At the end of that very intense fortnight, I wanted to give Erika all the money that people had paid for the workshops. There was a considerable sum. I pulled out a wad of banknotes and handed them to her.

“Oh but you must take half of that for all the work you have done in organising everything and looking after me.” she said.

“Oh no Erika!” I replied, taken aback. “I couldn’t possibly take any of this money.”

Erika was very quiet. She looked at me – right into my eyes, right into me – and said, “You’re worrying, aren’t you!”

“But Erika” I protested. “It simply isn’t right!”

She wasn’t interested in any of that. Here was a ‘teaching situation’. She was already aware of my propensity to worry, and this was her chance to show me something.

“Yes” she said. “But you’re worrying!”.

Then I got it. I was, for a moment, quite separate from my ‘worrying’, and could see it. In the seeing of it I became momentarily free from it. I laughed, she laughed. We agreed on a division of the money we were both happy with – and moved on.

© 2013 John S Hunter

Other Posts on Being with Erika:

#01, London 1985 – Annual Memorial Lecture
#02, Brighton 1988 – Key Note Address
#03, Melbourne 1991 – “Come for lunch!”
#04, Melbourne 1991 – Tea Ceremony
#05, Melbourne 1991 – Jean Jacques by the Sea
#06, Back in Melbourne, 1992
#07, “Where did you train?”, London, 1993
#08, “It’s all the same”, London, 1993
#09, “Making the Link”, London, 1993
#10,  A Lesson in Stopping, London, 1993
#11, Hands, London 1994
#13, “Nothing special”, London, 1994