It was 6:40 am. Harvard street was dark. I was driving very, very slowly to the yoga studio for several reasons.
Students, bikers, runners, and walkers dart out often quickly without looking. Pedestrian crossings mark the street every other block that intersect with side-coming and on-coming cars, requiring motorists to stop and yield to pedestrians. Keeping public safety and the legal requirement in mind, I was extremely annoyed when I noticed blinding headlights from a car tailgating behind me. I put my left hand to cover the left side mirror that was bouncing the light off, hitting my eyes and blinding my vision. Then I carefully steered the wheel with my right hand as I proceeded below the speed limit. There came the first intersection at Dana and Harvard, I saw a car coming up on my right, and of course, I stopped. Without missing a beat, that tailgating driver accelerated and passed by me on the left, narrowly missing the car on my right that was inching forward. “WO!” I yelled.
REACT
I pressed the honk all the way without ceasing until that driver came to a screeching halt at the red light. I wanted him/her to know how ticked off I was, and how wrong she/he was. Now how far ahead did she/he go? Not at all. We both had travelled just two blocks, and both stuck at the red light. What’s the point? When the red light changed to green, she/he did not move. I sensed danger. What if she/he was maliciously blocking the left turn to avenge my honking him. In a matter of seconds, I flicked my left turn signal, pulled around him/her as I honked once to signal my getting around him. As I gazed in my rear mirror, that car stayed in the same spot without moving an inch. I wondered for a minute what happened. But I soon realized how upset I’d become.
Here’s the point. My slow-driving action bred the tailgater’s impatient reaction. His reaction fed my reaction. It is a vicious cycle. Before I knew it, it’s a bit of a road rage incident. Thank God we were both safe. No one was hurt. Except. Except! I lost my breath after making that quick left turn. My heart was racing. My head was hurting. I finally parked near the yoga studio and ran over there just in the nick of time for class. I thought I’d calm myself down with a sniff of “buddy oil” (Chinese menthol/camphor oil) which I always kept in my pocket, and that all would be well.
RESET
All was not well. For the first few minutes of yoga practice, my qi (energy or life force) remained disrupted and disturbed. It was as if it was blocked by the road rage incident. I didn’t let it go, scenes were replaying themselves. Until. Until I made myself focus intently on my breath. I slowed it down and elongated each breath as I was counting them in and out. Before long, my mind was completely calm and my core felt centered.
RETHINK
Thinking back at that incident, I know that was not the smartest thing I had ever done. The cycle of action/reaction caused a level of internal irritation that hurt me. Next time, I won’t honk but I will breathe out loud. I will let what upset my qi out of my body so it doesn’t have a place to instigate more aggressive actions on my part. I practice yoga every morning for a reason – that is for balance and well-being. Being mindful of hostile actions that would trigger more hostile reactions helps me pull back, pause and rethink the best way to regain control over my body.