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Yellow Brick Road to Sedona
by Tamara Lelie
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hen
I got off the plane in Phoenix and joined my friends to drive
to Sedona, Arizona, I carried not only my luggage but a quest
for an answer to some inexplicable question. I was questioning
my career choices, love choices, wanting to "find" healing
for my body, soul and mind. I was seeking "joy" in my
career, relationships, friends, entertainment. But I knew I hadn't
found it. I felt like a lost little Los Angelino lamb who signed
up for a trip on the Yellow Brick Road to OZ.
In searching for answers, I picked a trip to Sedona
because not only had I heard of it being a Mecca for spirituality
and healing but I was also very much looking forward to attending
a weekend workshop led by Hale Dwoskin, the author of The Sedona
Method, who incidentally was one of the teachers sought out by
Rhonda Byrne to have as a speaker in the DVD and best-selling
book The Secret. Hale calls Sedona his home and conducts workshops
that teach you how to release all unwanted emotions. Upon meeting
him, I was beyond blown away. This was the first person I'd ever
met who seemed to be a living embodiment of complete peace and
joy. All I knew was that I WANT WHAT HE'S GOT. So I surrendered
myself and learned that we are not our emotions but rather "have"
our emotions. And just as easy it is to "have" them;
it is just as easy to "let them go". He also explained
that who we really are is "awareness" and that when
you open your eyes -that "awareness" is what's looking
out at the world.
During the day, we got a long two hour lunch break
to discover the city. We drove to a little strip mall and as everyone
went their separate ways to get ice cream, I felt magnetically
pulled into the most beautiful little store called Calling All
Angels. Now, whoever came up with that title for a store should
be given the Best Marketing Award. Anyways, I felt called to go
in there. And I started to look for "healing" stones
to bring back to my mom who was recovering from a stomach operation
where the surgeons removed 75% of her stomach in hopes of getting
rid of her cancerous stomach tumor. Desperate to find something
to give my mom hope and strength, I asked the front cashier for
advice. Upon hearing about my mom, she started tearing as she
had just recently lost her own. She then went to different shelves
and gathered various angel items, a painting, a figurine and little
amulets. She put them in my arms and smiled at me and said, "These
are my gifts to your mom". I was touched beyond words and
just gave her a hug and we held on to each other for a while,
staying silent in quiet understanding.
That day, I started to feel connected to everything and everyone
around me. As I completed day 1 of Hale Dwoskin's Effortless Relationships
workshop, I started to notice that my energy levels had risen.
Could this be? What was this feeling that was a non-feeling? Was
it "joy"? WOW! Give me some more of that! Then, as if
that weren't enough...at the end of the day the lovely Lina Rueda
who had graciously invited my friends and I to stay with her,
decided to give us a tour of the "energy vortexes" that
makes Sedona the most popular tourist spot in the world.
What's an energy vortex you ask? I wondered the
same. The lovely Lina who was our tour guide explained to me that
the subtle energy that exists at these locations interacts with
the energy that operates in the energy centers inside each person.
Another word for these energy centers is "chakras".
She led us to Cathedral Rock which happens to be the most photographed
site in Sedona and is located conveniently less than mile from
her house. We were taken to a beautiful path where we crossed
a running brook by jumping from rock to rock. I started to feel
like the world was at my feet and I could command anything I wanted
into existence. As we got to a stream surrounded by red rock,
Linda had us stand with our feet spread apart and hands outward.
I was rocking around in a circle like a compass. It was like my
entire body, spirit and mind was hypnotized by the energy field.
There is a widespread Indian belief that there
are four traditional forces of nature: Earth (sustenance), Wind
(momentum), Fire (energy) and Water (cleansing).
As I gazed at all the elements around me, I felt an overwhelming
feeling of peace as I thought of my own body and how those traditional
forces of nature exist within my "self" as well...in
food, blood, water, oxygen, bones, minerals..
That night was no different. My friends and I went to dinner at
Bistro Bello Terra and drank a toast to life, releasing and energy
Meccas. I was seated across the way from a clairvoyant spiritual
healer named Tiffany Tatum and she asked me if she could do a
spiritual toning technique on me. I enthusiastically replied YES
PLEASE!
She did a sound healing exercise where she had
me close my eyes as different sounds that sounded like air, wind
and nature breeze came out of her mouth. As my eyes were closed
and she had me picture golden spirals moving through my body,
I experienced something that I will never forget. I saw my "Self"
as being all the elements in nature. In essence, I saw that I
was the "awareness" that Hale Dwoskin had mentioned.
I wasn't my bones, my skin, my eyelashes, my blood. I "am"
and that's it. I felt almost as if I'd been a Native American
in my past life and was finally home. A ton of bricks that had
been cemented with expectations, worries for the future and self-pressure
came crumbling down around me.
This Tiffany Tatum was a genius! I was amazed
to find out that her teacher is a Korean Seer that has advised
many world leaders. Tiffany explained to me that even though she's
clairvoyant and can reveal the future for people, it is not set
in stone. We are not victims of circumstance but rather we create
our destinies. And she tells her clients that they are not doomed
to live into certain outcomes but that they can live into anything
that they dream for themselves. This gave me a big relief as I
saw that my quest for answers was ultimately what was holding
me back from taking action. An artist doesn't wait for answers
before they start painting!
There's something very magical and majestic about Sedona the location
but what I realized is that it's not the red rocks, the waterfalls
or even the energy vortexes that lend it its enigmatical mystery.
Rather its mystery lies in the magical concoction of ingredients
mixed with spiritual healers, artists who come from around the
world, the angels that come in human form just when you need them
and the beautiful scenery that frames every experience. Sedona
is a gift that only those who experience it can feel. When you're
there, you like you were just set down into a painting or a sculpture
or a beautiful piece of music. I know that I was very present
to the gift of "creation".
On my last morning in Sedona, I closed my eyes
and opened them, fully aware of the being that was looking through
my eyes. Love and gratitude was all that was there. The best way
that I know how to explain the enigma of Sedona, Arizona is that
if you are open to all possibilities, you will find what you're
searching for. I know that I did. Experience the peace and treat
yourself or a loved one to the gift that is Sedona.
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I appreciate your willingness to be personal in
a travel piece and vulnerable with a subject that is tender to
the heart. I've heard about Sedona over the years. Thanks for
the reminder that it is a good place to visit. .
Zorah of Portland
* * *
Thank you for giving
me such kind feedback AND for being a TravelingBoy reader!!! If
you do end up visiting Sedona, make sure to follow up with me
and share how you enjoyed your experience :) Love, live and laugh
often! --- Tamara
This is the first time, after hearing
of Sedona many times, that I had the desire to go. Thank You.
Adriana, Los Angeles, CA
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Three Musical Pilgrimages: Mozart, Grieg and Hendrix
Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)
could read and compose music, plus play the violin and piano, when he was
five years old. Born into a musical family in Salzburg, Austria (then the
Holy Roman Empire), he had a unique ability for imitating music, which first
became evident when he recited a musical piece by simply observing his father
conducting a lesson to his older sister. This led to a childhood on the
road, where the young prodigy performed before many of the royal courts
of Europe.
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Treasures of Ireland: The Irish Goodbye (Dispatch
#20)
The Palladian Traveler brings to a close his 20-part
series on the Emerald Isle from an upscale restaurant in downtown Dublin
where he files his final dispatch and then quietly slips away.
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Two "MUST SEE" Truly Spectacular Places
in Europe. Here's Why.
The Han Grotto and Culzean Castle. As the name
of my Traveling Boy feature is "Travel With a Difference," it's
important to me to always bring you offbeat and unusual tourist places around
the world you may not know about. These two fit that category to a T, and
they're absolutely worth a visit. One's in Scotland and one's in Belgium.
Culzean (pronounced CULLANE) Castle is located near Maybole, Carrick, on
the Ayrshire coast of Scotland.
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Highway 49 Revisited: Exploring California's
Gold Country
In the 1840s, the population of California was only
14,000, but by 1850 more than 100,000 settlers and adventurers had arrived
from all over the world and they came for one reason: gold. James
Marshall had discovered the first gold nugget at Sutters Mill in El
Dorado County, creating the largest gold rush in history.
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Lake Charles Family-Size Low-Key Mardi Gras
The Southwest Louisiana Mardi Gras in Lake Charles,
the second largest in Louisiana, does not need parents there to avert their
childrens eyes. This is family entertainment and children are very
much part of it. The main office of the Lake Charles CVB has costumes from
last years Mardi Gras but it also has figures to fascinate little
ones from country boys fishing for their dinner to alligators who have already
fed and are rubbing their stomachs.
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Puerto Vallarta: Magic and Mayhem on the Malecon
So I heard that you could spend from dawn to dusk on
the Malecon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and never get bored and I thought,
"Okay, I'm up for that challenge." Well, maybe not the dawn part
I'm not a morning person so I had no problem leaving those
early hours to the joggers and those seeking an early start to catch their
red snapper for dinner.
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Relaxing at The Inn at Laguna Beach
There is nothing like sleeping in an ocean-front room
and awakening to the sounds of waves crashing against the sand. It is
one of the finer things in life. And it is exactly what I experienced
recently on a memorable getaway to The Inn at Laguna Beach. The adventure
began when a friend I pulled off the 5 Freeway in Orange County and took
SR 133 south nine miles through winding lush hills and wilderness areas
to the ocean.
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Tim Robbins On His Road To Stardom
Award-winning Tim Robbins began his career on episodic
television. Robbins' film work, however, is what catapulted him into becoming
a major movie star including "Bull Durham" and "Mystic
River" for which he won multiple awards. Equally at home behind the
camera, he directed the riveting "Dead Man Walking." He is Founder
and Artistic Director of The Actors' Gang, which he formed thirty-five
years ago and has directed multiple provocative productions.
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Tahiti and Her Islands
Just their names (pronounce each vowel!) conjure up romantic
images: Tahiti Nui, Moorea, Bora Bora, Huahine, Ra'iatea, Taha'a. Her
people are gentle; the air, tiare-perfumed. Warm lagoons, majestic peaks,
tropical fruits from the land and bounty from the sea all tantalize the
senses. Paradise! As near as can be found on planet earth. And, in my
experience, the finest way to explore her is on a ship designed for that
single purpose.
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Leviticus 20:13
Sent by Tom of Pasadena,
CA
It all makes sense now. Gay marriage and marijuana
was legalized in the last election. Leviticus 20:13 states
"If a man lays with another man, he should be stoned..." We've
been interpreting it wrong all these years!
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California Road Trip
You would never guess that you didnt have to
leave the mainland USA to find an Island with lush gardens, oceanside views
and fabulous food all minutes away from downtown San Diego. I wondered what
exactly we were heading towards, an Island in the middle of a city? It sounded
slightly absurd, never-the-less, we drove onto the property of Paradise
Point Resort and Spa and were pleasantly surprised.
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Costa Rica's Green
Sitting at an umbrella table in downtown San Jose overlooking
the Plaza de la Cultura is like a page out of Hemingway's "The
Sun Also Rises." The plaza is laid out in a maze of stalls where
passive vendors sell sparkling silver jewelry by the trayfull, hand-carved
clay masks, colorful Guatemalan belts, area rugs, and hammocks perfect
for a midday siesta. Three men play an old wood marimba over the buzz
of the crowd while a steaming plate of Gallo Pinto (rice and beans) is
served to an elegant lady who was performing with her guitar...
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Spiritual
Venues
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1. Get a good overview of Sedona
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2. Attend one of Hale Dwoskin's
workshops
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3. Contact Tiffany Tatum, the
spiritual and vibrational sound healer
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4. Experience Sedona and Red Rock
Country with Earth Wisdom JeepTours
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5. Treat yourself to a Sedona
Spa
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