We left Vietnam and arrived in Northern Thailand—now that I am outside Vietnam I want to share a deeper and truthful sharing about our time there.

When we first arrived at the airport in Hanoi, and was walking into the arrival hall of the international terminal the first thing I noticed was the level of absolute quietness and silence in the main hall.

It was almost eery, and the silence was so thick and dense. This was not a silence that comes from peacefulness, zen and conscientiousness that you experience in Japan for example, but a silence that is choking, oppressing, and comes from a fear of being punished if you step out of line. The energy field in the arrival hall while waiting to go through immigration was dead silent, and the energy field anchored here was one of “conform, obey, and if you don’t you will be punished”.

People can naturally feel the parameters of an energy field, and I think that’s why so many people were quiet. You have to be attuned on a subtle level to recognize this, but these subtle energy fields do exist wherever we go—and they inform and shape our behaviour in different places. I really could feel this energy field present, “that if you don’t behave, you will be punished.” This was my first impression of arriving in Vietnam.

Then when we were in the taxi driving into the main city of Hanoi, the first thing I saw and felt while in the car was this strong all encompassing energetic field of communism. I could see it all around me, and this energy field and imprint of suppression and oppression. I didn’t actually know at the time that Vietnam is indeed currently still a communist country—in the car ride I had thought that the remnants of communism could still tangibly be felt from many years prior, yet now I know that it is presently and currently still under the rule of communism in 2023, which is what I picked up energetically.

Also in the car I asked Jonas what he sensed and felt being here, and he said, “I can feel a strong collective field of numbness”. There was also this physical gloomy haze around the city.

What’s also interesting is that when I originally applied for a visa to enter Vietnam (as a Canadian, I was required to do this; whereas Jonas as a German citizen did not have to do this) the form that I had to fill out to enter Vietnam felt a bit intrusive, suspicious and asked me some strange questions, even what kind of religion I practice. When I was filling out the visa form, it already felt tight and contracted.

Then when we were in the city, the first thing we noticed was the level of aggression, agitation and anger around us through the cars, scooters and honking. It was a different energy compared to the chaos of India, and even Bali. To put it frankly, it felt like an aggravated energy field all around us. Then at different times, I just felt the misery and deep grief of what was endured here and how millions of people suffered, died, were killed and executed needlessly. I even saw pictures of people being tortured and severe human right violations.

There were times when we were walking on the streets and both of us felt so much emotional intensity through the energetic field of suppressed and buried emotions, where it felt like I almost had to scream (I didn’t—but it felt like something in the collective energy field is boiling and is about to erupt—like a ticking time bomb). After all, suppressed and buried energy has to go somewhere and can’t remain covered eternally.

There has been so much oppression on the people, like an iron fist being hammered down collectively. Suppressed energy is tangibly alive and felt in the collective field. It’s like walking in a swamp of unresolved pain, grief, brokenness, irritation, fragmentation and heaviness.

Once at a shop, I told the older woman that I didn’t want to buy the item in the store politely and gently, and she started to yell at me, and became very hostile and aggressive. Her anger, aggression and outburst really had nothing to do with me not wanting to buy the item, and I could feel and sense that it came from the deep buried emotions that she had been suppressing for many years (which this situation triggered and uncorked the bottle of an emotional charge).

Sometimes people are not consciously aware of it, but something within them feels and knows if its safe to explode and release pent up emotions in someones energetic presence that is open, receptive, and able to meet the emotional intensity. This has happened often in my life, in countries especially that have endured severe levels of heart break, war and fragmentation. All of these suppressed and unresolved energies lay dormant and active in the collective field, and they are seeking release, resolvement and healing as an evolutionary pull, drive and impulse.

My heart REALLY BLED for the people of Vietnam, and especially the older generation that actually lived and endured the 20 years of war and brutality. They experienced the unimaginable! Excruciating experiences, and deep inhumane treatment. Having bombs blasted on them, so much torture and execution under the communist regime, the division of the north from the south, fighting, enduring to survive, and mass oppression for many years. The heart and spirit of the people collectively had been severely pounded on…

At the same time, we also met many beautiful souls—especially in the younger generation of their 20s and 30s that are the extensions of their ancestors, and so many of them had a lot of light and goodness in them! They were very kind, sincere and helpful. When I asked them about their country with a genuine desire to learn more about their culture and society, they shared with me that it’s not allowed to protest the government at all in Vietnam. If you dare to protest the government you will go to jail or be killed they told us. When they shared this harsh reality with me, it confirmed my intuitive sense and feeling of what I picked up from the collective energy field that I was reading when we first arrived at the airport.

I cried many times while we were there, letting the grief, sorrow and stuck energies move and be processed through me (ie doing collective healing work). It was so energetically alive, palpable, visible and tangible in a visceral way.

We were once eating in a local restaurant one day, and there was traditional Vietnamese music playing in the background, and I felt so much grief and misery—where I just had to cry—there was no thoughts in my mind, no reason, just deep feeling what was really alive and present in the space in that specific moment.

When we were at the airport about to leave, the checks for all your papers and documentation was very rigours and thorough. I didn’t feel safe in this country, and felt the mass oppression and suppression from communism. I really was looking forward to leave, and when we were on the airplane lifting off out of the energy field of Vietnam, I felt as if 20,000 heavy bricks were falling off of me as we ascended into the sky! The light of the sun pierced through the window, after days of cloudiness (physically and energetically), and I felt a lot lighter and freer.

This whole experience was so rich in learning and witnessing, and was a strong contrast to the energy field of Bali or even Canada where I come from (“True North Strong and Free”.) It made me experience the severity of oppression that happens under communist governments, and the hammer down approach on the human spirit.

I didn’t feel safe to write about this publicly while in Vietnam, because it really didn’t feel as if its allowed to speak or share anything that would go against the ruling party. I can imagine that any journalist that would write anything that opposes certain ideologies in this country, would be put in jail and punished—that’s how severe it is (and I felt it).

It’s only now that I learned and researched that freedom of association, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press are severely restricted in Vietnam. Citizens that are critical of the government or who discuss certain topics deemed "unacceptable" by the party are often subject to intimidation and imprisonment. All the press in Vietnam is state-owned, either wholly or partially. Vietnam is a one-party communist state governed by the Communist Party of Vietnam, the only legal political party. Citizens are unable to democratically elect a representative other than from the communist party. After researching and learning this, many things make more sense now and are illuminated.

This is why we must preserve our basic democracy—and not take it for granted. Erosion after erosion of democratic values over a period of time leads to communism. It happens slowly, and can be very subtle and insidious. The harm, consequences, oppression and restriction of fundamental freedoms is the outcome of this form of top down regime. Without freedom, the human spirit withers and dries up. With freedom—humanity can heal, expand, grow and evolve!

As Kahlil Gibran said, “Life without liberty is like a body without spirit”. 🕊

Thank you for taking the time to read my sharing and reflection.

Love, Nicole ❤️