OK this is a short introduction to who we are so you’ll have some idea if you think we can help you.

We’re in our 70s now, a little long in the tooth and we’ve been around (and around) and seen a lot. But they say philosophers, and I guess that’s us, reach their peak in their 80s,  so we’re getting there.

Amy and I met in the 1970’s in England. It was the heyday of the New Age cultural explosion. It was all there, sex, drugs and rock and roll. The Beatles introduced us to the Maharishi and the mysteries of India and along with that – Gurdjieff, Zen, Tibetan Buddhism, Taoism, I Ching and all the wonderfully exotic practices of Asia as well as the energy arts of yoga, tai chi, chi gong, aikido, and so on.

A lot of the attraction was to the glamour of the strange and unusual but there was also a sense that they had something we didn’t have. I grew up with the Church of England, an uninspiring and dull teaching of obedience and social conformity. Amy was sort of Jewish. I mean her parents were Jewish but what did that mean apart from bagels lox and a few Yiddish phrases?

The whole system was coming under attack – thank goodness.

There were home-grown changes as well – Anti-psychiatry, Humanistic Psychology, Human Potential Movement, Gestalt and other alternatives all looking to unlock the secrets of the mind and help us realize our true unbounded nature.

We were not to be adjusted, and made boringly acceptable. We were something vital and alive that could soar to the stars.

We loved it, were like kids let loose in a candy store and we ate it all up. Much of what we tried didn’t taste too good or had no real substance. From time to time we got taken for a ride by the glitzy packaging and so we learned our lesson, picked ourselves up and carried on.  We got inoculated against the bullshit and could recognize it more and more easily. Also we had each other as reality checks. “Hon, do you REALLY think this Hubbard fellow is the only one who has all the answers to the universe?” And then you take what is good and leave the rest behind.

We traveled the world learning Tai Chi from Master Loo Chi Hu in New Zealand and Kim Green in the UK, Zen from Robert Aitken Roshi, Tibetan Buddhism from Lama Sonam Tenzin in Hawaii, Reiki from Master Greg Ford, and the teachings of Maharaj in Advaita.

We wrote books together on the I Ching, Bio-Rhythms and the Tao Te Ching.

We renovated properties and generally had a good time hanging out and doing what we enjoyed doing. Amy’s parents and my mother (my dad died when I was 22) shook their heads at our vague and irresponsible lifestyle.

Amy’s son Charlie is a great guy – he approved.

We learned different techniques such as NLP, TAT, TFT, EFT, BSFF, Now Healing, Quantum Psychology, Quantum Touch, Chinese Energetics, Core Transformation, Matrix Energetics, Focusing, Open Focus and so on. There is so much out there. (In later articles we’ll give our review of these methods. It might be helpful.)

Over time we came to be well practiced in those therapies and meditations that worked best for us and which we felt embodied the principles we had found, through long experience, to be common to all truly workable techniques.

Now we’re older and grayer and, when we look back at it, quite a bit wiser. We’ve settled in a small town (Truth or Consequences) in New Mexico. The air is clear, everything is five minutes away and the locals are friendly. We have a house (West Riverside Retreat) on the banks of the Rio Grande and our own hot mineral well giving us the healing waters that for thousands of years before us were sacred to the Apaches.

For the last nine years I was a therapist at the Behavioral Health Center of the local hospital – while Amy taught Tai Chi and continued our private practice. I retired from the hospital in 2013 and now we’re working together again ‘ just the way we like it.

It’s been a great trip and it still is a great trip. We love what we do or we wouldn’t be doing it.

If you feel we can help you give us a call and we’ll chat on the phone for a bit and by then we should have some idea if we are a good fit for each other.

All the best,

Rod and Amy.

P.S.

DISCLAIMER

Amy and Roderic Sorrell are ministers and pastoral counselors in the Church of Healing Energy. All the services offered on this site are part of their pastoral counseling ministry.