First I
want you two to give a summary of what life was like before you met each other.
Harriet: How can
one summarize a life? Here's my best shot: My life was at 90% before meeting
Adam. Although 90% is an awesome score
for a life, I remained a bit detached, feeling as though I was missing
something, but not sure what it was.
Adam: My life is
this gloriously beautiful and intricate spiral; growing, unfolding,
blossoming. It took me places I never
dreamed of and beyond, and due to the nature of my journey, one of the first
things that I learned was how to be happy and complete within myself. This is something that I think everyone
should learn how to be, regardless of our different roads and stories. While I am whole within myself, I always
hoped that I would get to experience the completion of my energy by finding
someone to share it with. I had somewhat
grown into the notion that this was not going to happen, and stopped looking,
and that is exactly when the universe will surprised me.
How we met,
how we fell in love and how we ended up creating a business together (3 parts)
I. How We
Met
Harriet: How much
time do you have? Let's see...it started with a commute to Denver for a
Match.com date in March 2010. The date
didn't go quite as "planned" (whatever that meant to me at the time),
so I visited a local yoga studio, Vital Yoga.
I enjoyed the studio so much I got on their newsletter.
Fast forward to March 2012. immediately after I'd added
"International Yoga Retreat" to my physical bucket (http://pinterest.com/pin/10273905370120114/) that I'd
given myself for Christmas, and I see an email from a "Kindness
Yoga." I didn't recognize the name,
so I nearly deleted it, thinking it was a part of the stream of 100 spams I get
per day. Something made me open the
email and I realized the adorable "Vital Yoga" studio in Denver, had
changed names to become "Kindness Yoga." I barely made it to the
contents of the newsletter, because my eyes were drawn to the side column where
I saw "Don Miguel Ruiz in Costa Rica! Dec 3-10,
2012." My heart froze. I love Don Miguel Ruiz, but I hate the
beach. For some reason though, I felt I
needed to be there. So I called the
number listed and nervously asked if space was still remaining on the Don
Miguel trip. "Ummm, it's over 9
months away, yes. You're good.
Adam: During the year of 2012, I experienced a glorious
renaissance; the rapid and exponential growth I experienced during this time
was incredible. One of the things that
unfolded from this was a new business created with my partner. Among other things, this business provided a
base for me to begin sharing my energy work and healing with the community.
I received a call from a
friend, asking me to attend a meeting about sharing my healing at a yoga
retreat that was happening at Sugar Beach Hotel. I remember the retreat from the last year, it
was with Don Miguel Ruiz, and two of my neighbors shared their Reiki with the
group. I was happy to be invited, and
even happier for the chance to share my gifts with others.
I composed a flier that
shared my picture, my history, and a description of my healing art. People began to sign up for healing sessions
with me, and I excitedly obliged. I
touched many people very deeply, helped them see themselves and their choices
clearly, and helped them see how to empower themselves and move forward in the
direction they want to go in life.
On the third day of
healings, I was making my way to the guesthouse of my next client. Being a wizard myself, and having no concept
of time, I arrived exactly when I needed to, precisely when I meant to. I reached forward to knock on the door, and
the instant before my knuckles hit the wood, the door was pulled open. What I found inside made me cock my head
slightly to the side, smile, and think ‘OH!’
What greeted me was a beautiful woman, and I was instantly aware of our
connection and the potential it entailed.
With no attachment, I thought, ‘how exciting, let’s see where this
goes!’
II. How we Fell in Love
Harriet: Quickly, easily, undeniably and deeply
Adam: Yes.
III. How we started a business together
Harriet: Our talk of
having a business together doing retreats started by about day 2. I think we came up with the name right around
Christmas, after I’d given him a massage while wearing a onesie. There’s a deep
meaning as to how we arrived at the name “Gateway Explorations,” but that’s
another story...
Adam: It was such a passive, easy, and
obvious transition. We both had the same
intent, were both heading the same direction, and now we had each found the
partner that we had been looking for to accomplish it with.
It seems
you two embody the promise of "true happiness is through exploration and
following your heart!" Tell us some of your adventures.
Harriet: During my
first healing with Adam, I had a vision that I was barefoot, pregnant, married
and living in Costa Rica with him. This
was 20 min after we met. I freaked at
what I’d seen and realized I had a choice right then. Do I return to my 90% awesome life in
Utah? Or do I go for the 100% with
Adam? I chose to go for it.
Adventures: A few of many: meeting Adam’s entire family in
Chicago for Christmas 17 days after we’d met, effecting the power at the
Superbowl with just our conversation, Adam proposing to me in a trailer park in
Colorado, and me being able to witness him changing the life of everyone he
encounters. He’s the most remarkable,
interesting, brilliant, romantic, timeless, funny and kind man I’ve ever met,
so every day is a bit of an adventure in itself with him. I’m lucky.
Adam: Every
single moment is an adventure, no matter what it looks like. We can be hiking up a mountain towards an
energy spot hidden in the jungle, or going to the store to buy some eggs. Every moment is saturated with love,
overflowing, and this makes the seemingly mundane moments, and even the moments
of transition, beautiful.
Gateway
Explorations in my opinion is not just about yoga and spa package vacation, it
seems to be the answer to one’s higher calling.
Harriet: Gateway
Explorations was founded as a way for us to create a life together in Costa
Rica, utilizing my networking capabilities from my yoga community, Facebook
& my Spa in Park City, UT. The
business is rooted in love. What we can
offer for our guests is boundless. I’m
excited to see all the directions it takes.
We’ll soon be expanding into healthy lifestyle trips for singles,
couples, massage workshops, and unique self-empowerment trips.
The yoga is just a small but treasured area of focus for
Gateway Explorations. Each of our
Ceremonies will have a yoga component to them, but the yoga will be among the
myriad of means to enjoy yourself every day.
Adam: Yes, it is
about finding oneself, one’s excitement, and learning how to act upon these
things. It is a ceremony, a week long
gathering with a constant intent, where we all put our energy in the direction
of being ourselves completely and growing into wholeness.
Yoga, the beach, the connections, and the incredibly relaxed
and supportive atmosphere all facilitate the growth into love and gratitude.
What’s the
purpose of Gateway Explorations
Harriet: To help
people connect in interesting & meaningful ways.
Adam: To promote
coherence between the internal and external environment of a person, to heal
the universe into wholeness by healing ourselves.
What
services do you offer and what types of relationships do you build with the
people you meet along the way.
Harriet: A
relationship begins the moment someone contacts us to inquire about a
trip. I enjoy hearing the perceived
resistance people come up with, “I wish I could but I don’t have the money...”
I then help them work through why they don’t think they have money and what
they’re doing to change that. It’s about
helping people see through the eyes of abundance, rather than scarcity.
Adam: I don’t
believe there are different types of relationships. I believe there are relationships,
connections that span an entire spectrum.
The nature of these relationships may change within our lives, and may
cover different levels within this connection.
It is my intent to help show that with every connection that we make,
with every person that we meet, we are once again meeting a long lost friend
that we have known for our entire existence.
Both of you
seem to be spirit and science explorers. Explain your daily routine.
Harriet: I get up
naturally between 5-6am, I make my Chia Seed shake, make my coffee, take my dog
out (or try and get Adam’s dogs out of bed) and wait for Adam to get up,
probably 3-4 hours later. We then spend
the day coming up with new ideas on who knows what, finding better ways to do
something and having breakthroughs of various sorts. That’s an average day. I’m a Type A Yogi who LOVES business and networking. Adam is the wizard scientist. We’re a perfectly flexible yin yang blend
together.
Adam: I have no routine. I have intents that I hold every day,
disciplines that I do, but I do not force that into any set routine, I let it
unfold naturally. I will live in the
moment, and my excitement or awareness will bring me to a particular
activity. By doing nothing, everything
that I intend gets accomplished in its own time and its own rate. Sometimes this infuriates Harriet, who likes
schedule and definitive answers.
How did you
first come to awakening?
Harriet: First, I
had to die and come back. That happened
when I was 16. It’s been a slow journey
of taking back and realizing my power
ever since. Going to massage school certainly helped, along with all the
extreme heart breaks and happiness that I had along the way. I’ve had a few wake up calls since then that
involved various injuries and close calls...the Universe kept trying to get my
attention.
Adam: We are all
already awake, already enlightened. What
changes is our awareness and acceptance of this fact. We manifest infinite, although many of us are
conditioned and programmed with a certain belief structure, a way to think and
perceive our universe, and the choices to make in certain situations. What many of us must do is start to rid
ourselves of these thought patterns and choices that create resistance within
our lives. Catalysts come along the way
and help us move through this process, sometimes much faster than we are
prepared for. Personally, a death
experience gave me the chance to do a complete reset and shed myself of a lot
of unnecessary thought patterns in my life.
Do you
remember when you realized you were infinite beings?
Harriet: I’ve gotten
glimpses of connection to myself throughout my career as a massage therapist. I
quickly realized my massage was different and my ability to connect and work on
people went far deeper than the muscles.
I began to embrace massage as a two-way sacred energy exchange. Slowly over the years I’ve taken more time
for yoga and meditation, and therein began to seek some some bigger and more
difficult questions about my purpose, visions & dreams. I knew Don Miguel Ruiz would have the answer
for me in Costa Rica that December, so I booked my ticket so that I could ask
him in person, “How do you say YES to Love? I need the bullet points
please...”
Adam: I think it would be better to ask
when it was that we forgot, and then remembered. I was aware I was infinite as a young child,
and thought that everyone else was aware of this as well. Through the constant formation and erosion by
society and institutions, I lost sight of this fact. I didn’t realize how much until one day I
didn’t know how I had gotten to the place I was. So I changed directions and began to get
things out of the way of the awareness of my infinite nature again.
Explain a
favorite meditation or healing practice you do in your life.
Harriet: Every
night, Adam and I go through the day and tell each other stuff we noticed and
loved. It’s such a gift. Adam also has a
way of just looking at me and I melt, bringing me back into the ceremony me of
the NOW. So that leads into another of
my favorite practices with him: “the meditation on worry”. It goes something like this:
“I’m feeling stressed about Zona (my dog) coming to costa
rica”
“Is there anything you can do to help Zona right now babe?”
“No.”
“Then be here now and look at the beauty around us.”
“Sheesh. Fine”
Adam is amazing.
Adam: One of my favorite intents is ‘show me what I
need to see.’
Who were
your inspirational teachers and gurus along the way?
Harriet: My dad, my
dogs, my successes, my failures, She-Ra, Malcolm Gladwell, Elizabeth Gilbert
and Don Miguel Ruiz.
Adam: In addition to many spirit guides
and ascended beings, every single moment and every single interaction has
shaped me on my path to wholeness.
Any plans
for the future? Where will the two of you be going in 2014 and beyond? Any
goals or missions?
Harriet: Adam helps
remind me that today and the NOW is all we have, so I try to focus there. 2014
is pretty far away, so who knows where we’ll be. As my Zona dog is headed to Costa Rica to
meet Adam’s dogs next month, I believe our roots are planting deeper there. If
you’d asked me a year ago if I’d be with the love of my life, living in Costa
Rica and starting a new company with him, I probably would have smiled and
thought, “how exciting! but doubtful.”
And look at where I am.
Adam: To infinity, and beyond! Who knows what it will look like. I hold the intent, don’t worry about the how,
and am then amazed by what unfolds.
Do you
believe you can help people see & open to themselves more clearly?
Harriet: Yup. By just being ourselves and being in love.
Adam: Of course, but only if one chooses
and allows themselves to open.
Explain
your favorite healing practice.
Harriet: Working on
Adam is my favorite healing practice. I
heal myself by helping him. It goes both
ways.
Adam: Being in the now moment, connected
to Earth energies and open to the cosmos and high vibrational energy. I also love to invoke/feel/be unconditional
love, gratitude, peace, joy, and abundance. And of course being with Harriet.
Share a
unique life lesson with us/experience
Harriet: I’ve been
through a lot that’s tested me for sure. From moving to a new town when I was
young, to nearly losing my life in 1994, to moving out of the house while in
high school, to having multiple shoulder surgeries from Kayaking, to breaking
my back rock climbing, to traveling the world with sports teams doing massage,
to traveling Asia by myself, to getting beautiful tattoos, to hunting down Dr.
Wayan (Eat Pray Love) in Ubud Bali, to
knocking out 4 of my front teeth with a ski pole, to falling in love with Yoga
and letting it save my life.
The day before I met Adam, I sat down with Don Miguel Ruiz in
Costa Rica and asked him how do I say
Yes to Love. He told me to say Yes to
myself first. So I went back to my room and wrote down what I loved about
myself and my life, then realized I needed to make some tough changes when I
got home. I needed to clear some
energy, so I went for a walk around the resort, and found Adam’s sign-in sheet
in the lobby of our hotel. “Chakra Clearing and Energy Balancing” and he had an
11am spot open the next day. Perfect,
Just what I needed to help me along my journey.
I quickly realized that my connection with Adam was the 10%
that I was missing. But more
importantly, that 10% turned out to be 100% of everything I needed in a perfect
partner...
The Lesson: (1) Trust the perfection of the universe and (2)
never forget the pleasure of the journey (3) If you get a chance to change your
life, take it...it just might change your life.
And if it does change your life, let it happen :)
Adam: Fortune favors the bold. You will never achieve all of your dreams and
beyond if you never take the chance and choose to make choices in that
direction.
