Empowering Your Mind

Jeff and I hiked one of my favorite places in Sedona, Fay Canyon, on Valentine’s Day. For those who are familiar with Sedona, it’s a canyon just west of Boynton Canyon (where the Enchantment Resort resides).

Fay Canyon is a box canyon, with an arch high up on the east wall. That was our destination. It’s a steep trail over loose rocks. Our thighs burned as we scrambled up the path. I slipped more than once, and at one point, coming down, Jeff slid and fell into me.  Fortunately, we caught ourselves and didn’t go tumbling down the hill.

When you’re climbing up to it, it looks like an overhang or shallow cave. But when you get underneath it, you find an arch that’s separated from the back wall by twenty feet or so. There was also a small Sinagua dwelling up here, dating to the 12th or 13th century, according to a book on the area by Stewart Aitchison.

As we descended, I decided that safety was more important than dignity, and scooted down some of the rocks on my posterior. We didn’t have time to continue to the end of Fay Canyon, but will return to hike to that point.

We’re having a severe winter storm in Northern Arizona today. Roads from the south into Flagstaff are closed due to the snow. The snow plows can’t keep up with it. And our internet has been on and off all day. They expect dry washes, creeks and rivers to exceed their flood stages. So it’s been interesting. We’ve been in a drought, so we needthe moisture, but this is so much at one time!

That tends to happen in our lives, too. We pray and affirm for a particular outcome, and nothing happens for a while. Then, just when we let it go (which is what looses the power), the dam breaks and all of a sudden there’s a flood of opportunities. So much that we can feel overwhelmed. As a result, we stop our mental work, and once the flood has passed, we’re in a drought situation again. The weather pattern the Southwest U.S. is experiencing is a lesson to persist in our mental work, even when we’re in the midst of a flood.

self improvement, self help, personal growth, personal development, inspiration

When Jeff said he wanted to see the movie, “Avatar,” I was reluctant. All I’d seen in the television ads were violent scenes, and had no idea what the movie was about. Then my friend, Beth, saw it and raved about it. My reluctance dissolved, and Jeff and I went to see the movie just after the New Year. All I can say is, “Amazing!” At the end of the movie, a rare occurrence took place – spontaneous clapping from the audience.

The basic themes are familiar to us all, “cavalry vs. Indians” and “man discovers himself.” But the themes were woven together in a unique, entertaining and enthralling way. The enjoyment of the movie’s story is separate from the creative, amazing animation. That alone is worth the price of admission. I could imagine this movie making as much an impact on our culture as “Star Wars” has done.

Some theaters are offering this movie in 3D. Speaking for myself, that would have been too intense the first time, what with the violence near the end of the picture. Knowing what’s coming, I could imagine seeing it in 3D for a second viewing. But this movie does need to be seen on the big screen. Those who wait for it to come out on video are going to miss out on some of the magnificence.

Jeff and I went to nearby Prescott, AZ to Christmas shop and watch the Christmas Light Parade. Several years ago, we just happened to be in Prescott the night they held it and found it enchanting. It’s so much more unusual than a regular Christmas parade.

They hold it just after sundown and the route wraps around the Courthouse Square downtown. Floats and vehicles are decked with Christmas lights that make them seem like a fairyland in the dark.

Although the weatherman called for rain and snow all day, it didn’t start until an hour after the parade ended. And then it was light and sporadic, so we had no trouble on the drive home. Everything worked in Divine Time and Divine Order that day. Yay!

For the fourth year, I had a booth at the Cliff Castle Casino Health Fair in Camp Verde, AZ. This year, I also manned the booth for the Tobacco Prevention and Education booth, since I facilitate their Tobacco-Cessation classes in Sedona and the Verde Valley.

I enjoyed meeting people, and talking with them about how to improve their lives. It doesn’t matter if it’s about quitting smoking, using self-hypnosis to change, or having a life coach to help them move forward. I offered resources and information for them to use right away.

This year, I had raffled off a free copy of my CD, “Stress Management Through Self-Hypnosis.” On the table, I had handouts for Recommended Reading, Myths About Hypnosis, How To Relax Yourself, and an article from my newsletter, “Meditate Away Stress.”

Other vendors included an acupuncturist, massage therapist, chiropractor, vitamin distributor, dentist, ophthalmologist, urgent care facility, a couple of health and fitness centers, insurance salespeople, and more. The Health Fair was organized by my friend, Ken Reynolds, who has multiple talents and deserves many kudos for the long hours he put in to make it happen.

At these types of events, I sometimes gain clients and sometimes I don’t. But I don’t ever feel that it’s wasted time because I’m being visible to the community. I’ve found, over the years, that if I don’t gain clients directly from the event, they come to me through other channels. Just putting the energy towards marketing my services reaps rewards.

Recently, Jeff and I drove up Oak Creek Canyon, near Sedona, AZ, to enjoy the fall foliage. We walked by Oak Creek and had a picnic in the Encinoso picnic area. It was a peaceful day.

Many years ago, I won regional and state awards with my photography, using a 35mm film camera. On our outing, I used a little “point and shoot” digital camera, as Jeff calls them. I wanted to get familiar with it, so I could take it to meetings and events to photograph people and displays.

Everytime I wanted to take a picture with the little camera, I automatically put the camera up to my eye (like I would with my film camera), then remembered I had to hold it out to  look at a digital screen. I’m sure anyone watching me must have thought I was nuts as I went through this procedure multiple times. But even with this handicap, I was relatively pleased with the photos I took.

I just received notification that a friend of mine has passed away. I met Clovia Van Dyke when she was my mother’s roommate during my mom’s last months in the nursing home in West Phoenix. Clovia was my mom’s guardian angel, watching over her when I couldn’t be there. When my mom got agitated, Clovia recognized it was a signal that my mom was in pain and would call the nurse for her.

Clovia was morbidly obese, and as a result, was on a ventilator. Even though she needed help to move, she kept herself productive and busy. No matter how difficult or how much pain she was in, she was always able to be creative. She loved crocheting beautiful afghans, doing needlework and making beaded jewelry. She was kind, mischievous and had a great sense of humor. Clovia was an inspiration.

Jeff and I visited her early last month (we visited about once a month when we were in Phoenix) and found that she wasn’t doing well at all. So learning that she died the next week was saddening but it wasn’t a surprise. She will always have a special place in my heart and I will miss her.

Jeff and I spent Halloween in Uptown Sedona for their 23rd annual Halloween celebration, when the shops hand out free candy to the costumed. We love the creative and cute costumes on the kids and adults.

This year we saw wizards, witches, Goofy, queens, and a mystical character, like out of “Star Wars,” who gave me a token that said, “Peace, Love.” And those were the adults in costume. The kids were dressed as knights, princesses, dragons, and a memorable Barbie in her box.

Jeff and I shared a caramel apple and watched the Ghost Rave, a twirling fire baton, and Ghouls dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” Halloween in a small town is relatively tame, but so much more intimate than those in the big city. You get to bump into friends and trade quips with strangers.

And I discovered a wonderful new shop. As a tea drinker (I don’t drink coffee, at all), specialty coffee houses don’t appeal to me. So, in recent years, I’ve been delighted to observe specialty tea shops springing up. And one of those has opened its doors in the Sedona Uptown Mall. White August Tea has not only intriguing tea blends, but it also holds free classes to teach you how to blend your own teas, experience a tea meditation, and even to read tea leaves.

 

by Linda-Ann Stewart

I’ve been watching the unfolding of the James Arthur Ray Sweat Lodge (near Sedona) tragedy with horror. It was totally preventable. According to an article I read on the Internet, in a previous Warrior sweat lodge of his, an unconscious participant was taken to the hospital. That should have been a clue that it was too extreme.

I believe James Arthur Ray needs to walk his talk about personal responsibility. The people in that lodge had a responsibility to leave the lodge when they realized they were feeling bad. However, James Ray also needs to take responsibility for keeping them in there too long. If he doesn’t step forward and cooperate with the investigation, I believe he’s lost all credibility.

I’ve experienced a sweat lodge, and know many people who have done so. You’re not kept in there for two hours (as James Ray did) without taking a break outside of the lodge. The body can only take so much heat before it begins to shut down. It takes years, not days and weeks, to train the body to overcome physical stresses. Monks spend years (not days) training their bodies to increase their core temperature and melt snow around them while meditating.

I know there are other retreats and trainings that are as physically rigorous as James Ray’s, with promises of overnight transformation if you attend. And I know that people get injured at them. And unfortunately, many times they’re shamed because they were hurt. This is where the shame that came from more orthodox religions has been translated into the New Age consciousness.

If you fall ill, aren’t wealthy, get injured, or your life isn’t perfect in every way, then you hear, “What’s in your consciousness?” You’re judged for not being perfect. Your life is a work in progress. You wouldn’t be on this physical plane if you had already transcended all your issues. When you have problems, it just means that’s someplace you need to fill with light.

These physically demanding trainings are an attempt to break you down in order to build you up. Just like in the military. But the military takes several weeks in boot camp to do it. And you’re monitored better there than in these trainings. The military have very few deaths as a result, whereas several of these abbreviated trainings have had deaths.

There was one such tragedy with a local group a few years ago. Several people were taken hiking up a mountain, carrying 40 pounds of rocks in a backpack, with very little water. One member died of dehydration and heat exhaustion.

I’ve been to retreats and had amazing experiences, but the high tends to fade in the day-to-day demands of life. That’s normal. You’re able to retain some of the transformation, but what you do with it, such as discipline in meditating, practicing compassion and awareness of your thoughts (not as exciting as “an experience”) is what moves you along.

You may have an experience in a weeklong training, and be able to remember that experience to propel you further, but it takes spiritual practice and discipline to sustain any spiritual progress. A spiritual experience can advance you a ways up your path, but you need tools to continue your evolution.

Part of society’s attraction to these experiential retreats is the desire for “instant enlightenment.” We all want the flash and show of a vision, the bliss of meditation, or the contact high of being with many people of like mind who are going through the same experience.

But you don’t become a concert pianist after a week of intensive training, even if you already knew how to play. If you go to a weeklong yoga retreat, you’re not going to be able to twist your body into a pretzel as a result. It takes time and practice.

That’s not to say the short retreats don’t have their place. They give you something to aim for, a taste of what it can feel like to be aligned with Spirit, and tools that can help you stay motivated and keep going. But I don’t see the value in the extreme, physically demanding, endurance type trainings that can leave people broken at the end of them.

It would be much better to have a series of gentler retreats that lead a person to a higher awareness. Instead of a pickax to break the attendees into chunks, and then glue them back together and send them on their way, a more permanent way would be to sculpt them a bit at a time.

I think this has been a warning to us all. Be careful of what you attend. Don’t mindlessly follow a leader when your instincts are screaming at you. Listen to your intuition and body signals.

And, for the leaders of these types of trainings, take responsibility for your attendees, monitor them better, and don’t shame or judge them when they don’t live up to some unrealistic perfect standard. Leaders lead by example, and I believe that James Arthur Ray needs to fulfill his leadership role by helping the authorities find out what happened and take responsibility.