When the Student is Ready, the Teacher Appears: A 30-Year Journey from Wall Street to Spiritual Awakening

In this touching episode of "Surrendering to the Signs," I reconnect with Geri Esposito, who was my manager at Citibank in 1990. Though she was my boss for only about a year, Geri opened a door to the spiritual world that would shape the rest of my life. This is our first conversation in over 30 years.

The Yoga Class That Changed Everything

Geri's spiritual journey began in the late 1960s when she was just 19 years old. "I was walking down the street and I saw this sign that said Integral Yoga Institute," she recalls. "Meanwhile, at the time I was bar hopping and drinking and just partying."

She walked in and took a yoga class on impulse. "At the end of the class there were tears in my eyes because I felt like this is where I belonged and this is what I've been looking for all my life."

This wasn't the yoga you'd find on every street corner today. It was about "searching for a guide or some kind of spiritual awakening. It always started with chanting, then we did asanas, then breathing and meditation."

A week later, she signed up for a 10-day silent retreat, not knowing why. As she puts it, "When you're ready, the teacher comes."

The Invitation That Changed My Path

When Geri and I met at Citibank in 1990, I had just returned from a year of traveling through South America, where I'd experienced some unexplainable healing after getting violently ill on a train from Machu Picchu.

Shortly into working for Geri, she mentioned she was a spiritual minister and reflexologist. "I had no idea, like I had no context for any of this stuff. This was 1990 - these things weren't common in the vernacular."

Then Geri invited me on a retreat at Pumpkin Hollow Farm. "I never asked anybody else at Citibank to do any of this," Geri explains. "There was something that you had out in the universe that made me ask you."

At the retreat, I met Dolores Krieger, the founder of Therapeutic Touch, and Dora Kunz - though I didn't realize until years later that I had been "at the feet of a master" who was a peer to Krishnamurti.

[Listen to the full conversation to hear about these profound teachers and how this retreat became foundational to my spiritual journey.]

Following Heart-Centered Guidance

Geri's ability to follow spiritual guidance became evident in her major life transitions. After 27 years at Citibank, she moved to Ashland, Oregon with no jobs and no clear plan. "The mountains looked like breasts. It was so feminine compared to New York City with these masculine buildings."

Years later, when her mother got sick in Texas, she visited and saw her looking frail. "I said, I don't even know who this woman was. She brought me into this earth and I need to come back."

When I ask how she recognizes guidance, her answer is simple: "I always go to my heart chakra to get messages. I can't get it through my brain. I can't put words to why I knew. I just knew."

The Challenge of Starting Over

Moving from corporate vice president to massage therapist wasn't easy. "I literally cried every day for nine months because I had left this big responsibility and came to this little town as a massage therapist."

The transition required facing fundamental questions about identity. But even starting at $8 an hour, the universe provided the next step through a patient who introduced her to better opportunities.

"I think if we get out of the way sometimes, and sometimes it's not easy, but I think we are where we're supposed to be."

The Ripple Effects of One Invitation

What strikes me most is how Geri's simple invitation to a retreat in 1990 created ripples that are still expanding today. We hadn't spoken in over 30 years, yet the foundation she laid by introducing me to meditation and spiritual teachers has been quietly working in my life all this time.

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My takeaway: Geri's story demonstrates how profound guidance can come through ordinary circumstances - a chance walk down a street, a workplace conversation, a simple invitation. When we're open and available, teachers appear exactly when we need them.

Listen to the full conversation to hear more about Geri's journey from New York spirituality to cross-country moves guided by heart-centered knowing.

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This conversation reminds us that spiritual awakening doesn't require a grand plan - just openness to the signs and willingness to say yes.

If you are interested in connecting with Geri, you can do so via Facebook here.