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One day Harry asked me for a counseling session. He talked about his life, about those he loved and had hurt, and about his regrets. His guilt and shame was almost palpable. I asked him to put his story on paper for the next session. We met again after a few days and he read aloud to me what he had written on eight pages. It was a difficult read for him and he stopped a few times to hold the tears back. We then built a little fire and he burned page by page while we held hands, chanting “Trayambakam,” his favorite healing mantra we use at the retreat. The next day his smile became much bigger as he said, “I left a lot of burden in that fire and I feel much lighter!” Later on we heard him humming an Indian raga he remembered from his childhood.

By the end of the program the tests confirmed improvement on all fronts: his tension had gone down from 17 to 8 (on a scale of 0–36), depression down from 22 to 9 (on a scale of 0–60), anger down from 13 to 5 (on a scale of 0–48), vigor increased from 5 to 13 (on a scale of 0–32), fatigue went from 16 to 10 (on a scale of 0–28), and confusion from 13 to 7 (on a scale of 0–28). When we reviewed the results together, Harry said, “Yes, that’s about how I feel, at peace with myself and the world. And one more thing…when I came to the program I was afraid of death; now I am not. I will live as long as I can and spend as much time with my sons as possible.”