It was only yesterday that I drove my rental car into a ditch! Yep! My first thought...so glad I got total coverage..the walk away damage waiver. My second thought...I wish I opted for the GPS!
So it was at the end of Summit Road on my way to Akaroa, a gorgeous peninsula about a 90 minute drive from Christchurch where I have landed myself for the last 3 nights after teaching the last classes of the year in Wellington. I am on holiday now. 9 days on my own to just explore before heading to Costa Rica to be with Shiva Rea on her New Year's retreat and lots of surfing to come!
So back to the driving into a ditch. So I left the gorgeous home where I am staying just only 20 minutes away from where this all went down with the MapQuest directions clutched in my hands while trying to maneuver through the hills and the hairpin super narrow turns way up high with only death off the edge. And as soon as I got to the end of the road I looked at signs that seemed to be guiding me to turn left. I did. Immediately after I made the turn I checked the map in my hand, looked down for a split second, and Ga-Dunk! I drove into the ditch. Sh~*&t! I only started driving just 20 minutes ago now I have to call the car rental place to get me out? Jeese Louise!
After assessing the situation I thought...I can get out of this. I took a few grounded inhales (my yoga teacher friend Vincent Bolletta from Auckland who joined, assisted, and taught a bit with me in Wellington for our Chakra Vinyasa TT. With his viniyoga studies, he started me on focusing on my breath by starting my inhale from the bottom of my nostrils and to visualise the inhale going down down down. So helpful in staying grounded with all this traveling...almost 2 years now on the road. Try it...you might like it during this holiday time of constant activity. Thanks Vincenzo!) So after a few breaths I asked for help from Grace, God, Universe...I call her Goddess and I reversed. That didn't work. Few more breaths and then I slowly crept forward to find the car bottom was scraping it's way along to the bottom of the hill where the ditch was less steep and I got out! Phew!
From there I referred to a teaching that I learned about with animals in trauma. When they get attacked and are stressed and in trauma they INSTINCTUALLY go off into a quiet spot and SHAKE FOR 24 HRS until they get it out of their system. That teaching came from my yoga teacher friend and physio Caroline Evans in Melbourne who joined me in Sydney for Fluid Power last month. Thanks gorgeous hottie mom Caroline! Check out Peter Levine's book 'Waking the Tiger' the innate capacity to transform overwhelming experiences by asking and answering an intriguing question.-- why are animals in the wild, though threatened routinely, rarely traumatized? By understanding the dynamics that make wild animals virtually immune to traumatic symptoms, the mystery of human trauma is revealed.
So I thought, maybe cars have a consciousness as well. That after a bit of shaking they will re~align back to balance with some faith from the outside....my prayers to be exact. So I was right...I saw the little red light with the exclamation point on the dashboard go off after about 30 minutes of driving and shaking and purring back to normal. The rental car made it up and down these really steep hills around Akaroa and the ditch was part of that experience.
OH. The ditch. Back to the Ditch. So what did I make of that experience. Let go. Let G.P.S.
Yep. A final teaching I'd love to share with you came from a private meeting with H.H. Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji in Melbourne after I taught with 8 other teachers for Yoga Aid (an event of 108 salutations to raise funds for local charities world wide). Swamiji was the closing speaker and teacher. He spoke of many things which included the 3 types of people in this world.
1. It's all about me
2. How do I serve others
3. I am an instrument of the Divine
When I heard him speak of that I just warmed up inside. So right to the heart of this (going on) 3 year tour. It's what I reflect on for each year of this Tour. But more to come on that in next month's newsletter and an introduction to the new Tour name of Spiritual Globalisation, the website re-launch, the growing team, and also the new Editor of this newsletter starting in Feb 2010!
So let's go back....G.P.S. Driving in the ditch. Clutching onto the Mapquest directions. Not trusting. I remembered Swamiji's teachings from one of his books, "Peace."
"These days in the West all the new cars have a 'GPS' navigation system where the computer in the car gives directions on how to reach your destination. As you sit in the car you just enter the address of where you are going, and through the journey a pleasant woman's voice guides you...However, after you've entered the destination address, before her guided instructions begin, you must press the "Accept" button on the screen. If the button is not pushed, the guided route will not begin and you will be left to your own device to reach the destination."
In our lives, it is the same. There is a divine Source, a Power, a Super-computer ready to guide us every step of the way. We must simply push the 'Accept' button! GPS stands for 'Global Positioning System,' but I also think it stand's for 'God's Perfect System.' He knows the way to the destination of our life, to the fulfillment of our unique, special and divine mission. He has designed the map. He has laid the roads. He has created mountains, rivers, highways, and train crossings. He knows every turn, every corner, every one-way street. He never loses His way. If we don't push the 'Accept' on the GPS system in the car, our journey will be filled with tension and worry.....Alternatively, if we simply press the 'Accept,' we will be guided gently and correctly at every step. We will know where to turn, where to continue straight and where to stop. Our minds will be free to contemplate God, to think pleasant and peaceful thoughts, to converse with others in the car. The journey will be peaceful, smooth, and enjoyable.
Similarly in our lives....if we accept God's will, if we allow Him to guide us along the path, our lives will be filled with inspiration rather than perspiration, and we will certainly reach the destination in the shortest amount of time. Frequently however, we doubt God's path. 'Is this really the way?' We wonder. We become skeptical of the Divine plan. We lose heart and faith."
So today I went back to the car rental office and got a GPS.
Phew!
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Enjoy your holidays and once in a while or more often than not....
~ breathe from the bottom of your nostrils downward on the inhale
~ shake off your tension dance shake dance shake + shake some more!
~ push the "Accept" button on your GPS
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Sending you love from the South Island of New Zealand...about to leave Christchurch for a 6 day adventure with my friend in a camper van. Gosh I hope he has a GPS! Well I know I do. Thanks Goddess!
Happy Winter|Summer Solstice! Peace on Earth to ALL!
See you in 2010!!
