Our Man in LA's Lesson #2 also comes from the magical land of his recent vacation - beautiful Sedona, Arizona.

And basically, it's this:

LESSON #2: THERE REALLY ARE THESE HEALING VORTEXES! NO JOKE!

So one of the things that I'd heard about Sedona was that if you'd hike amongst the red rocks, you'd come to these areas - these vortexes - and you'd feel a certain kind of energy. Nobody could really describe it.

Maybe your hands would tingle, they'd say.

Maybe you'd just start tearing up, crying unexpectedly.

Could be almost anything, they'd say. And most importantly, there was the disclaimer: "You're only really going to feel the power of the healing vortexes if you're particularly sensitive to psychic phenomena and things outside the five major senses."

So I figured, really, no chance that I'm going to feel anything different. After all, I don't see dead people. I don't think I believe in reincarnation except in comic books. I thought CHARIOT OF THE GODS was a fun read, but . . .

But whatever. I still had to take a look.

So while we're climbing up Cathedral Rock, we're seeing signs that look like this one:



And I'm thinking, "OK, cute. It's a nice touch. But I'm not feeling anything."

Our Woman in LA, on the other hand, felt tingling sensations, found her breath being taken away. Most of those feelings came when we passed little man-made piles of rocks like this one:



Turns out, there's a reason for that. Hikers over the years have piled those rocks to mark the vortexes where they've felt the most extra-sensory energy. So if you see something like that, you know you're in the presense of somebody's mojo juju.

On Cathedral Rock, I found myself inspired and occasionally out of breath - but only from the climb and the rocks. On our second hike - around Bell Rock and Courthouse Rock, I reacted differently.

Between the two, I passed one of those rock piles. I was looking up at Courthouse Rock, just having come up from a dried river bed. I felt . . . something. The hands tingled a little bit, but no shortness of breath. Mostly I just got lost for a second (or maybe longer) in the giant rock itself and the desert around it. I just stood and stared into the space around me. Pretty zen, actually. Like being awed by the size of the world and of existence.

And then the moment passed, but I hesitated a little before leaving the spot.

So I guess that means I have a little sensitivity outside those big, old-fashioned five senses. Does it mean that I'm ready to leave LA and go to work in one the Metaphysical Mall in Sedona (a real place, don't laugh)?

Well, probably not.

Does it mean that I'm psychically in tune with the rest of the universe and that the FBI will soon be hiring me to find kidnapped children?

We'll see. That does sound pretty cool, though. Till then, we'll always have the vortexes.