December 19, 2024 • 33 mins
Christy Foley is a dynamic connector, life explorer, and philanthropist. She’s also Vice-Chair of the Hoffman Board of Directors. Christy attended the Process two decades ago, just two weeks after her father graduated.
The Hoffman Process was the first step in Christy's spiritual journey. To this day, Hoffman remains one of the three most profound experiences that completely transformed her life. She shares that a transformation happens at the Process that "you can't go back from." In doing the work of the Process, we leave our week there with an awareness we didn't have before. This profound awareness allows us to see situations or patterns more clearly and respond wisely with a more conscious choice. If we get caught in the pattern, we can forgive ourselves, choose again, and move on.
After the Process, Christy embarked on a spiritual journey that has taken her to many places, but most importantly deeper into her inner world. She tears up as she talks about living in the presence of the unknown. It's living from her heart. In her words, it is "where the magic happens."
In this generous conversation, Christy speaks of the trap of our attempts at perfection. As she says, to be human is to be imperfect. There's a great relief in that. We hope you enjoy this conversation with Christy and Drew.
More about Christy Foley:
Christy is a dynamic connector, life explorer, and philanthropist. She participates in the global community as an accelerator of ideas and vision and is passionate about our interconnectedness to all life on this planet. With her consulting and philanthropic efforts, Christy supports projects that foster spiritual development, social justice, and community building. She serves as Vice-Chair of the board of The Hoffman Institute and is a board member of Las Cumbres Ranch Educational Fund. Previous board services include A Sense of Home and Veterans Path. Christy is also a member of Forward Global.
Christy is a marketing, communications, and business development veteran having spent her career immersed in the technology, media, natural food products, and nonprofit industries. She holds a bachelor’s in Industrial Organizational Psychology from Pepperdine University. When Christy is not exploring the world, she spends her time between Santa Barbara, CA, and Bend, OR.
Learn more about Christy at TheFoleyConnection.com. Follow Christy on Instagram.
As mentioned in this episode:
Negative Love Syndrome:
Find out more about the Negative Love Syndrome in A Path to Personal Freedom and Love
Liza Ingrasci, President and CEO of the Hoffman Institute
Raz Ingrasci, Founder of Hoffman International and Hoffman teacher and coach
July 2009 Forgiveness Garden
White Sulphur Springs
• Fire at White Sulphur Springs
• The Forgiveness Garden at White Sulphur Springs, dedicated to Christy's Dad, Ted Foley.
After the Glass Fire of 2020, the Forgiveness Garden remained despite the destruction of the land around it.
Oprah's Wildest Dreams tour
Picadilly Circus
Mount Kailash
Tanzania
Pamela Anderson
• The Last Showgirl Trailer
• Cookbook
Joe Dispenza
Right Road
Visioning at Hoffman
Hoffman Q2 Intensive
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
It was such a good lesson of there's
always more. I don't mean more work. People
always talk about this as work. I mean
it as there's always more possibility for expansion.
It's how much do you wanna expand in
this lifetime, in this vehicle we call a
body.
Welcome everybody. My name is Drew Horning, and
this podcast is called Love's Everyday Radius.
(00:24):
It's brought to you by the Hoffman Institute
and its stories and anecdotes
and people we interview
about their life post process
and how it lives in the world radiating
love.
Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Hoffman Podcast. Christi
Foley
(00:44):
is here today. Welcome, Christy. Thank you.
It's great to have you. You do so
many great things,
and one of the things you do is
you are on the Hoffman board. I am.
You're serving as vice chair,
and you're also on the board of Las
Cumbres Ranch Educational Fund,
(01:06):
and you're previously on the board of Sense
of Home and Veterans Path.
You're a member of Forward
Global,
and you have a long history in connection
to Hoffman
in part through your dad. Right? Oh, so
I've learned about the process from my dad.
I was living in San Francisco at the
time,
and my dad flew up to go to
(01:26):
the process. My parents had just split up,
and I think someone said, go do Hoffman.
And so
he, came up, and I was like, what
are you doing? He's like, I don't know.
But you had to fill out all this
stuff, and I don't know really what I'm
doing. So off he goes.
And,
I was gonna see him at the end
and pick him up, not from the center,
but, you know, pick him up in town.
(01:48):
And so while he was gone, I was
at the time, I was 35,
and I was in a place in my
life where
I would say I had all the things
you were supposed to have in life and,
you know, all the things your parents tell
you you're supposed to do or
society, s magazine, you know, whatever. Like, here,
this is what success looks like. So I
was working at a tech company. I was
(02:09):
running a department,
had people working for me. I had a
wonderful boyfriend.
I just bought my first place in San
Francisco,
and I had a dog. And it had
all the things that
were on the list.
And I remember coming home one night, and
I was standing on my deck kinda looking
up at the stars. And I was like,
gosh. Is this it? Like,
(02:31):
what else?
There was a void, and I didn't know
what it was.
Coincidentally,
at the same time, just read what my
dad was going to, and it was like
someone threw a brick at my head saying
this is for you. And just reading about
negative love syndrome and how the process was
described,
I knew it was something for me.
So before he got out, I signed up.
(02:52):
And when he got out, I picked him
up at his hotel, and I said, I
don't know if you liked it, but I'm
going in 2 weeks. And he immediately
he immediately started crying.
He said, I thought that was about my
marriage. That was nothing about my marriage.
And he said it was the most incredible
experience of my life.
And just watching him that day, how he
(03:14):
interacted with people was just fascinating.
How he treated, you know, the guy at
Starbucks and just that his presence had shifted.
So that's how I got there.
And my dad was very passionate about it,
and he's was a you know, sent everybody
and anybody he could.
In 2012, he passed away. And then soon
thereafter, I started spending more time with Ross
(03:36):
and Liza, and they asked me to join
the board, I think, in 2014.
So you it's been 10 years now? Yeah.
A great 10 years. It's definitely
my favorite thing
to be a part of. It's an honor
and a gift in my life. One of
the things that the old White Sulphur
Springs site,
there was
(03:57):
a garden
and a plaque,
dedicated to him.
What was his connection to that garden? Did
you help support the formation of the garden?
How how did that work?
My dad was a big supporter of scholarships,
so he wanted everybody and anybody to go
whether they had the means or not.
But I think that was something Razz and
(04:17):
Liza just wanted to do to honor him,
and
it was a beautiful thing. They just called
one day and said, we'd like to dedicate
this to your father. And I believe when
the site burned down, it was still standing.
The peace garden was still standing. The plaque
was still standing.
Yeah. Beautiful.
I actually went back when I first met
(04:38):
you. I went back and did the process.
They had revamped
the process. What year was that? That was
2015
or 14 even.
It was right after I joined the board.
They had been revamping the process, and they
invited people who had taken it before to
take it. And so I jumped on there.
And you were there too, and you didn't
(04:59):
know as a board member. And I didn't
know you were gonna be a future teacher.
But I remember going back and doing the
process
and having that tree there was really special.
I bet. So you you see the presence
your dad brings
in his post process. You're witness to it,
and 2 weeks later, you go.
What was it like for you? What happened?
(05:20):
What did you notice? I really had no
idea what I was getting into. I hadn't
done
anything like that.
That kicked off a very big journey, a
spiritual journey for me that is now life,
but Hafen was the inception point of that
for sure.
And I remember walking and going, what the
heck is this place?
At some point in the 1st day, you
(05:41):
get up and you you introduce yourself.
And I still remember to this day saying,
I walk out of my office every day,
and I feel like I have a basketball
in my throat.
And I want it gone.
That was, all I could really
describe.
At that same time, when I came to
(06:02):
the process,
I realized now in retrospect all the other
things that were lining up for me. So
at that time, Oprah was doing this wildest
dreams tour. And she was running around in
a tour bus, basically, grinding people's wildest dreams.
And I remember, for example, one time she
a guy wanted to be on a soap
opera. So she got him on a soap
opera. And I just remember going, if she
(06:23):
walked up my stairs and sat down on
my couch next to me, I have no
freaking clue what my wildest dream is.
And I was like, woah. Like, I don't
even know
what I like and what I don't like.
I've just been doing what I've been told
to do as
a human in the world and being successful
and get the corner office and get your
college degree. And,
(06:44):
like, I hadn't gotten married and I hadn't
got kids, but I'm like, I really don't
wanna do that right now. But I could
see that the universe was lining up for
me
and setting me up for a transformation, and
Hoffman was really the catalyst that awakened
everything in me.
So as a result, after the process,
my boyfriend and I split up, and it
(07:04):
wasn't because of any bad reason. He had
gone through a change in his life with
his father passing.
And
I knew
I wanted to explore life and do something
else. And so we actually both quit our
jobs pretty close to the same timing.
He moved to New Zealand to teach tennis,
and I went off traveling to Europe. And
(07:25):
I rented my house out for a year,
and I had to come back in 4
months for a
wedding that I was in. So I I
went for 4 months
and just explored and went with a bag
and no plans. And I started with plans,
but I started kind of going the way
I was going.
At the end of that year, I met
(07:47):
a yogi from India
and was invited to do a program with
him. I learned a meditation process, then that
started a journey of spending a lot of
time in India and meditation
practices and just exploring,
I would say, my inner world.
Yeah. There is something about that inner world
that calls us to explore. Doesn't it?
(08:08):
It certainly does. And calls is sometime a
a whack over the head.
Have you can you look back and see
the wax over the head?
Oh, yeah. I have I've been whacked many
times. And I welcome the wax. You know,
when I went on that first trip to
Europe and that was my second trip. I
was in a chiropractor's office, and I had
(08:28):
just finished working for YouTube. I was running
marketing and PR there. And
when I left,
I went on this 8 day yoga retreat
down in San Diego. And I never really
done anything like that. And there was a
chiropractor there that gave a talk, and I
just was fascinated by his talk, and my
back was messed up. So I said, hey.
Can I come see you? And I'm laying
(08:49):
on his table, and I tell him I'm
going to London next week, but I have
no plans. I was so busy working. I
didn't have time to plan at all, but
I just have a ticket and a return
ticket in 4 months, and I don't know
what I'm doing. He just looks at me
and he said, you need to meet my
friend, h j. You guys are soul sisters.
And I literally met this guy for 5
I'm like, okay. So this is pre cell
(09:10):
phones. I wasn't traveling with a phone or
a computer, and so he connects me to
her and I call her when I get
there. And she just says to me, you
know,
I'm having lunch with my friend, Lawrence. I
think you guys are meant to meet too.
Why don't you come meet us? So I
walk into Piccadilly Circus into this restaurant and
meet these 2 people I've never met in
my life, and we sat down and had
the most incredible
(09:31):
gathering for probably 4 hours.
I remember this one moment, I was kinda
talking about what was going on with me.
And
Lawrence looked at me. He said, you're living
in the in the unknown. And I was
like, yeah, it's just being present. And so
that's what I think of it as as
living in the presence of the unknown.
In the grand scheme of life, I just
trust that I'm going to be directed and
(09:53):
guided to where I need to be and
however it is to serve in life and
to be in life and explore it. That
simple sentence, living in the presence of the
unknown.
I think it's the deepest knowing in my
heart. That's the place where
all the magic happens, and it's getting I
mean, it almost makes me wanna cry.
(10:16):
Christie, I can hear it in your voice.
Yeah. It's just
it's the biggest gift I've been given,
for sure.
Don't make me cry, though.
What's what's wrong with tears?
Nothing. I just wanna also be able to
talk to you about everything, and I I
love crying. So, you know, my crying generally
(10:36):
nowadays is just the beauty. Like, there's just
so many gifts
in life.
There's actually a good story. When I went
on that first trip to Europe, I used
Miles.
So I flew business class, and I knew
I was gonna go to London for the
1st 4 days. And then I was going
to Turkey and then kinda going all through
Europe. So when I landed in London,
(10:58):
I went into the you know, they have
the lounge if you fly business class. And
so I went in and I took a
shower, and I hadn't found a place to
stay yet. And, again, this is pre. No
cell phone. No computer.
And this flight attendant was in the lounge,
and she kinda saw me just
I wouldn't say flailing around, but just kinda
like, what's this girl doing? And I told
(11:18):
her my story, like, you know, I don't
know where I'm staying yet. I'm gonna find
a place right now. She's like, well, let's
get on the Internet and find you a
place. So we get on and it's dial
up at the time. This is 2,005.
And she said, well, my it pulls out
a map, and she says, well, my daughter
lives here. This is a great place in
Kensington and then or you could live over
here or stay over here.
And so she helped me find a place,
(11:39):
but I was in there for 4 hours
because I was so scared to leave.
That I just you know, I traveled a
bunch, but it had always been on an
expense account with family, with friends,
you know, fruity cocktail locations or skiing or
business.
So to just have a bag, be by
yourself,
and in a different country
(12:02):
was intense for me. And,
you know, now the funny part is is
probably my favorite thing in life is travel.
And I didn't know until
I actually took that leap into the unknown
of that trip.
And it was
scary a lot of times. I had a
pretty gnarly experience in Turkey, and I I
quickly got a a wedding ring to travel
(12:24):
with the next 3 months.
But it it was also a gift. Like,
you you learn
so much of how to care for yourself
and how to trust people and how to
explore and still have safety within yourself.
And it became one of my greatest passions.
Is that the way you travel at times
now where you head out into the unknown,
(12:45):
maybe unscheduled
parts of your trip and allow it to
unfold?
Definitely. I mean, I do all sorts of
different things. I've,
been in a tent
on the bottom of Mount Kailash with a
sleeping bag and one other person squeezed up
next to you. I've been at a fancy
5 star hotel. Like, I'll I'll do everything
in between.
(13:05):
So I definitely those first
couple years of traveling were more go for
3 or 4 months and explore an area.
So, for example, my next section of trips,
I wanted to go to I've always wanted
to go to Africa and India at that
time, but I was too chicken to go
by myself.
So when I went to London that second
time without a plan, I decided to go
(13:26):
to Africa to Tanzania, and I found a
volunteer program
that it was a month long and you
would go live there, but you would live
with other volunteers. So it was structured. And
I was still scared to go by myself,
so I decided I was gonna fundraise for
my enrollment into that program and then fundraise
as much as I could for wherever they
ended up placing me to work.
(13:48):
Then I knew I was held accountable by
all my friends, and I was representing all
of them and a steward of their funds.
So it was a great way to get
there and feel supported, but still be, you
know, very much in the unknown.
That's fantastic. So
what has it been like to be on
the board now 10 years?
(14:08):
What's that journey been like to serve in
that position over the course of the last
decade?
One, it's been
personally
amazing for me to have the connection.
So it's
a community, a family to me that I
feel very deeply connected to. When I lived
in San Francisco, going to integrations
was just a gift for me and the
(14:30):
connections I've made with different people
throughout
those 10 years. You know, I'll be in
a different country, and and somehow it'll come
up and they're like, I took the process.
And you're like, oh my god. Or I
it's just amazing the people that you encounter
and that you're immediately related
is the best way I can describe it.
So that's been wonderful. Hoffman as an organization,
(14:53):
it's been a joy to see the growth.
And
I think a lot of that is a
couple things. I think in society,
mental health and well-being, it's a higher priority,
and it's more accepting
that we all need support. And it's not
this, oh, there's something wrong with that person.
It's everybody
needs to be supported in this way. And
(15:16):
I think also a lot of people have
influenced
talking about their mental health and their well-being
and their journeys publicly,
where they've mentioned the Hoffman name has been
very supportive
and brought a lot of people to the
process.
In a way, part of what you're saying
is Hoffman has
brought mental health
out into the open. Yes. Out of the
(15:38):
shadows. And I think the people who have
attended Hoffman
have the word-of-mouth
that happens
is how people
I would say how people generally have gotten
there in the past, how peep and and
through therapist referrals and things like that. But
really
probably the really the last 5 years, but
probably a little bit longer. People who are
(15:58):
known
in the public sphere
have been talking about their life journey, and
they've shared Hoffman.
And that has transformed
the
amount of enrollment that we've had. And it's
a beautiful thing to see because, you know,
I've been through a lot of different things
since I've been to Hoffman. It'll be 20
(16:19):
years next year that I did Hoffman.
And I would say to this day, Hoffman
is still one of the 3 most profound
experiences of my life that has completely transformed
my life. It's the gift that keeps on
giving. It's something where
for me,
there's a transformation that happens
that you can't go back. You may experience
(16:42):
situations
and a pattern may come up, but there's
something in you that you have an awareness
now that you didn't have before or that
I didn't have before.
And so now I I just know, oh,
I'm just running a pattern. It's okay. Forgive
myself and move on.
It's a very unique
program,
and I've been through a lot of different
(17:03):
experiences on this journey since Hoffman.
And
I still recommend it to everybody and anybody
that is
on a path or seeking.
The person that comes,
it has to be self selecting. So you
have to really wanna be there.
I've seen people come because, like, oh, my,
you know, my dad's paying for me to
(17:23):
go or, oh, my wife wants to do
it or my wife needs to go, so
I'm gonna do it too. But it's really
the person who is saying,
I
want this.
That's where it's really effective, and and I
would say that's most people that come. What
you're talking about there is, like, the agency,
the
importance of people choosing it themselves.
(17:45):
It's so important, and
this is why we don't push people to
go. We don't tell other people to tell
people to go.
We say, live your process.
And then when the time is right, people
will self select into the process, and they're
the ones that have the best, most transformative
process because they knew it was time for
them. 100%.
(18:07):
You know, if I can shine my brightest
and live my most authentic truest self,
if that resonates with somebody else and they
ask me, how did this come to be
in your life? How did that come to
be in your life? Then I share it.
I don't go running around saying, hey. You
should go do the process. You know, I
have some people that have gone that are
like, wow. You're the 3rd person that told
(18:29):
me about this. And it that happens a
lot, believe it or not.
And I've also had people who I've mentioned
it to them probably 10 years ago, and
they just went in the last year. And
they'll come up and say, why did you
not? I said, I told you that was
your decision. They're like, god, I can't believe
I waited that long. It's gotta be the
(18:49):
right time for the individual. And for me,
it was definitely the right time, and I
was grateful
that it showed up for me, which I
think is true for all of life is
life shows up when we're available and open
to it and provides us whatever it is
we need. Yeah. And earlier, you spoke to,
you know, our marketing. You know this because
you're on the board. Our marketing budget is
(19:12):
very, very small,
and we don't do any advertising,
and it is all a word-of-mouth.
In the pandemic,
people realized,
yikes.
I need some therapy. I need some help.
So that certainly increased enrollment.
But you do speak to an important piece,
which is people
who have a platform,
(19:33):
having taken the process,
and then shared
about their experience
at the Hoffman process
has really
upped
the enrollment
because they've just heard this personal
testimonial
to their experience from Hoffman, and then people
sign up. And I think it also when
(19:53):
people share their personal testimonial, especially someone of
influence,
it also
I can imagine for a lot of people,
it's like, oh, I'm not alone
in feeling that way. Like, wow. Somebody who
is that successful,
that big in the world
is experiencing the same thing I'm experiencing
or something similar.
So it's it just humanizes it. To be
(20:16):
human what do they say? To be human
is
to be imperfect. We're supposed to be that
way.
Our society,
at least my generation growing up, that was
not it's not what I was taught. Yeah.
It's almost like in the closet. It's taboo.
Those are powerful systemic forces that keep us
(20:37):
from feeling human. I love that to be
human is to be imperfect.
Yeah. And I feel like when my my
generation
I'm 54.
I really felt a lot, and maybe it's
where I grew up also, but I really
felt like there was this pressure of perfection.
And so the more
people talk about our imperfections and our f
(20:59):
ups and our, you know, everything,
it just normalizes it. You know, I who
I'm obsessed with and in love with right
now is Pam Anderson.
So right now, she's in a film that
I'm dying to see. I haven't seen it
yet.
It is The Last Show Girl, I think
it's called, but she also recently came out
with a cookbook,
and she's not wearing makeup anymore. And the
(21:20):
funny thing is is how much press that's
gotten. But she's just talking about, like, just
I wanna just live my life. I don't
want to be a character anymore. I wanna
play characters.
And it's just such a beautiful
expression
of a human, of her authenticity
and her shining her light bright. And it
(21:41):
was by stripping all the things that society
is saying is perfect.
It takes courage, and it it's just beautiful.
It's so beautiful.
We'll post that in the show notes.
I read the headline, Pamela Anderson no longer
wearing makeup. I mean, what a
non newsworthy event made newsworthy.
(22:02):
As a teacher and an employee of the
institute,
I'm grateful for your shepherding the strategic plan
and the work you're doing on the board
and the financial
stability
of the organization
and all the expansion
that we've been going through post COVID. Our
wait list is now 6
(22:23):
months. We're
certainly adding processes, adding teachers.
So, Christy, with with all the growth related
to Hoffman post COVID,
how is the board, and how are you
navigating handling that from a fundraising perspective?
I guess there's 2 parts. 1 is
fundraising, but there's also strategic planning. And so
this year, we
(22:43):
created a strategic planning committee on the board,
which I'm chairing,
and we have leadership in that
group as well. But it's really
beyond
that group. It's the entire organization, and that
includes Friends of Hoffman, donors,
employees. So just a few months ago, we
had a 3 day strategic planning conference at
(23:06):
the site, and we had about 35 to
40 people there. And it was an amazing
3 days
of
exploring
how do we
grow and expand to serve more people
with all of the blessings that we've received.
You know, as we talked about with word-of-mouth
and people of notoriety
talking about us, we have a wait list.
(23:29):
And,
we wanna serve as many people as possible.
And we wanna continue to offer the process
in the quality and the integrity that it
is, and that takes
training teachers and a steady growth that
makes sure the quality is never compromised.
So that process has been going on this
last year and will probably be going on
(23:49):
into the new year. And I'm really excited
about that because it's been very collaborative with,
I would say, all parts of the organization.
And I think that's only gonna support
our need to fundraise for you know, I
think our biggest fundraising piece right now is
gonna be a capital campaign for our new
site. I'm excited about that because
to me, it's
(24:10):
a long term home for Hoffman, and we
really get to create
what it is that we need in a
facility to support this amazing process that we
have. Yeah. And a nonprofit that has
an endowment, I imagine, is part of it
as well. Right? Yes. And that is a
big part of our fundraising plans moving forward
as well.
(24:31):
Christy, in our running into each other in
various random places,
We also ran into each other at a
Joe Dispenza workshop
in Denver.
You've continued your own personal growth and a
lot of visioning. Joe Dispenza's work has lots
of visioning and imagining, and certainly part of
Hoffman's work is once you navigate patterns
(24:54):
and unburden
and
let go of so many of the things
connecting
us to our past,
then we can step onto the right road
into the future, create what we want,
envisioning is a huge part of that. Is
that a practice you still use? It was
great to see you there.
(25:14):
So what I love about visioning and about
Joe's work is
he has the ability to really talk about
the work
in a way that
a lot of people
understand it and can step into it. And
they may not quote, unquote, be on a
spiritual journey.
So there's a lot of different
(25:36):
versions
of visioning out there. Hoffman's a great example.
But Joe's work,
the way he guides people through
the heart and mind coherence
is just beautiful. And,
you know, all the different
paths I've taken in the last 20 years
to
explore
(25:57):
a greater experience of life and also really
say this should just become less of me.
And when I say that, I think of
all the layers that we gather over our
lifetime
of shedding those. And I wanna be less
of that and more of this, and that
this
is that universal energy.
So when I think of all of the
different roads we can take and different guides
(26:20):
that are along the way, whether it's Hoffman,
Joe, you know, anything that we can do,
I always say don't confuse the water with
the tap. There's a ton of taps out
there, but the water to me
is all the same. It's that life force,
that universal energy
that is available to all of us and
that is within all of us. It's what
we're made of.
(26:40):
There's no difference
in any of us or any living
thing on this planet.
And so I just have such gratitude for
all the teachers that have come into my
life and guides
because
I continue to
use
their guidance
to down my journey.
At different times, there's different taps that serve
(27:02):
me more appropriately.
So it may be a trip down to
meet an indigenous
wisdom leader
in a different country. It could be 3
months in silence in India. It could be
going to Joe Dispenza's
piece or going to a Hoffman q 2,
but they all are access to the water.
Yeah. And the the religion or the modality
(27:25):
are less important,
and instead, the universal
life force, the energy
is the part that you're saying to pay
attention to. And to use whatever
tool
gives you that access.
To me, Hoffman has been
a pretty universal tool. I don't know anyone
(27:45):
that I've met
that said,
that's a I haven't heard that.
I really believe that there's different
access points for all of us and and
at different points in our life. You know,
a great example is
I did my first process in 2,005,
and I did my second process in 2014.
(28:07):
When I did it the second time, I
had spent between
2007
when I first met Sadhguru until
that time
2014, pretty much dedicated to
very
deep yoga practices, spending a lot of time
in India.
And
when I came to do the process in
2014, I kinda was like, oh, yeah. It'll
(28:29):
be a great experience.
I didn't think I'd get that much out
of it, quote, unquote,
because I already did the process. So how
can it be? But doing it 10 years
later
and after the journey, it was a completely
different experience
and just as deep. And it shocked me.
And it was such a good lesson of
(28:50):
there's always
more.
I don't mean more work. People always talk
about this as work. I mean it as
there's always more possibility for expansion.
It's how much do you wanna expand in
this lifetime, in this vehicle we call a
body. That's what that really taught me is.
So I'm always
open to
taps because I just wanna expand more into
(29:12):
that water.
Beautiful.
So one last question as we wind down
here, and I wanna sort of go where
we started,
which is your dad.
You know, him as the person who introduced
you to Hoffman,
How does he still live inside you? Do
you feel like the work you're doing stewarding
Hoffman into the future,
(29:33):
that he's still with you?
Is it a way of staying connected to
him? What's that journey been like?
The first thing that comes to mind is
this video. Actually, Hoffen, a long time ago,
was doing a video of they wanted to
interview donors.
And
there's a clip of him, and I used
it in this presentation once.
He was talking about giving.
(29:55):
He's somebody who always gave. It's who I
learned it from.
And in this video clip,
he says,
I don't understand it, but the more I
give, the more I get financially and otherwise.
And it's been so true for me.
So he's with me all the time.
You know, he passed in 2012,
(30:16):
and he's still just as vibrant in my
life experience.
I think it's it's really through the work
that I do
with nonprofits.
So in 2011,
he had called me one day and he
said, you know, I kind of was thinking
maybe you and I can work on a
project together. And I've been bugging him forever
saying, hey. I wanna do philanthropy stuff with
(30:37):
you. And he's like, oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I just kinda like doing it how I
do it. And then he called me and
said, you know, let's do something together. And
I was like, why now? And he goes,
well,
I can't travel the way you travel, and
I wanna
live that part vicariously
through you. You can go see the projects.
You can go be with them.
He was diagnosed
(30:58):
right after that.
And so we never got to really do
that.
You know, I had always done
philanthropy before that, but not at the level
that I do it now. Now it's my
life. It's very integrated,
and I really learned that from him.
What's it like to talk about him and
remember him in this way? It's a gift.
(31:18):
Definitely a gift. You know, the other ways
I remember him. I mean, I just yesterday
was my nephew's birthday.
And whenever I look at him, he reminds
me of my dad. They both have the
same eyes. And definitely when I look at
my brothers,
you know, you just as we get older,
I'm like, oh my god. We do become
our parents. But I see him in all
my brothers and sisters and and my nephew
specifically.
(31:38):
He was such a bright light, and he
was somebody who lived big and lived all
out. I mean, I feel like the guy
had 9 lives.
I feel like he lived it full. You
know, I was blessed to be with him
when he passed and a month before he
passed, and it was
one of the biggest gifts of my life
was to have that experience with him.
(31:58):
Yeah. I'm imagining that the work you do
with Hoffman is is a way of keeping
his
memory and legacy alive. Oh, definitely. Yeah.
It was definitely a passion of
his and my golf game too. That's another
way to keep his memory alive.
You've been working on your golf game, haven't
you? I still haven't gotten the hole in
1. He he had many, but I'm working
(32:20):
on that one. Well,
for your dad and
most importantly for you and the spirit and
the work and the legacy you create for
Hoffman, thank you, Christie, for this conversation. Thank
you. I'm grateful.
Thank you. I so appreciate it. Very, very
grateful.
(32:45):
Thank you for listening to our podcast. My
name is Liza Ingrassi. I'm the CEO and
president of Hoffman Institute Foundation.
And I'm Razz Ingrassi,
Hoffman teacher and founder of the Hoffman Institute
Foundation.
Our mission is to provide people greater access
to the wisdom and power of love. In
themselves, in each other and in the world.
(33:07):
To find out more, please go to hoffmaninstitute.org.
It was such a good lesson of there's
always more. I don't mean more work. People
always talk about this as work. I mean
it as there's always more possibility for expansion.
It's how much do you wanna expand in
this lifetime, in this vehicle we call a
body.
Welcome everybody. My name is Drew Horning, and
this podcast is called Love's Everyday Radius.
(00:24):
It's brought to you by the Hoffman Institute
and its stories and anecdotes
and people we interview
about their life post process
and how it lives in the world radiating
love.
Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Hoffman Podcast. Christi
Foley
(00:44):
is here today. Welcome, Christy. Thank you.
It's great to have you. You do so
many great things,
and one of the things you do is
you are on the Hoffman board. I am.
You're serving as vice chair,
and you're also on the board of Las
Cumbres Ranch Educational Fund,
(01:06):
and you're previously on the board of Sense
of Home and Veterans Path.
You're a member of Forward
Global,
and you have a long history in connection
to Hoffman
in part through your dad. Right? Oh, so
I've learned about the process from my dad.
I was living in San Francisco at the
time,
and my dad flew up to go to
(01:26):
the process. My parents had just split up,
and I think someone said, go do Hoffman.
And so
he, came up, and I was like, what
are you doing? He's like, I don't know.
But you had to fill out all this
stuff, and I don't know really what I'm
doing. So off he goes.
And,
I was gonna see him at the end
and pick him up, not from the center,
but, you know, pick him up in town.
(01:48):
And so while he was gone, I was
at the time, I was 35,
and I was in a place in my
life where
I would say I had all the things
you were supposed to have in life and,
you know, all the things your parents tell
you you're supposed to do or
society, s magazine, you know, whatever. Like, here,
this is what success looks like. So I
was working at a tech company. I was
(02:09):
running a department,
had people working for me. I had a
wonderful boyfriend.
I just bought my first place in San
Francisco,
and I had a dog. And it had
all the things that
were on the list.
And I remember coming home one night, and
I was standing on my deck kinda looking
up at the stars. And I was like,
gosh. Is this it? Like,
(02:31):
what else?
There was a void, and I didn't know
what it was.
Coincidentally,
at the same time, just read what my
dad was going to, and it was like
someone threw a brick at my head saying
this is for you. And just reading about
negative love syndrome and how the process was
described,
I knew it was something for me.
So before he got out, I signed up.
(02:52):
And when he got out, I picked him
up at his hotel, and I said, I
don't know if you liked it, but I'm
going in 2 weeks. And he immediately
he immediately started crying.
He said, I thought that was about my
marriage. That was nothing about my marriage.
And he said it was the most incredible
experience of my life.
And just watching him that day, how he
(03:14):
interacted with people was just fascinating.
How he treated, you know, the guy at
Starbucks and just that his presence had shifted.
So that's how I got there.
And my dad was very passionate about it,
and he's was a you know, sent everybody
and anybody he could.
In 2012, he passed away. And then soon
thereafter, I started spending more time with Ross
(03:36):
and Liza, and they asked me to join
the board, I think, in 2014.
So you it's been 10 years now? Yeah.
A great 10 years. It's definitely
my favorite thing
to be a part of. It's an honor
and a gift in my life. One of
the things that the old White Sulphur
Springs site,
there was
(03:57):
a garden
and a plaque,
dedicated to him.
What was his connection to that garden? Did
you help support the formation of the garden?
How how did that work?
My dad was a big supporter of scholarships,
so he wanted everybody and anybody to go
whether they had the means or not.
But I think that was something Razz and
(04:17):
Liza just wanted to do to honor him,
and
it was a beautiful thing. They just called
one day and said, we'd like to dedicate
this to your father. And I believe when
the site burned down, it was still standing.
The peace garden was still standing. The plaque
was still standing.
Yeah. Beautiful.
I actually went back when I first met
(04:38):
you. I went back and did the process.
They had revamped
the process. What year was that? That was
2015
or 14 even.
It was right after I joined the board.
They had been revamping the process, and they
invited people who had taken it before to
take it. And so I jumped on there.
And you were there too, and you didn't
(04:59):
know as a board member. And I didn't
know you were gonna be a future teacher.
But I remember going back and doing the
process
and having that tree there was really special.
I bet. So you you see the presence
your dad brings
in his post process. You're witness to it,
and 2 weeks later, you go.
What was it like for you? What happened?
(05:20):
What did you notice? I really had no
idea what I was getting into. I hadn't
done
anything like that.
That kicked off a very big journey, a
spiritual journey for me that is now life,
but Hafen was the inception point of that
for sure.
And I remember walking and going, what the
heck is this place?
At some point in the 1st day, you
(05:41):
get up and you you introduce yourself.
And I still remember to this day saying,
I walk out of my office every day,
and I feel like I have a basketball
in my throat.
And I want it gone.
That was, all I could really
describe.
At that same time, when I came to
(06:02):
the process,
I realized now in retrospect all the other
things that were lining up for me. So
at that time, Oprah was doing this wildest
dreams tour. And she was running around in
a tour bus, basically, grinding people's wildest dreams.
And I remember, for example, one time she
a guy wanted to be on a soap
opera. So she got him on a soap
opera. And I just remember going, if she
(06:23):
walked up my stairs and sat down on
my couch next to me, I have no
freaking clue what my wildest dream is.
And I was like, woah. Like, I don't
even know
what I like and what I don't like.
I've just been doing what I've been told
to do as
a human in the world and being successful
and get the corner office and get your
college degree. And,
(06:44):
like, I hadn't gotten married and I hadn't
got kids, but I'm like, I really don't
wanna do that right now. But I could
see that the universe was lining up for
me
and setting me up for a transformation, and
Hoffman was really the catalyst that awakened
everything in me.
So as a result, after the process,
my boyfriend and I split up, and it
(07:04):
wasn't because of any bad reason. He had
gone through a change in his life with
his father passing.
And
I knew
I wanted to explore life and do something
else. And so we actually both quit our
jobs pretty close to the same timing.
He moved to New Zealand to teach tennis,
and I went off traveling to Europe. And
(07:25):
I rented my house out for a year,
and I had to come back in 4
months for a
wedding that I was in. So I I
went for 4 months
and just explored and went with a bag
and no plans. And I started with plans,
but I started kind of going the way
I was going.
At the end of that year, I met
(07:47):
a yogi from India
and was invited to do a program with
him. I learned a meditation process, then that
started a journey of spending a lot of
time in India and meditation
practices and just exploring,
I would say, my inner world.
Yeah. There is something about that inner world
that calls us to explore. Doesn't it?
(08:08):
It certainly does. And calls is sometime a
a whack over the head.
Have you can you look back and see
the wax over the head?
Oh, yeah. I have I've been whacked many
times. And I welcome the wax. You know,
when I went on that first trip to
Europe and that was my second trip. I
was in a chiropractor's office, and I had
(08:28):
just finished working for YouTube. I was running
marketing and PR there. And
when I left,
I went on this 8 day yoga retreat
down in San Diego. And I never really
done anything like that. And there was a
chiropractor there that gave a talk, and I
just was fascinated by his talk, and my
back was messed up. So I said, hey.
Can I come see you? And I'm laying
(08:49):
on his table, and I tell him I'm
going to London next week, but I have
no plans. I was so busy working. I
didn't have time to plan at all, but
I just have a ticket and a return
ticket in 4 months, and I don't know
what I'm doing. He just looks at me
and he said, you need to meet my
friend, h j. You guys are soul sisters.
And I literally met this guy for 5
I'm like, okay. So this is pre cell
(09:10):
phones. I wasn't traveling with a phone or
a computer, and so he connects me to
her and I call her when I get
there. And she just says to me, you
know,
I'm having lunch with my friend, Lawrence. I
think you guys are meant to meet too.
Why don't you come meet us? So I
walk into Piccadilly Circus into this restaurant and
meet these 2 people I've never met in
my life, and we sat down and had
the most incredible
(09:31):
gathering for probably 4 hours.
I remember this one moment, I was kinda
talking about what was going on with me.
And
Lawrence looked at me. He said, you're living
in the in the unknown. And I was
like, yeah, it's just being present. And so
that's what I think of it as as
living in the presence of the unknown.
In the grand scheme of life, I just
trust that I'm going to be directed and
(09:53):
guided to where I need to be and
however it is to serve in life and
to be in life and explore it. That
simple sentence, living in the presence of the
unknown.
I think it's the deepest knowing in my
heart. That's the place where
all the magic happens, and it's getting I
mean, it almost makes me wanna cry.
(10:16):
Christie, I can hear it in your voice.
Yeah. It's just
it's the biggest gift I've been given,
for sure.
Don't make me cry, though.
What's what's wrong with tears?
Nothing. I just wanna also be able to
talk to you about everything, and I I
love crying. So, you know, my crying generally
(10:36):
nowadays is just the beauty. Like, there's just
so many gifts
in life.
There's actually a good story. When I went
on that first trip to Europe, I used
Miles.
So I flew business class, and I knew
I was gonna go to London for the
1st 4 days. And then I was going
to Turkey and then kinda going all through
Europe. So when I landed in London,
(10:58):
I went into the you know, they have
the lounge if you fly business class. And
so I went in and I took a
shower, and I hadn't found a place to
stay yet. And, again, this is pre. No
cell phone. No computer.
And this flight attendant was in the lounge,
and she kinda saw me just
I wouldn't say flailing around, but just kinda
like, what's this girl doing? And I told
(11:18):
her my story, like, you know, I don't
know where I'm staying yet. I'm gonna find
a place right now. She's like, well, let's
get on the Internet and find you a
place. So we get on and it's dial
up at the time. This is 2,005.
And she said, well, my it pulls out
a map, and she says, well, my daughter
lives here. This is a great place in
Kensington and then or you could live over
here or stay over here.
And so she helped me find a place,
(11:39):
but I was in there for 4 hours
because I was so scared to leave.
That I just you know, I traveled a
bunch, but it had always been on an
expense account with family, with friends,
you know, fruity cocktail locations or skiing or
business.
So to just have a bag, be by
yourself,
and in a different country
(12:02):
was intense for me. And,
you know, now the funny part is is
probably my favorite thing in life is travel.
And I didn't know until
I actually took that leap into the unknown
of that trip.
And it was
scary a lot of times. I had a
pretty gnarly experience in Turkey, and I I
quickly got a a wedding ring to travel
(12:24):
with the next 3 months.
But it it was also a gift. Like,
you you learn
so much of how to care for yourself
and how to trust people and how to
explore and still have safety within yourself.
And it became one of my greatest passions.
Is that the way you travel at times
now where you head out into the unknown,
(12:45):
maybe unscheduled
parts of your trip and allow it to
unfold?
Definitely. I mean, I do all sorts of
different things. I've,
been in a tent
on the bottom of Mount Kailash with a
sleeping bag and one other person squeezed up
next to you. I've been at a fancy
5 star hotel. Like, I'll I'll do everything
in between.
(13:05):
So I definitely those first
couple years of traveling were more go for
3 or 4 months and explore an area.
So, for example, my next section of trips,
I wanted to go to I've always wanted
to go to Africa and India at that
time, but I was too chicken to go
by myself.
So when I went to London that second
time without a plan, I decided to go
(13:26):
to Africa to Tanzania, and I found a
volunteer program
that it was a month long and you
would go live there, but you would live
with other volunteers. So it was structured. And
I was still scared to go by myself,
so I decided I was gonna fundraise for
my enrollment into that program and then fundraise
as much as I could for wherever they
ended up placing me to work.
(13:48):
Then I knew I was held accountable by
all my friends, and I was representing all
of them and a steward of their funds.
So it was a great way to get
there and feel supported, but still be, you
know, very much in the unknown.
That's fantastic. So
what has it been like to be on
the board now 10 years?
(14:08):
What's that journey been like to serve in
that position over the course of the last
decade?
One, it's been
personally
amazing for me to have the connection.
So it's
a community, a family to me that I
feel very deeply connected to. When I lived
in San Francisco, going to integrations
was just a gift for me and the
(14:30):
connections I've made with different people
throughout
those 10 years. You know, I'll be in
a different country, and and somehow it'll come
up and they're like, I took the process.
And you're like, oh my god. Or I
it's just amazing the people that you encounter
and that you're immediately related
is the best way I can describe it.
So that's been wonderful. Hoffman as an organization,
(14:53):
it's been a joy to see the growth.
And
I think a lot of that is a
couple things. I think in society,
mental health and well-being, it's a higher priority,
and it's more accepting
that we all need support. And it's not
this, oh, there's something wrong with that person.
It's everybody
needs to be supported in this way. And
(15:16):
I think also a lot of people have
influenced
talking about their mental health and their well-being
and their journeys publicly,
where they've mentioned the Hoffman name has been
very supportive
and brought a lot of people to the
process.
In a way, part of what you're saying
is Hoffman has
brought mental health
out into the open. Yes. Out of the
(15:38):
shadows. And I think the people who have
attended Hoffman
have the word-of-mouth
that happens
is how people
I would say how people generally have gotten
there in the past, how peep and and
through therapist referrals and things like that. But
really
probably the really the last 5 years, but
probably a little bit longer. People who are
(15:58):
known
in the public sphere
have been talking about their life journey, and
they've shared Hoffman.
And that has transformed
the
amount of enrollment that we've had. And it's
a beautiful thing to see because, you know,
I've been through a lot of different things
since I've been to Hoffman. It'll be 20
(16:19):
years next year that I did Hoffman.
And I would say to this day, Hoffman
is still one of the 3 most profound
experiences of my life that has completely transformed
my life. It's the gift that keeps on
giving. It's something where
for me,
there's a transformation that happens
that you can't go back. You may experience
(16:42):
situations
and a pattern may come up, but there's
something in you that you have an awareness
now that you didn't have before or that
I didn't have before.
And so now I I just know, oh,
I'm just running a pattern. It's okay. Forgive
myself and move on.
It's a very unique
program,
and I've been through a lot of different
(17:03):
experiences on this journey since Hoffman.
And
I still recommend it to everybody and anybody
that is
on a path or seeking.
The person that comes,
it has to be self selecting. So you
have to really wanna be there.
I've seen people come because, like, oh, my,
you know, my dad's paying for me to
(17:23):
go or, oh, my wife wants to do
it or my wife needs to go, so
I'm gonna do it too. But it's really
the person who is saying,
I
want this.
That's where it's really effective, and and I
would say that's most people that come. What
you're talking about there is, like, the agency,
the
importance of people choosing it themselves.
(17:45):
It's so important, and
this is why we don't push people to
go. We don't tell other people to tell
people to go.
We say, live your process.
And then when the time is right, people
will self select into the process, and they're
the ones that have the best, most transformative
process because they knew it was time for
them. 100%.
(18:07):
You know, if I can shine my brightest
and live my most authentic truest self,
if that resonates with somebody else and they
ask me, how did this come to be
in your life? How did that come to
be in your life? Then I share it.
I don't go running around saying, hey. You
should go do the process. You know, I
have some people that have gone that are
like, wow. You're the 3rd person that told
(18:29):
me about this. And it that happens a
lot, believe it or not.
And I've also had people who I've mentioned
it to them probably 10 years ago, and
they just went in the last year. And
they'll come up and say, why did you
not? I said, I told you that was
your decision. They're like, god, I can't believe
I waited that long. It's gotta be the
(18:49):
right time for the individual. And for me,
it was definitely the right time, and I
was grateful
that it showed up for me, which I
think is true for all of life is
life shows up when we're available and open
to it and provides us whatever it is
we need. Yeah. And earlier, you spoke to,
you know, our marketing. You know this because
you're on the board. Our marketing budget is
(19:12):
very, very small,
and we don't do any advertising,
and it is all a word-of-mouth.
In the pandemic,
people realized,
yikes.
I need some therapy. I need some help.
So that certainly increased enrollment.
But you do speak to an important piece,
which is people
who have a platform,
(19:33):
having taken the process,
and then shared
about their experience
at the Hoffman process
has really
upped
the enrollment
because they've just heard this personal
testimonial
to their experience from Hoffman, and then people
sign up. And I think it also when
(19:53):
people share their personal testimonial, especially someone of
influence,
it also
I can imagine for a lot of people,
it's like, oh, I'm not alone
in feeling that way. Like, wow. Somebody who
is that successful,
that big in the world
is experiencing the same thing I'm experiencing
or something similar.
So it's it just humanizes it. To be
(20:16):
human what do they say? To be human
is
to be imperfect. We're supposed to be that
way.
Our society,
at least my generation growing up, that was
not it's not what I was taught. Yeah.
It's almost like in the closet. It's taboo.
Those are powerful systemic forces that keep us
(20:37):
from feeling human. I love that to be
human is to be imperfect.
Yeah. And I feel like when my my
generation
I'm 54.
I really felt a lot, and maybe it's
where I grew up also, but I really
felt like there was this pressure of perfection.
And so the more
people talk about our imperfections and our f
(20:59):
ups and our, you know, everything,
it just normalizes it. You know, I who
I'm obsessed with and in love with right
now is Pam Anderson.
So right now, she's in a film that
I'm dying to see. I haven't seen it
yet.
It is The Last Show Girl, I think
it's called, but she also recently came out
with a cookbook,
and she's not wearing makeup anymore. And the
(21:20):
funny thing is is how much press that's
gotten. But she's just talking about, like, just
I wanna just live my life. I don't
want to be a character anymore. I wanna
play characters.
And it's just such a beautiful
expression
of a human, of her authenticity
and her shining her light bright. And it
(21:41):
was by stripping all the things that society
is saying is perfect.
It takes courage, and it it's just beautiful.
It's so beautiful.
We'll post that in the show notes.
I read the headline, Pamela Anderson no longer
wearing makeup. I mean, what a
non newsworthy event made newsworthy.
(22:02):
As a teacher and an employee of the
institute,
I'm grateful for your shepherding the strategic plan
and the work you're doing on the board
and the financial
stability
of the organization
and all the expansion
that we've been going through post COVID. Our
wait list is now 6
(22:23):
months. We're
certainly adding processes, adding teachers.
So, Christy, with with all the growth related
to Hoffman post COVID,
how is the board, and how are you
navigating handling that from a fundraising perspective?
I guess there's 2 parts. 1 is
fundraising, but there's also strategic planning. And so
this year, we
(22:43):
created a strategic planning committee on the board,
which I'm chairing,
and we have leadership in that
group as well. But it's really
beyond
that group. It's the entire organization, and that
includes Friends of Hoffman, donors,
employees. So just a few months ago, we
had a 3 day strategic planning conference at
(23:06):
the site, and we had about 35 to
40 people there. And it was an amazing
3 days
of
exploring
how do we
grow and expand to serve more people
with all of the blessings that we've received.
You know, as we talked about with word-of-mouth
and people of notoriety
talking about us, we have a wait list.
(23:29):
And,
we wanna serve as many people as possible.
And we wanna continue to offer the process
in the quality and the integrity that it
is, and that takes
training teachers and a steady growth that
makes sure the quality is never compromised.
So that process has been going on this
last year and will probably be going on
(23:49):
into the new year. And I'm really excited
about that because it's been very collaborative with,
I would say, all parts of the organization.
And I think that's only gonna support
our need to fundraise for you know, I
think our biggest fundraising piece right now is
gonna be a capital campaign for our new
site. I'm excited about that because
to me, it's
(24:10):
a long term home for Hoffman, and we
really get to create
what it is that we need in a
facility to support this amazing process that we
have. Yeah. And a nonprofit that has
an endowment, I imagine, is part of it
as well. Right? Yes. And that is a
big part of our fundraising plans moving forward
as well.
(24:31):
Christy, in our running into each other in
various random places,
We also ran into each other at a
Joe Dispenza workshop
in Denver.
You've continued your own personal growth and a
lot of visioning. Joe Dispenza's work has lots
of visioning and imagining, and certainly part of
Hoffman's work is once you navigate patterns
(24:54):
and unburden
and
let go of so many of the things
connecting
us to our past,
then we can step onto the right road
into the future, create what we want,
envisioning is a huge part of that. Is
that a practice you still use? It was
great to see you there.
(25:14):
So what I love about visioning and about
Joe's work is
he has the ability to really talk about
the work
in a way that
a lot of people
understand it and can step into it. And
they may not quote, unquote, be on a
spiritual journey.
So there's a lot of different
(25:36):
versions
of visioning out there. Hoffman's a great example.
But Joe's work,
the way he guides people through
the heart and mind coherence
is just beautiful. And,
you know, all the different
paths I've taken in the last 20 years
to
explore
(25:57):
a greater experience of life and also really
say this should just become less of me.
And when I say that, I think of
all the layers that we gather over our
lifetime
of shedding those. And I wanna be less
of that and more of this, and that
this
is that universal energy.
So when I think of all of the
different roads we can take and different guides
(26:20):
that are along the way, whether it's Hoffman,
Joe, you know, anything that we can do,
I always say don't confuse the water with
the tap. There's a ton of taps out
there, but the water to me
is all the same. It's that life force,
that universal energy
that is available to all of us and
that is within all of us. It's what
we're made of.
(26:40):
There's no difference
in any of us or any living
thing on this planet.
And so I just have such gratitude for
all the teachers that have come into my
life and guides
because
I continue to
use
their guidance
to down my journey.
At different times, there's different taps that serve
(27:02):
me more appropriately.
So it may be a trip down to
meet an indigenous
wisdom leader
in a different country. It could be 3
months in silence in India. It could be
going to Joe Dispenza's
piece or going to a Hoffman q 2,
but they all are access to the water.
Yeah. And the the religion or the modality
(27:25):
are less important,
and instead, the universal
life force, the energy
is the part that you're saying to pay
attention to. And to use whatever
tool
gives you that access.
To me, Hoffman has been
a pretty universal tool. I don't know anyone
(27:45):
that I've met
that said,
that's a I haven't heard that.
I really believe that there's different
access points for all of us and and
at different points in our life. You know,
a great example is
I did my first process in 2,005,
and I did my second process in 2014.
(28:07):
When I did it the second time, I
had spent between
2007
when I first met Sadhguru until
that time
2014, pretty much dedicated to
very
deep yoga practices, spending a lot of time
in India.
And
when I came to do the process in
2014, I kinda was like, oh, yeah. It'll
(28:29):
be a great experience.
I didn't think I'd get that much out
of it, quote, unquote,
because I already did the process. So how
can it be? But doing it 10 years
later
and after the journey, it was a completely
different experience
and just as deep. And it shocked me.
And it was such a good lesson of
(28:50):
there's always
more.
I don't mean more work. People always talk
about this as work. I mean it as
there's always more possibility for expansion.
It's how much do you wanna expand in
this lifetime, in this vehicle we call a
body. That's what that really taught me is.
So I'm always
open to
taps because I just wanna expand more into
(29:12):
that water.
Beautiful.
So one last question as we wind down
here, and I wanna sort of go where
we started,
which is your dad.
You know, him as the person who introduced
you to Hoffman,
How does he still live inside you? Do
you feel like the work you're doing stewarding
Hoffman into the future,
(29:33):
that he's still with you?
Is it a way of staying connected to
him? What's that journey been like?
The first thing that comes to mind is
this video. Actually, Hoffen, a long time ago,
was doing a video of they wanted to
interview donors.
And
there's a clip of him, and I used
it in this presentation once.
He was talking about giving.
(29:55):
He's somebody who always gave. It's who I
learned it from.
And in this video clip,
he says,
I don't understand it, but the more I
give, the more I get financially and otherwise.
And it's been so true for me.
So he's with me all the time.
You know, he passed in 2012,
(30:16):
and he's still just as vibrant in my
life experience.
I think it's it's really through the work
that I do
with nonprofits.
So in 2011,
he had called me one day and he
said, you know, I kind of was thinking
maybe you and I can work on a
project together. And I've been bugging him forever
saying, hey. I wanna do philanthropy stuff with
(30:37):
you. And he's like, oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I just kinda like doing it how I
do it. And then he called me and
said, you know, let's do something together. And
I was like, why now? And he goes,
well,
I can't travel the way you travel, and
I wanna
live that part vicariously
through you. You can go see the projects.
You can go be with them.
He was diagnosed
(30:58):
right after that.
And so we never got to really do
that.
You know, I had always done
philanthropy before that, but not at the level
that I do it now. Now it's my
life. It's very integrated,
and I really learned that from him.
What's it like to talk about him and
remember him in this way? It's a gift.
(31:18):
Definitely a gift. You know, the other ways
I remember him. I mean, I just yesterday
was my nephew's birthday.
And whenever I look at him, he reminds
me of my dad. They both have the
same eyes. And definitely when I look at
my brothers,
you know, you just as we get older,
I'm like, oh my god. We do become
our parents. But I see him in all
my brothers and sisters and and my nephew
specifically.
(31:38):
He was such a bright light, and he
was somebody who lived big and lived all
out. I mean, I feel like the guy
had 9 lives.
I feel like he lived it full. You
know, I was blessed to be with him
when he passed and a month before he
passed, and it was
one of the biggest gifts of my life
was to have that experience with him.
(31:58):
Yeah. I'm imagining that the work you do
with Hoffman is is a way of keeping
his
memory and legacy alive. Oh, definitely. Yeah.
It was definitely a passion of
his and my golf game too. That's another
way to keep his memory alive.
You've been working on your golf game, haven't
you? I still haven't gotten the hole in
1. He he had many, but I'm working
(32:20):
on that one. Well,
for your dad and
most importantly for you and the spirit and
the work and the legacy you create for
Hoffman, thank you, Christie, for this conversation. Thank
you. I'm grateful.
Thank you. I so appreciate it. Very, very
grateful.
(32:45):
Thank you for listening to our podcast. My
name is Liza Ingrassi. I'm the CEO and
president of Hoffman Institute Foundation.
And I'm Razz Ingrassi,
Hoffman teacher and founder of the Hoffman Institute
Foundation.
Our mission is to provide people greater access
to the wisdom and power of love. In
themselves, in each other and in the world.
(33:07):
To find out more, please go to hoffmaninstitute.org.
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