Hello beloved reader, from Alaska!
My older sister — aka fairy godmother since she and her partner sold their business — generously gifted Jamie and me another adventure vacation with them. Soooo much gratitude for our privilege!
Jamie and I flew into Denver, drove out to Rifle to spend some time with an ex-monk friend, then we drove back to Denver to meet my sister and her partner. The following day we spent some time in the giant REI store, then while my brother-in-law attended business meetings, the three of us shopped a Patagonia sale and browsed the neighboring Arcteryx store.
We also spent two nights in Boulder. This time while my brother-in-law attended meetings, the three of us explored Boulder, and hiked a gorgeous trail in the Flatirons. The day was hot and dry at 90F/32C, so we relished stopping by a waterfall where we dangled our hands in the chilly water, wet a facecloth and held it to cool the hot skin on the back of our necks.
The morning of Tuesday August 22, we flew out of Denver to Anchorage. We were the first off the plane and saw a driver standing on the passenger jet bridge with a sign stating our name. “This way,” he said, and led us outside down a set of stairs to a large black limo waiting on the tarmac. Talk about feeling like a rock star 🤩
He drove us to our Airbnb where we dropped our bags then walked into town to explore downtown Anchorage.
Wednesday afternoon we took a sea plane to Stillpoint Lodge in the beautiful Halibut Cove where about 180 people reside. A truly remote area.
On Thursday we were supposed to fly out to a place where we could see bears 🐻 but the weather was iffy, so instead we took e-bikes in a boat to go riding over dirt trails. We appreciated the Stillpoint staff strongly encouraging us to wear their rain gear as by the end of the trip, we all had mud all over our backs.
In the boat ride on the way home, I suddenly felt very tired. I closed my eyes and leant against the side of the boat. When we got back, I went to our cabin and lay down. Jamie went up to the main lodge for happy hour. I called him at 7 and said I was going to skip dinner as I felt nauseous. I heard my sister tell Jamie she thought I looked a little grey on the boat.
My joints started to ache. Luckily I had brought a first aid kit I’d made that included Weleda’s homeopathic remedy Echinacea Thuja and their Cold and Flu pillules which seemed to ease the aching in my joints.
But my head also hurt and my forehead felt hot. I took my temperature: 102F/39C. Acetaminophen helped to keep the fever down.
Friday morning Jamie texted with the director of the lodge who suggested I take a Covid test. It was positive.
Jamie and I slept in different rooms, but the following day he tested positive too.
And so my dear reader, we are convalescing in a little log cabin at Still Point lodge, south of Anchorage. It’s not a bad place to heal, but please do send healing energy for a speedy recovery ❤️🩹
In the vein of the Rising of the Divine Feminine (as Dr Weil embraces both the sacred masculine and the divine feminine) I bought the audio book by Harvard trained physician and integrative medicine pioneer, Dr. Andrew Weil: Self-Healing with Guided Imagery: How to Use the Power of Your Mind to Heal Your Body. It includes beautiful, peaceful and deeply healing meditations which I’ve been listening to, doing the guided imagery, and then falling into deep and healing sleeps.
Dr. Weil says upfront, “We’re going to be talking about harnessing the imagination in the service of healing, which I think is one of the most powerful techniques to access healing.” He goes on to say, “Health is a state of balance and wholeness, but it’s a state that is dynamic and ever changing… we’re subjected to so many forces that can push us off balance, so the body is constantly self-correcting and adjusting. It’s this dynamic aspect of health that must be taken into account in any discussions about how to keep yourself healthy and how to restore health when it’s lost.”
He says:
…My work at the University of Arizona is to train physicians in integrative medicine, which I believe is the future of medicine. This is the intelligent combination of conventional and alternative medicine, with an emphasis of looking at people as whole human beings, meaning the physical, the mental, the emotional, the spiritual. And looking at total aspects of a person’s lifestyle.
…Mind body medicine is the best researched area of alternative medicine. We’re going on 4 decades of solid research documenting the reality of mind body interactions on all sorts of levels. Not only the ability of the mind to affect immune function for example, in a very well established way that’s the object of study in a field called psycho-immunology, that’s been in existence for a long time. We also have a solid bank of medical evidence on the relationship between stress and illness. … this is not an area of speculation.
…I think learning guided imagery forces you to develop good listening skills, good communication skills, to be quiet and listen to patients, to hear what they have to say, I think it makes physicians better physicians. And I think patients emerge empowered.
My sense is that a lot of the motivation behind people seeking alternative medical treatments is a desire to take greater charge in their own destiny not just to be passive recipients of authoritarian and paternalistic medical care. I think that’s at the root of the consumer movement towards alternative medicine. Interactive guided imagery is a very empowering technique.
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Lots of opportunities to practice mudita: sympathetic or altruistic joy, gladness at the good fortune of others, as practiced by our neighboring Buddhist monks — as my sister and her partner got to see the bears. What regal and magnificent creatures they are.
oh so sorry you got covid! I just flew home from Israel on a place with hundreds of people, over 12 hours. No Covid! I was shocked and happy. Feel better!!
Hope you feel better soon!