Background Information

on Alice Gardner

I was born Alice Gale Gardner in 1953 in Connecticut, and seem to have always had a quietness and sensitivity and a connection to nature.  My parents raised me as an AMC kid (that is the Appalacian Mountain Club) and I did a lot of hiking, camping, canoeing etc at a young age. I loved the woods, animals and the out-of-doors but like so many young girls, most of all I loved horses.

Chapter 6 from the upcoming book: Life Beyond Belief, Everyday Living as Spiritual Practice is now being given away with your new subscription to the monthly Wide Awake Living Newsletter to the left.

Although I attended the Congregational Church as a youngster I never joined as a teenager because I just couldn't quite understand what was being talked about. The first spiritual book that really resonated with me I found on my parents bookshelf when I was 15, and that was Kahlil Gibran, "The Prophet". I loved it. It turned out that it was the one book that both my parents owned when they met and married. Anyway, that book seemed to contain something I could believe in which I couldn't find in Christianity. I didn't rediscover Christianity again until I went to live at the Findhorn Foundation, where there were a lot of inspired Christian clergy living at the time. Something about the way they were interpreting the Bible made it make sense to me in a new way.

I was exposed to numerous influences in the late 60's and then the 70's which turned me towards a non-religious form of spirituality more and more. I did kundalini yoga, and zazen meditation and read a lot of books about everything spiritual.

By the time I was in my late twenties, in 1977, I went to live at the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland where I worked in the famous Findhorn Garden, as well as working with people in their spiritual education programs. The experience of living at the Findhorn Foundation was a wonderful emersion in people who were focusing on the everyday living of the oneness of all life, and in the induction of new people into this reality. Their guest programs were huge with a weekly turnover of about 120 people from all over the world every Saturday, and all of them wanted the chance to work in the Findhorn Garden with us.

During my time at Findhorn the capacity developed for receiving guidance from my "higher self" which was a hugely wonderful thing at the time. I had the answers to all my own questions, and had a fabulous education in the higher viewpoint over my own worldly doings, and personality difficulties.

My two children were born at Findhorn in 1982 & 1984, and my husband and I left there as a family in 1984 and moved to Vermont, USA, where we built a house and lived in a rural setting to raise the children, and I ran a dried flower business there for 12 years, and eventually went back to school.

In 2000 I earned a Master's degree in Management from Cambridge College in Springfield Massachussets, with a graduate level certificate in Organizational Development. For my Master's thesis I specialized in "Coaching as an Organizational Development Intervention". Coaching really caught my interest, and I started taking coaching clients on the side, and had a coaching practice for about two years.

In 2002 I met Eckhart Tolle and my old life ended and my new life began, and you can read more about that on other pages of this website.

In 2004 I became a student of Adyashanti's and ended up moving to the bay area of California from Vermont, where I still live at the time of this writing. I enjoy the companionship and support of the Open Gate Sangha, and the wonderful gathering place that the bay area is for people who are interested in spiritual matters.

Because of my experience of the first two years of my post awakening process having occurred in the backwoods of Vermont without such support, I seem to be particularly focused on providing spiritual support to others who are in isolated situations through telephone and internet contact.

"Awakeness Mentoring" grew out of looking beyond the coaching model that I practiced when I was younger, not being comfortable with coaching per se, and developing what did seem in resonance with my spiritual life and perspectives. I am particularly influence by Adyashanti, because I live near him and hear him talk all the time, and by Eckhart Tolle who was my initial awakener back in 2002.  The teachings of both of these individuals are certain to be incorporated into the method.  They have been important influences on my process.

Currently I am exploring the various modalities that people are using to work with what appears to me to be the roots of the whole separate self experience -- the emotional core parts of who we are that seem to so often be resisted and kept in the proverbial cellar or under the rug. It surprised me to find that, in spite of what we have been taught, these emotional roots in our personal self experience do not get taken care of by the awakening process alone. What does seem to address this deeply held material seems to be the embodiment process, where our circumstances bring us situations and relationships that bring this material to the surface for clearing. This is such intense material though, that it is not easy to be with it without some kind of a struture. I am currently exploring what is being used with success by others. It is one of the benefits of living in the Bay Area, having such a cultural and spiritual smogasborg to draw upon. I am currently feeling very impressed with the "Presence Process" by Michael Brown and I will add it to the recommended reading list.

Please be aware that Alice is not a psychotherapist, and therefore is not qualified to replace therapy with mentoring if you are dealing with mental illness conditions.

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