I survived THE VISION QUEST in Portugal!

What is a Vision Quest exactly? 

Solitude, Nature, and Fasting — The Three Elements of a Vision Quest: Solitude: A person on a VQ is alone. He/she has no contact with the outside world, is removed from social conversation, cultural roles, routines, habits and expectations.

What are the health benefits? 

Fasting will get you in a state of ‘ketosis’ and switch on the self-healing capacity of the body.  Autophagy will be triggered in your body. This is the body’s natural process of “eating bad cells” that’s not cleared in the body. It is an important system in the prevention of many diseases, including cancer. The respons on insulin will be better, inflammation will be cooled down and it turns on the production of stem cells in the brain and all other organs of the body. To keep it short: The body will be in a repairing mode.

The experience:

I survived THE VISION QUEST in Portugal!

For four days, no social contact, no food, no books, no phone, no external distraction at all. It was me versus nature.

Secretly I had BIG expectations of getting some kind of ‘awakening’ or an ‘enlightening experience’ during the quest. So there I sat under my version of a Portuguese ‘bodhi tree’, waiting for something to happen. Waiting for suffering to come (hunger, fear, burning heat of the sun, fatigue, boredom, or whatever) and I will tell you none of this happened… I felt it, but didn’t become it.

I, or someone in my head, began questioning myself. Thoughts like: ‘Why are you not hungry, why are you not afraid, why are you not suffering? You should be, because then, you will have some big insights. And why are you even feeling peaceful?’.

All of these peace disturbing and self sabotaging thoughts just came in and suddenly it hit me… A question arose: ‘Why are you questioning yourself that you are not suffering? Should I even be suffering’, ‘who is this anyway in my head that’s talking?’…. This so called ‘I need to suffer to get something’ is such a conviction, such a strange programming in my head…

So nothing really did ‘happen’ and yet so many things did. Just being there, one with the surroundings, one with nature…I felt a part of the everyday cycle, the sun rising and going down again, and not much later the bright light of the moon would rise upon a field full of flickering stars.

I chose a more “dry” spot with big ants crawling everywhere, with bees, spiders, crickets and an amazing red centipede totally mesmerised me, but they are all just minding their own business, just being there and yet by minding there “own business” everything felt just so harmonious.

Physically my body felt really good, not hungry at all and on the last day I wasn’t even thirsty. I experienced a very clear and sharp mind and the dreams I had, have never been so vivid! It was like there was no distinction between the dream state and the waking state. Pretty amazing!

I felt in complete harmony with all surroundings. I can truly say that nature is my medicine by just being fully immersed in it… It was an experience for me that revealed the possibility to feel one, to feel whole at all times. I don’t need to suffer to get somewhere, I don’t need to search for something…

Thank you, It’s all JUST THERE.