Category Archives: adventure

Living in Flow: Tuning In

Day 15 of 100 days of Blogging

IMG_1720Los Angeles. March 2014.

I had been living in a community house for 10 months. Everything about it was fantastic! I loved the people, the activities, community living, sharing a huge kitchen, and my bedroom in the garage apartment. I wanted to live there forever.

One day I was clearing things out of one of the bathrooms; old toiletries in a bathroom cabinet I rarely used. As soon as my hand touched the facial cleanser, I felt a ripple of energy go through my body and I heard the words, “It’s time to move.” The feeling and the words were subtle, barely a whisper and yet, I was familiar with the way my Higher Self communicated with me. I stopped and asked the question, “Am I moving? Are we all moving together?” No answer.

An hour later, I was in my bedroom going through some papers when I had the same sensation. A ripple of energy running from my hand, down my arm and through my body. I heard another whisper, “It’s time to move.”

I asked questions in meditation several times over the next week. When I didn’t receive any other “signs” or “messages”, I decided to take some action by going through my 10 x 10 storage unit and everything in my apartment space.

IMG_1689Over the next six weeks, I lived my life and in between daily work and play, I reviewed every piece of paper and every thing I owned. At the end of the six weeks, I gave away 14 boxes of personal belongings and 6 bags of clothes.

By the middle of April, the next piece of information arrived. The owner of the house was selling the house and we would all have to move when the lease expired at the beginning of June. There were numerous conversations as a household and with individuals who felt aligned for the next living space. The ten of us finally dispersed to move into three different places in Los Angeles, two people moved to New York while my intuition directed me to live on the road for a year and stay with Heal My Voice Authors and Board Members. To have conversations, to live life, to finish incomplete projects and to collect ideas, wisdom, for the next step.

When I announced my intention to friends and family the response came back with words like gypsy and free spirit. There was excitement, envy, and fear in their eyes. What was I doing now? To some it looked like I was a wanderlust who was lost in another adventure with no goals, no purpose. It couldn’t be farther from the truth. I was living in flow as a daily practice to expand my business and to discover the next steps. I was open to where I would be led to learn and discover new things about myself and about the world. I needed time to integrate all of the changes over the last nine years and to be ready for the next steps. At each location, I challenged myself to step out of my comfort zone, to be in the present moment, to listen and learn and speak when inspired.

People asked questions and they wanted answers. Where are you going? How long will you be there? What are you going to do? At first I had no idea. I was listening and waiting. One day, I thought about my friend Lucky Sweeny and the possibility of staying with her for 5 days in Santa Barbara. I knew I had a class in San Francisco in a few weeks and wanted to stay on the West Coast for that. A few hours later, Lucky called me spontaneously and I asked if I could stay with her June 1-5. She said yes and how perfect the timing was. The rest of the month she would be busy or out of town.

During the next week, I began to have feelings and a sense of inner knowing about the general location.

June: Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, San Franciscoo

July: East Coast

August: Sweden

September: East Coast

October-December: West Coast

I made a few calls. Stated my feelings and desire. Received invitations with open arms and enthusiasm and packed my bags.

On June 1, 2014 I stood outside of my community house at 6am, taking a moment of gratitude and then climbed into my daughter’s car for a ride to the train station in Burbank. And so began a year of living in flow on the road…

 

*****

315353_10201052497332086_1044127686_nAndrea Hylen believes in the power of our voice to usher in a new world. She is the founder of Heal My Voice, an organization that inspires women and men to heal a story, reclaim personal power and step into greater leadership.  Andrea discovered her unique gifts while parenting three daughters and learning to live life fully after the deaths of her brother, son and husband. In addition to serving as Heal My Voice’s Executive Director, Andrea is an Orgasmic Meditation Teacher and Sexuality Coach.

She is following her intuition as she collaborates with women and men in organizations and travels around the world speaking, teaching and leading workshops. Her passion is authentically living life and supporting others in doing the same. To connect with Andrea and learn about current projects go to: www.andreahylen.com and www.healmyvoice.org.

Lost? Go to Plan B and Flow

Screen Shot 2014-10-25 at 11.32.58 PMI woke up Saturday morning feeling lost.

Empty.

I noticed that the things on my “schedule” brought me into a state of feeling even more lost. My mind thought Restorative yoga at 7:30am sounded like a good thing I should do for my body. I dragged myself out of bed even though I was tired from late night talking with my daughter. Walking to the new studio, I got lost when my phone died and I didn’t know the rest of the way. Getting lost meant I would be late, especially if I stopped in a store and asked for directions.

So, I took a breath. Walked a few more blocks, turned right on a familiar street to find my way back to my daughter’s apartment and I saw a restaurant with the name, “Plan B.”

Good one God.

At the apt, I walked up the stairs, climbed back into my bed, and emptied my mind. I waited and noticed the thoughts that were crossing my mind.

Start again.

Get dressed.

Get on #1 Bus to Santa Monica. A 20 minute ride to the beach.

 

*****

I have landed back in LA after living out of my suitcase for 5 1/2 months. Home free. Traveling around the world. Living with Board Members and Heal My Voice Authors. Expanding my business. Saying Yes to experiences that put me into compression, a form of pressure where I can discover more about myself and discover the vision for Heal My Voice for 2015.

Now, I am staying with my youngest daughter in her studio apartment. Sleeping on an air mattress with our cat curled up next to me as I rest. I need rest. Time to integrate all of the changes and new awareness.

I want all of the answers right now and even as I say that I know it is not time to know. Today. I know the next steps and the answers will come. Feeling lost is a way of emptying the things I think I know. Being empty is part of the process of flow. It is the part where I get to breathe, wait, recover, reflect and rest.

Staying present on Saturday, I found myself in Flow again which led me to write in a coffee shop, pick up mail at my business mailbox, buy a pair of my favorite flip flops, a walk on the beach, a Pinkberry peppermint and chocolate frozen yogurt cone and back home to rest.

I am not really lost. Are you?

A Little Dream Comes True

Day 96 of 100 Days of Blogging

When I was growing up, I had the wish that I would have an older brother and sister. My older brother would get me dates and my sister would advise me. When I first had this desire, I was 13 years old, the oldest child with a sister two years younger than me and a brother who was seven years younger.

In that wish, there was an underlying desire to have older siblings who would help me to navigate life. I was so confused about how to fit in and where I belonged and how to dress and how to make new friends in my new school at a time when I felt so awkward.

Today I had an unexpected moment of having an experience of having an older brother. Somehow in this experience, it felt like everything was right with the world.

I asked one of my housemates, Erik, to get my bike down from the ceiling chains in the garage. He decided to ride his bike to the beach, too. The whole time we were riding I felt like I was his little sister. We didn’t plan it. It just happened that the organic interaction between us brought up these feelings.He carried the bikes out to the driveway and then lifted my bike into the air and over the car that was parked in the driveway and onto the sidewalk. He told me to go first as we headed down the street. As we approached Venice Boulevard, a busy street he told me when to cross the street and showed me where to stay on the bike path between cars . He followed me for one block then told me he was going to ride fast to the stop light. When he got there, he waited for me. During the 2 mile ride to the beach, he wove back and forth speeding up and slowing down and turning his head back to check on me.

At the beach there was no direct entrance onto the bike path. Erik rode up a grassy path, over a hill, through a mud ravine to the bike path and I followed him, the way a little sister who wants to keep up and be included would do. With a full water bottle, a heavy bike lock and a blanket in my basket, I couldn’t make the sharp turn onto the path. I wiped out on the sand and fell landing on my thumb. I could feel the pulsing of a sprain. Still shaky I climbed back on the bike and peddled fast to catch up. I took the lead and wove around two tight curves. With an encouraging tone, he said, “That was so great! You made it around the tight curves.” Big brother words of encouragement after the spill.

We rode on the path for awhile and then parted to run errands and do the activities we each wanted to do at the beach.

In that moment, I felt warm and tingly and happy. I had my big brother~little sister moment.

A Little Dream Came True…

Freedom: Ziplining in Jamaica

Day 18 of 100 Days of Blogging

Saying, “YES! led me to an experience of freedom.

My husband Hurley was a born explorer and adventurer. He was a skydiving jump master, a falconer and a lover of roller coasters. When he was diagnosed with cancer, he was in the process of building an ultra-light airplane. He planned on learning to fly it when it was finished. He died 10 months later with a few more adventures in the works.

My idea of adventure is long distance road trips, museums, nature walks, the ferris wheel, the merry-go-round and walks on the beach.

A year after my husband’s death, a friend invited me to go on a Shaklee bonus cruise to Jamaica and Cancun and the Bahamas. Betsy and I both love to travel and this was an incredible gift. When we arrived on the ship, Betsy and I were looking at the off shore excursion choices. We both jumped at the idea of going to the Mayan ruins and temples, shopping and lunch in the Bahamas and a variety of spa treatments on the days at sea. Then, Betsy found something she had always wanted to do, ziplining above the canopy of trees in Jamaica. Although not as extreme as skydiving, I could feel the palms of my hands begin to sweat and my stomach doing a flip flop. I wasn’t sure if I could do this because of the heights, but with Betsy’s eagerness and the thought of my deceased husband, Hurley, I decided to go for it. I felt into the, “YES!” rising up from my heart.

When my husband died, I didn’t feel survivor’s guilt for being the person who continued to live. But, I did feel a responsibility to live life fully, to add adventures to my life that he would never have the chance to do. I felt inspired to appreciate waking up and living each day.
In Jamaica, we were transported by bus to a location with zipline guides, and equipment. As I suited up in the harness and helmet, I felt my husband’s spirit strapped in with me. Standing on the edge of the cliff, with the guide giving me words of encouragement and explaining how safe I was while connecting me to the zipline, I took a minute to close my eyes and feel the connection with my husband in my heart. “Okay, Hurley, let’s go. This one’s for you!”
I jumped off the cliff to fly over the first riverbed releasing a scream of nervousness and excitement and joy. For the next 45 minutes, we moved along the zipline landing on one platform after another. On the last zipline run, the longest one in the series of leaps, the entire line was above the tops of the trees. One of my passions is watching birds fly and soar. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was a bird flying over the tree tops.

I wanted it to go on forever. My heart soared as I felt gratitude to have had the experience. Between the eagerness of Betsy and the inspiration to live life fully, I had experienced one of the most powerful, fun moments of freedom in my lifetime.

Someday I will do it again for the pure joy of the adventure and the gratitude for being alive. I will not waste one moment of the precious time I have here. I will embrace it all and live a life worth celebrating. I say, “YES!” to life…

Day 3: Butterflies (Inspired by Photography and Doodling)

Butterflies…seems to be the theme of the last 24 hours. From Jason Mraz singing the song Butterfly to finding a butterfly on this bush of flowers to a Virtual Tour of Oregon with the Yellow Swallowtail on Facebook Page Live a Life Worth Celebrating.

Below are two photographs and the doodle.

Here’s the bush:

The Butterfly:

The Doodle: Freedom to Fly and Transform