Yellow Brick Road to Sedona
by Tamara Lelie

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.

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

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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