Wild As The Wind Started in 1992…

This is how it all started…

A missed Yoga class… a few letters to organisations pioneering the work of non-exploitative trading relations with developing countries… the purchasing of a one way ticket to India… and then this…

But wait… you need a little more back story than that…

I Will Do Anything To Help

I wish I’d kept a few bits of memorabilia, or at least the letter I wrote, back then, to the agencies that were leading the cause of creating trading links with developing countries based on egalitarian principles, so that I could write with total accuracy about it now.

Unfortunately, the only line I remember writing in 1992 was:

I will do anything to help, load lorries or clean toilets, as long as I go to India.

Body Shop International

The first agency to respond was Trade Not Aid, owned by the Body Shop international.

Clive James, (a different one), headed up the team at Trade Not Aid, and he wrote to me asking for a copy of my CV.

I felt that requiring a CV before permitting me to load lorries and clean toilets was a bit much, but I complied with his wishes.

Please Set Up Trade Not Aid Projects For Us

The reply I received from Clive came a s a bit of a shock… but a very welcome one.

I was, of course, equally terrified about the prospect of setting up projects, for the Body Shop, in India as I was thrilled. But, without any shadow of a doubt, it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.

Why Go To India For The Body Shop?

Prior to going to India I had been involved in high level Marketing and Business Development jobs within the mainframe computer industry.

I hated it with a passion. The patriarchy… that awful male dominated industry… the abuse… the isolation…

I walked out one Wednesday morning and never looked back.

Unsure of what to do next I enrolled on a number of courses. including: Photography, Massage and even Yoga…

Within a few months I woke up and silenced my alarm before turning over, vowing to find a Yoga class in India, and going back to sleep.

Yoga was a nine mile drive, through heavy traffic, for a 9.00am start, on a market day in Salisbury… so no parking…!

It was the epitope of stress which I felt defeated the object… hence my decision to go to India to find a more accessible class…

Sometimes the best decisions are made in life when we’re half asleep and too lazy to meet our commitments!

My Spiritual Fast-Track

I didn’t know it at the time, of course, but the decision to go to India was when my Spiritual Life really came to the centre stage.

Having grown up in a Northern Market Town, I knew nothing of Spirituality, but I knew my conscience inside out, and I knew I was following it with all of my heart.

The life lessons I learned in India have set me up for the rest of my life…

Now go here to continue reading 🙂