After living in India with a Hare Krishna community, Hania didn’t know what to expect from a conventional lifestyle when she moved to western Massachusetts in the late 80s. “I’ve always been interested in spirituality, but after a long time travelling and living away, I wanted to explore life at home while working as a political fundraiser,” she says. In the autumn of 1989, she decided to take a break and go on a 10-day silent meditation retreat near her home.
It was there that she first set eyes on Shoba. “I was living in Boston and working for an engineering firm,” says Shoba. “I was just learning to meditate, but I’d never done 10 days in silence before. I saw Hania on the first day and remember thinking, ‘She’s done this a lot.’” As the days passed, they noticed that they got up at the same time for meditation practice and their schedules were in sync.
