After 4 weeks in the wild Inyo Mountains of Eastern California with 11 other wild souls learning to be guides, I was ready for my 4 day solo. I would be participant and student, as we had rotating seasoned guides teaching us as we were in the experience.
In a vison fast (quest) you have a “buddy” while on your solo. They are the one camped closest to you. One goes to the buddy pile in between the camp sites in the am, one in the pm, to leave a sign that you are ok.
My buddy was a young woman from Vienna (there were only two of us from the US) who had been on 7 fasts. She always got sick and threw up. I asked her why she didn’t eat just a little something to prevent that and maybe actually have a more powerful experience. She thought it would be cheating.
On our second day of a 4 day solo, I left her a power bar at the buddy pile. She left me a hammock!
I tied it between two pinion trees and lay there swinging all day. After all, I was the eldest of we 12 initiates!
She told me later that I “saved” her and that she did indeed have a deeper experience without being sick! I honored my own need of rest in a way that I had not previously allowed.
A few years before I had been on a lengthy quest examining our own physical death. I was just recovering from Lyme Disease and one of the assistants carried my pack to my solo spot, along with my food because I could not fast at that time.
My takeaway as a student (and again later as an apprentice) was that it is not about hard fast rules or hardship, rather about stretching beyond our own comfort zone. And sometimes that is allowing ourselves comfort!
If you are interested in this type of expereince, my co-guide, Karen Good, and I will be guiding a 9 day Women’s Wild Soul Quest. July 22 – 31, 2021. Western Colorado.
For further information or to register click here and scroll to the bottom.
Contact: Karen Good – karengoodaz@yahoo.com – 970-462-6453 or
Carolyn Ringo – carolyn@carolynringo.com – 970-527-3933
We will be delighted to talk to you about possibilities!