Expanding Reality – Work, Study, Nature

Expanding Reality – Study

This is the second in a series of three articles sharing insights from my recent reality-expanding 7-week adventure in Europe and the UK. Instead of Eat, Pray, Love (although I experienced all these too) I’ll call the articles, Work, Study, Nature. You can read the first article in the series here.

I feel better at high altitude.

Clear, elated, myself.

The initial elation could be explained by lower oxygen concentrations causing the body to produce more dopamine. But this chemical response only lasts for a short period of time – the elation, the openness, and the joy I experience on the mountains lasts well beyond this initial dopamine hit.

So, when I had a few days to acclimatise to the different time zone ahead of a week of intensive study in Italy, I was drawn to a mountain.

But not just any mountain – the mother mountain “Majella” named after Maja the most beautiful Pleiadean nymph and mother of Hermes.

I love my volcanos and sacred mountains. I’ll take a walk in the Himalayas ahead of a luxe beach resort most days of the week.

The mountain I was guided to was only a couple of hours from Rome, in a region of Italy called Abruzzo (a place till then I’d only heard of through pasta sauce).

I was told I’d need a guide to be safe climbing the mountains there – to find the right paths and navigate the more dangerous territories including resident bears and wolves.

I find its best when navigating jet-lag to exercise right away so twenty minutes after a car transfer from Rome airport deposited me in the romantic and light filled city of Sulmona, I met my mountain guide.

My first hike was to a sacred hermitage in the nearby mountains.

Over the coming days I walked and drove the mountain with my guide, exploring ancient mysteries, learning the local bush tucker and imbibing the scents of herbs and blossoming flowers. I feel in love with the diverse landscape and mountains filled with beauty, magic, and danger.

The clarity of the light, the expansiveness of the surroundings, the kindness of the locals (and hey- its Italy so the food) took me into a harmony which prepared me well for my next adventures.

With so much territory unexplored, after my study and some meandering, dreamy adventures in Tuscany, I found myself drawn back to this region, to bathe in crystal clear waterfalls and travel more mountain paths.

The mother mountain mothered me beautifully. I felt taken into her arms and nurtured through all my senses and deep into my soul.

Time in nature shifts us subtly and time in nature with a guide who has intimate knowledge (physical and spiritual) of their land can open doorways into new realities and ways of seeing.

Its why I take leaders I work with into nature whenever possible. And recommend immersions with Indigenous guides like Dwayne and Johnny. DM me if you’d like to experience a leadership retreat or event I run in partnership.

In my experience, land cared for by people Indigenous to it vibrates differently – feels more alive. Knowing and caring for the interrelationships of animals, plants, water, seasons, and stories is elevated in a way that can’t be captured in words, by generations of knowledge sharing.

It is fair to say that the doorways opened in me during my time in the mountains of Abruzzo brought me in touch with forgotten or less attended to parts of myself. Words can’t do justice to the experience but perhaps this poem by Saigyō Hoshi can elude to it.

Among deep mountains

the heart’s moon

shines pure

and I see within that mirror

the whole world enlightened

Saigyō Hosh

In nature, we can find a reflection of our own true nature. It is your true nature you are invited into at The New Millennium Leader Academy. I look forward to seeing you there.