Peruvian Sunburn ✨✨

Now I’m finally back at it!! ☀️🖌️🌀💗

So, Peru. . .

Peru was amazing!

Each day we enjoyed travelling from the beautiful property where our group stayed to local sacred sites. These sites included places in nature, ancient Inca sites, and places where Spainish Catholic architecture and influence came together with more ancient, Pagan influences ⛰️⛪🦙🌈

The weather was great– much warmer during the day than I expected. I ended up getting a real serious sunburn on the backs of my hands (my HANDS?!?!). The sun down there (and up there at high altitudes) is no joke, y’all! 

(Sidebar– “Peruvian Sunburn” also happens to be the name of a cocktail on the menu of a wonderful restaurant 2 blocks away from New Day in downtown Skokie called Libertad. I strongly suggest you go there if you haven’t yet! 🥂)

OK, now that I got the basics out of the way, I want to share with you more about what I really got out of this experience. There is so much, but here is what’s coming up right now.

The trip was called “The Shaman Dialogues.” A big part of the trip was time spent with Peruvian Shaman and time engaged in shamanic spiritual practices ✨✨

While I was familiar with these practices already, and very open to the experience, there were times when I began to feel like I was struggling.

For example, there is a LENGTHY process called “Despacho” that involves creating this elaborate sort of 3-dimensional collage (I don’t know how else to describe it) that ends up resembling a sheet cake 😦

Let me reiterate. This is a LENGHTY process. It involves praying over the different elements of the Despacho, each of which represent something important in the Peruvian cosmology.

When it’s all over, the Shaman wraps it up in paper (now it looks like a gift). Then that night we then BURN it a fire ceremony (it’s sobering how quickly the fire gobbles up something that takes hours of focused attention to construct!) 🔥🔥🔥

There were times when we were working on this when I found myself feeling doubtful. Thoughts such as “this is boring,” “why are we doing this again?’ and “I’m beginning to doubt that this is the spiritual path for me,” were surfacing 😂

After a couple of such episodes, I journaled that the Shamanic practices felt idiosyncratic, unnecessarily detailed, and somehow also diffuse and random in their application. If God or the Universe cares about all of this, I found myself thinking, what does that say about God/The universe? Why can’t this be easier and generate a sense of simplicity and clarity, I wondered?

Now, fast-forward to the last night of the trip.

That night I found myself sitting with rapt attention, my posture lifted and my energy completely focused on the ceremonial construction of another Despacho 💥💥💥

What accounted for this change in me????

Sometime later in my week in Peru I had access to a helpful thought.

That thought is this: It is not necessary to “agree with,” or embrace, or even like every single aspect of a teaching for the teaching as a whole to be an important source of inspiration, connection, and creativity 💥

I have had this thought in relationship to many teachings, including even Donny’s work and Network Spinal!

That’s right, there are things that Donny Epstein can say, do, or teach that could easily have a person think “well, now that he’s said that I KNOW this isn’t the path for me.” SO MANY THINGS, I’m sure 😂😂😂

But there is something important at the core of these teachings.

What it really comes down to for me is to look at what a work or this teaching brings out in the person engaged in it. In other words, who am I being in the process?

In the case of Peruvian Shamanism, in my experience, there is so much beauty and intentionality in the practices. It creates in me a sense of quiet reverence, of gratitude and appreciation for the earth (which we then get to feel in return!)

In the case of Donny’s work and Network Spinal, in both the practicing of the work and the receiving of the work, it brings out a sense of wonder, appreciation, connection, and a very physical feeling of being something bigger.

These are teachings that I gravitate toward. That fact alone should tell me that I have been on the right track! 

If you’re reading this email, New Day, Network Spinal, and me are something that you gravitate toward in some way (and I and this community toward YOU!) There might have been times when something specific turned you off to the experience or had you go in your head. But that’s normal.

Honor that there is something there for you when you notice yourself continuing to gravitate toward something. Stay open and related to it and engaged with it ✨💓✨🌍✨

Now, if you were “gravitating toward” something unhealthy, like binge-eating or watching too much TV, this conversation would be different (I’d be asking, “Who is the ‘you’ who gravitates toward the unhealthy thing? Chances are it’s not the ‘you’ you want to listen to” 💥)

There a number of other things I had some “aha’s” about on the trip, including some inspiration I received for a reassessment process for all current clients that will begin in the next 2 weeks. Stay tuned ✨✨✨

As always, I look forward to hearing from you, and seeing you this week 💖