Join us for an afternoon of meditation, dialogue, and Q&A with this remarkable couple that has found a way to balance their careers with their inner passions, straddling continents and communities to discover an underlying wholeness that awakens the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Christine and Mathew embarked upon a 4,600 mile walk from the Southern tip of India to the northern most province of Kashmir almost two years ago.   The 500 day pilgrimage across India, called The Walk of Hope, was a journey led by the modern mystic and spiritual teacher,  Sri M with a goal of establishing peace and harmony within and across the various communities spanning the Indian subcontinent.  With core messages that included humanity’s intrinsic Oneness, interfaith harmony, women’s empowerment, education and youth development, community health, and sustainable living, the epic journey was marked with daily inter-faith prayers, meals, and meaningful dialogues with local and regional leaders.  Along the way, the couple connected more deeply with their roots and discovered a new meaning of how to be spiritual and active as a force for good in the world.


Having both grown up in the Christian Keralite church, spirituality, service, health & Ayurveda has been a key part of their lifelong journey.  Growing up, Mathew was fascinated with the Bhagavad Gita, Bible, and Quran, and kept pocket copies with him wherever he went. After studying mechanical engineering, Mathew worked in the oil fields of Saudi Arabia and learned how to live in the desert eating only dates! After working and traveling for some years in India and the Middle East, he moved to California where he further studied technology, the philosophies of the Masters of the East, and spent spare time serving the local homeless community. With a professional and personal gift and practice for literally drilling deep into the core of any subject to extract and analyze its constituent parts, he realized that true happiness was rooted in helping nurture life. Regardless of the situation, location or whether the help is material or spiritual, he finds great joy in sharing his abundance.

Christine grew up in a large extended family in Southern California and understands what it means when people say 'it takes a village'. Early in life she was exposed to Eastern philosophy through Paramahansa Yogananda’s teachings and was fascinated as it challenged the dominant world view she had experienced to that point. While attending an all girls Catholic high school, she took her first class on World Religions, which sparked her interest in understanding the similarities of many of the world’s spiritual paths and the message that ‘All are One’.  Later, she was inspired to study chemistry and eventually Ayurveda as a result of her grandmother’s remarkable knack for curing common health ailments with kitchen spices.  Her career as a clinical pharmacist remarkably afforded her the flexibility and opportunity to deepen her lifelong studies while pursuing a heart of service and spirituality.

A chance encounter some years ago lead them to learn of the modern yogi Sri M, author of Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master.  Shortly thereafter the couple heard he was in the Bay Area and managed to get a personal interview with him, where the question was literally how they could be of service to his work.  It was at this point that they learned of the upcoming pilgrimage, which had an instant resonance for them.  Putting their promising and lucrative careers on hold, the couple dived headlong into the project, and now can’t wait to go on their next pilgrimage!  In the meanwhile, they’ve been juggling life in the US with the dream of an Ayurveda center in India where sustainable living and natural health care can be more broadly available for all.

When:  Sunday, Sept 18th, 2016 -- 2pm - 5pm
Where: Berkeley, CA

Flow:
2pm:  Meditation
3pm:  Talk by Christine & Mathew
4pm: Q&A & light dinner
5pm: Informal time & closing

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