Heart and Soul

Seek renewal and inner peace at Sedona’s L’Apothecary Spa.

- By Becca Hensley. Photography by Lauberge Desedona

By now, after many trips to northern Arizona’s Sedona, I don’t look for something uncanny to happen during my visit. I don’t wait for a message or desperately try to read the tea leaves in my mug or listen for the voices. I just know the epiphany will come. It always does in Sedona — usually when I least expect it.

This time, ludicrously clad in a dress and platform shoes, I’ve flung myself out of the car for one more hike up Boynton Canyon to see Kachina Woman, an ancient, wind-sculpted spire of red rock, vaguely resembling a female figure. Said to be a fount of feminine energy, part of a purportedly powerful vortex site — an energetic or spiritual status that distinguishes the spa and wellness town of Sedona — she towers toward the clouds at the end of a steep, serpentine trail. As I scuttle toward Kachina Woman, lizards watch knowingly from rocks, twisted cypress trees scent the air, and a feeling of peace overwhelms me. The Hopi recognized this parcel of high desert terrain as their Garden of Eden, as the place where “First Woman” gave birth to the human race. Exotically beautiful, rocky-barren and cacti-peppered, the terrain feels like a blank slate — a place where rebirth happens.