If I told you that about two years ago I had a powerful experience while meditating in an energy session at one of Sedona’s energy vortices, you could be forgiven for thinking my blog had gotten hacked.
What if I rephrased it this way: After hiking the mesas of Sedona, our guide led us in a short, silent meditation, during which I had an emotional reaction to something I realized. Not quite as woo-y this time. Yes, our guide did call it “energy work,”and it did take place at a Sedona energy vortex, but does that matter? She had led us around excellent hiking paths, it was a beautiful and very quiet day, and the spot where we ended up doing a couple of yoga poses and then some quiet meditation was abundantly gorgeous. After the previous months’ whirlwind of getting married and starting a new job, the stillness and natural beauty were very conducive to relaxation, and I was able to access some thoughts and emotions that I hadn’t had time to think about.
Sometimes I like to remember that there are simple things we can do to help our bodies and minds, in either the short or long term, that aren’t magical in any way. These are often things that get dressed up in fancy and often ridiculous colors in order to sell quackery or a “new age” lifestyle, but that even the most pragmatic skeptic can still benefit from.
For example: visualization (or meditation). No, I don’t mean the kind that leads to wish fulfillment. I mean, in the middle of a crazy time, taking a few minutes to block out the world (I happen to like nature sounds with cheezy synth music for this) and just imagining yourself elsewhere, or perhaps envisioning a beautiful land- or cityscape, or whatever gets you down from the clock tower that day. Visualization is very effective for some people with chronic pain, but again, this isn’t magical. Relax the mind and the body is better able to follow.
Or there’s the opposite route, like with yoga. I don’t practice yoga in any spiritual sense, but I find even just doing my best at a couple of poses can provide palpable benefits. Forcing myself to concentrate on my body’s position, often balancing or attempting to hold a pose while focusing my attention on my breathing, often clears my mind of whatever guck it’s managed to collect. When the body relaxes, the mind is better able to follow.
I feel reflexively silly sometimes when I talk about having been to Sedona, because of its decidedly unskeptical reputation and, more recently, the deaths at a sweat lodge run by professional quack James Arthur Ray. But sometimes woo is just what you make it. I didn’t go there expecting to be healed by the power of the vortex, and I wasn’t, but that’s not to say the place doesn’t have healing properties, just like any place that you find beautiful or stirring or significant in some way can be. Some people would accuse skeptics of being closed-minded to the magic of a place like Sedona. I believe in the magic, but I don’t need to call it magic. The simplicity and truth of nature, and the power of our own minds and bodies, is amazing enough.
