Flying as a Spiritual Experience
I recently took a weekend trip with my husband to San Francisco. On our plane ride home to NY, my husband pointed something out to me in the pocket behind the seat in front of me. There, with all the other pamphlets and catalogues – I found a card called “Colorcalm Skies – chill out with the Colorcalm channel on your JetBlue flight.” It was an advertisement for a DVD available for purchase and it continued as follows:
“Happiness is a state of being, not a destination. Forget about where you’re coming from and going to in life and take some time to honor who you are. Use this flight time to relax, reflect and recharge. Indulge in some soulful exercise and let yourself drift away. Flying is not just a transition; it’s a state of mind. Let your time in the air give you a new perspective on your life on the ground…..” (and it goes on).
This is then followed with a breathing and chakras exercise, visualization and meditation! (and how apropos for JetBlue – all involving blue light)!
As a student and teacher of Jewish spirituality and meditation this was nothing new to me, although I admittedly never thought about elevated consciousness in conjunction with flying. I teach an adult education class on spiritual healing and regularly conduct meditations with my students to add an experiential dynamic to the philosophies and related texts we study. I often involve different color lights in meditation – especially blue. It correlates with specific parts of the human anatomy and energy flow that are important in heightening one’s spiritual consciousness.
One particular meditation I lead is an ascent meditation written by 16th Century mystic Rabbi Moses Cordovero of Safed. It is called an ascent meditation because it is designed to give one the feeling of rising higher and higher through a guided pattern of different realms of light to ultimately reach Divine light, bind with it, and then bring it back down – breathing it in as they inhale and then as they exhale – project it outward into the world around them and the sphere of light they create through self-awareness and God awareness. The light contains within it different emotional qualities such as warmth, love, peace, and blessings. Students often react very positively to this meditation, calling it a beautiful and soulful religious experience. An important aspect of this meditation is the fact that it heightens awareness in individuals – that they contain within them the ability to connect with Divine energy in a very personal and intimate way, with no fear of being judged from another’s point of view.
It’s amazing to me to now to think about how literally flying – on an airplane – can facilitate this sensation and be a very appropriate place to engage in “soulful exercise.” How unusual for this kind of literature to be provided by an airline.
It’s often the most unexpected spiritual encounters we have that remind us how accessible spirituality is in our day to day lives, if only we tap in.
Yet another sign that the world is slowly changing.