Day 5. April 16. Saturday.

What a gorgeous day this was! The first day of the Three Principles Work Trek, or whatever it’s called. It’s the best way to work that I know. The whole idea is for us to be hiking in the mountains, and for me to be available for private coaching along the way. So any time, anyone can saunter up to me along the trail and bring up any issue they would like to deal with, and I am automatically available.

This was a really small group, seven of us all together. Some of us went up on the roof of the hotel at 8:00 AM for morning yoga with, of all people, Yoga Mark. It really felt important to do this, if for no other reason to do a really good stretching routine before hiking all day. I had recently gotten into yoga because in Florida where I live they have free Yoga-in-the-Park every Saturday morning, where up to 150 people show up sometimes, and it really is a beautiful thing. What had prevented me from doing yoga in the past was if I’m not really careful certain poses can hurt my back. But I got some instructions for how to do it well taking care of my back at the same time, and that’s been okay, and I really enjoy it. I’m still very much a novice. But Mark is also an excellent yoga leader, and being there up on that roof, where was a little chilly, and looking out at the beautiful mountain and the Mediterranean Sea in the distance; simply beautiful.

After yoga, we ran down to eat breakfast, took a shower and were ready to roll. Mark hired a van we could all fit in, and we drove up into the mountains. The hotel supplied us with a bag lunch. Mark really got a kick out of himself by playing the theme from The Magnificent Seven on the way.

I had been on this particular hike before a couple of times. It is a beautiful hike, and, as I said, this was a gorgeous day. The weather was a perfect temperature for trekking. It is not an easy hike, but not horrible either, maybe a 7 on a scale of 10. Some parts are little treacherous, mostly because of loose scrabble rocks. At the top we have to crawl through a tunnel on our hands and knees or feet and get down low enough so our backpacks can fit through along with us.

Everything about the day was perfect. I did a couple of sessions along the way. It was great to be with Richard again, and once again Richard had a huge breakthrough, this time about relationships.

Unfortunately on the way down Maria fell on the loose stones and landed hard on her wrist, but it wasn’t too bad. I had really gone out of my way to stretch out my legs and take care of the along the way, because of only walking flat in Florida, unlike Vermont, and they fared reasonably well under the circumstances. Only a little painful. Simply a wonderful day all around!