ear as I surveyed the height we were in but couldn't help wonder how do I get back down! Ignoring that momentarily, we meditated for a while atop the ledge and I breathed in deeply the pristine air and the enormous bliss that comes with it. Precisely at that moment I also realized Ed had shown me a part of myself that assumes the possible to be impossible. And the key to opening that up was within me, only me! It was time for me to go the next session which involved a body wrap and energy work, and it sounded like just the thing I needed after two hikes since that morning. We made it back down and headed towards town again.
To be continued....
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