Sunday, June 08, 2008

Who Else Wants A Free iPod?

Meditation On The Spanish Retreat



This week I'm in the Murcia region of Spain at the world class La Manga resort. Walking up the hill in the blazing sunshine I said to Cheryl that I didn't feel any real connection with Spain. Totally unlike Hawaii, where everyting is sacred - the
trees, the winds, the land, the rocks. To me, and only having been here for 3 days, I felt no affinity or bond with this country.

Then Cheryl made me stop and wonder - she said that was because I'd had no spiritual training or history with Spain, whereas I first started studying Hawaiian Huna in 1996 and then subsequently trained in Hawaii over two and a half years. And I've
often said that when my feet touched the ground in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii, I immediately felt that "homecoming" feeling that I'd only ever read about. In sharp contrast, Spain felt arid, dry and impersonal.

Until today - today we spent the afternoon at La Cala [pictured above] - a small, private beach surrounded by tall cliffs and thrashing ocean, and there I felt compelled to repeat a 5 Element Meditation on the lava rocks jutting out into the sea, just as I'd done at the city of refuge Ho'naunau in Hawaii...

Feeling the scorching fire element on my skin, thankfully cooled by the air element of the sea breeze, sitting on roasting hot lava rock with sand particles between my toes connecting me back to earth. All the while looking out over the powerful water element rhythmically pounding the outcrop down to a smooth, polished ramp that slopes steeply into the frothing waves...

And then it struck me - the five elements have no nationality, no regional accent and no political preference. They're just there. Ever present. It doesn't matter where you are. The Hawaiians say Hawaii is a place inside you - its a feeling - its
a connectedness to the five elements [including the etheric I'o that permeates everything] that make up everything, even you and me.

So Spain now feels different. Or rather, I do. I had a hunch that coming to Spain to run a Retreat would have other effects on me...