Asha Greer

Asha Greer

Asha Greer died peacefully on January 7, 2022, surrounded by family and loved ones. She filled her 87 years with immense love, connection, engagement, and curiosity.

Asha was born in Los Angeles in 1935, the daughter of Alice Henry and Hans von Briesen. She attended Stanford University and earned her BA in International Relations. She was one of the first female lifeguards in Los Angeles and spent her life being an emotional and spiritual life guard to hundreds of people.

She also became an artist, educator, writer, administrator, principal, nurse, Japanese tea master, meditation teacher, and community builder. She helped found the Lama Foundation in New Mexico and remained on their board throughout her life. When she moved to Virginia, she worked at a Women's Support center called FOCUS and was part of the group that started what later became a large-scale hospice care program in Charlottesville. Asha was also very active with the Tibetan resettlement project.

When she was in her 40s, she went to nursing school. She spent 25 years working the medical floors at the University of Virginia Hospital-primarily in oncology. She has helped many people as they were dying, both in and outside of the hospital. When she retired from nursing, she taught meditation to incarcerated women.

Rising within the Sufi Ruhaniat International, Asha taught meditation and practices of presence for decades, ultimately as a murshida/spiritual guide. Greer advocated for "life through practice, love and just being."

Asha is survived by her four daughters, Dakota, Shanti, Aurora, and Savitri, their children, as well as numerous other close family members. They include her nephews, Cailen and Inayat, their children and grandchildren.

Asha spent the last eleven months of her life in a state of pure love. The love she had been seeking in everything she ever did and everyone she ever knew was there (she would say "here") in abundance.

She was buried in Batesville, Virginia, on January 10, 2022.