Our backstory…
As the co-creators of this project, our friends often ask some version of, “how did you come up with this program?” In the late 2010s we were both having our own questing moments during the social and political turmoil of those years as well as facing the existential question, “now what?”
Decades earlier, both of us had enrolled in separate graduate psychology programs. And we had worked together professionally for many years facilitating workshops for people in business who were seeking more effective skills in their communication and cooperative endeavors.
(Betsy) After graduating in 1994 with a master’s degree in Applied Spiritual Psychology, I thought I had this topic covered and a piece of paper to prove it. Then an event changed everything. My aunt, who had also graduated with me from The University of Santa Monica, asked me, when she knew she was dying, to give her eulogy at her funeral. “You know - USM,” she whispered. After grasping at threads to figure out what she had been getting at, doing my best to represent her at her funeral, and wondering if I had accomplished what she wanted, I came home and began to pore over her university papers that I had inherited.
I started to tell David about my thoughts and my initial experience of lifting this veil from the complicated topic of “the soul.” I struggled for the words to explain my feelings, my inklings, and my suspicions about “life.” And what a joy—he knew what I was talking about, and he didn’t try to fix me. I’m a very disciplined person, but I would never have lasted on this journey had I not had a place to discuss my awakening with someone else. I had a lot of thoughts about thinking, my emotions were coming out in dreams, and the mystery and excitement in discovering a part of me, bigger and more expansive than I had known—well, it made all the difference when someone really listened. And since David was also examining his life, his being and soul, I was gaining from his experiences. We were soon talking about giving others a chance to look deeply into themselves and have a forum to talk about their whole selves, including their souls. Plus, creating a program exerted a light pressure on me to continue to grow into this world that, had I not examined, has always been with me—to find my way to access what I always suspected I had been missing.
(David) Though I’ve had many rich spiritual and religious experiences, my graduate work in clinical psychology didn’t show me how to unite psychology and spirituality—until I discovered Psychosynthesis. That framework has shaped my life and work as a psychotherapist, executive coach, and author, and I remain a persistent student of my own experience.
In the summer of 2022, while rehabbing from a bike crash, I noticed how quickly I blamed others for perceived inconveniences. Looking closer, I saw a reflex to brace and tighten whenever life got hard. I recognized the same constriction at home: impatience, quick judgments, and the assumption that my way was best.
The crash awakened a lazy self-awareness. I felt a clear call to change and committed to daily mindfulness—simply observing thoughts and feelings without getting swept away. That bit of distance created choice. I could be conscious of what I thought, felt, and did—and become less reactive.
I began to examine my habits. I’d assumed kindness from others would automatically produce kindness in me, and that others’ unkindness gave me permission to be a jerk. I had drifted from the values I cherish. Over the past year, while shaping this program with Betsy and rekindling my practices, I enrolled myself as “test subject #1,” applying every method we would teach.
The results have been tangible: more ease, more patience and compassion, and a renewed connection to essence and others. Staying true to this intention takes vigilance and humility, but it’s paying off with lots of joy.
Here we were—two friends trained in different branches of psychology, retired from our professional roles, and still curious about how to contribute and keep growing. We considered creating new programs on social justice, communication, spirituality. But one question kept returning: what if the heart of this work is psychological—in the original, fuller sense of the word?
The Greek word psyche can mean breath, life, and soul. In myth, Psyche becomes an emblem of the soul itself. For millennia, this wider view held human experience as both inner and outer, measurable and mysterious. In more recent centuries, psychology has increasingly focused on what can be observed and quantified—valuable, yes, but often leaving questions of meaning, belonging, and inner freedom to the arts or religion.
Against the backdrop of growing political, racial, and social polarization—and with the perspective that comes from more candles on the cake—we found ourselves in a series of “what if” conversations. They drew on the inner work each of us had been doing for years, and on a shared sense of calling. We wanted to explore something that neither of us had fully ventured into alone.
Through countless conversations, self-experiments, study (books, talks, and more), and a good deal of soul-searching, we’ve found our appreciation for everyday life deepening—on the good days, which seem to come more often, and on the days when life feels turbulent. We know this is lifelong work, and that we still have much to learn. We’re grateful to share what we’ve discovered so far, and to continue learning alongside you—trusting that your exploration will shape ours as well.
We found that the key capacity for this work is the ability to step outside ourselves for a moment and look back with an observer’s clarity. A daily mindfulness practice helped us build that momentum—and that’s why it’s an essential part of the program.
“There are an infinite number of ways to practice mindfulness skillfully, and many different teachers and teachings to learn from. All are ultimately different doors into the very same room—the room of open-hearted human awareness. That awareness is a form of intelligence—an unrecognized superpower really. It is always here, always available to tap into, maybe even to take up residency in for extended stretches of time. Then life itself becomes the real meditation practice.”
Jon Kabat-Zinn