Meditations In My Favourite Places In Southern Africa
by Gail Evans

Introduction

There are many travel books on the market that tell you how to get there, 
where to stay, what to see and what to do. And yet, they very often 
seem to miss out on the essence of a place somehow. 

There are also many books on the market describing meditation 
techniques that focus on how to give up smoking; drinking; binging; 
how to have a more successful career; how to loose weight; how to 
create wealth and abundance. And yet, they very often seem to miss 
out on the essence of the meditation practice somehow. 

I have come to the conclusion that we are so busy chasing our tails that 
we have forgotten where we are. This beautiful, blue planet has so 
much to offer, so much dversity and yet we seem to forget this jewel that 
we live on whilst in frantic pursuit to get things done. Achieving the goal 
in both travel and meditation, as opposed to living the 
experience,has often become the all important focal point. 

Tick off the places on your list that you have visited and file the 
photographs away in some forgotten drawer. Achieve 
self-empowerment through meditation practice and in the 
process gain material wealth. Our materialistic attitudes apply to both 
travel and the outcome of meditation practice. 

We often forget that we are in fact part of the planet, part and parcel of 
its diverse ecosystem. So, how about just being for a change? How 
about fully experiencing our surroundings from both an external 
point of view through the five senses and an internal point of view 
by realizing that our inner spirit, the sixth sense, is part and parcel of 
this great and wonderful world that we live in, not something separate 
or divided from it. 

There have been moments in my life when it has all seemed 
worthwhile, when the plan so to speak, has completely and totally 
come together. When rather than remembering my spirit, my spirit 
remembers me and comes home again, if for only brief periods of 
time. 

So, what is the inner spirit looking for? I have come to realize that it 
appears when I wet its appetite with something creative, beautiful, 
magnificent. It has been known to turn up at the Musee D'Orsay on 
occasion when the vibrant colours of a Van Gogh catch its eye, or in 
Cairo whilst I am lying like a silly clot in the crypt in the Great Pyramid of 
Giza. You know, all the big ones......... But on the whole, it is the 
wondrous diversity of this planet that lures the inner spirit down from 
its splendid heights. 

This book is not only about travelling through my favourite 
places in Southern Africa, but it is also an attempt to see the world 
through the eyes of the inner spirit, to retain the memory, and to include 
a meditation at the end of each chapter. I have attempted to find the 
perfect place, to me anyway, that resounds with a certain chakra and 
best portrays it in earthly terms. I have also related each chakra to our 
historical evolution as well as our development through what 
Shakespeare aptly called the seven stages of man. I admit, I am a 
glutton for diversity and multidimensional thinking, so this 
book functions on many levels. 

And yes, at the very end I have included all that other stuff. How to 
get there and places to stay with a list of web addresses for you to 
explore. 

So, for a moment, forget the latest war in the news; earthquake; flood; 
famine and disaster. Leave your bond; your bank balance; your 
mother-in-law; ungrateful children;demanding boss; unpaid leave and 
those medical bills all behind. Let it go, let it be and come and join me 
here in Africa ........... 

 

From the Introduction to: 
Meditations In My Favourite Places 
In Southern Africa. Gail Evans. 
copywrite 2001

Prologue

Keep still now. Can you feel it? Your heart? Can you feel the rhythm beating in your chest? Is it not the same as when the lover returns? As when the child raises its arms and kisses your cheek? As a long lost friend calling you on the phone? 

Hush now and remove the shoes from your feet. You will have no need of them here. Free feet feel. Feel the soil. Feel the beat. Feel the beat in your heart and in your feet. And in time you too will dance like a joyous child. Welcome home! 

Excerpt from the Prologue: Meditations In My Favourite Places In Southern Africa. Gail Evans. (copywrite 2001)