I Am Grateful

Hello, my name is Laurie Jacoby, and I am a teacher living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I was accredited in 2001 with Ed Altman and began attending conferences soon thereafter. I was really fortunate to have met Justin Stone on a number of occasions. I remember the first time I saw him. He was sitting at a big grand piano and playing some romantic 1940s jazz tunes — so smoothly. I was just so impressed. And I thought, here’s this spiritual guru, and he’s an artist. That made a big impression on me because I make my living as an artist. So, I thought, maybe I can do this.

The second time I went to a conference, we were all moving together. I was having terrible back pain that year. The pain was shooting down my legs as I was trying to move. Justin was leading the whole room of teachers. He was saying, teachers, you have to get down lower, get down lower, you’re not getting down low enough. I tried but I couldn’t do it. And at one point, he calls out across the room and says, you over there, you’re not moving low enough. I was mortified, so embarrassed.

He sent one of his teachers over to tell me what I was doing wrong. I explained what was going on, that I couldn’t help it. He went back to Justin and they chatted. And after the practice was over, Justin came over and said, well, dear, you know … you’re not moving. And I said it’s because of my back. I explained to him what had happened. He said, I understand. He was very kind and said, you move as beautifully as possible, just take care of yourself. He was so charming, and we took this lovely picture together.

He was just so sweet. And he could be so charming. But he could also be so curmudgeonly and intimidating. He really expected us to be really good at what we were doing. He expected the best out of us. He really cared about us. He really had our best interest in mind. He wanted each of us to succeed. He wanted each to really be the jewels of this practice, to spread it out in the world as far as we could. And to have real inner sincerity doing it.

He really loved us, I think, and I felt it even though I was kind of scared of him. But I remember when I first met him. I came home to tell my husband about the conference. I said this man is really something; he has so much integrity. And it shows in the practice; it shows in what he expects of us. I hope to live up to that. So that is my memory of Justin. And again, I feel very lucky to have had some time with him, knowing now that people won’t have that anymore. I am grateful to him every day for the gift that he has given me. So that’s my story about Justin Stone. Thank you.