Bell Rock

As Westerners we are taught that nature is seperate from us—that we have ownership of the land and all its inhabitants. The truth is that we are a part of nature. Unfortunately, most of us are trying everything we can do to live apart from nature. We think that if we cut down one tree, we can simply plant another, but that one tree is connected to the community. Its roots interlink with its brethren of trees underneath the soil, while above ground, it hosts a plethora of life forms. It's not simply these creatures that live in the trees that are affected. We too, have a fundamental need for trees, for without them our species would perish. They breathe out the oxygen that humans need to breathe in and we breathe out the carbon dioxide that they need to breathe in. We need each other and we are all connected.

As a student of life, I pay attention to my surroundings and have learned that everything is our teacher: the clouds in the sky; the rocks on the ground; the leaves on a tree; the wind rushing through our hair; and each and every animal. While books are a wonderful way to learn, getting out into the thick of things is even more powerful. For you see, everything that we notice in our stream of consciousness is a mirror for us in some way. While it may seem as though we notice everything around us at any given time, that is actually an impossibility, for there are four hundred billion things happening in our perceptive range at any given moment, yet we can only consciously perceive about two thousand of them. With that in mind, it would stand to reason, that we are going to pick up on what we are focusing on in our unconscious.

For example, I teach a meditation/nature walk class where we pay attention to our physical senses. As we allow a conscious understanding of our first five senses, we open up to the wonders of our sixth sense and beyond. In one of my classes, during the hearing exercise, one woman distinctly heard laughter. It was so loud for her that she could not believe that the rest of us could not hear it. When I asked her if she needed a little more laughter in her life, the light bulb in her mind went off and she understood. The laughter is what she needed and that was where her perception was guided to take her. Indeed it was a message for her.

On another occasion a gentleman smelled poopy diapers during the smelling exercise and continously saw excrement left by dogs during the visual exercise. I asked him if he was experiencing a lot of so-called "crap" in his life and he concurred that he was going through a divorce and it was a rather difficult time for him. His attention was drawn to a metaphor for how he was feeling.

I don't just teach these practices, I live them myself and yesterday, being day 3 of my Sedona experience I ventured up to Bell Rock. I love to walk and spent the twenty minutes needed on foot to get to the starting point into the national forest. As I stepped onto the magnificently flourescent orange path, I felt connected to the orange color of my second chakra. This energetic wheel rushing below my navel is in charge of my creative force, my playfullness and my intimacy, among other things. I smiled as I recognized this part of my Being.

It is my habit and my joy to gently touch some of the leaves, tree trunks and flowers as I walk. It allows me to connect with that aspect of myself that is being mirrored for me. The flower connects me to my beauty, the tree connects me to my roots, the leaf connects me to my life force and so on. Being my first time in this location, I touched many of these lovely Beings along my path.

I also noticed how the cacti with their pointy thorns represents that archetype within me. I have certainly lived with a fair share of my own "pointy exterior" throughout my life, but it has been well worth the trip to get to my center where all the good stuff is located.

As I meandered through the path, I came across a fork in the road and was reminded of how Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz had so much indecision when deciding which way to go. I, on the other hand, didn't need to worry about indecision in this moment of now, as I allowed the Universe to guide me on my course. I felt compelled to turn left and so that is what I decided to do.

Turning left took me on course to Bell Rock. As I approached it, I felt connected with its bell-like shape. Not only that, but the surrounding rocks, which are truly mountains, are palatial in size and captivated my attention. I heard in my mind for the second time in Sedona, U2's song, In God's Country—and indeed it is. As the song played in my mind, I allowed my arms to open up parallel to the ground allowing the Universe to flow through my heart center.

As I reached the bottom layer of Bell Rock, I felt inclined to look down at this one rock. It fit nicely in the palm of my hand. The orange sandstone felt like sand at the beach and I was reminded once again, that this area was indeed under the ocean floor. As I looked up at the top of the rock, I was amazed that San Francisco, where I am from, is on the beach and close to our current sea level, yet way back several eons ago, the sea reached well over 4500 feet higher than where it is now. It truly astounded me and allowed me to see that time is about shifts. We are never meant to stay the same. Even our planet and the stars above and the Universe at large is contstantly changing.

I climbed all over the rock and in a couple of places I stood next to it, face front, touching it with my bare hands. I know that a small crystal can send energy my way and this large rock mountain certainly was sending me energy, as well. I was connecting with it as a comrade, sharing my energy with it—allowing the cycle of giving and receiving to flow.

Finally, before leaving this space, I re-acknowledged that spending time recognizing my True state of Being is where I choose to be in this lifetime. I am in love with the Universe and all of its offerings. I have been blessed with the wonderful gift of being in physical form and I accept the journey that I have created for myself.

What a Blessing!

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