July Founder's Letter
July 2022
Dear Friends,
This video made me cry and not because I am sad.
Would you call yourself a spiritual person? It’s something I want to talk about and often struggle to find the words. For years, my husband and I have supported a series we founded at The Aspen Institute called the Mind, Body, Spirit series, but we rarely ever speak of spirit there. It is still taboo. It is still “woo woo”. It is for yogis and hippies and burnouts, right?
For me, spirituality is everything I believe in and everything I know to be true. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. When we remember that and speak and act from that place, we can heal the brokenness we see in our world; it is literally the antidote to destruction and despair.
Our next speaker at our Mind, Body, Spirit Series Aug. 3 is all about science and spirit and I couldn’t be more excited to introduce her to you. In the deepest part of my heart, in all my longing and yearning to know and be known, I have never felt such resonance with something as I have with Dr. Lisa Miller’s work. Her work is the scientific basis for all of Lead with Love. It helps me to further understand my love of yoga, meditation, spiritual psychology and, of course, group hugs!
Please watch this video Lead with Love produced to help clarify Dr. Miller’s message. It is the best way to get to know her work. Listen to what she is saying! Look at what her brain scans have proven!
When I watched this video, I immediately started to cry. This is a good thing. This is what happens when I hear Truth or when I know I am speaking Truth. It is profound and touches a cord inside that resonates when there is knowing. It’s not sad. It’s real and that is so refreshing in a world that is becoming ever more superficial and cynical. We need this right now.
Please take a moment to listen to this message that proves what I think many of us who are part of the Lead with Love community already know. Let me know what you think. How does it make you feel? Does it resonate? Are you feeling it too?
You can see Dr. Miller speak in person as part of our Murdock Mind, Body, Spirit Series at The Aspen Institute on August 3. Tickets will go on sale July 20th.
Dr. Miller proved what I learned through many years of struggle, fear and loneliness. She figured out how to take MRI pictures of the “Spiritual Brain”, to prove that those of us with a spiritual orientation to life have something of a superpower that creates resilience and joyfulness in life. The “Spiritual Brain” is the antidote to the diseases of despair that plague our societies. The great news: this superpower is innate in every one of us, we all have the capacity for spiritual awareness; it can be developed or discovered if we’re not familiar with it yet; it is magnified by sharing it, and it is NOT religion.
I think it’s important to claim a definition of spirituality, like Dr. Miller does in her work, that is completely open and autonomous. One can be spiritual and religious, or one can just be spiritual and not religious. It doesn’t matter what you call it or how you practice it.
For me, spirituality is exploring all the ways I can experience, cultivate and share love. Personally, I think God is Love. I found a sense of spirituality through my struggle with infertility, through letting go and ultimately surrendering my life, finally realizing I am not in control. Even though I finally had identical twins, the greatest miracle and joy of all time, the spiritual awareness I got from that journey is even more valuable to me.
I orient my life through resonance. When Deepak Chopra came to my house back in 2014 and looked out at the picturesque city of Aspen and shared his vision to prove the effectiveness of meditation, yoga and the ayurvedic lifestyle with the masses thorough science I felt the excitement and I wanted to be involved. When he suggested we make Aspen an example, a “City of Wellbeing”, I felt that resonance. I felt the tingling of possibility that we could create something of a model in this little mountain town that could shift the trajectory of our planet from destruction to healing. I believed in it then and I still do. I know it is true that the more people that practice yoga and meditation and eat healthy, nourishing food the more we will have a peaceful, just, sustainable planet.
Today, I feel that same resonance with Dr. Miller’s work. It is Truth. For the first time we are able to see the spiritual brain, to understand that people who have a spiritual orientation to life are more resilient, healthy and well. People who are well create a world that is well. This is not some kumbaya bullshit. This is the Truth.
Love, Gina
Special thanks to our Executive Director Anne White, a true embodiment of love and wisdom, for bringing Dr. Miller into my life and for producing this film to help clarify her message. Please contact us if you’d like to get involved by replying to this email and please share it with others you know who are hearing this clarion call to shift from fear to love, from separation to unity, from sickness to health.
Murdock Mind, Body, Spirit Series | The Awakened Brain: The Neuroscience of Health, Healing, and Resilience
“Our next speaker at our Mind, Body, Spirit Series Aug. 3 is all about science and spirit and I couldn’t be more excited to introduce her to you. In the deepest part of my heart, in all my longing and yearning to know and be known, I have never felt such resonance with something as I have with Dr. Lisa Miller’s work. Her work is the scientific basis for all of Lead with Love. It helps me to further understand my love of yoga, meditation, spiritual psychology and, of course, group hugs!”