Hilda Charlton

Biography

Hilda was born in London in 1906, and moved to the United States with her parents when she was 4 years old. She was raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Los Angeles, California. At the age of 18, she began performing as a modern dancer. For the next 20 years, she danced and taught in the San Francisco area.

Hilda toured India as a dancer from 1947 to 1950, and stayed in India for fifteen more years, studying eastern mysticism and meditation.

Hilda settled in New York City upon returning to America. She became a spiritual teacher at the request of people she met, and over the years her classes grew in size from two people to more than a thousand. The location was moved from a students apartment to the basement of St. Luke's Church. In 1976, the location was moved to the nave and later to the Synod House of the cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Hilda also taught Robert Hansen, the later Shaivite "satguru/jagatguru" (spiritual/world teacher) Sivaya Subramuniyaswami as a teenager. According to Hansen's biography, Hilda was "...An exceptional teacher, she spent seven years taking the young seeker [Robert Hansen, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami] deeper into the disciplines of concentration and meditation, Bhakti yoga and the art of giving. Later, she would travel with him to Ceylon..."

Hilda was a friend of Albert Rudolph (Rudi), and was an invited guest at his meditation sessions held in New York City in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Her teachings incorporated the fundamental principles of the world's religions and she spoke of the importance of a life of giving and forgiving, unconditional love, and remembrance of God.

She died in New York City on January 29, 1988.

Books