Ester Nicholson – Soul Recovery
She had hit a wall with the 12 Steps.
In the early 1990’s, two years sober, Ester attended an unusual church service with a gifted “spiritual director” named Michael Bernard Beckwith. Beckwith later was recognized as a “teacher” featured in the pop, spiritual-light movie, “The Secret.” But the essential teaching that Beckwith expounded was one of re-identification of the self in terms of spiritual unity – essentially a “one-ness” with a redefined Divine Presence. This was a key moment for Ester, because it addressed the root identity issues that had caused so much difficulty in her life.
Studying under Beckwith familiarized Ester with the metaphysical principles she would later turn into the Soul Recovery teaching. But it was the inspiration of uniting these teachings with the 12 Step process itself, which revealed the answer and finally turned the tables on the addictions she had suffered from for so long.
Internal realignments often change the conditions outside.
Ester had just started singing at church after nearly 10 years of “not even singing in the shower,” when she got a call from Bette Midler’s manager asking if she would be interested in background singing on Bette’s next tour. Appearances on Oprah, Ellen and other shows followed. Then toward the end of the tour, Ester got a phone call from Rod Stewart asking if she wanted to do his next world tour. One thing led to another, and soon Ester was to be seen on Good Morning America, back on Oprah and Ellen, and widely considered a top, background vocalist call in the most competitive music market in the world.
