Rev. Wardell is available for weddings and other ceremonies in the
San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.

If you would like to reach her, please email her at this address Bardet@bardetwardell.com

BIOGRAPHY

Reverend Bardet Wardell is an Interfaith Minister who was ordained in 1994 at St. John the Divine in NYC by The New Seminary. She attended the two year seminary, with founder and instructor Rabbi Joseph Gelberman. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Rhode Island School of Design, is a family court mediator and is certified in Kripalu Yoga and Isadora Duncan Dance.

Interfaith ministry is grounded by the premise that there is only one creative, sustaining spirit force in the universe which is called by many names in different religions, God, Jehovah, Allah, Brahma, Goddess, Tao, Ja, El-Shaddai, etc. There are hundreds of names for the Spirit Essence of All Life. Thus there is no Interfaith doctrine or dogma, but the recognition that all people, all of nature and all that exists are the expression of One Spiritual Energy which no human can completely comprehend.

Interfaith is inclusive. It holds that through each person's faith, path or spiritual practice, there is a relationship with the Universal Power and that acceptance and respect can blossom between sincere people of all faiths. Rev. Wardell has conducted many interfaith weddings, ceremonies and services in churches, chapels, meadows, homes and other settings including Unity and Religious Science churches, Mohonk Mountain House, Westpark Winery, Hasbrouck House, in the Hudson Valley. She now lives in Marin County, California where she conducts ceremonies at the Institute of Noetic Sciences.

In 1986, Rev. Wardell was certified in the Yoga Teacher's Training (YTT) at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, Lenox, MA. She was fortunate to have as instuctors the well-respected Don Stapleton, PHD and Amrit Desai, founder of Kripalu. She was gratefully one of the few students to opt for the Sitting Meditation tract of the training.

Rev. Wardell's yoga teaching style, based on the meditative Kripalu Yoga posture flow, encourages a non-competitive mind and body knit. She blends in a stream of spiritual principles that support your own authority and responsibility in your life's process. Thus there is no externalizing of power, or confusion about the source of your truth. In other words, no outside guru, but instead the acknowledgment that your practice is initiated and integrated by you and your personal intention to sustain contact with your inner spiritual intelligence, or Higher Self.

Meditation is an element of traditional yoga that originated in Vedic times around 4,000 BCE. The internal practice has been de-emphasized in our culture. Meditation is a way of clearing one's mind so that we can carefully choose our thoughts, center, and have health and peace in daily life.

Rev. Wardell has studied meditation with Zen master and author Peter Matthiessen in Bridgehampton, NY, with John Daido Loori at Mt. Tremper Zen Monastery, NY, at Green Gulch, Sausalito, CA, with Paul Repps, author of Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, with Chogyam Trungpa, Buddhist founder of Naropa, with monks at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, Woodstock, NY, with Muktananda and Gurumayi, in So. Fallsburg, NY and recently with Eckhart Tolle at Omega Institute. Ramamurti S. Mishra, MD, founder of Ananda Ashram, Monroe, NY taught her the Agni Hotra ceremony and the Gayatri Mantra. As a result of this practice, she attained an enlightenment initiation.

A 20-year practice of Native American ceremonies with teachers such as Black Elk of the Sioux, Sun Bear of Spokane and Vicki Noble, author of Shakti Woman, provided a deep understanding of native and shamanic ceremony, and healing. She also studied the Japanese Tea Ceremony at Great Barrington Pottery.

In the Hudson Valley, Bardet taught yoga, meditationand peace to more than 1000 people in various venues including Vassar College, Dutchess Community College, Unison Learning Center, Mohonk, and in her private studios. Two students now have successful yoga studios in New Paltz.

In 1996 Bardet had a climbing fall which crushed her shoulder. After years of healing, she has regained her health. A 2001 Teachers' Training with Jeanne Bresciani, Director of the International Isadora Duncan Institute taught her to never give up. Many years of African dance, with Pam and Mimo Camara, from the West Guinea African Ballet have added vocabulary to her movements and skills in expressing a personal myth through dance and choreography. She produced and performed a Land Consecration Dance Ceremony and performed her piece "Ghandi's Grandson Introduces Ernest Holmes" and "The Moths and The Flame" in Woodstock in 2003.

The research project that Bardet has conducted, Is Peace Boring? ©1982, has kept her searching for ways to find sustainable peace in a daily lifestyle. The 26 questions included in the study (see www.egoddesses.com ) have demanded years of research in topics from how competition and anger fit with peace to an exploration of the matriarchal cultures like the one in pre-historic Mesopotamia. The work of Ernest Holmes propelled her into a new consciousness that she calls Dynamic Peace.

A lifetime of intense spiritual inquiry has shaped a peace philosophy and educational method that demonstrated success stories with at-risk students at Ulster BOCES Alternative School. Rev Wardell developed, directed, wrote grants and taught the students through New York State Council on the Arts and Mill Street Loft. The middle and high school was the perfect laboratory to research a Comprehensive Peace Educational System applying the principles of noetic sciences, individualized learning styles, and the arts as healing for our severely disenfranchised youth. Personal testimonies by former students whose lives were impacted by Rev. Wardell and her programs are found in Portraits of Success at www.ulsterboces.org. Quick search Heidi O'Dell, Crystal Fletcher, Becky Case, and Dorota Kolodziejski.

Bardet is a visual artist, with several solo shows of her paintings and photography in Colorado and New York. Her eco-clothing small business, Everyday Goddesses, created unique coats and hats that sold for 10 seasons at Felissimo, NYC, and many other venues.

Reverend Wardell's commitment to eco-design extends far beyond the material plane into the realms of spiritual manifestation and Quantum human evolution in order to bring about the developing paradigm of conscious compassionate standards of life in the collective plan for Peace on Earth.

RESUME

EDUCATION & CERTIFICATES
Rhode Island School of Design, BFA Apparel Design
The New Seminary, NYC, NY, Ordained Interfaith Minister
Isadora Duncan International Institute, Dance Teacher Certification
Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, Yoga Teacher Certification
Ulster-Sullivan Mediation, NYS Mediation Certification
Fordham University, Graduate Work in Educational Administration
Native American Medicine Apprenticeship, Spokane, WA
Japanese Tea Ceremony Apprenticeship, Great Barrington, MA
NYS Academy for Teaching and Learning, Peer Review, Arts & CDOS

EDUCATOR EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS
Golden Gate Center for Creative Living, Corte Madera, CA, Everday Peace Workshop, 05
Ulster BOCES Alternative School for Youth at Risk, Port Ewen, NY.
Responsible for directing, development, professional development, personnel, public relations, grant writing, for two Arts-in-Education programs 98-04
ESP Grant for Arts-in-Education Elementary Education Media Project, Grades 2 & 3, Wallkill School District, NY (to improve reading to learn skills) Planning, Writing, Executing Successful Grant Application Process, 04
Mill Street Loft, Poughkeepsie, NY, Teaching Artist for ages 3 to 20, 86-04
Vassar College, Dutchess Community College, Unison Learning Center,
Mohonk Mountain House, Yoga, Meditation, Peace Instructor, 86-94
St. Georges' School, Art Teacher, Pre-K-8th, 86-89

AUTHOR EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS
LOVE UNITED, Romantic Interfaith Weddings, author, 04 (Amazon.com)
Is Peace Boring? © 1982-now, Extensive writing, research and retreat workshops based on 26 questions about peace in a personal lifestyle. Articles in Nexus, NYC, International Journal on World Peace, etc. Book in progress.
Teaching Artist Journal, article co-written with Eric Booth, editor, "ARTSTEACH Manual", 03
New Visions Visual and Performing Arts Internship Resource Guide, 05 CAREducation, Blending Creative Education & Grandparenting Strategies, Essay, 05
New York State Council on the Arts & New York Foundation for the Arts, 5 Successful Arts in Education Program Grants for Youth-At-Risk 98 - 04

DESIGNER EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS
Be Sweet - creative products made with a conscience Knit designer, partner 05
Everyday Goddesses, Owner, Designer, Eco-Fashion /Interior Design 92-04
New Chapter Vitamins, Graphics Designer, 89-90
Bearsville Records, Interior Designer, Restaurants, Recording Studios, Offices, Private Homes for Albert Grossman, Woodstock, NY, 73-83

MINISTER EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS
The New Seminary, Ordination, St. John the Divine, NYC, 94
Wedding Ceremonies, Funerals, Baby Blessings, Rites of Passage, Counselling, Hudson Valley, NY
Sunday Services and Dynamic Peace Workshops at Mohonk Mountain House, New Paltz, NY, Religious Science, Unity Churches, Albany, NY
Religious Science Study Group Leader, Kingston NY, 03-04
Institute of Noetic Sciences, Oak Glade Solstice Ceremony 05

ARTIST EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS
Everyday Goddesses Gallery, Millard Building, Kingston, NY, Owner & Curator, monthly shows featuring the artist's 20 foot Mural of the Ashokan Reservoir, and photography theme shows including i.e. "Spiritual Bondage in the 21st Century", 99-04
Donskoj Gallery, Kingston, NY, Solo Photography Show, "Beach Life" 03
Holiday Interfaith Ceremony, Woodstock, NY, Solo Dance Performance, "Look Into the Eyes", to the sound of Ghandhi's Grandson Introducing Ernest Holmes, 03
Coffey Gallery, Kingston, NY, Group Show, dioramas, "Death of the Child of Woe", 03
Annual Student Art Shows, BOCES Alternative School, Kingston, NY, Curated, Produced and Hosted, 99-04
Sara Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY, New York State Council on the Arts, ESP Summer Seminar Silk Scarf Painting and Dance Project
Dance Performances, Studio Di Danza, High Falls, NY, Hasbrouck House, Stone Ridge, NY, Choreographed and danced in the style of Isadora Duncan, 00-03
Land Consecration Dance Ceremony, Woodstock, NY, Produced, Choreographed and Danced in the Lakeside Evening Performance, 02 (video)
BOCES Alternative School Student Fashion Show, 98
Rhinebeck Performing Arts Center, Rhinebeck, NY, Everyday Goddesses Fashion Show Performance, 92
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, Solo Fiber, Paintings, "Habitat" 80