Monday, April 6, 2009

Mahalo Hawaii

Here I am. It took me a little while to collect my thoughts after returning from the big island of Hawaii. But here I am.
How was the trip? It can be difficult to explain the experience of spending a week on a volcanic healing island, in a blissful little cottage set on twenty acres of open meadows and fields and crazy cool trees next to a roaring and crashing ocean. Add yoga teachers, shamans, meditation areas, body healers of all kinds, hot pools, cool pools, a sauna and three healthy organic meals a day. Plus lots of tea. And kava. Oh and coconut water.
I stepped away feeling refreshed and relaxed, yes. But also quite changed. Some sort of metamorphosis happens in a place like this. Whether a person needs healing or not, it seems one inevitably steps away feeling better. And given the tools learned from the many healing teachers at Kalani, I feel like I came away with a greater knowledge of how to keep myself feeling better.

The first night we flew into Hilo, K and I took a cab to a bed & breakfast called Maureen's. Our cab driver, Benjamin, spoke with a thick Japanese accent and called Maureen 3 times the next day to see if we needed a ride to Kalani, even though we told him we had arranged a shuttle. Persistent fellow. Anyway, we got to Maureen's and it was this old mansion with wooden everything and big banisters and a huge open back porch with tea tables overlooking green green green and a koi pond.
We immediately needed to see the ocean. So we walked down the road and found a path that led to the beach. It was a bit of a long path - through winding trees with roots jutting into the ground from a foot up. Then there it was - the big crashing ocean, dark blue against a fading sky. We stared at it for a long time, walking around on the crunchy lava rocks, and then realized it was dark. We also realized we had to find the path back. Which we then realized we couldn't find. It was kind of pitch black.
Though my heart did flutter, we did not panic. Instead, I took a picture of Kathy and we realized my flash was a light. So we found the trail with the camera flash and kept flashing all the way back to the street. Then we kind of laughed at ourselves and went and had sushi.

When I was in about 8th or 9th grade, my sister Angie and I used to lie in our beds in our shared flower wallpapered bedroom (which we later painted white - very mod - and I moved my bed into the closet) before we went to sleep, listening to the Ooga Olympics on WRKR. People would call in and have to yell or scream OOGA in a crazy way and whoever did it the best won something like a dinner at the Ground Round or something. We really liked this. Anyway, after the Ooga Olympics and the Top Ten countdown, I diligently switched the radio station around and around until I found a song that I liked and would not go to bed until I found one. Then I would leave the dial on that station, thinking that it would give me a good chance of waking up to my alarm in the morning with a song that I liked.
Going to Hawaii was a bit like the radio station game I used to play. Searching and searching to find something that works and then setting the dial so that what's working stays with you. (even though that game usually didn't work quite right, sometimes it did. and a couple of time it was even the same song in the morning as it was at night. whoa). I think I'm going to stay on this station for a while. oooooooOOOOOga.

3 comments:

  1. Jules,

    I am so glad to hear about your trip. It sounds like it was everything you could have wanted it to be. I can just see you and Kathy stumbling around to find that trail. Now, you'll have to post the pictures you took while flashing your way.

    I had completely forgotten about the Ooga Olympics and WRKR (but not the flowered wallpaper or the totally '80's mod-transformation-- complete with mauve accents, a paper lantern from Pier 1 and, of course, a papasan chair). Your analogy is a good one. Stay on that station for as long as you can. And if you lose it, well, you'll just have to go back to Hawaii for another week to dial it in again. Or, when Scott finishes the sauna, you could have him build you a model volcano in the backyard?!

    xoxo Angie

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think what you found on that island was peace and an inner calm. Those things are difficult to find when you also have to be in a warrior mode. I'm happy you found them. I love you Mom
    PS Will you two quit whining about the pretty flowered bedroom... I loved that room. I even sewed matching flowered curtains!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah! And I still have those pretty flowered matching curtains up in Sammie's room! I'd have given anything to have the matching darn wallpaper in there for Sammie and Angie who slept in the same beds as you and Angie which were the same beds as Jane and I slept in. She used to play the radio before bed, too. But we weren't laughing together about funny stuff on the radio, since I was an innocent first grader when she was in 7th grade! I had no opportunity to express how I felt about going to sleep to WHK every night. I just fell asleep to every queer early 60's song imaginable, and to this day, I can sing every word. EVERY WORD! I didn't do to well at the stuff we were supposed to learn in school, but by golly! I sure knew those songs on the radio.

    I'm so glad the trip was all you hoped for.It must have felt like your mind was on vacation from life itself. Perfect healing potion. The prayers, and good vibrations are still engulfing you. I know you're always in my thoughts. I'm sure I'm in very good company. Welcome back to reality. Spring is coming! Even though it snowed in lovely Vermont today! Love you, Jules

    ReplyDelete