And you thought you had it rough: Esther Adler was
physically abused by a family member from age 3 and forced into
becoming a caregiver to her handicapped mother at age 8. She ran away from
her ultra-conservative Jewish family but was later “married off” at 18 to a
controlling, abusive husband, bearing him four children by the time she was 27. After a messy divorce,
her kids alienated her. That was before she was diagnosed with a
life-threatening, incurable disease. Who better to speak to women in need, as Adler will do Wednesday afternoon at the Catholic Worker in Santa Ana?
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Having overcame more than 20 years of physical and mental abuse and personal tragedy, Adler now travels the country, visiting homeless shelters to provide women tools to change their lives. She reveals how the most devastating aspects of one's life can provide the greatest blessings.
You'll also find this knowledge in her 2011 book, Breaking the Chains to Freedom, which is intended to be a guide to help people through any trauma the reader has gone through or is going through, so that they can move forward. Among the techniques she teaches are moving away from negative thought patterns and toward positive
ones, understanding grief and moving through it, and practicing
forgiveness.
Adler has also studied various forms of dance for years and teaches yoga and movement techniques to help her audiences relax and
maintain the physical well-being needed to improve their lives.
Many have described Adler's events as life-changing. Find out if that's true when she speaks from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Catholic Worker, 316 S. Cypress Ave., Santa Ana. To learn more about her, visit EstherAdler.com.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.