Sedona is all about mind, body and soul. People come for solace, healing, as well as adventure. It’s likely no one goes home disappointed. When your eyes set on the massive red rocks, the awe puts you on the path for transformation.
Truth is, nothing is ordinary in Sedona. It’s two hours north of Phoenix and 30 miles south of the Flagstaff peaks, yet it’s a world of its own. At Red Rock State Park you can take a guided hike with SPEX Sedona Philosophy Experience. Start your walk with meditation by a gurgling creek and let the adventure begin and possibly the tears flow. You think you’re merely going to make your way to the top of a peak, but it’s much more than that, as you tell your life story and learn from the wisdom of great minds like Socrates, Descartes, and Aristotle shared by your guide. Suddenly things make sense.
Keep the flow going. Visit one of the more than a dozen spas. A Spa for You Sedona Day Spa and Sedona’s New Day Spa are two of the best. Don’t expect what you’ve had elsewhere. At Sedona’s New Day Spa treatments include Native Wisdom Spa Rituals like Wheel of Life Gem Stones Reading, Sweat Lodge and Vision Quest. If you choose to pamper yourself at A Spa for You Sedona Day Spa, go for the Desert Nature Body Treatment, which features Turquoise Sage Mountain Arnica and the Cedarwood Citrus Wild Chapparal.
You can not only feed your soul in Sedona; the cuisine is impressive too. You have places like Mariposa Latin Inspired Grill, Cress on Oak Creek, Elote Café that showcase the city’s culinary chops. But then there’s the quirky, comfortable, make you feel good, ChocolaTree Organic Oasis restaurant with its gluten free, vegetarian, no processed sugar, ultra-healthy, tasty, creative food. It has a marketplace that offers foods, supplements, essential oils, local artists’ crafts and jewelry, books and more. What makes it really special is the backyard and patio area, that has tables and chairs for dining, and a garden. Some of what grows there is used in the restaurant. Don’t be shy, settle into one of the hammocks, or if you’re feeling energy take advantage of the aerial space (think Cirque du Soleil) where you can “play at your own risk”. They offer educational programs at the restaurant, teach meditation, gardening workshops so people can learn to grow their own food, as well as food as medicine workshops, live food classes, om chanting, and more. All that and they make awesome, healthy chocolate. It’s so Sedona. Sweeter still, there are wineries and breweries in the area.
No trip to Sedona is complete without soaking up the sacred Vortex energy that is said to open your mind and have healing powers. Sedona has the distinction of having five vortexes. The favorites are at Airport Mesa, Cathedral Rock, Bell Rock and Boynton Canyon. Each is unique, some rev you up, some chill you out. After your encounter, expect to feel different, rejuvenated. Enhance your experience with great talk during your exploration. Take a guided tour with Sedona Soul Adventures.
Yoga fans take note. There’s no shortage of places to practice in Sedona, even at a vortex, through Aumbase Adventures. Similarly, you can find Reiki treatments, meet with psychics, get tarot readings in this town. If the sky, as it often is, ever so clear, enjoy stargazing with a Sedona Stargazing tour with astronomers.
If your therapy is the retail kind, you won’t be left hanging with the array of art galleries, boutiques and shops to cure what ails you. Sedona has more than 40 venues for showcasing contemporary arts and crafts, including Native American arts. As for places to serve as your home away from home, you can go for uber luxe resorts like L’Auberge de Sedona, to creekside cabins, Airbnb’s, villas and everything in between. For sure one of the best Red Rock views is from the Sky Ranch Lodge that overlooks Sedona 500 feet below.
Sedona is surrounded by stretches of national and state forestlands. Words like magical and majestic come to mind. It has been said, “God created the Grand Canyon, but He lives in Sedona.”