In my tenth year around the Sun, my mom taught me about meditation and how to do it. She told me she had a feeling about me, and that she should follow her intuition and teach me to meditate. My mom did not know how to teach me; she felt she needed to. She ended up getting a book about how to do shamanic journeying. My mom read up on how to instruct somebody to journey. Once she was ready, my mom told me "Hey! I want to show you something cool. I want you to try it out to see what you think of it."
So she started to read the passage which was much like a hypnosis induction. The beginning relaxation, then the deepening, and then the imagery that ensued. My inward journey started in a forest and from the forest down a pathway and then into a cave. By the time I had reached the cavern though my mother was no longer guiding me. The inner journey took on a life of its own it seemed. The cave led downward via some naturally formed rock stairs to a door covered in knotwork and Indigenous art. As a kid, I remember thinking that this was amazing. I wanted to experience more. My healing journey began as soon as I stepped through that door.
I went through that door and found myself in a land of clear waters and where nature was sentient. Things seemed to vibrate at a higher frequency. I walked around in this place for a while. It felt like I was there. What I felt, smelled, tasted, saw, and heard was so real. Even the presence of the world was so serene that I could feel it relax my entire being. I had not seen any beings there yet. It was my first time being there. But I do remember having the feeling of being watched. Not ominously but more the feeling of being curiously watched. I remember just sitting in this place, trying not to disturb anything and trying to be as respectful as possible. I had the saying in my mind that my elders had taught me, "When you are in the territory of others you must acknowledge that it is their land and be respectful of their ways." The land acknowledgement has many pieces to it: leave the land the way you found it; do not disturb the territory you are in; give a formal introduction of who you are, where you come from and who your people are, and in my culture that is like telling a story about yourself which includes your name, your clan, your parents, your grandparents, your territory, and your nation; remember that you are a guest and nothing in the host territory is yours to take; and the last piece is to always bring a gift, without expectation that you will get one in return, to people of the territory that you are visiting. I stayed there for as long as I could just to soak in the serenity of the place. After a while, it was time to go. I did not want to overstay the curious stares. I remember returning to my body, or at least that is what it felt like, and feeling so alien in this world. I was hooked and I wanted to go more and stay longer. I wanted to know more about that other world.
