Before embarking on any type of journey, there’s always a sense of anticipation mixed with fear and excitement. You feel it when you’re corralled with a thousand other athletes waiting for the start gun to fire. You feel it when you’re waiting for your turn to go on stage to perform. There’s a pocket of space that exists between the preparation process and the actual event.

As we sat all dressed in white around a circle of flickering candles in 115 degree heat, I shared a piece of a spoken word poem I’d written last week:

Is it a breakdown or a breakthrough?

They are closer than they seem-

A caterpillar has everything that it needs

As it dissolves inside the chrysalis and starts to build its wings

It must surrender to the process before it flies free

And when you’re in the thick of it, it’s difficult to see

But exactly where you are right now is where you’re meant to be.

For the next 7 hours, we were each journeying in our own spiritual chrysalis- dissolving, breaking free from limiting beliefs, and emerging new and lighter.

The details of some experiences- like the 12-hour walk, plant medicine journeys, or even the most mind-blowing sex, are sacred.

When people ask, you can only smile and simply answer, “It was life-changing and unforgettable. I will never be the same again.”