Mother Knows Best

Last week I was given the opportunity to go surfing off the Oregon coast. It was an incredible feeling being held and carried by the strength of the ocean’s swells as she breathed in and out over the coastline. I was pushed and pulled by her ebbs and flows as if there was no separation between my body and the water that embraced me. As I was gently rocking in this cradle of the sea, I was reminded of a quote from the Tao Te Ching: “Nothing is softer and more flexible than water, yet nothing is superior in dissolving the hard and rigid. The weak overcomes the strong, the soft overcomes the hard.” There is so much power in the gentle element of water; it helps create, support and destroy life with no effort. Water is just one of the many miraculous gifts given to us by our generously yielding planet. The earth’s most natural resources provide everything humans need to survive and be well. We must try to remember this as we grow more and more detached from it.

I believe that all of the solutions to humanity’s ailments lie in the very foundation that we walk on, the air that we breath, the waters that cleanse and hydrate us, the plants that nourish us, and the sun that sheds its vital energy. The earth’s resources have supported our species since our very humble beginnings, but we are now so detached from our Mother with our industrialized, technology ridden, fast paced lives that we have broken our symbiotic relationship with the one source that can help us the most. Instead, we stain her with our pollutants and in turn, we become more and more sick. We are slowly destroying the very thing that has the ability to make us well.

I leave today to go on an adventure back to the earth. I am going to the depths of the Costa Rican jungle in order to re-connect with this source that I have become so disjointed from living in a society that does not honor it. The most potent and reliable medicine comes strait from our Mother earth, and if we can learn how to use this medicine again, the way our ancestors once did with great success, I believe we can and will become well. This is the medicine that I believe in.

I will try to keep y'all posted if I get to a computer at some point. Stay tuned!

Hasta Luego

Sarita

La Pura Vida

Viaje in Spanish means journey or travel. When I titled my blog Los Viajes de Sarita Osita I knew that I was embarking on a profound journey to the depths of my being. In order to access this, however, I knew my exploration would also take me to far reaches of this magnificent earth, pulling me out of my geographic comfort zone and into new perspectives lent only by new environments. This part of my journey has finally come. In two weeks I leave for Costa Rica.

When I first received the diagnosis, my initial thought was, get the hell out of this country. Not because I was told there was a number on my days and I had to fulfill some dying wish to see the world, but because I knew, just knew, that my medicine would not be found here. Granted, I have been a bit traumatized by Western medicine, as I think anyone would if they had spent the last four years in sterile waiting rooms only to spend 15 minutes reciting my list of health issues to a jaded individual in a lab coat, who would barely look me in the eye before sending me off with another expensive prescription that always did more harm than good. No, I was done with hearing “Well, I’m not really sure what’s wrong with you, but take this pill and call me if it gets any worse….”
I had to find answers and I knew that they would not come in the form of stethoscopes, florescent lights and pharmaceuticals. I needed to get to the jungle.

So I spent the next few arduous months in search of someone who could guide me in my search-for-the-cure jungle safari. But no one came, and I couldn’t just go by myself (my mom would never let me). So finally, I gave up. I surrendered my wish to the Universe, and with that I was taught one of my greatest lessons thus far. Trust. For everything we need we will be given in perfect timing, and when I was meant to go to that jungle, I would go.

Sure enough, as soon as I stopped searching, I received an email one idle Tuesday asking me if I would like to come visit the heart of Costa Rica’s vast jungle and work with a well-known Peruvian shaman studying plant medicines and receiving intensive healing work. Somehow, my story had traveled by word of mouth down to the ears of people who have the answers I am looking for and want to share them with me. Within minutes I had RSVPed and within days I had a plane ticket. The first part of my trip in Costa Rica will be spent working closely with the woman shaman, while attending all the classes offered as part of the all-inclusive healing retreat: yoga, meditation, music, art, dance, cooking, and of course jungle exploration. Following the retreat, I will find myself a plot of pristine, sun kissed white sandy beach, where I will bask in the sun’s gracious glory while integrating all the potent internal healing work I have done. And the whole time, I will be tasting the sweet sound of Spanish as it pours from my soul and rolls off my tongue. This is the language of my heart. I couldn’t have planned it better myself. My, how the Universe provides.


Let the healing begin. 

One Day at a Time

It’s strange to think that I would be leaving for the Peace Corps right now had my life not been turned upside down by a silly little tumor. However, I know there is a damn good reason for the twist of fate that has bound me to this new path. I have learned so much about myself and the world around me over the past several months, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I am exactly where I am supposed to be.

Lately I have spent a lot of time on my own. Being the socialite that I am, it is unusual spending more time with myself than with anyone else. But in my solitude, I have learned some profound lessons. While I have explored innumerable modes of healing, the best medicine has come from the work that I have done completely on my own…free of charge. By exploring my innermost workings through meditation, movement, and breathing, I have come to better understand myself, without the influence of other people. This does not mean I sit in a transcendental meditative state for hours each day. Heck, I honor myself for sitting for 30 minutes, even if 25 of those minutes I was thinking about lasagna and dinosaurs. The point is that I take time out of every single day to honor myself and attempt to connect with the light that burns within me. For when we are able to recognize our own light, we can fuel it to burn brighter.

It took me a while, but I have finally come to terms with the somewhat obvious fact that healing does not happen over night, but over time. I have spent so much energy focusing on a destination of healing and self-realization, as if I’m waiting for nirvana to hit me on the side of the head and everything will be all sparkles and rainbows. It don’t work like that. It’s more of a gradually ascending climb, one in which I have whole-heartedly pointed my feet in the right direction and started walking. Sometimes I don’t feel the steps I am taking until I look behind me and see how far I’ve come in such a short amount of time. I now congratulate myself for the progress that I make instead of look ahead at how far I need to go. Life is a process, there is always work to be done whether we are learning how to heal or love or simply sit still in solitude. All we can do is take it one day at a time.