‘My three sessions with Ana are still a source of amazement to me.
The first astonishing thing is that I consulted her informally, in a moment of professional crisis, not knowing of her work at all. We were assisting in the kitchen during a Buddhist meditation retreat and I was in deep struggle over my job as a theater director in San Francisco.
I knew that Ana was a successful business woman and since this was a personnel crisis (on the most immediate and superficial level) I asked her for advice. I had to return a phone call to a confused and angry employee the next morning and I was wracked with guilt and self-blame over the way I had handled the situation thus far. From Ana I expected, if anything, commiseration, and hopefully examples of how she had handled similar situations, or what she might have done in my situation; and how she would handle the things that I had so “messed up” thus far.
Instead, Ana dried her hands and closed her eyes and opened to her own intuitive self . I can’t remember if we were even touching, but I felt this rumbling sensation inside me; a complex sensation of being both actively shaken up and simultaneously, deeply calmed and certain. I immediately accessed a deeper place in myself, which could identify this issue at a level I had not expected to work.
Standing in the kitchen, Ana and I were pressed for time, a new meditation session was about to begin. But she made time to address a few things with me immediately: that I actually knew what this crisis was about, that she would help me come to a strategy for the next morning’s phone call, and reassurance that my goal was to benefit both myself and other people.
Later that day, in what I would call “Session 2” – Ana guided me in diving through a pile of floating garbage about guilt, self-blame, self-fixation and then a deeper level of angers and resentments which the first layer was hiding, into a clear water deeper down. I understood where I and my co-workers stood in relation to each other and was able to grasp at (if not fully reclaim) the original sense which we all shared about the importance of our theatrical work and our shared commitment to it. Ana helped me to develop the very words I would use in the dreaded conversation to come, and concentrate on a very few things that needed to be said, rehearsing saying them so I could practice feeling when I was sliding off the throughline into either inappropriate apology or evasion, and readjust.
The next morning, the phone call, although no picnic, went much better than I could have imagined or certainly than it would have without my consultations with Ana.
My third session with Ana was a wrap-up reflective session. Changes from emotional revelations were still rolling like after-shocks within me. Ana helped me understand that this was both a success and a beginning in my bringing my professional life into balance with (in my case) Buddhist beliefs and practices. We took time to celebrate the success of the telephone call, and kept a vigilant eye on how I was already undoing some of the good work I had done by lapsing into self-judgment and blame of others.
As for long range results, these have also been quite astonishing. I ended up keeping the “difficult” employee – who is quite a fantastic artist at the design work she does. Her interpretation of what happened between us (“what went wrong”) is not the same as what I came to with Ana. However, the working relationship altered completely. She now keeps me in the loop about all decisions, checks in regularly while we are collaborating, and demonstrates and thus has fostered a keen respect for me in the team she hires. Both personally and artistically, things have improved for both of us, and our latest production was very successful – and she garnered special mentions in reviews for her design work – which was something she craved.
My work, on bringing my professional self as a theater director into alignment with my spiritual values, continues. Even in three informal sessions, Ana provided me with a basis and support for contacting and trusting my own intuitive self that I have used throughout my last working season. Several people who have worked with me before mentioned that they found working with me much simpler than previously – that I expressed what I wanted, and showed less hesitancy in making decisions, even unpopular ones. They, of course, found this hugely relieving, because a “boss” that does the “boss’s work” left them freer to do their own.
I would encourage anyone in complex business relations to seek working sessions with Ana. Her ability to combine business sense with intuitive work is completely unique and immediately helpful.’ Carolyn Myers, Theatre Director San Francisco