I recently filled my own cup joining another retreat in a faraway land. Today, I will begin to articulate some of my experiences in this magical place.
Guided Meditation
“I was able to drop in easily today. I saw brilliant colors beginning with the white entry light into what I call the portal. First, a strong fiery color and light blues came into my view. Then, brilliant purple and green. At one point I visualized a giant stingray with neon yellow, almost hieroglyphic words on its back. When I acknowledge the noise in my brain for what it is, beauty begins. A message came to me saying to focus on connection without attachment.
The second part of the meditation was walking. We walked back and forth on the wooden deck overlooking the lake. She prompted me to feel the way my feet felt on the wood, how my body felt moving more slowly than normal. She then suggested that I slowly raise my gaze and use my eyes not to “take in the view” but to “allow my eyes to open and receive.” I immediately felt a shift in my perspective. I felt held and safe. I was not trying to take from mother earth but accept the beauty that already is.”
Journal Entry from my trip to Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, June 2022
Findings from my experience –
The Stingray spirit animal symbolizes maneuverability. The stingray speaks to the need for you to create harmony with your environment through grace and sensitivity, so might be telling you to trust your gut instinct especially in times of lost clarity and confusion.
Digging deeper on the hieroglyphs –
Mayan hieroglyphic writing, system of writing used by the Maya people of Mesoamerica until about the end of the 17th century, 200 years after the Spanish conquest of Mexico. (With the 21st-century discovery of the Mayan site of San Bartolo in Guatemala came evidence of Mayan writing that pushed back its date of origin to at least 300 or 200 BC.) It was the only true writing system developed in the pre-Columbian Americas.
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