Hello my loves,

I would like us all to pause and realize that every breath is a new beginning. We don’t need a new year to begin, or a Monday to come. All we need is to be in this moment and notice we are breathing and poof! new beginning ready to be had by you.

The awareness of this moment being available to us is the only part we are responsible for. I wish for us all to practice this during the month of January. Notice moments; pockets, pauses, the in-between time, and be present.

We have many doorways into this practice of awareness. I have taught you numerous ways in over the years. We can use our breath, our surroundings, sound, texture of fabric against our skin, weather, temperature of the air, taste, aroma, feelings, and even thoughts. These are always available to us to be reminded to be where we are in the moment and not miss life; take it for granted or live in distracted/worry/busy mind.

On another note, I would like to share with you what happened the other day. I tell you this to simply live by example, live transparently, and trust there is value in sharing one’s life experiences with loved ones, and also so that I only have to tell the story once and not repeat it multiple times.

First off, we are fine! By the grace of whatever power is guiding and protecting us on our path, we are okay. Sadly, my husband and I were in a car accident on Saturday night. I know we can all jump to the place of another one!? but instead I am simply staying in this moment of what happened and not adding story and building a bigger story or forming some esoteric meaning to this. It is simply an accident.

We had decided to drive out to Joshua Tree to boulder and had such a great experience being one with nature. We left feeling refreshed and decided to stop by a friend’s house on the way home since we were near Palm Springs. As we were driving home on the freeway at 10:30 pm, another driver was speeding in the lane to our right. It was raining and Emmett was driving very slowly, and safely. He noticed a driver in the lane to our right was coming up quickly so he simply observed and trusted he would simply pass us and all would be fine. Unfortunately the other driver hit our passenger rear corner and spun us around towards his vehicle hitting us again on passenger front corner, spinning us again, continuing to spin so that we were facing oncoming traffic and hydroplaning forward in space, facing the wrong way, into the fast lane barricade on the passenger side of the car. The other driver then hit us on the driver’s rear corner. We were facing oncoming traffic, pinned into the barricade with the other car pinned in to our rear side. He couldn’t get out, we couldn’t get out.

We called the police immediately. Fire department and CHP arrived within 5 minutes, of which were possibly the scariest 5 minutes of my life except for the prior few moments of time as we were spinning and sliding across a freeway. They blocked the freeway with two fire trucks and CHP officers assisted us off the freeway to then deal with statements, etc.

Okay, that’s the story. The end. Yes, it is horribly scary and yes, of course, our minds went straight to Again!? Another one? WTF? Are you kidding me? I’m not even recovered from the last one. This is how the new year is starting? This can’t be happening…

We had our few minutes of freak out. Emmett was angry, I was scared. Then we grounded ourselves and got clear on what we needed to do, get help ASAP and get off the freeway safely. We did that. Check. Then we paused and recognized that we are safe, we were in pain but nothing broken, our car magically protected us brilliantly. We were both seat belted safely, glass didn’t break, we were in our car, we were dry, we were alive. The other driver was also alive. There were no other vehicles involved. No one else was hurt. And we continued to focus on what was right instead of what was wrong.

We took care of the business necessary and then, thankfully, were able to drive the car home. We were about 90 minutes from home still. The drive home was quite intense for sure. I was extremely shaken, and my husband was in disbelief and very worried about me, and my injuries. We made it home safely and took care of ourselves.

I immediately went to my foam roller. I knew that my body simply needed to be realigned. I got on the earth and I moved around like an animal. I did some deep breathing, doused myself with as many essential oils, calming holistic care, arnica, and healing energy as I could. Then I did the same for Emmett. We used the hula hoop a bit and rested in child’s pose. Then came the ice packs and sleep.

I knew, intuitively, that we needed to move the trauma out of our body and not let the tightness set in. I have a pretty intimate relationship with PTSD by this point in my life and I have learned a lot about honoring the body while it is in shock. Even though I was the one in shock, I was able to do what was necessary to nurture myself, and my husband, in that very important window of time post traumatic occurrence. I feel so blessed to be fluent in this language of Self care.

I taught class the next morning and knew, again instinctively, that I needed to move my body and continue to gift my entire being with the benefit of circulation, movement, breath, agility and lots of love. (What we all do so well together.) Being surrounded by my students is always medicinal and healing for me.

We did some emotional clearing work with thought field therapy/emotional freedom technique/tapping (EFT) with our therapist the next day, we saw our acupuncturist, and are off to our Master healer/chiropractor tomorrow and Friday. As well as I work with a trauma release specialist remotely that is going to help support me with the PTSD thread of this.

I share all this with you to simply let you know and also to relieve any worry, or concern, you have for us and our well-being. We are okay and are in good hands. I know how much our community supports each other through life occurrences and we feel the love from each of you; always. We are so blessed to be surrounded by such loving, generous, kind, thoughtful, beautiful humans. We deeply thank you for the love and support now, and always.

Circling back to the intention for January. I am practicing staying present, and grateful, for this moment and what it provides for me. As many times as my mind carries me backwards in time to the moment of the accident I am continuing to practice grounding in the current moment. I notice my breath, my surroundings, sounds, body, and I am reminded that I am here Now in this moment and that moment is not present any longer. Practice this with me however moments find you in your life.

Let us all practice noticing the nuances of life. May we continue on this path together as we live a life filled with mindfulness, awareness, and radical Self care. Please reach out if you would like to dive in deeper to this and we can explore together.