Eco Spiritual Adventure Travel Retreats-

928.451.9068

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"Tobias's considerate approach and insightful guidance allowed for the magic to happen again in my life. I felt reconnected in that uplifting atmosphere of these sacred places of beauty. So if you are on a quest for true spirituality I highly recommend a Sanctuary for Souls Eco Spirit Adventure" -- Valery B.

"[My best friend] asked how my trip to Hawaii was... and I replied to her that I don't remember the last time I felt that much and laughed that much and that I felt like I went through a whole 'purification' both physically and emotionally." --Sonoyo O.- Tokyo, Japan

Click on Pictures for more about each Retreat

"On our 'Spirit Walk', I really needed to hear from God - Spirit about a situation in my life. The Peace I felt was the healing I needed. And the message from Spirit that you helped in me receiving was a soothing calm for my heart. Thank you so much." --Sue A., Ohio

"The highlight of our trip! We really enjoyed our nature walk. We felt truly like guests not just customers. Thank you so much! I'm telling my friends to definitely contact you when they come to Sedona. The views were amazing and it's been a long time since I connected that way with Mother Nature. Thank you again so much." -- Lori S. NY

"Sitting in the Indian ruins and just hearing the quiet was amazing. Thank you for making it so comfortable and easy to do something that I would not have tried on my own. When I come back, which I will, I will do it again." --Stephanie R., Boston MA

"I've hiked for years but this was a new experience. You gently got us to see, hear and feel more of what's going on around us in Nature. I really appreciate this 'new window' into the natural world - and myself really. Thank you. I highly recommend a 'Nature Walk' for anyone going to Sedona that wants to experience something out of the ordinary." --Tom P., Portland OR

Enjoyable Relaxing Walks & Hiking focusing on Enjoying Nature & Opening our Spirits:

Walks and Hikes are customized to the participants - from slow easy gentle walks enjoying nature & the magnificent vistas, or a bit more rigorous hike, to 'mini vision quests' & opening to the spirits of nature.. These walks focus on enjoying the beauty of Nature here in the Sedona area. We will go at a comfortable pace, stopping frequently to enjoy what Nature presents to us. We may run into some quail, some flowering cactus, ancient twisted pine trees, a deer's sleeping place from the night before, maybe an old homestead and perhaps some ancient out of the way Indian ruins.

Nature Spirits Personal Message for You-- This is a private or couple experience where Tobias will listen to the Nature Spirits and they will direct us to a place for you to receive a personal message about your Souls Journey. 2-4 hrs.

Private visit to Anazazi Ruins- We will bring you to seldom visited ruins of the Anazazi's. The guardian spirits of these ruins are particular about who they like to visit these timeless spirit places. If you feel drawn to this we will customize a private visit for you. Most likely there is a message for you from these ancient guardians. 4-6hrs.

Through over 17 years of exploring this area we know many hidden places to go on our explorations.

Some of the well known places we may visit on our walks include:

Airport Mesa -- beautiful 360 degree views of the Sedona area. This is a popular place because of ease of access. We will take you to a private place to experience this extraordinary place.

Views from top & Ancient Pine and rare snow at Airport Mesa

Here's a few samples of walks available:

Coffe Pot Rock Evening Sunset Walk -- this is a famous landmark in west Sedona. While in town you may hear of the restaurant by that name. We will walk across large red rock flat areas, gentle incline on well traveled paths, and up to an amazing vantage point of the valleys below to watch the sunset play on the red rocks.

Path at Cathedral Rock & Sedona Pine

Cathedral Rock -- this is also one of the famous landmarks here in Sedona. We will have a gentle walk through a (usually) dry stream bed and up over large areas of flat red rock as we approach the 'Cathedral'. We will find some serene spots that will allow us the quiet and reflection that this spot offers.

Slide Rock Evening Walk -- Slide Rock is one of the most famous spots in Sedona. Oak Creek has carved amazing natural formations into the solid red rock itself. We will go for an evening walk in this ancient carved stone garden after the crowds have left. There's a stillness at sunset that gives a whole different experience of calm, of peace, of timelessness in this canyon.

The Stream is the Master Artist of Red Rock carvings! & Sedona Sunset

Oak Creek: There are many walking trails up in Oak Creek Canyon, this is not so much 'Red Rock Vistas' but foliage & hiking by the creek.

West Fork in Oak Creek

Customized Spirit Adventure Tours

Hopi Land Adventure -- The space on the Hopi Mesas is still very mysterious and reality can be very fluid. These are custom designed adventure trips for those that feel drawn to it. It could be just for you, or you and a friend or a very small group. We would have no specific agenda except to visit and see what happens and let Spirit guide us. Some people experience magical openings into other times and dimensions and trickster 'Heyoka' spirits cleverly guiding them. If you feel drawn to the Hopi Lands Tobias will customize and allow Spirit to guide us on a personalized, private mystical vision quest. 2 day adventure.

Nature Spirits Personal Message for You-- This is a private or couple experience where Tobias will listen to the Nature Spirits and they will direct us to a place for you to receive a personal message about your Souls Journey. 2-4 hrs.

Private visit to Anazazi Ruins- We will bring you to seldom visited ruins of the Anazazi's. The guardian spirits of these ruins are particular about who they allow to visit these timeless spirit places. If you feel drawn to this we will customize a private visit for you. Most likely there is a message for you from these ancient guardians. 4-6hrs.

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Details: The Sedona Nature Walks normally last between 2-4 hrs and are scheduled for either morning or afternoon. We can also customize trips. Call us for details.

What to bring: You should bring whatever you want to drink or eat in a small pack. If you need a pack and a lunch we can arrange that for a small fee if you wish.

What to wear: Whatever footwear you are comfortable in when you go for a walk. A hat and layered clothing depending on season.

Rates:

2 HRS -- $200 couple/ $150 individual

3 HRS -- $250 couple/ $200 individual

4 HRS -- $275 couple/ $225 individual

Families same rates as couple

Groups of 5 or more $40, $45, $50/person for 2,3,4 hrs.

928.451.9068

info@SpiriTravel.com

Spirit Travel-

Swim with the Manatees Feb 20-22, 2009- Peace & Gentleness

3 full Days of the 'Spirit of Peace' Manatee Adventure & 'Sanctuary for Souls' Workshop through SpiriTravel.com

"When you re-connect to a free (not domesticated) animal - when you connect with their spirit - they will help re-awaken that part in yourself - your freedom, your energy, your Spirit, your connection to all Life. And at the same time you will help that animal's collective spirit and support the larger Eco sphere of our planet."

Tobias Lars BS, MBA, Mensa - Founder & Director of SpiriTravel.com

(Group size limited to 10 or less. Reserve your space early if you want to make sure to go on this trip)

In Crystal River Florida the Manatees 'winter'. It's the best place on the planet to swim with these gentle mammals. Over 300 Manatees gather in the Crystal River bay. 'The Three Maidens' is the name of the crystal clear magical springs where we will swim with these emissaries of Peace and Gentleness.

Please Click Here or on Picture for a great video of swimming with Crystal River Manatees

We will have a private pontoon boat just for our group. We will leave early in the morning and be back in afternoon. You will be able to easily get in the water and swim with the Manatees. You can choose to stay on the boat and watch them from there if you don't feel comfortable in the water. Someone will literally take you by the hand and guide you in the water if you need it. Bring your own snorkel,mask and wetsuit if you have them. Otherwise for about $20/day they can be rented easily right where we'll launch from.

Since we can't control mother nature the amount of interaction and direct contact with the Manatees will vary. They are an endangered marine mammal and we can interact with them by touching and petting only if they initiate the contact. Manatees are curious creatures and often approach us for contact.

With the right respect the Manatees respond to us. We had magical occurrences on last years trip. We had 2 females with babies play with us. The baby manatees came and gently rubbed up against us and allowed us to touch them. Nature responds when we are open.

We are limiting the space to 12 people so that we can offer a quality experience and interaction with the Manatees.

In the evening we will meet and allow the days experiences to settle into us with wisdom and understanding about what the Spirit of Manatees is wanting to share with us.

I recommend this Journey for anyone wanting more peace, more flow, more not getting triggered, stressed by the world around them. Someone wanting their world to flow more smoothly, more easily will benefit greatly from this trip. The reason I originally wanted to experience the wisdom of the Manatees was to allow, receive, accept the spirit of Allowing, Receiving, Acceptance into my life as an energy that would assist me in dealing with the world around me, in work, in personal relationships and with family. "Yield to overcome" is a saying among master martial artists. This is another way to describe the wisdom of the Manatees.

Cost: $695 includes 'Sanctuary for Souls' - workshop & 3 days swimming with Manatees. (Click for Details)

$395 -Manatee swims only option! for families, couples or individuals who want to only participate in the swim with the Manatees - we have this option

To reserve your space -

928.451.9068

Cancellation Policy: We would love to keep it absolutely flexible and be able to let people cancel at anytime but because of small groups and occasionally having to turn people away these are the policies we believe are fair.

90 days+ out: full refund minus $100 re booking fee which is applicable to any of our future SpiriTravel Eco Adventures.

60-30 days out: 1/2 refund and other half applicable to any of our SpiriTravel Eco Adventures.

30 Days or less out: full credit applicable for future SpiriTravel Eco Adventures.

Spirit of the Manatee

Trust, Gentleness, Surrender & Non Violence

The Inspiration behind our Manatee Spirit Adventures...

(Note: on our Manatee Adventure you are guaranteed to see the Manatees at the Crystal Springs - the following account occurred late in March when the water is warmer and the Manatees leave to feed out in the greater Crystal River, but we share it here as the inspiration for organizing these adventures.)

The baby Manatee brushed up against the side of my sisters leg. She started laughing. We all got in the water to join her. My mother had 'adopted' Manatees over the years and wanted to experience them for real in the wild now. We had been watching four adults and two baby Manatees from our pontoon boat in Crystal River Florida for awhile when my sister, bravely got in the water to swim with them. We were pointing them out to her as she would slowly approach them and let them choose if they wanted to interact. Here in their feeding area the water was murky so we couldn't see them easily underwater with our masks. We would see a manatee only 3 ft from Anna and point it out to her from our vantage point up on the boat, but when she would look underwater and not be able to see it. So we had to get in the water and trust that these large gentle mammals also known as 'sea cows' would be gentle with us.

The Mother Manatee was trusting her baby to come over and interact with us. I got in the water and walked slowly over in her direction. I stood still for a minute and I felt something brush up against me...I shivered and let out a 'Wow!' and started laughing. There was something amazing about trusting a wild free animal that I couldn't see come up and brush against me. This is what I had felt that I wanted to learn more about...how to let 'the world', something free, strong & wild come to me and that I would be able to allow it, and trust it, be able to let it in. I felt shivers up and down my body, and I couldn't help feeling happy and enlivened. I had felt that there was something that the Manatees had to share with me that would be helpful for me. I had an idea that it was something about acceptance, allowing life, not 'fighting back', something about 'turning the other cheek' but in a real practical powerful way that would help me in the 'real world'.

Joy and I had gone the week before to swim with the Manatees. We had anchored our pontoon boat, gotten in the waist high water and swum over to the entrance to 'The Three Maidens', the crystal clear springs that gives the name to Crystal River, and as we swum up the narrow channel into the springs a mother and her baby were swimming out! We had to share the stream and passed within a foot of each other. We reached out and felt the mother. How sweet, how trusting she was.

It was like a fairy landscape in the springs. Amazing clear water, sunlight filtering through the trees and playing in the water. Fish, cormorants, the resting manatees, the quiet, the deep springs. The quiet was still palpably present even though people were swimming in and out to see the manatees. It was like the hush in a great cathedral. We later sat on a fallen tree log by the far spring lagoon and just 'felt' the magic there.

When You Trust - Everyone gets what they want

A week later when we brought my mother and sister to see the Manatees both Joy and I thought that the ultimate experience would be in the magic springs again and that we should head straight there. But when we arrived there were no manatees at the springs! Not a single one. This made no sense. The guides and dive shop owners didn't understand it either when asked later. But my intuition said to just accept it and go with it and we lifted our anchor and headed out into the bay. I felt to pull into a little spot on a little island. From there we saw some other boats back in a off the main route cove....followed that hint...and we turned the engine off and drifted as we saw several manatees cavorting, playing with their babies...and we got to spend an hour in the 'wild' with the two mothers their babies and a large male manatee.

My mother later said - "That's what I really wanted, I wanted to see them in their natural feeding places out in the wild." She got exactly what she wanted! And we all know that mothers are very powerful!

Along the western coast of Florida the West Indian Manatee gathers in large numbers to 'winter'. Crystal River and Homosassa Springs are two of the main areas the Manatees congregate. Manatee's are a gentle sea grass eating mammal that the Indians honored. The Three Maidens are three springs where the Manatees come and rest. The pictures above are taken in those three springs.

Lodging:

There are many lodging options in and around Crystal River

Best Western -(click for more) - right on the water. You'll be able to walk to the boat in the morning from this hotel that is located right by the dock.

"Appreciating Nature"

A Message from Mother Earth

"Walking on Water"

"West Fork Sedona"

After a day by Oak Creek in Sedona, sitting in a chair with my feet in the water, hopping on the rocks, sharing blackberries with a skunk and swimming --I received a message from what felt like Mother Earth herselfan easy way to heal ourselves and the planet.

The word 'appreciate' according to Webster's new universal unabridged dictionary means:

1. to value, to esteem...

2. to recognize gratefully...

3. to increase the price...

4. to be fully or sensitively aware...

Shamans use a technique called 'gazing' to expand themselves and connect with deeper aspects of the world around them. This happens naturally whenever we slow down and enter the "Be still and know that I am God" space. Most of us naturally do this as kids, often while playing in nature, when we get absorbed in something that fully captures our attention and we become one with it, merge with it. Patanjali, the 11th century mystic-saint in his sutra teachings called this 'making samyana' on an object or idea. It meant to become one - merged with the object or idea and yogic powers would then open up with this perfect attention - merging.

As I sat and allowed my attention to expand while at the same time becoming more focused and relaxed, I saw-felt how when we love - 'appreciate' - feel gratitude for Nature, we actually lift nature up in vibratory rate. Our love-gratitude-appreciation energy actually infuses the plants, the rocks, the water, the very air around us. We feed them with our Love (God's Love). We are the God seeds, we are the 'made in God's image' creatures-creators that can be the vehicles for Divine Energy.

"The seed of God is in us...Pear seeds grow into pear trees,

hazel seeds into hazel trees,

and God seeds into God."

--Meister Eckhardt (12th century Christian mystic)

The plants, rocks, water around us get 'excited' by our love. The same way an electron gets excited by heat energy and speeds up. Love is the highest energy form in the created universe, it excites everything. The plants, rocks, water, the air - subtle ether feed off of our Love. They want to play with us, they want to share, dacne, exchange energy with us. When we give them our attention they notice, when we give them our love they dance.

And then they automatically want to give back to us in the form(s) of beauty they create.

Nature is the most chaotic, rambunctious, dis-organized system there is. Look at the fallen logs, the leaves, the 'dirt', the plants trying to grow through rocks, the rains washing 'away' the earth etc. Yet there is a perfect Order running through-out all of it. No matter how hard we try to imitate her, build aquariums with millions of gallons of water, try to recreate 'natural' zoos, try to 'landscape' our yards --we never even get close to the beauty of what Mother Nature does easily, naturally. We instinctively are awed by Nature's grandeur and beauty. We feel the majesty of the creative force just behind the vista of Nature. A friend of mine once told me that when taking an Alaskan cruise, just sitting on his balcony watching the mountains, the water, the sky...he 'broke open' and started to sob...just from the overwhelming beauty of the pristine, wild, free nature he was seeing.

This is the power, the gift, the efforless love that Nature can share with us.

If we let Her.

Sitting there by the creek Mother Earth said to me:

"There is no 'work' involved with 'appreciating' Me. Just come out into my spaces and Love me, enjoy me, drink me, breathe me, sense me. It will fill you back up. And you will 'save' Me as well. Your Love for the trees, the streams, the rocks, the animals will feed them and keep them safe. Your appreciation of me will 'appreciate' me, will lift me up in vibratory rate, will strengthen me and I will be able to give you more of my beauty and love in return."

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"One feels as if one is dissolved, merged into Nature."

Albert Einstein

Copyright © 2001-2008 Tobias Lars