Energy, Flow and Refocusing: Los Angeles Style
Living in Los Angeles isn’t quite like living anywhere else.
Well, frankly, it’s kinda hard to tell you in story and words – it’s really more of a first hand, show and tell experience you have to have. But for now, I’ll do my best.
You see, Los Angeles is a town built on dreams, dreams powered by energy more wickedly electric that the limestone that New York is built upon…any self-respecting psychic would tell you that.
Los Angeles is a place for dreamers, why do you think Hollywood entertainment is our main industry?
The city is a place of inspiration where folk come to develop the egg of their life's work -- but when it comes time to hatch many will find themselves drawn to other soils - unless Dreaming and dwelling in Vision is the nature of their work. Then the city holds you forever.
As Angelenos, we flow with the city’s energy, getting caught up in it, until it overwhelms us and we find we have to refocus.
So where do we go when we need to get grounded and experience a little dose of reality so that we’re able to reassess and reflect? Well, we go to Maria Aparis.
I met Maria a few months ago through my friend Tamie Adaya (the owner of Hotel Shangri-La). Maria was in the process of opening her spa with the hotel. At the time, my life was in overdrive and I was about to hit the guardrail full speed. Tamie didn’t know this but introduced me to Maria because she knew about my love of amazing healers.
I met Maria, a Kundalini yoga teacher and massage therapist, on a Wednesday for Ancient Tibetan Ku Nye Body Treatment cabana side at the Hotel in an open air, yet completely private spa area. I shed about 100 of the 1000 things racing through my tired mind the instant I stepped in.
The place felt safe, it was okay to let my guard down and try to quiet my mind. In typical fashion, Maria had me lay on an amazing table and began her magic. She was strong, her hands applying a firm pressure but not so much that I could take it (unlike many of the Thai therapists that I love but often limp away from). She spent a lot of time on my back, my neck and shoulders. As she continued, she just kept hitting all the right spots – without me even telling her where I need the attention.
Her level of intuitiveness is often hard to find in practitioners, she was just connected to me. I sighed, gave in and melted into her capable hands.
But what happened after the session is really what I want to write about. It’s taken me awhile to be able to share the experience because I had to go through it and come out the other side to be able to reflect on it.
Before our session that day I’d never met Maria, therefore could not have known about me. After our session, Maria had me sit down on her couch and said to me, “I normally don’t say things of this nature to people, but I have a feeling I’m supposed to say this to you...”
“Macala, you need to stop. On a scale of 1-100, your energy is running at 1000. You need to calm your mind and your body down because both are overwhelmed beyond belief.”
Wow, I thought I was having a very calm day!
Maria continued, “You’re about to shatter. You’re about to break.”
She had my attention because, subconsciously, that’s how I’d been feeling for over a year. And here this woman, a complete stranger until an hour ago, put it directly in my face. I believe in signs, especially warning signs. Maria was holding the last red stop sign before I was about to collide with the guardrail. It was time to stop.
So I stopped…and fell apart on the couch. Wow, therapy included in the session? Who was I to throw away the listening ear and guidance from someone willing to help? I saw Maria for several more sessions after that, listening ear included in all of them.
What happened? What did she do? Don’t leave us with a cliffhanger!!!
Honestly, I was severely off course in my life and I needed to change that quickly, Maria gave me some tools to help me make those changes. I don’t think specific details are really necessary here. Why? Because you as reader may be at your own point in your life that the context of the situation may frame something that’s in your life that you’re needing to work on; just recognizing something in this post my provide the spark you need to move forward.
Just know that I’m so good now that it radiates from every part of me. Thank you Maria for assisting me on this journey and the kindness of strangers when it mattered most.
