These were taken right after I finished scream crying in the middle of a medicine circle while an almost complete stranger sang ancient healing songs. It was a bit of a “bet you’re wondering how I ended up here” freeze frame moment. But really, if I looked at my path, everything was leading up to this – going on a trip to Sedona, meeting with a spiritual guide and exploring and healing the depths my soul. You know, just casual hot girl summer things.
I’ve been wanting to go to Sedona for the longest time and as cliche as it sounds, it lives up to the hype. The healing energy of just being there is absolutely incredible.
But I decided to take it one step further and do a full spiritual cleanse. It was a multiple part all day spiritual journey which included screaming to some ancient drum sounds, chakra healing energy reading, etc given by an incredible healer and artist, Elizabeth Silk.
This journey, much like the spiritual one that lead me here, didn’t come easy. As badly as I wanted to be in Sedona, the distance between where I was staying in Scottsdale, AZ to Sedona, AZ was about three hours in total. Between that and an expired driver’s license, it seemed unlikely I would get to Sedona but – I was determined. I don’t consider this a travel blog on how to do things the “right way”. I’m not gonna share my advice on how to get the best flight, best hotel, or tips on how to have safe, easy, comfortable trip. There’s a million other blogs out there that will tell you that you can’t do Sedona without a car, it’s impossible and you should just give up. I don’t like being told anything is impossible so instead this is what I did: at around six am, I left my hotel to go to the airport to take a shuttle from Phoenix to Sedona. The ride itself was about three and half hour and full of all girls and a bus driver who pointed out all of the beautiful scenic locations on the way, either not caring or ignoring the fact that more than half of us were completely hungover and/or asleep. As sleepy as we all were, we couldn’t ignore the beautiful shades of red mountains against a perfect blue sky surrounding us on every side. I was the very last stop as I got dropped off at the enterprise car rental place – not to rent a car – but to meet my incredible spiritual guide for the day, Elizabeth Silk.
I had found Elizabeth Silk on Air BnB Experiences where after a few messages, she incredibly kindly agreed to pick me up at the car rental place in order for me to have a session with her in the first place. I am extremely aware of the fact that I am meeting a stranger and getting into their car, there’s always a risk that could go badly and I don’t promote anything stupid. But I did my research on her and I had let a friend know where I was at all times that helped make me feel at ease. Elizabeth herself did too. She was completely down to earth, refreshingly honest and extremely kind, one of the first questions she’d asked was what had brought me to her – which I didn’t quite have an answer too. To be honest, I don’t have the answer to that for most things in my life other than, it sounded fun or felt like a good idea at the time. But after learning I was in my Saturn Return, that seemed to be as good enough of a reason for someone to be lead do a healing session completely alone in the middle of the mountains with a complete stranger.
She lead me to Amitabha Stupa & Peace Park, fourteen acres of a spiritual oasis park supported totally by the kind donations of visitors and volunteer caretakers of the sacred land. Everywhere I looked different spiritual practices were being held. One woman was doing yoga, another older gentlemen was praying, and another group of people did some sort of dance and movement ritual. It felt very sacred and special to be walking through everyone as they connected with themselves and/or their God. By the time we got to the location of the session, I was buzzing with excitement to jump into my own journey. It began with Elizabeth holding my hands asking me some questions – out of respect for her method and privacy for myself – I’m purposely not giving too much details. The questions involved releasing different aspects that weren’t serving me. Some of the questions came easier than others and it was interesting to know which ones I showed resistance around. Just learning what makes you tense or resist or your heartbeat go faster can tell you a lot about what beliefs you have that you weren’t even aware of that you need to let go of. We let go of them all and finished with a hug.
After that she lead me to the medicine circle. For context, medicine circles have been used by generations of various Native American tribes for health and healing. It embodies the Four Directions, as well as Father Sky, Mother Earth, and Spirit Tree—all of which symbolize dimensions of health and the cycles of life. Once I was at the center, she started to play the drums and sing to begin a Native American healing ritual. To this day, I have no idea what she singing or why it has such an impact. Maybe it had something to do with the drums and how you can feel it in your entire chest so your body was practically vibrating. As she singing and banging these drums loudly she yelled “LET IT OUT” and encouraged me to make noise louder than the drums and her singing and in what felt like a chaotic orchestra of noise and beautiful sounds, I screamed. It was a release of a scream, so cathartic, as if I hadn’t even realized how much I’d been holding my breath until I let it go until there was nothing left to give. I felt myself tearing up and by the end, I was out of breath, crying and standing in the middle of the medicine circle feeling equally full of pure uncontrollable power and energy like I just had the most insane experience of my life and also like that everything about life was suddenly so simple, effortless and free.
But what I want to share with others is this. I had expected to feel completely different after this session. In some ways I did but for the most part, I felt completely the same but like I remembered something I already knew. It was this feeling of remembering who I was in this world that tries to tell you who you are, what you should desire, what you should focus on, what you should believe, all that felt like white noise underneath this clear message of who I really was and that who I really was powerful, glorious and untouchable.
I believe that we can think of our “higher selves” as this completely separate person. Someone who has their life together in a way we don’t. Maybe someone who makes more money or looks good all the time or is just the kind of person babies smile at. Whatever it is, I’m here to tell you, you are that person.
There’s no separation between your ideal self and who you are now. It’s just a matter of remembering that you were always that person, you’ll always be that person and the only reason you don’t feel like you are is because somewhere between when you were a child to now, you forget. This trip helped me remember that and I hope you find that in your journey too.
Groome Transportation – The shuttle that took me back and forth from Phoenix to Sedona.
The Sedona Method – An appropriately named book teaching a method of releasing emotions and finding more happiness in every day life that Elizabeth Silk recommended to me after our session.
Elizabeth Silk – The healer, the artist, the incredible soul who took me along for this journey. She also does online sessions if you feel called.
