Caren Prentice

I began meditating in 1972 and although it made me feel better, I struggled to establish a consistent meditation practice.  Each year my new year’s resolutions included “Meditate!” in the top three (vying with lose weight and exercise for #1).

During the 80’s and 90’s as I juggled career, family, and eventually became a stay-at-home-mom to our four kids, I continued to study different traditions and techniques but I didn’t want to be identified as a Buddhist or a Yogi or an anything. I just wanted to feel less angry, and frustrated. I wanted my vision of who I was and the reality of how I was acting to align.

So, I continued looking for answers. I studied Christianity, Buddhism, Yoga, and Judaism, Native American… the list goes on.  This search lead to me helping to found a non-profit dedicated to exploring and learning about the different paths to transformation. (We closed it doors in May of 2012 after seven years of great exploration and learning.)

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The turning point came in 1998 when I found a technique that I actually practiced regularly and it began to transform both me and my relationships. Several years later I found a living teacher of that technique who simply said,

“Try this. If it works, use it. If it doesn’t, don’t.”

Really?

Someone not trying to indoctrinate me but encouraging me to find what worked for me?

Such relief.

And this is the tradition of teaching I try to carry on.