What Happens to Your Energy When You Get Away?

I travel a lot. Every time I travel, energy moves, and that is a big reason I keep doing it.

I recently shared about walking part of the Camino. I hop on planes regularly to visit family, travel to teach, spend time with people I love, and explore places I've never seen. I always have more trips coming up!

Some are big adventures and some are simply a few days away. But almost every time I leave my normal environment, something changes.

I hear myself differently. An idea I’ve been wrestling with suddenly makes sense, something I thought was incredibly important at home loses its grip on me, or I get an answer I wasn’t trying to get. My body relaxes in ways I didn’t realize it needed to.

There is an energetic reason for this: our usual environments hold patterns.

Our homes and workplaces contain the reminders of what needs to be done, who needs us, what happened yesterday and what we’re already preparing to do tomorrow. Even when we love our lives, our energy can become attached to all those familiar cues.

Walk past the laundry and your mind remembers the laundry, or see your computer and part of you goes to work. I know when my phone rings, my attention immediately goes elsewhere.

Physically leaving interrupts that pattern long enough for your energy to reorganize. I think this is one of the hidden gifts of travel.

At the first-chakra level, our bodies have to orient to someplace new. We are walking different ground, sleeping somewhere else, and taking in different sights and sounds. Our familiar signals have changed.

The heart can get a little more room too. We temporarily step outside some of the roles we carry every day.

And when there are fewer demands competing for our attention, the upper chakras can become more receptive. We notice, and dream. We hear ourselves. Just yesterday I heard from a client who had an outrageously inspiring dream, and she had shared she hadn't remembered dreaming in months. It was her second night of travel.

There can be a return to unity.

Think about how scattered we become during an ordinary week. Part of us is thinking about work, another part is remembering an appointment or worrying about someone we love. Meanwhile, we’re making dinner and answering a text. 

Getting away can gather some of those scattered pieces back together.

We don’t need to fly to Spain to experience this. We can create a small retreat from our own patterns.

Think about going somewhere you don't normally go, taking a different walking path, spending an afternoon in a beautiful place without turning it into an errand, leaving your phone tucked away for an hour, or sitting somewhere unfamiliar and allowing yourself to have absolutely nothing to accomplish.

Then notice what moves:

• What suddenly feels clearer?
• What are you no longer thinking about?
• Are there new people and new conversations that appear? 
• What do you hear when your normal life isn’t constantly talking to you?
• Does something new enter your field or thought process?

Sometimes we simply need to gift ourselves enough space for the answers that are already within us to reach our awareness. There is also something to be said for actually investing in getting away.

I notice this the minute I say yes to a trip. Before I ever get on the plane, something starts moving. I’ve made a decision. I’ve created space on the calendar. I’ve put money toward an experience. It is almost as if that commitment opens a universal pool and says, okay, I’m available for something different now.

And it certainly doesn’t have to be a big international trip. Book the weekend away. Find somewhere local you have never been. Set aside a day and make it different from your normal Saturday. Even changing something in your home can signal that you’re ready for a new experience.

But if you are craving a more intentional container for that kind of movement, we have a few opportunities coming up.

Dreaming Through the Dark is happening in Hillsborough, North Carolina this November, and we still have three spaces available.

Our February Align Your Body with Your Spirit retreat in Northern California is also set and ready to go, with one out-of-town space remaining for someone who wants to arrange their own hotel.

And I have another private retreat experience coming next June that I can't wait to share with you!

We also just announced something new. My team member Gina Nicole is hosting a very small, intimate retreat in Northern California this November, Soul Immersion Retreat. There are only four spaces total, and three are currently available.

Sometimes getting away really is the medicine, and the shift can begin the moment you decide you’re going.

Energy follows thought, and the Universe responds to that decision.

So think about what decision you can make today to shift your energy. Consider visiting a friend, booking a cozy Airbnb an hour from home, taking yourself somewhere you've never been before, searching vacation packages, or pricing flights.

Even changing your environment for one day can create enough movement for your energy to begin reorganizing.

If you're feeling called to do that in a more intentional way, I'd love to invite you to join!