The past week I went to Sedona Arizona for a vacation that's been a long time coming.
I don't usually get to take my vacations mainly because of work's client demands. Basically there's something new or important to take care of every single day. Also when I go on vacation, that's when clients freak and do even more stuff. My boss even says I can't take vacations. I think he might be joking, but it's not funny.
The problem with not taking the time to break away from your job means you are a prime candidate for burnout. Believe you me, when I say I was close to burnout, I was on the precipice of actually burning out. The only way I could ever see myself taking a vacation was either due to a holiday or by having someone make me go.
Holidays don't count.
So my in-laws reserved us a place with a time-share in sedona. They took care of lodging and the flights there and back. The rest was up to us. Hard to argue, right?
It turns out the timing was perfect.
There is nothing that happens in my life lately without some kind of deliberate purpose behind it. Yes, it doesn't make sense all of the time, and I may not fully grasp what is going on "behind the scenes". The key for me right now is "go with it".
Okay. Off we go.
Sedona is a bit underwhelming but at the same time overwhelming. Sedona is not a big place. It's a small town pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The big thing about the place is something called a vortex.
NASA has identified 21 locations throughout the world where there is a lot of earth/spirit energy that presents itself in a strong manner. 5 of those locations are in Sedona.
The day or two after we arrived in Sedona, it rained. The place is basically an arid location, and we had rain. This allowed us to attend a lecture by the non profit group freesoul's founder Pete Sanders. Their website is freesoul.net.
Mr. Sanders really knows his stuff. He explained what is going on with the vortexes (yes, that's how you say it, not vorticies) from a completely scientific perspective. He talked about where we get our pain response and how to counter it, and how to get the best benefit from the vortexes.
The way it was described is that while a vortex deals with spirit energy, it is more of the assistance of one's own spirit energy from the earth itself. I did have a recorder with me and turned it on at a location or two just to see if the energy is possibly spirit energy and is able to communicate.
The entire place is a metaphysical mishmash of crystal shops and psychic readers contrasted with the appeal of mountain vistas and scenic destinations. That in mind, we did find the time to go to 5 locations of vortex like activity with 4 of them recognized as vortex hotspots.
The first one is not considered one of the major vortexes, but it is chapel rock. Chapel rock is a chapel designed in part by famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. It's a very small chapel that overlooks a large portion of the valley. It's precariously perched on a hill and takes a bit of a walk to get to the chapel. This location is an upflow vortex.
An upflow vortex is one that energy is pushed upward. Imagine it as if it's a rocket sending your prayers/spirit straight upward. By contrast is an inflow vortex. It gives the sensation of pulling you downwards and usually causes introspection. A combination of the two is a balance vortex. A balanced vortex is as if the energy flows in a lateral manner. Balanced vortexes will give someone a sense of well being as well as deal with issues in the past and future.
The second location we went to was Airport vista. There's actually two vortexes at the location, but the main one is the rightmost hill of the tiny little parking area. This one is the easiest of the hills to climb in my opinion. It also doesn't disappoint when it comes to feeling the energy.
I know most people think bell rock is the strongest. We went to that one next. The problem in climbing bell rock is that you really need to be nimble and fit in order to get to the upper levels of bell rock. There's a 3 foot step up that you have to make and the climb up a tapered rock. To us this was a bit beyond our abilities as we wanted to attempt. The danger of it, is that if you don't place your feet correctly, the fall is quite a number of feet away. We just weren't that daring. The energy was supposed to be stronger there than airport, but I did not feel it as strongly.
The next vortex we went to was red rock crossing. This is a state park and the entire path is along a mountain river. This is probably the easiest one to reach, due to it's flat terrain. The vortex supposedly is in an area that is represented by a large area of flat rock. We however, felt the energy was located earlier on the path, as we could feel our internal organs getting pulled toward the ground.
The last place we went to was boynton canyon. That one is a bit of a combination and was when I really started to feel something. To me it felt like a data stream. A lot of encrypted imagery combined with the sense that it's "all part of the plan". Yes, I do hear Heath Ledger say it as the joker.
We tried to go to a vortex on 11/11/11 but everyone had the same idea. It was a bit nuts. Instead we ended up checking out montezuma's well and castle. The surrounding area of Sedona is besprinkled with these little native communities all of which disappeared around the same time. (1400's) All that's left of them are these ruins or crumbling house structures.
We also took the opportunity to take in a site of spectacular petroglyphs at the former v bar v ranch. These glyphs are etched into the flat side of a hill. The bacteria formed on the rock makes it possible to see these etchings. There are a lot of them, and you can spend a considerable amount of time there thanks to the volunteer storyteller that makes them all the more captivating. There were bugs there, so we found it a little annoying.
Before leaving Sedona, we took one more hike up airport rock to see the sunrise over the area. This was probably the biggest thing that happened to me during the whole trip.
I am sitting there with my eyes closed just relaxing as the sun is slowly coming up over the eastern mesas, and something large shoots upwards in my vision. It's literally a dragon. Large scales on its neck and much bigger than a house. This was the reason I was there. To experience this rush of energy and to become energized and inspired by it. That is exactly what I needed. After soaring around through waterfalls of lava and fire, it took me to a lateral perspective of the rock upon which I was sitting. I was shown the energy moving around the rock. At one level, the energy spins one direction and at another it spun a completely different direction. The energy I was experiencing was pushed through the center of these rotating fields of energy.
As I opened my eyes, I had a sense of direction, better motivation. If I imagine that dragon flowing through me, I find the relaxation of soaring on the wind. I also feel a force behind me, imbuing me with a sense of confidence and a voice driven with a passionate fire.
If there was ever a reason for me to get a tattoo, this is IT!!! The imagery, inspiration and motivation of such a moving experience is something I want to hold onto for a very long time.
The world feels a lot better to me because of it and I think my place in the world is a lot better from that as well.
