Four months into my wandering, I’ve darted out of California and back a couple times, but mostly enjoying summer in the Golden State: beaches, the Sequoias, good friends, lakes, rivers.

Getting ready to leave Northern California for the great swing north and east toward Virginia, I went to visit my old Aikido mentor and friend, Wendy Palmer, in San Rafael. It’s only taken her 30 years, but she’s finally got meditation classes at Aikido of Tamalpais, so I got conned into going to that – which was lovely – and staying for class, hoping my hurt foot and elbow would be okay. My foot, still tender from a bike trail accident, cracked back open like I was getting foot Stigmata. After the sweet class, getting to see an old friend and student again after a long time, we headed to dinner.

Wendy’s non-martial work, Conscious Embodiment, arises out of the fundamental principles of Aikido: presence in the body gives the mind and heart a place to land and open. Her practice has exploded over the last 5 years – going international (UK, Germany, South Africa), and across the country. She’s also moved into working more with leaders, especially in the corporate world. Her daughter, Tiphani, left her landscaping business to help Wendy meet teaching demands and help manage the business. In Wendy’s words, “I’m just an old hippie – I don’t know how to do this stuff! How did all this happen?”

Wendy and Tiphani have been putting out feelers to find an aware, awake Business Manager who would be familiar with their work, and help manage the organization of the business as well as client relationships. Impulsive critter I am, I blurted out, “Whoah! How fun! I wanna do that!” We both laughed. At the end of Sushi, Wendy encouraged me to stay around and come help out with Tiphani’s Nidan presentation that coming Saturday.

The next day in my meditation, I was reflecting on my journey and the guide I am following in it, which is: follow what feels right in this moment; keep your mitts off the future. And it occurred to me: Wendy Palmer is one of a very small group of people in the world I admire. She exposes her humanity, and at the same time really does her own self-work. Her clients include the Technorati of Silicon Valley as well as corporate luminaries. Who else would I want to try and work with to make the world a better place? Plus: Awesome!

I grabbed Wendy after the testing on Saturday (which was very fun). I told her I really did want to be her business manager. I think she actually sang!

We had a meeting, and everything just fell together.

I’m moving to San Rafael on Oct. 1, starting work as BEO (Business Embodiment Officer) as Wendy’s Business Manager.

Wish me luck!