Our foundation will support humanitarian projects focused on causes close to the Krystal’s hearts: young people of today and future generations.
We will provide financial donations for the education young people around the world and the support of their general well-being.
We are interested in partnering with other like-minded organisations to share our resources and develop positive relationships.
Board Members
Booney Smith, Executive Director and Board Member
With over 30 years’ experience in the fashion industry, Booney has worked for influential designers including Jasper Conran and Bruce Oldfield. In 2004 she undertook Doula training to specialise in helping new mothers and their babies. Friends for more than four decades, Booney played a significant role during the last two years of Phyllis’ life, overseeing the publication of her new books and the launch of the SPK Foundation’s website.
Michael Tracy, Secretary
Michael has more than 30 years’ experience in the financial services industry, as a Portfolio Manager and a Certified Financial Planning Practitioner. He is a Founder and Principal of The Global Brain, which brings together creatives from the advertising and innovation industries to support NGOs in building a sustainable and socially responsible future.
Tim Smith, Trustee
Tim has spent 35 years as a commercial real estate investor, developer and investment broker in California. He met and became friends with Sidney and Phyllis Krystal while living in London in the early 1970’s; and was a client of Phyllis’s in the mid 70’s practicing the Hi C method at her direction. He is currently the President of the Dakota PB Company.
Sidney Krystal was born in Los Angeles in 1907. He attended the University of Southern California and Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and later entered Harvard Law School. He practised entertainment law, counting actors Fred Astaire and Victor Mature as his clients, before turning to tax and corporate law. At the peak of his career, Sidney tried a case in the US Supreme Court.
An avid reader of anthropology, archaeology, philosophy and theology, Sidney became an active member of UCLA's Plato Society. He also enjoyed collecting oriental art and antiques, and loved to play poker.
The Krystal’s loved to travel and did so extensively. Phyllis enjoyed a beautiful garden and had a real passion for roses, particularly the English David Austin Rose.
Sidney and Phyllis got married in the early 1940s and had two daughters, Sheila and Lorna. Soon after, the couple befriended Aldous Huxley, Anais Nin, Andrija Puharich and Uri Geller, and began to explore parapsychology: the study of paranormal and psychic phenomena.
In the 1950s, while living in Los Angles as a stay-at-home mother, Phyllis would spend hours sharing stories and thoughts with one of her dearest friends.
After some time, they realised they had ‘hunches’ that seemed to provide the answers to their questions and problems. They believed these answers were buried somewhere deep in the subconscious.
Over a period of time, they worked together to develop a method of getting in touch with this other part of the mind. They later called this the ‘Higher Consciousness’ or ‘High C’.
Phyllis eventually taught the Method as a practical visualisation technique to help people deal with fear, lack of self-confidence, and apprehension concerning the future.
It is a technique that anyone at any age can use to believe in themselves and express who they really are. It allows those who follow it to become free to pursue their own potential—particularly helpful for dealing with today’s challenges.
In 1973, Sidney and Phyllis became devotees of Sai Baba, an Indian spiritual master, who later appointed Sidney Treasurer of the International Sai Baba Organisation—a position he held for several years. Sidney often travelled to India to practise international law and stay with Phyllis at Sai Baba's ashram in Prasanthi Nilayam.
Sidney died in 1993, aged 85. In 2004, Phyllis left the US for Europe before finally settling in Surrey, England, in 2014.
During her lifetime, Phyllis published many books. The first, Sai Baba: The Ultimate Experience, describes her spiritual quest and visits to her Indian guru, while her final book, The Flight of the Phoenix to Liberation Our Journey of Inner Transformation, recounts the end of her life, symbolised by the rise of the Phoenix from its own ashes.
These books and a collection of her poems, Little Gems from Baba, can be purchased in our online shop.
Go to shopWe will publish articles about the projects we get involved in and provide updates on their progress in the news section of the Community Hub.
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