A Great Teacher

meet my dear Kathy Harris

“Our efforts to be free do not free us. Rather it is seeing the false that will set us free.”

I met Kathy Harris a few years ago via my friend, Simone, who had moved to Northern California and was looking for local women’s circles. She sent me Kathy’s website and immediately I was a fully body “YES, this woman is so rad”. I immediately signed up for one of her online circles with little inquiry into how she worked. Kathy’s website is not slick - rather it is antiquated, crunchy, simple, and the most authentic representation of a spiritual teacher I’ve come across in a very long time. Her light, her generosity, her humility, her embodied wisdom emanates from the screen, with little attention to font choice or visual strategy. How refreshing! (She doesn’t even know what Substack is, fyi). From that discovery on, Kathy has been a divine teacher for me. I’ve been a regular participant in one of her women’s circles since 2022, attended three facilitator trainings led by her, and I’m mentored by her 1:1 with such supportive and insightful guidance. I could go on and on about this dear woman but please dive into this interview and experience her yourself.

(All photos taken and sent by Kathy)

What does spirituality mean to you, and how has that definition evolved over time for you?

In the past, spirituality used to be something I had to get to, arrive at, effort to obtain. Now I know that another word for spirituality is love and that’s all there is, that’s who we each are. There is no place to get to or to obtain. I think when we took birth we agreed that we would forget who we are and the whole curriculum of Earth School is to remember that we are love, to come in and feel that and to keep remembering to live from that place.

The heart is the worthy guide for our lives, not the head.

The head is in service to the heart.

Tell us about the ritual of circling and how is it a healing portal?

I love being in circles that are supporting emotional work and supporting each other in remembering who we really are. For me, it’s so exquisitely powerful. The synergy of the circle is magic. When two or more are gathered for truth or healing, then there’s the wonder. We realize we’re not alone, that we are all struggling with similar issues, and we all want to come home to love. Of all the engaged in the world the circles are the most rich and powerful for me.

How do you integrate devotional work into your daily routine, and what practices resonate most with you?

I love doing things that call me home, that help me to feel the love. I don’t think the word practice is accurate. When I was a child I took piano lessons and I practiced to get better. As an adult, I practiced my swim strokes so I could get better and become a stronger more graceful swimmer.

Now all the wonderful things I do for myself are not to get anywhere, I do them because they call me home. They help me feel presence, love, awareness, my true self. I can wake up depressed or anxious, and then do activities that utterly shift my energy, feeling connected to all that is and filled with love, light and gratitude. My experience shows me that this love affair with the Divine needs my participation. Over and over and over I know the invitation is to keep turning back towards God, feeling the presence of this vast wondrous energy within me and then around me.

Most mornings before getting out of bed I listen to two different very short guided meditations from the app Insight Timer: Great Spirit: A Morning Prayer & Divine Connection. I do a form of Chi-gong, then a meditation called the Pillar of Light that Israle Regarde developed. I do different forms of breath work, tapping from Chi-gong, then I send out love in all the directions to all beings, creatures & the land and to my loved ones. Often I do something called the 5 Tibetans. Then I love getting out into nature after these activities to catch the sunrise: whether it’s hiking up to our neighborhood hill watching the sunrise over the bay or riding my bike up to a beautiful spot where I can see the ocean & the sunrise. I am so blessed to have such an immediate access to such incredible beauty. Often before working with a circle or an individual client, I’ll take the time to meditate or do soft breath work.

What are some formational books or teachings that have shaped you in your life?

The first powerful book I read was Be Here Now by Ram Dass, when I was living in an abandoned farmhouse with others in my early 20s. This was in the early 70s in the Pyrenees. This book along with a book by J Krishnamurti arrived there. I learned tai chi, we became vegetarians. We fasted one day a week. François in the village below us helped us buy goats and chickens. We made goat cheese. We had a huge vegetable garden. We all slept in the hayloft in our sleeping bags with snow swirling in. It was a very powerful time in my life. At the end of that year I hitch-hiked to Switzerland to hear Krishnamurti speak. From there, I hitchhiked to England and ended up teaching art in his school for teens and young adults for 7 years. His abhorrence of authority, his message to be a light unto yourself, his teaching that truth is a pathless land and it’s not our efforting that sets us free, rather coming in and being with the false sets us free all deeply resonated with me. I was privileged to live with him in the spring and fall each of those years when he was there. Years later, The Course in Miracles was very powerful for me and it was actually at the Center for Attitudinal Healing that came out of the Course where I first learned about the power of circles and facilitating circles.

Name spiritual luminaries/teachers that have inspired you?

J Krishnamurti, Ramana Maharshi & Nisagardata have deeply touched me. Byron Katie of The Work has strongly influenced me. Vanessa Stone. And I absolutely love the mystics, Rumi and Hafiz.

My ex-husband, Woody Shoemaker was very instrumental in my evolution. We studied yoga together w Desikashar in India. We both taught at the Krishnamurti school in England. He turned me onto Vipassana meditation: sitting in silence being with whatever arises. We sat many silent retreats together, including seven months in silence at the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts. He brought me to the Center for Attitudinal Healing. He continues to be a beautiful, powerful dharma brother in my life.

Other strong teachers for me have been the men I got to work with for 12 years inside San Quentin, a big prison here in the San Francisco Bay area. One population I was in circle with every Monday were the lifers: men that had been locked up for 20, 30 or more years with a life sentence and didn’t know if they would ever get out. In our circles, they realized that their freedom wasn’t about getting outside those walls. Our time together was exploring inner freedom which they were so hungry for, as we all are. They had never experienced therapy and all the teachings I’ve had the good fortune to be exposed to. They were taught often from a very young age that they were worthless and horrible human beings. Many of the prison guards kept that message going. Watching them transform and come home to their true selves was so utterly inspiring and life-changing for me. They also showed me that wherever we are, whatever’s occurring in our lives even being locked up for 30 years is exactly what we need for our transformation and evolution.

In your life, what human pattern is your greatest thorn?

The greatest thorns are the old beliefs that I’ve got to get it right in order to get the love. Also, there’s something wrong with me or I’m doing it wrong. False thorns.

In what ways do you find nature to be a spiritual teacher, and how does one connect with it if they don’t have access to it regularly?

Being in nature completely fills my soul and calls me home. I’m lucky to live in an area that has exquisite natural beauty. I get up between 4 and 5 AM because I go to bed so early. I love seeing the stars and the moon first thing when I get up. I love doing the above mentioned activities out on my deck under the stars. And though I’m turning 76 I am able to backpack up in the High Sierra. I love spending three weeks every summer after the mosquitoes are no longer so fierce & before the snow flies backpacking in Yosemite and in the eastern Sierra. The wonder, beauty and majesty of those high places, utterly fills me up and blesses me beyond measure. There I truly get that I am one with all that is. That I am the vastness. There have been times when I lived and worked in cities, including Moscow where I was leading circles and teaching folks there how to start a nonprofit and lead circles right after the Berlin wall came down. Then I was touched by nature by looking at the sky, seeing a bird take flight or hearing bird song. Or seeing the love in another human being‘s eyes. It all leads back to the infinite love.

I love you, Kathy Harris. Thank you for changing my life and inspiring so many of us to keeping coming home to the infinite love. All my gratitude and love - Paige.