Dr. Eleanor Working

My journey into synthesizing scientific and spiritual information began early in life. From my earliest childhood, I could see auras, and because of this, I was an avid student of esoteric traditions, practicing yoga spontaneously for as long as I can remember.

However, I was also drawn to the world of science and after receiving my undergraduate degree from Brooklyn College, I went on to get my PhD from the University of Chicago in the Department of Comparative Human Development. This was one of the first interdisciplinary social sciences departments in the United States, and afforded me the opportunity to study with some of the foremost psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists, and biologists in the academic world. I had the privilege of studying with people like Lawrence Kohlberg, Robert Levine, William Henry, David Wylie, Bruno Bettelheim, Bernice Neugarten, Thomas Gordon, Erika Fromm, and Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, to name just some of the most highly-esteemed names in their fields.

Because I recognized the importance of theoretical and structural knowledge based on documentable research, I temporarily put some of my esoteric interests aside, and focused on my studies. While at the University of Chicago, I pursued clinical studies in Freudian psychoanalysis and Jungian analysis, transpersonal psychology, and religion. After my formal academic education, I studied meditation, astrology, metaphysics, and alternative medicine, as well. I was always drawn to open-minded disciplines grounded in scientific foundations, turning to them for answers to some of my questions about life transformations.

One of my life-long goals was to find a way to bridge the gap between science and esoteric awareness to make the world’s wisdom traditions accessible. I wanted to find answers to questions about human life and nature that would explain the difference between those who lived happy integrated lives and those whose lives continued to be filled with struggles and challenges.

I always felt enlivened when I recognized the deep wisdom in others and acknowledged it in daily living.

My driving motivation remained to find ways to facilitate change in people’s lives without undermining their self-esteem or core being – something that can happen when people give away their power to esoteric or traditional teachers, courses of study, therapists, or educational systems. Within my work, I always served as a coach, partnering with my clients in their own evolutionary process.

In 1978 during a meditation, I was guided to travel to India. I had already listened to the “voice” of my soul and had successfully moved my family and clinical practice to California, so when I was guided to travel to India, I planned the trip. On that visit, and on the day predicted by my great astrology mentor, Katherine de Jersey, I met Marvin, the man who became my husband. The magic of that moment changed the course of both our lives.

At that time, Marvin had taken an indefinite leave from his holistic medical practice in California, had sold his home (a mile from where I had moved a year earlier), and was undecided about the future course of his life. In fact, Marvin was seriously considering remaining in India and living a meditative life. However, our bond of love was instantaneously deep and still continues today; we both knew we had met our true soul mate.