With heavy hearts, we mourn the passing of Samadhi Ishaya (AKA Linda Diane Carter, nee Wickstrom) who died on November 20, 2023 at the age of 79 in Pahoa, HI from renal failure. She was surrounded by family and friends.

Born on July 12, 1944 in Alameda, California, Samadhi was raised in Beresford, South Dakota, the daughter of Warren Wickstrom and Donna May (Adamson) Wickstrom.

She started her lifelong love of learning by attended Sioux Falls College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In 1968, she moved to Los Angeles, earning her BA in psychology from Cal State LA in 1975, and her PhD in Developmental Psychology from USC (University of Southern California) in 1980.

She was a professor of Psychology for many years at UNL (University of Nebraska – Lincoln), Union College, and Southeast Community College in Lincoln, Nebraska, and CSUN (Cal State Northridge) in Northridge, California. She also had a private practice for decades providing psychotherapy and hypnotherapy.

In 1996, she was introduced to a form of meditation called Ascension, practiced by the Ishaya order of monks. She was immediately drawn to this practice, and quickly joined the Ishaya order, receiving her new Sanskrit name, and dedicating the rest of her life to being a teacher of Ascension. By 1998 she was teaching this meditation around the world.

She also loved to dance, garden, cook, practice yoga, and create (and teach) stained glass art.

She is survived by her husband, Fred Darling, her sons, Eric Carter (Michael Bremer) and Matt Carter (Sabrina Carter), her sisters, Sherry and Debra, her two granddaughters, and many nieces and nephews.

She loved her friends and family deeply, and expressed that love generously and freely. Her unconditional love and bright, beautiful smile will be profoundly missed by all those whose lives she touched.

Send to someone

Share this obituary with others

https://everloved.com/life-of/samadhi-ishaya/obituary/

Copy