Spiritually Focused Blogs

Now fast forward 20 years. As I approached my 50th birthday, I knew I was ready for another challenge so I decided to climb three mountains in Africa with the last being Kilimanjaro. Again, I was not sure what to expect, but I imagined a similar experience as my trip to Peru. I could not have been more wrong.

The first mountain, Little Meru, was easy. It took about an hour to summit one afternoon. I felt very confident as I went to bed that night. We got up at 11:00 pm to start our ascent to Mount Meru. At first it was pretty easy going. Then we got to a part that was sheer rock face that we had to walk across in the dark. All of a sudden, I was terrified just like that person who had been afraid of the water in Peru. The difference now was that I had my spiritual techniques. I used my grounding to release my fear and asked angels for assistance. All of a sudden, the fear disappeared and I hiked with more confidence. The guide could not believe the difference. I remember one part where the guide took my hand to cross what he called a rock bridge. At first I resisted, but then I realized I had asked for whatever assistance I needed to get to the top. I got to the summit (15, 000 feet) about 10 AM and it was windy, cold and wet. Then it briefly cleared and in the distance we could see Kilimanjaro- The next mountain we were going to tackle. I was exhausted and sick. I thought to myself, “Why did I think this was a good idea? How can I possibly get down?” and “How will I ever make it up Kilimanjaro?” I knew I had no option but to start hiking down. No matter how hard I prayed, an elevator was not going to magically appear! So I took a few minutes to meditate at the top of Mt. Meru. I asked my body about what it needed to get me back to base camp safely. The answer was simple- more grounding and some amusement. The amusement lasted until we got to that rock bridge. As we approached the bridge in the daylight, I could see that it was only 4 feet wide with a drop off on either side of thousands of feet. I grounded some more, held the guide’s hand and walked across without incident. Whew! Although descending was physically challenging, I was laughing and joking most of the way.

When we arrived at our campsite for the night, I was exhausted, sore and my amusement had disappeared. I was feeling sorry for myself and very doubtful. I told my fellow hiker that I could not see myself leaving the next day to hike up Kilimanjaro (19,320 feet). He wisely said that I was in no condition to make a decision that night. As I lay down that night, I thanked my body for conquering that mountain and thanked the angels for their help. I let my body know that it did not have to go up Kilimanjaro if it was too much. Right before I fell asleep, I took some time to ground, center and create and destroy roses to help me release energy from my day and my worries about what was to come. I slept about 10 hours and woke up a different person. I was not sore anymore and my amusement had returned. The doubts of the night before were gone. We hiked out very quickly. Even I could not believe how easy it was. I knew that using my spiritual techniques was the reason.

So off we went to start the ascent of Kilimanjaro. Our guides were consistently telling us to walk slowly so we would conserve our energy for the final ascent. I asked my body about what it needed from me, the spirit, to get to the top. I clearly heard that my body did not want to carry my day pack so I arranged for a guide to carry my pack on day 2 of the climb.

Unlike hiking in Peru, there were hundreds of people on the trail to Kilimanjaro. I wanted to experience that same sense of calm I had found in Peru but found it difficult with all the people and noise. I realized the key was using the spiritual techniques I had learned. I found that grounding and having my aura around me helped me tune into that sense of calm amidst the large number of people. Then came the day we were to start our ascent. We again started our ascent at 11:00 pm. It was up, up, up, up and I mean steep. It was slow going. I would look ahead and all I saw was a never ending line of people hiking up. I would count to 100 and I only had walked 3 or 4 steps. At one point, I was getting discouraged since it seemed like I was not making much progress. I took a moment to communicate with an angel who helped me see that the most important thing was to keep moving and not worry about when I was going to get there. (So true for my life in general!). So Up, up I went. At about 6 AM, I made it to the top of the very steep part. I was overjoyed and started jumping up and down- quite a feat at about 18,000 feet after 7 hours of strenuous hiking. We took pictures and reveled in our accomplishment so far. That helped all of us get a second wind so the last 1200 feet seemed easy by comparison. I reached the summit on New Year’s Day and it was breath taking. I had done it- ascended 3 mountains in the span of 8 days.

As I reflect on my experience climbing Kilimanjaro, I see how my meditation over the years helped prepare me to climb Kilimanjaro. The techniques also assisted me while climbing up those mountains. I now have the confidence that I can do whatever I set out to do as long as I use my spiritual techniques.

If you are interested in learning more about the spiritual techniques that I mention, I encourage you to browse our website. There is information and instruction on the techniques and anyone can use them. Who knows maybe it will help you “climb some mountains” in your own life.
Who knows maybe it will help you “climb some mountains” in your own life.