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 Meet the Ordinary Women of Extraordinary Wisdom

After scrolling through the following short biographies, please visit our Links page for emails and web addresses for each of the women.

Chameli Ardagh  

So much of my life was about getting love,
there was so much longing for love.
Then to realize that that's what I'm made of,
that love is right here. Wow. It was a very simple realization and an experience of this big love.

Chameli was born in 1971 in Norway.  She came to America in 2001 and has since been co-teaching “The Deeper Love” seminars with her husband, Arjuna.  She is the founder of “The Temple Group Network,” an international network of women’s groups, and is passionately involved in the exploration of a more feminine-influenced spirituality.  She is the author of Come Closer:  Spiritual Awakening for the Feminine Heart, and co-author of The Temple Group Manual—Guidelines and Feminine Spiritual Practices.
 

 Muni Fluss 

We insist that we're asleep,
we insist that we don't know,
we insist that enlightenment lies outside of us,
and so we are always denying all of who we are.

Muni was born in Virginia in 1954. She lived in Europe and Africa as a child, returning to the U.S. in her teenage years.  She moved to California during her early 20’s where she met her husband and had her two children.  Muni now resides with her family in the mountains of British Columbia after emigrating to Canada in 1994.
 

 Gangaji 

This is the secret I really have to offer—
that we all can just be people,
and this is more extraordinary than any of us can know.
There is something huge in just being truly human. 

Gangaji, born in 1942 as Toni Roberson, grew up in Mississippi.  Gangaji was asked by Papaji to give satsang in 1990 and has since traveled all over the world offering her invitation to peace and fulfillment.  She is the author of The Diamond in Your Pocket: Discovering Your True Radiance, You Are THAT! Vol. I and II and Freedom and Resolve: The Living Edge of Surrender.  She recently moved to Ashland, Oregon where she lives with her partner of 30 years, Eli Jaxon-Bear. 
 

 Francie Halderman

I really wanted to know how this is lived,
how in the nitty-gritty, the business world,
parenting, relationships, in all aspects,
how is this lived?

Francie was born in California in 1963, the youngest of five children.  She grew up in Kentucky in what she describes as a blue collar family.  Trained as a nurse, she now works in a pain management practice in Philadelphia.  She was asked by Pamela Wilson to give satsang in 2003.

 

 Dorothy Hunt

This that we are is a mystery.
Everything is both an invitation to and an expression of that mystery.
There’s nothing that isn’t That.
It’s all That. This is That.

Dorothy was born in 1943, has practiced psychotherapy since 1965 and is the founder of the San Francisco Center for Meditation and Psychotherapy.  She is a teacher in the spiritual lineage of Adyashanti, serves as Spiritual Director of Moon Mountain Sangha, Inc. and is the author of Only This!  Dorothy is also the editor of Love:  A Fruit Always in Season, and a contributing author to both The Sacred Mirror:  Non-Dual Wisdom and Psychotherapy, and Listening from the Heart of Silence:  Non-Dual Wisdom and Psychotherapy, Vol. 2.  Dorothy lives with her husband in San Francisco; she’s a mother and a grandmother.
 

 Catherine Ingram

It was a release of madness or obsession with the story of my life,
my history, what was missing, what should be,
what might have been, all of those things.
It was a release of that internal demand
to make things better for myself.
And in its place was a deep appreciation for being alive
without asking for anything else.

Catherine, born in 1952 in Virginia, is the author of In the Footsteps of Gandhi (Parallax Press) and Passionate Presence (Penguin Putnam) and a novel called A Crack in Everything (Diamond Books, 2006).  Since 1992, she has led Dharma Dialogues and silent retreats and currently offers her work throughout the U.S., Europe, and Australia.  Formerly a journalist for twelve years, she specialized in issues of consciousness and activism and presently writes the Life Advice column for Alternatives journal in the Pacific Northwest.  Catherine is also founder and President of Living Dharma, an educational non-profit foundation dedicated to principles of dharma in both silence and action.
 

 Annette Knopp

The feminine principle is also about the evoking of beauty.
“She” is always present when someone decorates a house,
creates harmony or art. It is an overflow of the radiance of our hearts and the need to bring that out.
It is the reflection that says “everything is sacred.”

Annette was born in 1965 in Germany.  After circling the globe, she now splits her time between Costa Rica and upstate New York where she lives with her partner Stephan.  Annette travels worldwide, hosting Circles of Presence, her term instead of satsang, and Women’s Circles.
 

Sharon Landrith

Often there's still a thread that says
the “me” is going to get it,
the “me” is going to wake up.
And it just isn't true.
It actually wakes up out of the “me.”

 

Sharon was born in 1947 in a little town in Kansas.   She was asked by Adyashanti to give satsang in 2003.  Sharon lives in Crestone, Colorado with her husband and practices as a medical intuitive.  She has two children and two grandchildren.
 

Karen McPhee 

All the aspects of our human nature
are not only welcomed, but celebrated.
It’s enough of “just surviving,”
it’s time to dance!

Karen was born in 1962 in Nova Scotia.  For the past five years, Karen has been inspiring a growing number of people with her teachings of The Power of Now and sharing the essence and wisdom of her personal experience of living the awakened life.  Karen lives in Calgary where she shares her current message of fully claiming one’s inner teacher and relying on the truth and wisdom within.
 

Marlies Cocheret de la Moriniére

That's my passion, to shake everybody's booty,
to wake you up! Especially women.
Women need to take their seat.
They need to come into their power
or else nothing is going to change here.

Marlies was born in Amsterdam in 1959.  Now living in Santa Cruz, California, she offers satsang for both women and co-ed groups.  She also teaches sexual healing women’s retreats.  Marlies is trained as psychologist/counselor and in Hakomi, body-centered psychotherapy.
 

 Neelam

You don't need to wake up,
you don't need to be enlightened,
you don't need to be anything,
because you already are!
 

Neelam was born in Poland in 1963.  Her passion for t’ai chi took her to Germany and then to America.  In 1994, she traveled to India to be with Papaji—and to realize the truth of who she was.  In 1996, Papaji gave his blessing to Neelam to offer Satsang.   In 2003, she moved to Hotchkiss, Colorado where she is living and starting a community.   She travels extensively giving Satsang to small groups throughout Europe, India, and the States.
 

Pamela Wilson

I have these warm, fuzzy welcoming tendencies.
Each expression of being—sorrow or joy, regret or remorse—everything just wants to come sit with us.
Who we are is the heart of hearts.

Pamela was born in San Francisco in 1954.  She taught the Sedona method for six years and then discovered Advaita with Robert Adams.  Pamela had her recognition with Neelam in 1997 and started offering satsang shortly afterwards.  She currently lives in Santa Fe with her dog Honey when she isn’t on the road giving satsang in Europe, Central America, Canada and the U.S.

More Ordinary Women with Extraordinary Wisdom 

This ‘waking-up’ is happening all over the country, the world, and right in our backyard.  Here are a few more examples of this growing phenomenon, women whom I met and for various reasons, could not be included in the book.

Joi Sharp is a disciple of Mata Amritatandamayi (Ammachi). She spent 9 years living with Amma in her ashram in South India.  With Amma’s blessing she then lived for 2 years at Ramana Maharshi’s ashram. Joi was invited to start giving satsang by Pamela Wilson and with Amma’s instruction, she offers satsang weekly in her town of Ridgway, Colorado. 

Meike Schuett recognized the truth of being in 1998 when she entered the room where Isaac Shapiro was offering Satsang. Since then her life has been a celebration of the love affair with now. Originally from Germany, she now lives in Byron Bay, Australia when not traveling the world with Isaac, offering Meetings in Truth. She is available to all who are interested.

Moni Vangolen offers unraveling services to individuals and groups.  Her carefully knitted illusory self was unraveled with the guidance provided by two enlightened masters, one being Eckhart Tolle.  Her gatherings ~ Meetings in Stillness ~ are devoted to spiritual realization ~ being our True Self.  While grounded in Eckhart’s teachings from the many years spent closely in his presence and with his blessing, Moni teaches from direct experience of realization and what it is to embody and live this presence.  Recently she teamed up with her partner Tomas Stubbs, who had been sharing the Truth in Europe when they met.  They delight in holding meetings together in Vancouver, BC where they live and in other parts of Canada, USA, UK, France & Spain. 

Jeannie Zandi is a consultant, retreat leader, counselor, writer, poet
and mother whose passion is the recognition of our deepest being and its embodiment, which she calls Living as Love.  She holds an M.A. from
Naropa University in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology. Jeannie leads groups, retreats and works with people privately to support the unfolding of Love in everyday life, work, and play. She mediates, sings to, teases and flirts with the Divine in each for no other reason than it's her nature and joy. Jeannie is available locally in Taos and in various locations around the country.