Find your Place of Peace
In June 2013 my two daughters and I visited Buddha at Lantau in Hong Kong. 
We took a cable car ride up the mountain and you could see Buddha on the side of the mountain, magnificent in his stillness. We wandered through the rather commercialised village and finally reached the many many steps that you ascend to the enormous statue. As we climbed we passed old ladies who were praying all the way up. They struggled to make the long ascent to pray before Buddha. There were lots of tourists who only really saw Buddha through their camera lens as they posed and took memorable snapshots of their journey (yes we did a bit of that too!). At the top, the old ladies, panting to regain their breath 
dropped prostrate on the stones to pray and pay homage. They were chanting and crying in their devotion.
Even though there were many people at the top, I felt a stillness within and a sense of peace as I stood in the Presence. My Reiki teaching has a strong Buddhic influence so this did feel a little like home for me. I never wanted to leave.
Once back at the bottom of the steps we went to the temple which was sadly closed for refurbishment. We met two ladies who were apparently there all day, surrounded by thousands of sticks of burning incense for people to light and pray with. Massive rods of incense in beautifully sculpted giant urns, full of the ash of incense and prayers long burned out. I smudged my daughters and the ladies watched me with delight and approached us, giving me a carved bead bracelet. They gave me a chant to use to pay homage to Buddha “A Hali Bali Hung” and they gave my daughter, who was on crutches, a chant to say and showed her how to pray to Buddha for the healing of her legs. Not a word of English but the message easily conveyed. She was off her crutches within a week!!!
When we finally left their company with hugs and smiles, we stepped into a stone circle surrounded by a low stone wall and multicoloured flags. The wonders of science meeting the magic of a sacred place. When I stood in the middle of the circle and faced Buddha, way up on the mountain, and chanted, the sound resonated through my body and echoed loudly to fill the entire space of the circle! I could literally feel the resonance of my voice within me and around me. And then I felt the peace wash through me. More deeply and more completely than I had ever previously experienced. I felt the love wash through me and all earthly thought was gone.
As we left that place, I felt the sublime interweaving of the joy of the incense ladies and the blissful tears of the old ladies making the journey up the steps. I felt the perfection of being in a moment where nothing matters and I enjoyed a sense of calm that pervaded the senses of everyone around me, including my girls.
It happened a second time when we visited Warwick Castle, in England. We had spent a long afternoon climbing into towers, down into dungeons, watching birds of prey perform their graceful flying displays, enjoying the deeply entrenched history in the old stone of a piece of old England. As we walked back to the car, feeling tired and ready for a shower and sustenance, I smelled the most beautiful aromas. An English rose garden. “Girls, I just have to pop in here” I said to raised eyebrows but 
they followed me in. Immediately we were hypnotised by the combined scent of thousands of different roses. Again, the mood completely changed for each of us as we sat or stood in our own silence, taking in the perfume and looking at the multitudes of different types of roses in natures garden of Eden.
When we reluctantly left, once again the peace and calm of that experience stayed with us. A meditation of the senses, delivered by the wonder of nature. As I commented at the time, the soldiers in Alice of Wonderland used to ‘paint the roses’. That is exactly what I felt about this rose. You can’t begin to imagine the magic of the fragrance.
Meditation, chanting, stillness, healing, breath. Learning to relax and attune to your inner senses. Easily learned and when regularly practiced is a gift for every day of your life. I am happy to help you find your stillness. It adds years to your life and can soothe the rough edges of your busy life.
