January 1, 2019

Happy New Year! A new year is upon us and I am wishing you all healing, transformation, health and love.

I only recently returned from a trip to Peru and wanted to share the adventure with you and invite you to return with me in June of 2019.

New Heights in the New Year?

My interest in Peru began in 1987, when my former boyfriend Curt asked me to return to Peru with him, thinking that I would appreciate the hiking, the altitude and the spiritual adventures. Both Curt and I were going through divorces and I thought that my leaving would make things worse with my ex. I was 40 years old at the time, and though I knew that Peru — and Curt — a successful contractor with a 200-acre ranch had much to offer, I didn’t go.

Yoga nidra (Sanskrit: योग निद्रा) or yogic sleep)

Now, more than thirty years later, I have finally made the trip to Peru and found it to be all that Curt described and more. My client of more than five years, Jennifer, who has a special place in my heart, moved there in 2018 to pursue her healing. She has landed in a beautiful spot in the Sacred Valley of Peru, managing a healing center called Nidra Wasi in the town of Pisac.

Getting the Shamanic Green Light

Recently another client of mine, Myrna, called me to discuss complex issues related to shamanism conveying that she wanted to go to Peru. When I called Jennifer to discuss this she said, “why don’t you come?”

I knew right then it was a definite green light.  Like Charlie Thom, a Native American spiritual teacher used to say, “when you get a green light, you need to go full speed ahead.” One of my shamanistic teachings for Myrna has been about going fast when you get the green light. I knew that I didn’t have another 30 years to wait for another invitation to Peru. Within two days, by 11-11, I had my ticket.

The day after Thanksgiving 2018, Myrna committed to also go. I indicated that we would be going with the flow of spirit, which definitely happened the whole trip from the moment we met in San Francisco Airport on 12-3 for our flight that departed at 12:31 a.m. When I booked the flights, I was so driven I didn’t really notice the crazy times.  We arrived into Cusco airport early because we had been ushered to our plane in Lima, not knowing that our scheduled flight had been canceled. Thus we arrived earlier then expected, and the taxi Jennifer had arranged for us wasn’t there.  We were both so tired we were just anxious to get there and so we found a driver to take us to Nidra Wasi, about an hour outside of Cusco. The driver wanted quite a bit of money but Myrna negotiated a smaller amount. He got lost, not knowing where we were going, and he needed to ask kids in the road for directions.

One of the shamanistic signposts for me is getting lost; I know that if this happens that we are in for a great deal of transformation. This first happened to me in 1988 while heading to my first sweat lodge, we got lost on dirt roads for five hours and now I know that this is a sign that our lives will change forever. Though our guide got lost and annoyed us by trying to change the fare, I still found him to be funny though I spoke no Spanish and he spoke no English. Yet somehow we made it to Nidra Wasi where were met by Jennifer and another spiritual traveler and teacher, Leanne Edwards. Jennifer was surprised to see us there an hour earlier than planned and to learn that we had managed to arrange our own taxi.

This was the start. Jennifer mentioned that the next day we would be meeting with a Peruvian Inca Healer Wilma, which we did. She did a despacho ceremony and coca leaf readings that knocked our socks off. Turns out the coca leaves are good for fighting fatigue and altitude sickness, used in ceremony for prayers and for intuitive readings!  Wilma invited Myrna to her home for a private healing session, which was a real honor and even included a healing with a guinea pig! Just before our meeting with Wilma, a butterfly landed on Myrna’s heart chakra and stayed there a good long while, opening and closing its wings. What a great sign for transformation and heart healing! I stayed on at Nidra Wasi to participate in a new moon sweat lodge with Jennifer and 20 people from around the world, including a woman from Los Angeles named Bobby. Bobby was striking out on her own and Jennifer knows that I lead vision quests in Mount Shasta and that I could provide her with guidance. The sweat was great preparation for Bobby before her vision quest too.

The next day Myrna and I met with our guide Manual at 9 am for a three-day adventure.  The first stop was Moray, the Temple of Mother Earth.  We went with a profound Peruvian medicine teacher who led another powerful despacho in the ruins that we buried in Mother Earth. We then went on to Ollantaytambo to a wonderful hotel where we processed our day together, resting and preparing for our next day. We woke up early the next morning to head out with Manuel, our guide who shared an amazing teaching with us that I will share at the end of this blog. So that day we explored the ruins of Ollantaytambo, all the while Manual was telling us to be present, walk slowly, take it all in, but that was a challenge as sometimes we were over taken by the reality of our adventure! Later that afternoon we took a train to Machu Picchu; we were grateful we had been in the Sacred Valley getting used to the altitude before heading to the somewhat lower elevation! In the Sacred Valley we were advised to chew on coca leaves and drink coca tea to help us adjust to the altitude.

Manual arrived at 6 am to take us up the mountain to Machu Picchu ruins. We had awakened at 4, and then had a good breakfast for our trip (and the real coffee of Peru to start our day).

We arrived at Machu Picchu and walked for five hours listening to Manual tell us stories; he gave wonderful teachings. Then he would be very quiet, wanting us to understand and not talk the experience to death. We went back by train, then taxi, and had a driver drop us off at Nidri Wasi later that night.

We had Monday to digest our journey, and I knew that Bobby was back from her quest…we gathered together to share our stories. On Tuesday, Daya the general manager at Nidra Wasi  and another profound teacher, took the four of us, myself, Myrna, Jennifer and Bobby on another ceremonial adventure. We decided that each of us would represent one direction on the Medicine Wheel to add ceremony to our adventure.

It started with a walk along train tracks that seemed to go on forever! Then we proceeded to climb up the rocks to three altars in caves. We said powerful prayers for our families and the Earth and the world prayers as we went. I also take my clients with me in my prayers. At the last altar, my prayers were about our current political challenges.

Myrna and I then left the next day, still very much in process with our healing and adventure… we were busy bees the whole time and we are grateful to Jennifer for pointing us towards great healers and activities. I can’t stress enough how blessed we all were! We plan to return in the spring and I invite you to join us in a spiritual adventure of a lifetime. Contact me through my website to learn more.

As I said, what made this so meaningful and powerful for me, was watching Manuel and the depth of feeling and love as he said each phase. It took me having him repeat it a few times until I got the sequence.

As you begin to use the sequence, it may change for you because you are you.

With love and blessings that take you to new heights in 2019,

Linda

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