Upcoming Trip to Bhutan: A Rare Opportunity

If you don't know about the country, Bhutan then you are in for a treat. Perhaps you have heard of the book, Shangri la. Bhutan is supposed to be the closest to that mythical place. It's an isolated, small country in the Himalayas that has managed to preserve its traditional customs and an easy way of life. Instead of the GNP (Gross National Profit), Bhutan has the GNH (Gross National Happiness). Instead of measuring the amount of money they measure how happy everyone is. One of the ways Bhutan has remained so unspoiled is that it's difficult to get permission to go there. Thus this upcoming trip with the Australian company, Journeys of the Spirit is indeed a rare opportunity. If you are free April 27th - May 6th by all means contact them and prepare for an experience of a lifetime. The tour guide, Peter Bliss will introduce you to the famous sites and lots of local people. The flight in departs from Bangkok, Thailand. The group will travel in a small bus as only 10-12 participants will be on this trip. It seems you will stay in hotels each night. Near the end of the trip Peter will lead you to the Tiger's Nest Monastery (Taktsang) high above the valley on a steep cliff. It's said to be a sacred place that every Bhutanese wants to visit at least once in their lifetime, sort of like Mecca for the Muslim. You will have a very experienced guide with Peter Bliss. It doesn't look like there are special classes in meditation, yoga or other more Indian past times. However, the scenery is so spectacular with virgin forests, rushing rivers and steep, high mountains  and the people so friendly that you will be refreshed. Here's what one past participant has to say:

Bhutan is more than just the prayer flags and pray wheels, it is the heartbeat of a time lost to the Western World.  A heartbeat that renews itself every time you spin a prayer wheel or fly a prayer flag.  Bhutan takes you on a journey within.  All you have to do is be there." Julianne 11/11

Want to know more?                                http://www.journeysofthespirit.com.au

Sacred Journeys: Spiritual and Pilgrimage Travel

There are of course different types of spiritual journeys. Some people head off to explore ancient historical sites or to have an experience with others seeking some sort of spiritual enlightenment. Others are looking for answers or at personal direction. There is another group seeking more knowledge of a certain religion or spiritual path. These are the pilgrimage travellers. Here is a great article about these sites with suggestions about how to best benefit from these journeys as well as some recommended spiritual tour companies. The article, "In Search of Sacred Places: Spiritual and Pilgrimage Travel" is written by Peter Scheer, himself a tour company director, and is posted on the website Travel with a Challenge.

First, let's look at the suggestions to help the traveller get the most benefit from the journey. First, prepare yourself mentally and physically. Many of these places are not easy to reach and it's a good idea to do some research about the site as well how best to arrive there. In times past, people fasted for days or even took hallucinagenic herbs before approaching these sites. It's important to approach with reverence and respect for local customs. They are places that are very important some people.

 In the European Middle Ages, most pilgrims to Canterbury, Santiago de Compostela and other Christian sites went there on foot which allows one plenty of time to prepare mentally. Travel to sacred sites required planning, persistence and often great sacrifices. No wonder arrival created such excitement!

The second suggestion is to leave room in your travel schedule for unexpected events to happen or time to visit with people you meet. This will leave you time also to just stop and soak up the incredible energy of these places that has built up over the centuries. There is not only the energy of the place itself but layered on top is the energy of all the other pilgrims who have come and gone away again over the centuries.

In ancient Greece, sages built an Earth Goddess shrine at Delphi because of the abundance of plenum, an energy they believed bubbled out of the slopes of Mount Parnassus. In the Chinese tradition there is a similar life force called chi. Sufis call it baraka and Hindus know it as prana. If this invisible energy seems fanciful to you, don't forget that is how people felt about radio waves a mere 100 years ago. Perhaps 21st century establishment scientists will verify earth energies, but regardless of official endorsement, many travelers are creating their vacations around visiting places of power and spirituality.

American folklorist and mythology expert, Joseph Campbell once met a woman going to Greece to discover the spirit of the Goddess. After she showed him her elaborate, highly-detailed itinerary, Campbell said, "Dear lady, I sincerely hope that all does not go as planned." He explained, "Unless you leave room for serendipity, how can the divine enter in? The beginning of the adventure of finding yourself is to lose your way."

Lastly, Mr. Scheer suggests that you decide why you are going. What is your goal? What do you want to find or experience? Of course the answer may change during your journey. Are just looking for a special experience or are you wanting to explore religious connections? People will ask you why you are going and also why you are there, so it's a good idea to have some answer in mind. It will help you get more out of an experience that can end up being life-changing.

To read the original article and check out the spiritual tour companies listed at the end of the article, click here.

In sum then, it's best to loosely plan your trip, find out more about the place, don't cram in too much and be open to whatever happens. Remember that teachers come in all forms. The person living on the street might be one of them.

Red rocks of Sedona, Arizona

Stonehenge Mt. Kailash, Tibet. Pilgrimage site for 15,000 years.

Retreat to a Franciscan Monastery

Fr. David Gaa

I try to feature retreats that are reasonable in price and a bit unusual, off the tourist path, so to speak. Here is one that fits this description, at Old Mission San Luis Rey de Francia in California. People have been retreating to monasteries and hermitages since they were formed in the Middle Ages. This is actually an old idea brought to modern-day standards. Here is part of the description from the website: http://www.sanluisrey.org/Retreats.

The Franciscan Retreat Center at Old Mission San Luis Rey offers a place for solitude, healing, and revitalization with a wide variety of spiritual and educational programs. Create your private day away (Quiet Days), join us for a half day or evening session (Twilight Retreats) or treat yourself, or a loved one, to a complete weekend of spirituality and sacred space. The Friars and staff are here to assist you on your spiritual journey.
The facilities are available to religious and educational groups, non-profit organizations, civic organizations, companies and corporations. We do, however, reserve the right to refuse the use of our facilities to anyone whose philosophies diametrically oppose our mission and purpose.
To read the original click here.

The Mission offers silent retreats and short retreats with guidance by the monks if requested. They are also set up for large groups up to several hundred people with affordable lodging and a camp ground for tents.
If you are the type of person who likes scheduled retreats, some of the workshops for the near future include: Couples Retreat (2/8-2/10), Twilight Retreat with Fr. David Gaa (2/15), Quiet Monday (2/25), Spring into Serenity Retreat for Women in Al-Anon (3/15-3/17), Family Vacation Retreat (7/8-7/12) and Senior Vacation Retreat (8/5-8/9).
Sound interesting? Contact them easily by phone or online. And let me know how it was!

Burning Man Festival: The Ultimate Retreat

This festival has been going since 1986 in the United States and has grown amazingly each year. It’s now held in the northern Nevada desert called Black Rock Desert. It opens every year on the last Monday of August and goes till the first Monday in September, a holiday in the US (Labor Day). The name comes from a large 40 foot or 12 meter high wooden effigy of a man that is burned on Saturday night each year. Here is an article by Derek Beres writing for the Huffington Post (Religion Canada section) about this year’s celebration.

Burning Man Festival: The Ultimate Retreat

The annual ritual known as Burning Man probably had 60,900 meanings for everyone in Aattendance this year. But my second sojourn to the festival in the desert verified what I recalled from my first: This is the most widespread example that America has at consciously creating a modern mythology. Myths have always had conscious and unconscious elements -- the ritual is consciously constructed, but what happens within the container of the construction is anyone's guess. This is the empty space where magic happens.
To dive further into this idea, I'd like to use Joseph Campbell's four functions of a mythology to show how beyond a party and getting f'd up in the desert, Burning Man is a mythology in the making, creating a social order relevant to our time, right now, 2012 America.
The Mystical Function
Campbell's first requirement was that mythology must inspire awe in the universe. Modern America was built on biblical desert mythologies, even if most Americans would want to do anything but live in such an environment today. Standing in the middle of the Playa -- the art-driven center of the camp -- at 2 a.m., whipping yourself around to find a perfect circumference of lights, mutant vehicles and sound systems the size of midtown Manhattan clubs is, to say the least, awe-inspiring. All mythologies were created by humans; I hope we're evolved enough to understand that no god rushed down from wherever to "give" a human some special message. Therefore, what really matters is imagination. Burning Man is a safe space to fully explore and share your creative edge. Seeing what 60,000 humans can create in the span of a week, only to be destroyed (explained later), is more mystical to the human mind than reading stories of a man who might have done this or that thousands of years ago.
The Cosmological Function
Campbell's second function was that a mythology had to explain the shape of the universe. Obviously, we've had many different shapes offered to us. The shape of Burning Man is impermanence, a principle deeply entwined with Buddhism. While the entire gathering has been written off as wasteful -- it is not cheap to attend; I spent $1,200 for six days -- the festival is a living example of what art and life can be when we move beyond the bottom line. Think about this: In the span of two weeks (including build and breakdown), a city is constructed, celebrated and deconstructed. This is the exact representation of the triune deities of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in Indian mythology. Creation, destruction and, yes, sustainability; the ritual occurs yearly as an annual reminder of the transience of life, much like the Mexican myths of the corn goddess or the eternal return of Osiris. Theology teaches us the importance of the afterlife, which often serves as a way of not taking responsibility for the life we are living now; think of the anti-global warming furor of the GOP, for one example. When the man burns on Saturday evening, we are reminded not only of very old fire mythologies, designed to represent the impermanence of nature, but that we are part of an extremely long process that did not begin nor end with us. Celebrating the process for what it is defines our cosmological outlook.
To read the original post click here.

He goes on to describe the other two functions of Campbell’s mythology, the sociological and pedagogical functions. A bit more about this festival to give you some idea of what is is all about. There is a city constructed with streets where people camp. There are different theme camps (now over 700 of them) and art displays, including “mutant vehicles”, the only cars allowed on the site. A mutant vehicle must be so altered as to mask entirely the original body. For example, a VW van that has doll heads and paint stuck to the sides is considered a decorated vehicle but not a mutant vehicle. There are now over 600 approved mutant vehicles. Bicycles are allowed, especially decorated ones and the Green Tortoise Bus Line provides transportation from nearby towns. There is a more complete description of this festival on Wikipedia. If you have ever been to this festival please leave a comment, OK?

Featured Retreats of the Week: Wild Earth Journeys

Are you ready for a truly awesome trip, a memorable one you will remember always? Are you adventurous but would like to use a guide as you know you will see more that way? Then this is the company for you. Wild Earth Journeys is owned and operated by Carroll Dunham, a Princeton University anthropologist, writer, herbalist and yoga instructor and her husband, Thomas Kelly, a former Peace Corps volunteer, Care Program officer, photographer and documentary film maker.

Featured Retreats of the Week: Wild Earth Journeys

Wild Earth Journeys--pilgrimages to wild and sacred places of the earth. Where story, myth, culture, adventure and spirit come together. We love horses, we love to walk in the mountains, we love medicinal plants and traditional medicine, spirit traditions, stories, and we love healing and working with local communities engaging in dialogue between discovery, science and healing. We love the questions, and we love the journey, knowing that without exploring the furthest reaches of the last great wild places on this earth and in the elements, we can never know for ourselves. Come explore with us and tap on thirty years exploring Asia from the heart--foolishly. Come with us and meet extraordinary and ordinary people who could change your mind. Let us help you plan your pilgrimage or journey if you are ready to leave the familiar trail for the unexpected--if you are ready to explore more than just the surface.
To read the original post click here.

The trips are to India, Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, Mongolia or design your own trip. While I myself have not had the pleasure of going on one of these trips, from some of the testimonials it seems that the participants are very enthusiastic about their experiences. The guides, Carroll and Thomas (yes, they do these trips themselves) are able to take people into remote place few foreigners have gone but in a safe and comfortable way. These are not trips for people who want heated pools or room service; it would require some roughing it. I personally am re-assured that there are still wild places left on this planet for Wild Earth Journeys to explore.