I began my spiritual journey at the age of 4 being taught to meditate, and to join in (for short periods) with my parents in their spiritual practice. In my early years in school i did not see myself as being particular spiritual, but I was always the sensitive one who couldn\’t handle any harshness or cruelty, and I always had a very developed sense of honour.
In my teen years I began meditating daily, and there was nothing very special about it, only that I believed it was good for me. Then when i was about 18 I went to a spiritual yoga and meditation retreat, and heard people talking about their experiences of god in their meditations, and of the devotional love that they developed, and I decided that I wanted to experience what they were talking about. No sooner had I made this intention than I found the experience fall on me in an instant. Perhaps it had something to do with the environment i was in, and the amount of meditation that we had done, but for whatever the reason it seemed i was ready for that experience.
So here I was suddenly feeling the presence of God, and the powerful loving connection, my longing for more joy and love. It was an overwhelming experience, and for a short time it was wonderful, but soon I found that the feelings were too strong. I spent too much of my time weeping in ecstacy, and I could not enjoy my life. This experience that people had been sharing as the wonder of life, I found only as suffering. And despite that the experience continued for many years. I asked many spiritual teachers for help, but noone was able to guide me, so I went on my own journey of discovery that lasted about 10 years. Finally after much exploration and learning of all kinds of techniques and approaches to life I sat in my lounge chair, and I realised that the Love between me and the Divine was like gravity – pulling us together, and I allowed it to pull me all the way in to become one with the Divine. To do this I had to give up on my concepts of Love because my idea of love required 2 beings – one to love, and one to be loved, and as the 2 became one – the idea of \’I love you\’ no longer made any sense, it became simply an ocean of joy and peace,.
Having found that experience I then spent the next 30 days sitting in my armchair deepening that sense of peace and loving joy. By the end of this time I could drop into an experience of transcendental peace at any moment – which was wonderful, but sometimes impractical as it was difficult to keep focusing on the practical things that needed doing.
In this long journey of self discovery I came to feel that there is a real lack of spiritual teachers who can guide the individual in the way that they need, so I decided to become that spiritual guide for others. This led me to the next phase of my journey – trying to understand what others need so that I can help them. I found that people don\’t all need the same thing, and I had a very strong intuitive vision of how there were different spiritual paths for different people. Thus I began exploring and asking people, and sharing what I knew, and learning as I went about not just my spiritual journey, but also the journey of others. After roughly another 10 years I felt I knew enough about this to be able to guide others in their way. However the journey didn\’t end there.
Soon I realised that though I knew a lot about the inner worlds I didn\’t know how to bring my wisdom out into the world to be recognised and helpful and effective. I knew about inner spirituality, but not spirituality in action working in the world, and that became my next journey of discovery. How does one bring their spiritual gifts out into the world in an effective and peaceful, joyous way? And in this quest I discovered the Art of Centring – a technique that brings it all together – spiritual awakening, finding your own path, and bringing our gifts into the world. The concept is simple – that we each come from different centres (ie chakras) and if we focus on the one that is key for us then the others and all of life come into alignment. And you find that each spiritual tradition does have a centre that they focus their teachings around. Wonderful and simple, but at this phase of the journey I had not realised that simplicity and I ended up following all kinds of practices and exercises that seemed good, but actually took me out of my true centre.
I became a master of Taichi (centred in the feet), learned to pray and live in faith (from the crown chakra), and many other techniques and styles as well. But no matter how peaceful and relaxed I was, or how faithful and intuitive I was, I still didn\’t find myself effective in the world. It was only when I learned to prescribe the right centre for the right person that I realised my true centre is in the solar plexus where I can express intimate connection. And in practicing that centring, and strengthening that particular type of presence that practical effectiveness began to be part of my abilities.
It did not make me more determined or energetic, or motivated, in fact it made me lazier, but it made me focus my attention on my true strengths, and gradually I found that the world and people around me responded better and began to seek me out to work with me, and that I was able to truly serve through that presence and help people quickly find themselves. At the time of writing I have been finding that people are seeking me out for my music, and giving me opportunities, that gradually more and more people recognise my ability to guide them through life, and even people who haven\’t spoken to me for years suddenly call me to get back in touch – clearly putting out a different kind of vibe that I had been doing before. And step by step life improves – on the inside and the outside, because as i develop my true centre, the world around recognises the authenticity and responds in kind.
This is how I want to help you – to find your centre, to strengthen your presence and to come out into the world in your true, peaceful, loving and joyous strength.