BEING TRUE JULIE KRAMER (left) and TAMI SIMON Photo: Andrew Young A Modern Love Story David GOLDBERG If you have enjoyed listening to lessons in mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh; learning about the latest findings in the body, mind and spirit connection with Dr. Andrew Weil; or watching a video on walking meditation, you have likely encountered the work of Sounds True, the multimedia company that founder and CEO Tami Simon started 30 years ago with a tape recorder, a $50,000 inheritance and a dream to create the CNN of spirituality. 14 Science of Mind AUGUST 2015 ScienceOfMind.com
By 2001, Simon s company was known to spiritual seekers around the globe. The Sounds True brand was the go-to place whether you wanted to learn yoga, unleash your kundalini energy or simply light a candle and sing sacred chants. Yet for Simon, there was something missing. For try as she might, she could not find a way to integrate these spiritual teachings into the life of the one person in her world who needed it most: herself. Simon s own transformation began not as one might expect in a quiet altar room in the gentle glow of candlelight but at a time when the whole world had erupted in pain, sorrow and chaos. Just a few days before the tragedy of 9/11, Simon was attending a conference at the Hollyhock Retreat Center on Cortes Island in British Columbia when she met Julie Kramer, a native of Vancouver. The conference culminated with the Island Rhythm band playing at a dance party. At the party, Kramer walked directly up to Simon and said, I find you absolutely stunning. A few sentences later, she declared that the two would be spending the rest of their lives together. The pragmatic Simon acknowledged Kramer s comments with a measured response: OK, before we make any decisions, maybe we should get to know each other a little better first. The more they got to know each other, the more the connection intensified. Two days after the conference ended, Simon was scheduled to interview world-renowned spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle, who lives in Vancouver. It turned out to be the morning of 9/11. The interview proceeded as planned and the recording from that day became the classic Sounds True program Even the Sun Will Die. Flights were canceled in the aftermath of 9/11 and Simon was unable to return to her Colorado home, so she and Kramer ended up spending almost a week together in British Columbia. It was during that time that it became apparent to both of them that their lives were taking a dramatic turn. As Kramer predicted, they would be spending it together. By the time Simon was able to leave British Columbia, the couple had essentially decided that Kramer would move to Colorado. Six weeks later, Canadian-born Kramer and her beloved dog Jasmine had packed up and were on their way to a new life in the shadow of the other Rocky Mountains, the Colorado Rockies. ScienceOfMind.com AUGUST 2015 Science of Mind 15 15
A MODERN LOVE STORY (CONTINUED) Photo: Emily Goodman Kramer (left) is proud to stand next to her soulmate, Simon. Here the two appear at the Sounds True Wake Up Festival in San Francisco. A SPIRITUAL UNIVERSITY WITHOUT WALLS Simon remembers always having an overabundance of angst as an adolescent and young adult. I was constantly searching for meaning in my life. As she was completing high school, she thought that studying philosophy was the best way to find her place in the world. However, her college teachers and mentors were in agreement that she really belonged in the religion department. Simon made the shift and found herself drawn to the mystics. Gunapala Dharmasiri, a Fulbright scholar from Sri Lanka and a professor in Swarthmore College s religion department, introduced the concept of the Three Marks of Existence during a class called Buddhism and Existentialism. That really rang true for me, Simon says. In Buddhism, the Three Marks of Existence describe the nature of conditioned existence and are the characteristics shared by all sentient beings namely that 16 Science of Mind AUGUST 2015 ScienceOfMind.com
all things are impermanent, secondly, that there is no solid self (since everything is changing) and thirdly, that suffering results from clinging to the illusion of permanence. As part of being introduced to Buddhist philosophy, Simon was also introduced to the practice of meditation. For Simon, discovering meditation was a turning point. She traveled to Sri Lanka and finally found a way to relate to herself in a way that was deeply nourishing. Upon returning to the United States, Simon chose not to return to college but rather to seek out other Buddhist practitioners in Boulder, Colorado, where Naropa University, the first Buddhist university, had been founded. Shortly thereafter, her father died. Determined to continue her spiritual education and armed with only a tape recorder, Simon began interviewing spiritual teachers she found interesting. When her father died, she received an inheritance that enabled her to create the infrastructure that would form the basis of Sounds True. Simon tapped into a bigger vision: sharing what she was learning on a large scale. I really had no background in nor was I interested in business, she says matter-of-factly. But my guiding light was to disseminate spiritual wisdom. Seventeen years later, Sounds True became a multimillion dollar business, twice named by Inc. magazine as one of the 500 fastest growing privately held companies in America. Even with all of the outward appearances of success, Simon confides that she wasn t as fulfilled in other areas of her life. Up to that point in my life, I hadn t been in a primary relationship that worked and I wanted to devote more time to my spiritual journey. As part of that life-changing week in Canada, Kramer asked Simon a question. You like to talk about spiritual transformation more than anyone I ve ever met. What I want to know is when you re actually going to start doing it? What Julie was inferring was right, Simon says. I knew a lot of stuff in my head and that s exactly what it was. It was head knowledge. I hadn t integrated what I knew to be true into my daily life. As part of our deciding to share our lives together, I really had no background in nor was I interested in business. But my guiding light was to disseminate spiritual wisdom. ScienceOfMind.com AUGUST 2015 Science of Mind 17 17
A MODERN LOVE STORY (CONTINUED) I rededicated myself to my interior life and it s made a world of difference in all aspects of who I am. Our relationship is now my top priority and the center of my life. I had to learn how to give myself fully in order to have the kind of partnership I wanted. Kramer was a year into her discovery of shamanism when she met Simon. Almost 14 years later, her focus is on training shamanic healers. She specializes in long-term training programs, including a three-year shamanic practitioner training that concluded in May with more than 20 students. The students learned how to connect with compassionate helping spirits, as well as the shamanic healing techniques of divination, soul retrieval, transfiguration, extraction, cord cutting and more. Long-term training provides students with an opportunity to practice their shamanic skills and further their understanding within a safe container that fosters depth, community, consistency and accountability. It s my favorite way to teach. Kramer says. THE CALLING OF OUR HEART I am grateful that we can practice the calling of our hearts openly and safely as spiritual practitioners, and as a same-sex couple, Kramer says. It is a tremendous privilege to pursue that which calls us openly, passionately and safely for the greater good of all, as well as on behalf of those who can t do so because of their life circumstances. Simon and Kramer had been together 11 years when Boulder began issuing licenses for same-sex couples wanting civil unions. On May 1, 2013, they joined dozens of other couples waiting in line for their license. They were joined together at the stroke of midnight. One of my main life lessons is to be true to myself, in my relationship with Julie and with everyone and everything in my life. That starts with telling myself the truth 18 Science of Mind AUGUST 2015 ScienceOfMind.com
It was a proud moment for us, both personally and collectively, says Kramer. On a personal level, I was overjoyed to be able to make a further commitment to Tami. As a group, we shared the experience of celebrating our queer identity together, which was incredibly moving and empowering. The guidance that I receive from my helping spirits is a source of direction and unconditional love, Kramer continues. It thrills me every time I have the chance to help another person contact their own helping spirits and begin to access the wisdom and insight that are so readily available. Kramer is currently finalizing plans for her next long-term training, which she plans to offer in Boulder, Colorado, beginning in January of next year. Simon says, One of my main life lessons is to be true to myself, in my relationship with Julie and with everyone and everything in my life. That starts with telling myself the truth and allowing all of the truths in, getting to the truth, and looking for what s true and following it. Simon is creating her first audio book, Being True: What Matters Most in Work, Life and Love, which will be released by Sounds True next year. My primary focus at this point is the depth and quality of my relationships with Julie, with all of my colleagues at Sounds True and with everyone else in my life, says Simon. z WHAT S TRUE FOR YOU? Take a look at your life your work, your relationships, your spiritual beliefs, your home, your car, your surroundings. ARE THINGS THE WAY YOU TRULY WANT THEM TO BE? Simon has said, My current perspective is that spiritual transformation is a universal process (one journey). No one can own it. However, the universal becomes real for us when it has a voice, a name, a particular expression. We discover the universal through the particular and then we can appreciate all particulars as expressions of the universal. WHEN YOU FIND WHAT HEALS YOU, YOU HEAL THE WORLD. ScienceOfMind.com AUGUST 2015 Science of Mind 19 19