Sedona Postponed

 Why Sedona was a big disappointment 

and.. what I learned from it 

Since Feb. 13, 2018, I had been planning for a wellness retreat in Sedona, AZ from November second to the sixth 6, 2018. The trip was organized by ZaZa Ali, a relatively well-known figure in the conscious community. ZaZa is an author, scholar, motivational speaker and self-proclaimed alchemist.  I had been a fan of ZaZa's work for years by way of watching Professor Griff videos on Youtube. From ZaZa, I learned wellness tips, including the benefits of drinking liquid chlorophyll, and that the best bottled spring water to buy is Crystal Gyser. I looked forward to her videos because they were enlightening, real and conversational. If you haven't already figured this out about me, I'm a seeker. Almost always seeking answers to the meaning of life. Seeking can lead to disappointments, though, and there's always a lesson to be learned. 

Single and shared rooms were offered, but I reserved a private room so that I could have moments alone to decompress and work through emotions that might've come up during the trip. I also wanted to vlog during our down time. I brought a minim tripod and a travel-sized light kit. 

I made monthly payments for the retreat, making my last payment in October 2018.  I fell a couple days behind one month, which was no problem with ZaZa's assistant. I emailed her and she was totally fine with me paying a day or two late. Thankfully, most payments were on time (the times I'm most grateful for my nine-to-five). As the trip got closer, I started to feel a little uneasy about it. Not worried, just not as excited. I followed ZaZa on Instagram and her posts were uplifting as usual, but alluded to some resistance in her life. There was a death in her family and the trip was about 2 months away at the time from my recollection. Things appeared to be out of alignment for this trip, however, I continued to make my payments.

About 12 hours before my flight was scheduled, I got a call from ZaZa's assistant. She said that ZaZa had been in a car accident and she was cancelling the trip. She said ZaZa was on bed rest and decided at the very last minute to see if she'd still be up for it. I was not shocked. I felt it. ZaZa's assistant volunteered to share the incident report and doctor's note, but to be honest, I wasn't too pressed. I wanted to take her word for it, because I usually give folks the benefit of the doubt. While slightly disappointed, I was genuinely concerned about ZaZa, but something just didn't sit right with me, so I called the hotel. What I was told by their finance/sales department was that ZaZa had failed to secure the rooms. The hotel and ZaZa were apparently at odds. They claimed that ZaZa initially booked the rooms, but defaulted on payments to secure them. I am not sure what type of deal ZaZa had worked out with the hotel, but what they said alluded to ZaZa knowing the trip was canceled at least one month before her "car accident." 

The entire situation ended up on the news. Click here to see the clip.