Elena Jdanova

Elena Jdanova was born in Russia - Soviet Union then, - and raised in an academic family. She graduated from Moscow State University with a degree in paleontology, while at the same time studying folk art, theater, Eastern philosophies, movement, and dance, including Indian Classical dance at the Indian Cultural Center in Moscow, Russia. When perestroika came, Elena became a dance teacher and a ceramicist. In 1991 she joined a California-based 4th Way spiritual group in hopes of freeing herself from deep depression and finding balance and meaning in life. Over the next 15 years, she practiced the 4th Way Gurdjiev-Ouspensky system, eventually starting a new life in the hills of rural Northern California with her husband. It took years to translate these life-changing experiences into a service, and a living, as she knew nothing about the "American way of life" while being hidden in the closed community of spiritual seekers. After leaving the group in 2006, Elena studied a variety of healing modalities and worked as a massage therapist at Wilbur Hot Springs. There at Wilbur, she started writing her first stories.