Ilchi Lee is a Korean-American meditation retreat leader, teacher of the Dahn school of yoga and author. In The Call of Sedona: Journey of the Heart, Lee provides a guide to making the most of a trip to his adopted homeland in the Arizona hills on a true spiritual level. Many people enjoy the natural beauty and artistic inspiration of this place, but not everyone approaches the land with the mindfulness that give way to greater understanding of the self and of the world.
Sedona is world-renowned for its spiritual atmosphere. Many parts of the Arizona desert are sacred to the First Nations people (the Apache and the Yavapai are the original inhabitants of the land), including Sedona and some of its surrounding areas. Its energy is concentrated in what people generally refer to as vortexes, which Lee explains in these terms:
"Because the earth is also an organic life form, it has an energy system similar to that of the human body. Vortexes perform a similar role for the earth as chakras do in the human body. Power is concentrated in the vortexes, and the energy of the earth pours out in swirling spirals or the energy of heaven comes to them, forming a whirling spiral. Just as the energy of our bodies is not visible to the naked eye, vortex energy is also invisible. However, just as you can feel energy if you focus your mind, it's possible to experience vortex energy through our various senses."
By coincidence, the word "Sedona" sounds like the Korean words "se do na," which means "new enlightenment will emerge." ("Do" is often spelled as "Tao" in English.)
(Cathedral Rock - public domain image by Ken Thomas)
Even if you're not planning a trip to Sedona in the near future, you can use this book as a guide to meditation in communion with various aspects of nature. This is a beautiful book, lushly illustrated with photos of Sedona and the surrounding areas at different times of day and at different times of the year. Ilchi Lee is an engaging teacher whose storytelling style blends his personal experience (he's had quite a life!) with universal meaning and higher truth. This is a book that speaks straight to the heart.
Best Life Media, the publisher of The Call of Sedona: Journey of the Heart by Ilchi Lee, has generously offered to ship a free paperback copy of the book to one lucky winner. I'll choose the winner at random (using Random.org) from commenters who leave an e-mail address before midnight Eastern time on Sunday, March 25th.
If you have a Google account and I can find your e-mail address by clicking on your name, there's no need for you to leave your e-mail address in the comment. Otherwise, I suggest this format: name AT Internetcompany DOT com.
Disclosure: I received this book at no cost from the publisher's representative in exchange for this review, which represents my own honest opinion.
2 comments:
This sounds like a very interesting book! Sedona is now on my list of places I must visit.
Interesting book Erin. I really should read more non-fiction again. I used to, but fit ion swallows up all of radian time now - because I guess I'm all about pleasure and not gaining knowledge (shouldn't I have been more like that when younger, not now?) :)
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