It all really began in Arizona. I started by going down to southern California but the journey really began when I exited California, drove into a new and unknown state I’ve never been to, and felt my first breath of true freedom.
Going to Arizona, I knew I wanted to go to Sedona. I heard about how spiritual it is there and have always wanted to feel the energy myself. Since it was the first stop on my own, my best friend at that time flew out and met up with me so I wasn’t alone. It was winter so we got Airbnbs to stay at and there was way too much shit in my car to sleep out of it anyway.
Immediately upon arriving in Arizona, at first alone in my car, I felt the difference in the energy. I passed by the “Welcome to Arizona!” sign, got sad that I drove so fast I couldn’t record my first “welcome” sign, and then had to stop for gas. I remember my first impression clearly. I guess people aren’t as friendly where I come from, but I was astonished that a (what looked like a 10 year old) child opened the door for me to when I went inside for a pit stop. As I was leaving, another man got the door for me and was very nice and polite. My first impression was wow people here are so nice! Lol. I soon realised people are nicer everywhere outside of California LOL.
My ex-best friend and I get to our Airbnb and see that our host offers yoga and meditation for free. I talk about the lovely soul that she is on this page. In brief, we do a morning meditation with her and learn about her meditation group/ sangha. This was my first introduction to kirtan meditations and we swear on the Universe she has one of the most beautiful singing voices we’ve ever heard. She became our friend, well more of my friend. She mentioned she has a stargazing bubble tent airbnb in a different part of Arizona too, so I decided to book it with her to support her and also I love stargazing. Here’s a little vlog:
Meditating was a huge part of this beginning journey. Both me and my ex-best friend are very spiritual and love to meditate in nature together. We heard about the different vortexes in Sedona and went full throttle to hit every single one, and meditate in every single one. We started at Bell Rock since it was the closest and the sun was going down, had homemade vegan tacos for dinner, and went to sleep. Day2 we headed straight for Boynton Canyon where I also had an amazing experience with another encountered soul. I feel like I’ve retold this story so many times, but it really stuck with me. A man at the vortex carved heart-shaped stones out of the red rocks there and gave them to people, along with an inspiring speech guiding us to follow our hearts. He points to his head and says “Hell on Earth” and points to his heart and says “Heaven on Earth.” This message has resonated and stayed within my heart til this day.
“Love” seemed to be the theme of Arizona, I concluded that the energy in general felt very loving and happy in Arizona as I traversed through Arizona into New Mexico. Self love was also the message from my Airbnb host through the kirtan meditations we did together.
After Boynton Canyon we set out for Cathedral Rock. I was not an experienced hiker at this time. I had no idea what to expect, I didn’t even have the AllTrails app yet, I wore leggings and a biker jacket and scarf. I found this vortex through another blog and google reviews said you needed to be an experienced hiker to complete this. I was a little worried, but with my friend there anything seemed possible. Funny enough, we were not even halfway there and I thought we had completed the whole hike and was celebrating early- meanwhile other hikers passed by looking at me like an idiot LOL. It was definitely the most beautiful and satisfying after doing the whole hike. For the achievement, this one was my favourite. Here’s a little vlog of Cathedral Rock.
The final vortex to experience is Airport Mesa. It’s really easy to access, you just drive up there. We watched the sunset and then I drove my ex-best friend back to the airport. Here’s a vlog of the other vortexes:
I couldn’t make it to Flagstaff since it started snowing and I was driving a Toyota Camry and did not own any chains lol. So I went on down south to Phoenix where I met up with an old online friend. After that, I hit a bunch of crystal shops in Tuscan where I scored some awesome deals on crystals! After that, my Airbnb host gave me a contact to her friend and fellow member of the sangha, in New Mexico. That’s where I was headed next.