Sedona Sunset. CC Image by Bill Gracey (Flickr).

Certain places hold the ability to evoke a sense of peace and calm within its visitors. Such a place is Sedona in the Arizona desert. Called the Land of Light by Native Americans, Sedona attracts millions of people each year with its massive red rocks and striking surroundings. Here, harmony resides in the energy of the five elements. And thanks to vortex sites, powerful energy sports, that can enable self-awareness and spiritual experiences, Sedona is not only a place of beauty.

In The Call of Sedona: Journey of the Heart, philosopher and educator Ilchi Lee describes what first drew him to this sacred place, the Sedona spirit, messages he received from Sedona, and how he came to dedicate his life to sharing these messages for a new awakened shift of consciousness. Lee blends practical guidance – suggestions for hikes or spots to meditate – with inspirational insights on the healing and transformational power of Sedona. Full-color photographs of Sedona’s scenery add to the appeal.

An opening quote and Ilchi Lee’s introduction are followed by a wealth of wisdom.

These citations spoke to me the most:

When you focus deeply inside on the ki energy, your mind becomes calm and serene. There’s a feeling of peaceful comfort and safety that’s hard to describe. Inside of that, there’s no fear that you might lose something, there is no desperate need to control others, nor is there the desire for recognition or acceptance. There is only one self that is infinitely bright and peaceful and seems that for it anything would be possible.

In the same way that the screen doesn’t disappear when a movie ends, even in the midst of the coming and going of different emotions, there is something in us that doesn’t change.

Just as one might sit without wavering in the depths of the ocean and watch the waves above you rise and fall with the wind, so one must be detached. Whether things are bad or good, cultivate the “me that watches me.

When you tell yourself, “It’s okay,” your soul finds strength in those simple words.

When things are hard and confusing, go inside. The place that can provide you with perfect rest. No matter where you go, dragging your body along with you, you cannot find true rest outside of yourself.

If you have a dream in your heart that beats with the pulse of the night sky, then your soul is happy.

The most earnest prayer that I know is to ask for the life energy of the universe to come down into my body and let my mind become full and overflowing with peace and gratitude.

The things we are attached to are no more than shadows of the past.

Even if certain suffering is in the future, you have to take the path that your real True Self wants. Until you take that path, your soul will feel its thirst forever.

We can choose hope no matter what the situation. And with amazing creativity we can design our lives and become the drivers of our destiny.

Apart from the wisdom and captivating text, I love that Ilchi Lee doesn’t claim to hold all the answers. Toward the end, Lee states, “The most important questions in life are not answered by experts of by systems. They can help us on our journey to ask those questions but finding the answers is always our own to do.” Each to his own. An appreciated change from experts or gurus who proclaim that their way is the right and only way.

A Sedona Vortex Meditation Guide in the end provides exercises and techniques that anyone can commit to in their own pace and way, whether in Sedona or elsewhere. As Lee explains, the age when you look for spirituality deep in a mountain, in seclusion, is gone. Spirituality is here and now. The “Awakened Living” lifestyle Lee and many others engage in doesn’t separate the spiritual from the daily life. It’s not necessarily about where you are, but about how you are.