I’m so thrilled that on June 18th we will be married for thirty-four years. For over three decades you have been putting up with my craziness, and I love you so much more than the first day we met, more than the day we got married barefooted and cross-legged in front of more than one hundred twenty smiling faces, and even more than when we celebrated our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary with a candle light Indian meal around our pool in Florida.
traditional Canadian wedding cake, 1977
(dried fruit and cream cheese)
(dried fruit and cream cheese)
I love you more because you have helped me to know myself better, and it was this that spoke to me when we first met. I was a struggling Swami trying to find out who I was and where I was going in my life. I read our vows the other day, to love and serve humanity, and I was pleasantly surprised to realize how we have kept true to them after all these years. How fortunate we are to have realized so young that our happiness and success would hinge on serving and loving others.
I know you will remember the eight foot pillar standing in the gardens at Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh, India. In front of the Himalayan backdrop,we stood appreciating that they had our vows etched in stone for all to read: Serve, love, meditate and realize (our true loving nature).
And sweetie, looking back I realize that through all the difficult and challenging times those vows kept us on course. I’m so thankful to all our teachers, but especially Swami Satchidananda and Ron Kurtz. And let’s not forget our crazy meditation teacher in India. All three were major influences on us and had a huge impact on our understanding of Yoga, meditation, and body-centered psychotherapy.
Serve. Love. Meditate. Realize.
Swami Satchidananda initiated us both into the importance of calming the mind, connecting to our center, and serving humanity as a path to wholeness. Ron taught me Hakomi Therapy (a Hopi word meaning how do you stand in the many realms). It was his influence that permitted us to see how the body and mind can be used to process emotional trauma while learning how to be comfortable within ourselves.
Hakomi training, 1981
The crazy Swami taught us how to meditate.
in Montreal with the crazy Swami, 1984
After spending three months, over sixteen years, living in our tiny apartment in the Himalayas we learned how to connect and live our life from the purest place beyond the mind.
We're returning this October!
These three teachers enabled us to bridged the gap between the emotional processing of psychotherapy with the powerful spiritual teaching found in yoga and meditation. They taught us to integrate the most functional aspects of east and west.
There were other teachers as well, but it was these three that enabled us to integrate and live the holistically focused life that defines who we are. Spending time with them taught us many powerful tools that have enabled us to deal with all those challenging situations in our life with integrity, honesty and compassion.
As our anniversary grows near I celebrate the fullness of life with you. I could never imagine doing it without you.
- Gary
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