Truth students know that when we want to connect to source, we can always go within. But since time immemorial, wanderers have traveled the world, discovering a greater understanding of their own divine nature in the process.
One modern-day spiritual seeker is Unity minister Kristin Powell of Columbia, Mo. In 2003, Powell founded the alternative ministry Unity Rising, which leads group tours to destinations near and far. She formed the ministry with the belief that a vacation can be a spiritual experience, one that expands the traveler's consciousness.
So what makes a trip more than just a vacation? The traveler starts by setting an intention to create a sacred journey, says Powell. Each Unity Rising trip begins long before any reservations are made; the board meditates on potential destinations that they feel spiritually led to visit.
“We pray about which ones feel right and move from there,” says Powell. “From the start, it has that energy. We pray that the right and perfect participants will be attracted, that those on the fence will get a signal, and those who have financial issues can find a way.”
With vacation season in full swing, Unity Magazine visited with Powell to learn about her top spiritual destinations. Some are places she's visited multiple times; others are places where she experienced a brush with the profound. All have left an indelible mark on her soul.
Have you got your passport ready? Your tour awaits:
Sedona Even though Arizona is known as the Grand Canyon state, travelers have long come to explore Sedona to the south. Powell has been there twice—once for personal travel and once as guide—and she is planning another visit this summer.
“It has a pull on my soul I can't explain,” she says.
She still can recall the captivation she felt on her first visit, her amazement at the breathtaking landscape with red rock formations. She felt called to return with a group after doing more research. “The geological history alone is fascinating,” she says, describing an ancient past marked by volcanoes and oceans.
Many people are attracted to the rock formations known as vortexes, which are said to emit energy. However, one spot that isn't identified as a formal vortex drew Powell.
“There's something I can't put my finger on,” she says. “Oak Creek Canyon north of town has a delightful energy around the West Fork trail. Just as you're beginning the hike, you come across the remains of a house surrounded by orchards. When you walk through this doorway covered in vines, you come to this really lush spot next to the creek; there are huge rocks … the creek bubbles and shines in the sunlight. There's this childlike energy … almost like fairy energy. It seems to always have a delightful effect on people.”
So charmed was Powell that she returned leading a group.
“The last day we drove to Oak Creek Canyon because I wanted to show them that space off the trail. Some children ahead of us ran off the trail and made a beeline for that very spot. Everyone seems to become a child again when they go through that doorway. Without prompting, our group, aged 40 to 80, just took off their shoes and started playing in the water.”
PeruSteeped in ancient wisdom, with the traces of civilizations dating to 10,000 B.C.E., Peru seems to offer a bridge to our ancestral past, says Powell, who has been to the land of the Incas three times. “At one time I didn't know the depth of what it offered spiritually.”
One of her favorite spots is Machu Picchu, constructed during the height of the Incan empire on a mountain ridge looming over the Urubamba Valley.
“It really is like this city in a mist,” says Powell. “You stand in awe and look at it and wonder, ‘How did people build this place? How did they get the stones there?' It just takes your breath away.
“In the mountains, our local guide really enforced the idea of the Incan spirituality. You ask nature's permission before treading. You ask the mountain before you hike on it. You ask the stones, the trees, ‘Is this okay?' before treading on the territory. When you get the okay you are given gifts you might otherwise not be given; the experience is sweeter and deeper that way.”
Powell believes this practice deepened her experience at what is called “Aramu Muru's Doorway,” a landmark near Lake Titicaca.
Legend describes an Incan priest who hid a sacred golden disc from the Spaniards in nearby Lake Titicaca, then disappeared into another dimension through the “doorway,” an opening in a rock that resembles a door with a square keyhole.
“As we approached the area, I felt that feeling of fear,” Powell says, “like something big is going to happen today. We're hiking, doing rituals, calling out into the canyon names of spiritual teachers and guides, and affirmations for ourselves. Then it would echo back. As we were walking closer to the doorway, I felt some dread, a feeling like this is mine to do … but there's an unknown to it that is scary … I asked for the joyful energy of Putu Kusi, a mountain at Machu Picchu, to be with me. As soon as I said it, I looked down and there was a rock in the very same unusual, rounded shape of Putu Kusi (in miniature). It's mystical, magical. I saw that doorway and fell to my knees and wept. It felt like I'd come home … Is it a cosmic memory, a soul's memory? I don't know.”
Hawaii Maui is beautiful from every angle, says Powell, who has had the good fortune to travel to Hawaii four times. However, Powell learned to appreciate another aspect of Hawaii while snorkeling. Beneath the water's surface is a whole other world populated by colorful fish, sea turtles, vivid coral reefs and other marine wildlife.
“This last time, I could hear whales singing underwater as I watched a sea turtle swim,” Powell enthuses. “I don't really have words for those kinds of experiences.”
Through her travels, Powell was awakened to the idea of asking nature's permission before exploring, and she put the concept to practice in the ocean.
“I tuned in and asked sea life: ‘How do you like all the people looking at you?' The fish love it. There was a ‘come play with us' invitation. We're down there admiring their beauty. I just felt real connected, almost welcomed by the sea life.”
And of course, Hawaii was beautiful above the shoreline too, says Powell, an outdoor lover who thrives on taking nature walks. On the last excursion, she discovered rainbow trees with multicolored bark. “I couldn't help myself—I had to hug them.”
Giant Sequoia National Forest Powell has long been fascinated with trees. Even students of yoga attempt to capture the energy of trees in vrikshasana pose, she says, explaining her fondness for them.
“There's the basic idea of being rooted,” she says. “There is this reaching, expanding and growing and yet you don't have to be busy doing. You're standing still and you're growing … maybe even more so.”
Standing sentinel like guards in the Sierra Nevada mountains are five of the world's 10 largest trees. Many a traveler has pondered the mysteries of life while gazing at the majestic Giant Sequoias; it's no surprise that the national park is one of Powell's favorite destinations.
“You can drive your car through the trees, they're so big,” she says. “There's just a profound energy of these trees that are so enormous and have been there so long … They seem to have such wisdom. When you come to a place like that … you know you have arrived in an enchanted forest.”
Indeed, the trees almost seem to have personalities, or perhaps people project human qualities on them. One has been named “General Sherman.” Powell herself has experienced the personality of the trees.
“One tree, I named ‘Big Mama,'” she says. “She felt like a loving and protective mother inviting me to come closer.”
Italy“I pay attention when I end up somewhere multiple times,” says Powell, reminiscing on her three trips to Italy. Here, spirit expresses through beauty and art, she says.
“Everywhere you look is beautiful; people take time to make things beautiful … it's a priority; it's nonnegotiable. You go in a little sandwich café, and the beauty is astounding, the way the flowers are arranged and the fruits are laid out.”
Not only that, “there must be something spiritual about gelato, the finest food ever created,” she says with a laugh.
Powell concedes that the excursion was a departure for Unity Rising, one of few trips not overtly connected with nature.
A high point for her group was a tour of St. Francis' tomb in the town of Loretto, considered one of the most important Christian pilgrimage sites in Italy.
“It was a very inward experience. We were connecting within ourselves through St. Francis and St. Claire,” Powell says.
“I stood next to St. Francis's tomb, and I felt pulled to come down to the ground and come closer. It was one of those unexplainable experiences … I've heard since then that the place of burial for a saint or spiritual teacher can be a powerful place to visit. I felt literally pulled to it.”
Powell says the experience prompted her to learn more about St. Francis, the patron saint of animals and nature, with whom she has since felt an affinity.
White Sands National Monument “The first time I was there, I had never experienced such silence before in an outer place,” says Powell. “It's like being in meditation. It was so profound … it was just blue sky, white sand and silence.”
It only seemed natural to return to New Mexico with a group tour in tow. After days of having guided activities, Powell set aside unstructured time on the final day.
“It was such a delight to bring the group to White Sands because it had been so meaningful to me 20 years ago,” she says. “We had four hours planned there. Everyone was asking ‘what are we supposed to do?' I told them just to go and do what they felt guided to do. Some people brought disk sleds. Some people went out on their own or with someone else for a walk through the sands. Some sat and meditated.”
At dusk the group came back together.
As they reflected on the outing over a catered picnic dinner, “they said at first they couldn't believe they were just supposed to be there, unstructured,” says Powell. “But they got it. They had their own experience. They got why the place is sacred. Something happens inside.”
Something on the outside was stirring too.
“The sun had set, and a full moon was rising,” Powell recalls. “We had a closing circle for the trip. It was the perfect ending.”
Which brings us to the end of this journey, as well.
Powell, who says she is blessed to have found the perfect calling with her ministry, says that each trip reinforces a realization.
“We're all being called more deeply to understand our soul's purpose.”
