The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be.
~Bruce Lee

Planning for our trip to New Zealand, I thought I should schedule a personal retreat for myself; it would be helpful to be on the other side of the process once again. I started searching for options. I kept coming back to one that had both bodywork and the enneagram. Perfect! But after several email exchanges, I did not get information I wanted. How did she work? How to get there without a car? With no more information, I felt dis-ease about going. Still I thought I should commit and submit myself to the process. Only when I asked to sign up did she tell me that getting there was very difficult (2 buses and a ferry). I had limited time and more importantly, I felt she was not forthcoming to a question I had to ask 4 times "how would I get there". I asked myself, "was I afraid to go?" No, it felt right to let go of this option. I did not sign up.

Around the same time, my sister told me I could stay at the retreat center in Auckland for free. My flight there was less than 1 night’s lodging in Christchurch. So, I followed the path that was opening. The Auckland retreat would be self-managed. I still wanted to learn from someone too. It turned out what I needed was just over the fence in Kaikoura (where we are spending most of our time). The first day, our host offered to set up a massage for us with the woman literally over the fence. Sure. It turned out she is not only a massage therapist, she is an “Integrated Breath Therapist” and wasn’t I just saying I wanted to learn more and work more with my breath? After all of my effort, what I needed showed up. It is helpful to be reminded; I don’t always have to make it happen.

And I did learn from my earlier efforts to book a retreat in Christchurch:
1. I need to put more on my website to let folks know who I am and how I work so they can assess the fit.
2. I need to describe the structure of retreats. The structure provides a bridge to enter into relationship and build trust. Then allow for what emerges to guide us.
3. AND, I need to let potential retreaters know how to get to Lutsen.

Put your heart, mind, intellect and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success. ~Swami Sivananda