This is a story of a short hike and what was probably my first conscious attempt at meditating some 10 years ago. This was a turbulent time in my life and a lot of changes were taking place for me. While I was still in the work a day world and would be starting a new job soon (short lived but a whole other story) I was kind of on my own for the first time in a lot of years. Kids were grown and I was with out a spouse or girlfriend. This was a solo trip and I was ready to make some changes. 😀

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I chose Sedona because of its reputation of energy vortexes and spiritual healing. For a long time I had felt the way I was living my life wasn't right and I was ready to really start opening myself up to some change.

Here is a map from Google Earth of the trail I took that day.

The red circle on the right in this picture shows my final destination.

As I closed in on the end of the box canyon, engulfed in the beauty and peacefulness of it all, I was amazed by the sheer amount of greenery surrounding me on the canyon floor.

Finally I had reached the end of the canyon and these were the views looking back down the trail from my position on a large boulder. Fortunately a group of people had just left and I was alone at the end of the canyon... or so I thought.

I began my rookie attempt at meditation with some deep breathing and clearing of the mind. Suddenly the end of the box canyon was filled with the sound of Indian flute music. Knowing that I probably hadn't raised my awareness enough to be experiencing another plane of existence, I began to look around the canyon looking for the source. If you look in the bottom left of the above picture you cans see the two people that were making the music.

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So for the next fifteen minutes or so I continued to meditate with the sound of the flutes echoing on the canyon walls around me. It was an incredible experience that helped me develop a meditation routine that I continue today. It felt like the universe was showing me a path and I did not hesitate to follow. Since that time meditation has helped me with my journey to who I am today... quite a different person from 10-15 years ago.

Thanks for reading and enjoy your day!

Please feel free to make comments or ask me any questions about this post.

Photos taken by me, @oldmans, with a Fuji Finepix A210 and some Lightroom post processing.