SAIREH WOODS was born in Indianapolis to Dorothy Hadley and Lawrence Teater. Her father was an Air Force pilot involved in the Berlin Airlift after World War II, where the family was stationed in Munich, Germany. Childhood experiences such as a trip to the Dachau concentration camp, travels through the war-ravaged German countryside, the accidental death of a friend, and the loss of her beloved dog made a lifelong impression on her. Through them she learned compassion for animals and nature, and for people of all colors and races. A sensitive child, she could see the dead - the spirits of those who had passed on. Having experienced so much sorrow and darkness as a child, she made up her mind to stay in light, truth and love. All her life thereafter, she has used her gifts to give comfort to all those she counsels. A travelling military family provided only impermanent roots, and Saireh found it difficult to establish connections from which she might soon be torn. This and her early love of the arts and performing influenced her desire to become a professional actor and singer. She began working with rotating repertory theatres in Missouri, Ohio and Indiana, rehearsing four or five plays at one time, and performing another at night. She felt this experience gave her the best training to compete in New York. Over the years, Saireh received wide acclain for her work with gifted artists such as Sir Clifford Williams, Stephen Sondheim, and Hal Prince, one of Broadway's best producers and directors. After fifteen years, Saireh felt she had truly made it as a professional actor and singer, but she also realized the cost for her success in theatre was a private life. Her spirit told her then she could no longer sacrifice her life to her art, and it was time to move on. Saireh says she is now in her second life. During her years in theatre, she had also studied with master teachers, learning to read the progression of disease in the body and she found how easy it was for her to "see". Saireh is currently in great demand as a spiritual intuitive and counselor in Sacramento, California, specializing in communication with souls who have crossed over, and helps individuals evolve to their higher aspect. - from her Compact Disc biography, April, 2003 (see Voice Work - Poetry CD for more information) _______________________________________________________________ ON BROADWAY in her prime, Saireh Woods (a.k.a. Sara Woods) could cut it with the best. She was a star so bright even the other stars squinted at her glow. "You were wonderful," Meryl Streep said to Woods backstage in New York after a performance of Sunday in the Park with George. Another time, during an audition, a Broadway director, Hal Prince, jolted suddenly up out of his chair and deadpanned: "She's really good!" Then there was the time composer Stephen Sondheim bubbled: "You were really swell." To Woods, the moments were magic. But they didn't last forever. For Woods, the beginning of the end of her life as an actress took place during an audition in New York a few years ago. Fresh from the Broadway run of Sunday in the Park With George, Woods was singing an aria when she forgot where she was in the lyrics. But what made the whole thing even more inexplicable was that Woods started over and got lost a second time - and then a third. Woods finally finished the aria, but as she left the room, she heard a voice inside. I'm not a machine. I'm not a machine. Within a year, Woods left New York. She ended up in San Jose, where a friend got her a part with San Jose Civic Light Opera. Soon she found her way to Sacramento, where for three years she sold ads for Neighbors. In 1992, Woods was between shows at the Sacramento Theatre Conpany when Clay, her husband of seven months, died of a heart attack. Woods says, the experience was a "cosmic two-by-four" which helped her realize that she needed to make another career change. "When Clay was dying, and I was trying to help him live, there was a lot of fear in the air," Woods says, adding that amid her fear and shock in the emergency room, she discovered a powerful insight. "I realized that death...is letting go of the body and going home to our true nature..., and that if we don't fear death, we can live without limitation. I felt a compassion and a love and a neutrality that I'd never experienced before. I got a clear sense that day that what I'm supposed to do is bring more of that here." So, in the spring of 1993, a longtime passion - the study of metaphysics - became a profession, as Woods earned certification as a metaphysical minister, channeler, clairvoyant, and intuitive counselor through the Church of Enthusiam and Joy. These days, Woods helps hurting people heal from the inside. Through private sessions and classes, struggling people learn to release their pasts, gain insight into their talents, and develop the spiritual tools for self-empowerment. At first glance, it all seems a bit bizarre. Ever since her parents made her sing for company at home in Indianapolis, Woods had grown up dreaming of Broadway. Then there were all the years she'd spent learning her art at regional companies like Missouri Repertory Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, and Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival. Then, finally, once she made it to New York, there was the grueling gauntlet of auditions - an actors' mill which often pounded harshly on the emotions. Life on Broadway - and in New York - was no piece of cake, but Woods had made it to the top of the mountain and the view was breathtaking. So how could she walk away? For Woods, the answer is simple: her dream life had turned into a nightmare. "The cruelty of competition takes you away from your heart," Woods says. "That's what I learned in New York. For 15 years, I learned how to get away from what I call my fire, my heart. I think we all have a fire that burns within us. In New York, however, I became a machine. My sole purpose was to win over everyone else. How can I be better than you? How do I become the best - no matter what happens to you? That kind of competition kills the heart. And I needed to live." On a breezy spring afternoon in Sacramento, Woods is indeed full of life. Two months past her 50th birthday, Woods talks about her future. "What's my mission?" she asks. "If I died tomorrow, I'd want people to say that I helped others know their power, and their own inner guidance." -Sacramento Magazine, June 1994