When Horse And Dog Appear...
Day two on the beautiful Island of St Lucia has been eventful and rich with experience and connection...
This morning I went for my introduction session with Rodja - Matt, my PT in the UK will be amazed to learn that I was on time! And that I did everything Rodja asked me to do!
I really enjoyed the session.
Rodja's own passion for sport is evident, and his enthusiam for sharing this was communicated throughout every part of the session. First he watched my form during movements and corrected it; and then tested me as to how many press ups, squats, crunches pull ups with rings, and step ups I could do in a minute... We then did a circuit of the same exercises with a 400 metre run in between each exercise...
I loved being in a gym again; I really enjoyed training with Rodja and felt encouraged and supported, as the going got tougher...!
I feel inspired.... With his expertise and gudiance, plus the extra energy that comes from joining forces with another, I believe that I can re-balance and re-align and get very strong and fit again...
I have booked up for a twice weekly sessions while I am here...
At lunch time we went along to the gym in the village, where we plan to pop into every day for daily stretching and conditioning; we signed up with Mac, who is from London and came to St Lucia three years ago; his colleague Zola arrived to take over from him and we very much enjoyed chatting with her, discovering that her parents were both long distance runners and she is named after Zola Budd the athlete!
I shared with her my story of 1984 (I think that was the year!) when I was on the track at Crystal Palace a Grand Prix event to make up the field, for her world record run over 2000 meters... I can still recall the sound of the roaring crowd as she sped down the home straight to the record... I was coming round the final bend at the time!
So my strength and conditioning is well set up....
And now we have just arrived back from a run, which we set of for at 5.15pm knowing the route and knowing that we would be back around an hour later before dark.
It is a nice time to run as the heat has gone from the day; we left the village which was full of activity of folk arriving home, many cars and people... We headed off up the hill passing children in twos making their way back from school... Down the rocky hill we ran and arrived on the beach.
Dogs were playing and came to say 'hello' as we are used to them doing; two followed us but we were (misguidedly) confident they would return when they had had enough of running up the hill to the top of the world....
We met wild horses at the top, who gathered and walked towards us with interest, we respectfully moved through them and they watched us for a while and then started grazing again. One dog turned and made her way for home, we (wrongly) imagined the other would follow. The track took us onto the road, it is a quiet road and we still hoped that he would go home, we told him to, but he just looked at us and waited for 'where next'? We reached the main road....
'I am not comfortable going on the main road with this dog' I said to Anadi, 'he is our dog now, at least he thinks he is, he trusts us, and so we are responsible...' Anadi agreed with me.
And so we made our way back the way we had come, the light was fading...
'At least it is a bright sky' I said to Anadi looking up at the stars....
It got darker, but we could pick our way through, and we made our way back from whence we came. The idea was that once we had found the beach and delivered the dog back home, we would find our way back on the road....
It got darker, we arrived at what we thought was the beach to find it was the edge of a pond...
We were lost...
It was pitch black, the dog stood loyally beside us waiting for our next move.
'What do you suggest?' Anadi asked; we could see the twinkle of lights in houses not too far away, 'I suggest we head for civilisation', I said...
We stumbled our way over the rough, grassy, stony ground... 'Are we safe?' I asked Anadi 'I don't know', he replied... 'I am sure we are supported' I said. Anadi agreed with me and we took the next step...
We eventually came across tyre tracks making a sandy path that was easier to traverse, and then suddenly we realised we had done a complete circle and were back on the edge of the quiet road...
'I'm not taking the dog on the main road in the dark' I said ...and sat down on a stone to think what to do...!
'The golf course is just up the road' Anadi said ' perhaps we can get help there....
The three of us set off up the road....' I can hear voices' Anadi said - we stopped and he was right, male voices... We jogged up the driveway of the golf course and two guys, security men for the course; were relaxing in a golf buggy chatting...
'Can you help us...' We asked and explained our predicament ...
One of them went and got some rope and went towards the dog who ran away from him...
'He is your dog now', they said 'he will not leave you...' And because this was true, he trusted Anadi and I, we were able to put the rope around him and explain to him we were leaving him for his own safety...
And off we went into the dark...
A few minutes later, we heard a sound behind us,' and the two security guys driving the buggy called out to us ... They had come to say that the dog had escaped! He wasn't with us, so we imagined he had followed his scent home!
They then invited us to hop on the back of the golf buggy and drove us through the golf course and dropped us nearer home, on the main road....
In all we had covered just 8 miles, but we had been out for two and a half hours as it was not possible for us to run in the dark on the scrubland...! More practice needed!
We felt very supported by the two guys; we looked after the dog, the four of us then joined in on this mission! And then they looked after us...
Before the dog episode became an episode, we had been chatting about how a commitment to our own path is all that is really required and this way our gifts are shared with others from a clear place; and on looking up 'dog and horse totems', the words written, reflect our conversation almost exactly....
If Dog has come into your life
Dog can be a reminder that you should always be loyal and truthful to yourself. You should make a point of being your own best friend. By having self respect and self value you can love yourself first. This is essential for you to be of great assistance to others. Having self respect will assure that others will respect you.
Time to do what needs doing. Get out there and just get it done!
If horse has come into your life
Know that you have the power to change anything and everything you choose in your life. Understand that the wild freedom of the Horse can be harnessed and used for your own benefit and for those around you. This understanding comes only when man and beast enter a silent contract acknowledging mutual respect and awareness of responsibility to each other.
Believe in your freedom to make your own choices. You are never forced to do anything. The choice is always yours.
