Sharon Salzberg’s gift for helping others find inner peace had its genesis in her tumultuous childhood in New York City. Her father abandoned the family when Salzberg (the subject of this issue’s cover story by contributing editor Karen Brailsford, page 28) was 4. Her mother died when Salzberg was 9. They had been sitting on the sofa watching television when Salzberg’s mother began hemorrhaging; she died in the hospital two weeks later. The young girl then moved in with her father’s Polish immigrant parents. When her grandfather died two years later, her father returned, but after six weeks he attempted suicide with sleeping pills. He was then admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where he lived for the remainder of his life.
In 1968, at 16, Salzberg began college at the State…
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Spirituality & Health (Digital) - 1 Issue, November/December 2024