We recently had a lovely gathering with friends, a Sicilian night!  Below is a photo collage of the evening:

Cena Siciliana (Sicilian Dinner) Photos by Michael Hamilton

Gatherings and meetings with friends, shopping for travel, teaching all week-long, preparing for my upcoming-Peru Tour/Yoga Retreat…..I feel like my engines are revved up!  I am staying in Seattle this weekend to tie up loose ends and take care of all the small details I seem to never get to.  You would NOT want to see my list of “things to do”.  It’s frightening.  In fact, I think I will go for a walk after I write this short blog!  My way of briefly escaping?

I have a pile of neatly folded clothing, winter wear for the high altitudes of Peru (Cuzco, Machu Picchu, Sacred Valley, Lake Titicaca!!) and summer wear for the warm 80 degree temperatures of Lima and Paracas.  I just dug out my larger suitcase because, though in general I am a light packer, I can’t seem to get away with less on this trip.  I need rain gear because it is raining in Cuzco.  I need my light hiking boots that can take rough terrain and mud.  I need my beach wear and my yoga gear.  I take pride in being a light packer and, as a result, I was hell bent on using my smaller suitcase which made me fret (for days) about fitting everything into that small space.  Sometimes I create the biggest issues out of nothing!  Now that I have relented and pulled out the larger suitcase, I feel calm.

Yes, I am leaving for Peru on Tuesday, March 6.  I am so excited about this trip.  I have a FANTASTIC group of 16 yogis/participants/fellow adventurers and world travelers coming along.  I am working closely with Ericka Lock, who has been utterly terrific and tending to every detail of the tour and journey.  I will be blogging from Peru (whenever I can connect to WiFi (which might be a challenge once we are up in high altitude and in more remote areas).

It’s funny because I have been to high altitude before, all the way up to 17, 800 feet at the Thorong La Pass in Nepal (same altitude as the Mt. Everest base camp!). I did fairly well back then, but, somehow, flying in to 11,500 feet from sea-level Lima is daunting to me.  In Nepal, I had plenty of time to acclimate (about 2 weeks) before reaching altitude.  I am hoping that everyone in our group stays healthy and acclimates readily!   I am working on visualizing a very healthy group who does really well with the acclimatization process.

In fact, yesterday I met with  Jane Faulkner who does coaching (business, personal, and spiritual in nature) and shamanic work.  She is a coach and consultant to the conscious leadership and business community She is really fantastic and I recommend anyone to make an appointment with her.  Jane Faulkner is quite extraordinary at what she does.  She went over some visualizations with me, ones that I am already working on and ones that I will share with my group for staying healthy, for staying connected to the sacred earth, staying connected to the beautiful sacred places of Peru and the wonderful people of Peru.  She went over the process of what the body goes through when acclimatizing and how we can go inside our bodies and help ourselves to connect to earth spirit and equilibrium.  In general, shamanic work and the work of a medical intuitive is to help people find their intentions of staying connected to self, to others, to the sacred earth, to be present, and to stay connected to our highest purpose in life.  What is our highest purpose in life?  To create LOVE and LIGHT!

If I was revved up before, I think meeting with Jane got me in Super Revved Up Mode about this trip!

Oh, and if you would like to connect with Jane Faulkner for a session or some work with her, here is her contact information:      jane@janefaulkner.net    Jane also has a website http://janefaulkner.net/ and puts out an informative newsletter that you can sign up for on her website.

YES, I am almost ready!  I leave on Tuesday, March 6th!