Day 41 - The Retreat part 1

OK, so I took a week off.

I justified not writing my blog during this time because a) it represented an unwelcome technological intrusion on my rural organic retreat in the Pyrenees and b) because I was trying to pull back from the front and just 'be' for a while.

I wanted to chat with my subconcious about the possibilities in life.

It worked.

So many crucial breakthroughs. My inner teacher awoke and I am writing as fluidly and effectively as I ever have.

There is a tangible sense of excitement in the air.

Off we set, myself and a friend, to the Pyrenees. Not for us an intoxicated bank holiday weekend taking advantages of the late licences and weekend spectaculars of London town. We were seeking something different, and we found it. The retreat, which manifested so sychronistically for us at the beginning of last week, just happened to be a plant dieting shamanic weekend of yoga, chi jung, walking, relaxation, floral baths, herbal remedies... and something called Ayahuasca. This was to keep us occupied in the evenings as it was a booze free exercise. More on that later.

So, nestling happily in a big farmhouse in the foothills of the Pyrenees near the market town of Foix, we began our induction into the Shamanic way. The intention? To experience the benefits mother nature provides but we so often overlook.

And of ocurse to seek further reassurance from our subconcious / an external body / god that this incredibly risky life path is the correct one.

To say the results were extraordinary would be an understatement of biblical proportions.

I have returned feeling truly at one with the universe, and very much ready and able to complete the task I have set myself.

The basic content of the days included some exercise, group discussions on the rigours of modern life, hopes, fears, and our philosophies on life. As far as these went, they were rewarding and illuminating as a group of 11 very different people shared their views.

And we would diet the plants as planned over the 5 day period.

All fairly simple stuff, and over the first 24 hours, I certainly felt I entered into a dream like state - the sun on the mountains, the relaxing chats and exercise and the company were totally void of pressure and stress and hugely beneficial.

But as we headed for night2, and our first Ayahausca session, I started to wander what this particularly famous plant would do for me. I have only really experienced chemically enhanced drugs in my time, as well as cocaine, which is probably chemically enhanced by the time it reaches my grubby hands. Weed has never done much for me. I find people boring on it and it sends me to sleep.

I sought the shaman's advice, which was basically a very mystical: 'let the plant do its work'.

I decided to let it go. The shaman was clearly not keen on trying to predict the results - they were different for everyone, apparently. But he did let slip that glimpsing the future was possible...

Which, let's face it, appeals.

To cut a long story short, my peruvian shot glass of liquified Ayahausca that night has quite possibly changed the course of my life.

Via a series of very vivid and tangible visions, it connected me to 3 key things. Actually 'connected' is too weak a phrase here. It infromed me of 3 key things. I don't now believe these things, I know them.

And what is knowledge?

Power.

Here they are:

1) the universe and mother nature provides you with everything you need in life. they will be here long before you and i are gone and they will prosper.

How did i learn this? I closed my eyes and was shown round planet earth by a shaman, who had previously featured as the village elder in indiana jones and the temple of doom. Mother nature spoke to me and explained that she had already been through the ice age and all that - it was no big deal. She also told me that we had the best deal so far... and if we wanted to fuck it up, that would be out of her hands, and she would be around to witness the rebirth and we wouldn't.

2) my writing activity is the dawn of a new era for me which is going to deliver everything i want, enable me to be myself for the first time in my life and prosper beyond my wildest dream.

How did i learn this? Because the shaman showed me, in technicolour, the 20 most beautiful sunrises the earth has ever seen and told me in no uncertain tewrms that they now represented the rest of my life. from here on out. serious.

3) the human brain is truly infinite and capable of completing any task we set it.

How do i know this? Because a serpent showed me around my brain. It looked like the colloseum, with a thousand doorways leading off it. But then the serpent hissed, telling me that this was the only part of my brain i was using. i inquired what she meant by that, as this image was clearly my entire brain.

The serpent giggled patronisingly, and hissed again.

Every door out of the thousand swung open. Behind each one was another colloseum, with a thousand doors in each one, leading to another thousand doors with thousand door colloseums behind them.

And so on. And on. And on.

The concept, the idea and the definition of 'infinty' revealed, right before my eyes.

Infinite ability and capability.

Religious, in the truest sense of the word.

So. A nice introduction to a very gentle, slightly psychedelic new experience. They were visions, but not like those you get on LSD. These visions meant something -they were realisations, not just pretty pictures. Proper stuff.

Awe inspiring in fact.

But softly softly... A beautiful experience, gob smacking too, but subtle at the same time. nothing brutal about it.

You get the picture.

Waking up the next morning felt like the first day of the rest of eternity, in which i will play the central role. And I have to say it feels good that all this is happening around my 30th birthday in a few weeks.

The manifestation in my life is currently so thick you could reach out and touch it.

Read more on The Retreat tomorrow - for further education from the very center of planet earth.

Writing time: n/a

Manifestation: 100%