Alice Gardner

ALICE GARDNER found herself radically transformed after a retreat with spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle in October of 2002. This finished her 30 year spiritual search and was the beginning of a new and vital exploration about fully living the realization while in the very human moments of everyday life.

Alice's life-long spiritual calling has led her through many experiences including living at the Findhorn Foundation for seven years as a young woman where she married and had two children. She returned to rural New England with her family in 1984 and stayed there for 20 years raising her children, living close to the land and running a gardening business.

It was around 2000 when Alice discovered the teachings of Eckhart Tolle through his book The Power of Now which spoke to her deeply. She attended a retreat with Eckhart and was utterly changed by it in a way that was obviously the answer to all her prayers and spiritual yearnings. She found herself in a completely changed situation - everything was now perceived in an inside-out and upside-down way as compared to her previous life and Alice no longer knew how to live. This new life was what all the spiritual yearning had been for, but what to do now? She had no idea how to make decisions or navigate her daily life any more.

A teacher named Adyashanti stepped into this breach, and gave assistance and support with his teachings. In 2004, her children now grown, Alice moved to California, where she currently resides in the bay area.

Alice lives very much in the mainstream of modern life. She holds a Master of Management degree from Cambridge College, Massachusetts, and has worked as an academic administrator at educational institutions in Brattleboro, Vermont and currently is at Stanford, in California.

In 2003 Alice started a Web site called Wide Awake Living at www.wideawakeliving.com. It was a creative outlet for the poetry and other writings that came from her time of awakening. It is now enjoyed by a substantial mailing list of people from all over the world who subscribe to the monthly Wide Awake Living Newsletter.