Paul Roy Sibcy
Aug. 15, 1944-Aug. 7, 2019
Mountian View, California
Submitted by Deborah Olenev

Paul Sibcy was born in Hamilton, Ohio. He was the youngest of five children born to MaryLou and Wallace Sibcy who owned a 160 acre dairy farm. Paul served in the military on the East West German border during the cold war period, then returned to his home town, where he married his first wife and began a factory job. It didn’t take him long to realize that factory work was not his calling, so he went to Miami University at age 25 and got a master’s degree in English literature.

Paul moved to California in 1972 and got his first job as an English college professor. This also did not prove to be his calling. At age 33 Paul had a spiritual awakening in the mountains of Utah, where he realized that he needed to devote his life to spirit, and this is exactly what he did.

Paul’s path became clearer when he met Fritz Smith and Aminah Raheem, the founder of Soul Lightening International and began studying Process Acupressure. He also met his guru, Sathya Sai Baba, to whom he made many spritual pilgrimages, and who remained embedded in his heart always.

Other great spiritual influences on Paul were Swami Muktananda, Paramahansa Yogananda, Roy Eugene Davis, and Ramana Maharshi.

In 1990 Paul co-founded Integrated Healing Arts with Dr. Larry Freeman in Palo Alto. This center remains a thriving alternative health center. At the same time, Paul Sibcy, founded Pathways to Self Healing. Pathways was the spiritual arm of IHA. Pathways originally followed the lineage of Paramahana Yogananda, but then became more inclusive over the years to embrace teachings from all spiritual traditions and not adhere to any one path.

Paul taught meditation classes for forty years. Paul was the heirophant, the spiritual teacher, embodied. He channeled this energy, and was brilliantly gifted as a spiritual teacher.

Paul was also a very gifted writer, and had one book published during his lifetime: Healing Your Rift With God, but had been working on many books during the last 20 years, which we are hoping to publish posthumously for him.

Another great gift Paul had was his voice. A shy man by nature, he would not easily display this gift to others, but when he did people were amazed by the exquisite beauty of his voice.

Paul is survived by his son Abraham Sibcy, his wife, Deborah Olenev-Sibcy, his step-children Andrei Olenev, and Nastassia Olenev-Mulleady, and his grandchildren Ixara and Sephyra, and his step-daughter Stacia Retchless and her children. Paul has a large family in Ohio, including his dearly beloved sister, Linda Zehler, his double first cousin Carolyn Hacker, and many nieces, nephews, and their children and grandchildren. Even though I am not listing all the names here, Paul loved each and every one. Paul had a very special relationship with his cousin Alfred Sibcy and his friend, Michael Smith, as well as with numerous clients and friends for whom he cared very deeply. Paul followed a path with heart, and the world has been blessed by the love he embodied.

Tags: veteran, teacher/educator, public service