My formal training is in psychology, yoga, Eastern philosophy, Somatics, and various healing arts, but the more relevant training that doesn’t go on any certificate is about personal experience, observation and transformation. I have spent 12 years exploring consciousness in the Himalayas. Most of my training has been in meditation and yogic science, but along the way I have explored methods of counseling, hands on healing, therapeutic touch, and Reiki to augment and support a method of spiritual transformation that is based on direct contact with the spirit through meditation. The energy field seems as much part of our functioning as the mind and body - an important consideration that is often overlooked - one that is closely linked to our emotional well-being and health.

It took a while to find words for all I discovered, and a while longer to integrate all this with practical day-to-day life. Techniques of meditation can be learned relatively quickly. The power to practice meditation, to counteract the influence of a world that is busy and largely oriented towards actions and material things takes time. There is no substitute for practice. Over 30 years of meditation the ability to remain connected to awareness and aligned with spirit has incrementally grown, and this power continues to grow.

Teaching meditation and Patanjali yoga philosophy started in 1984 in India, and yoga classes began when I immigrated to Canada in 1986, at first teaching in a Montreal YMCA. Alternating between periods of teaching and internal exploration seems to work well, learning and synthesizing from different parts of the globe creating a blend of Eastern and Western techniques, for example helping stress through a combination muscular release, guided relaxation, meditation and practical techniques to locate and prevent causes of stress. While teaching meditation and yoga I endeavour to combine deeper spiritual insight with down-to-earth practicalities to create balance and harmony in day-to-day life. Spirituality is a matter of living close to the spirit, in openness, love, acceptance and vitality.

I’ve had a few powerful spiritual openings, some of which had very profound and long lasting transformational after effects that were not necessarily always easy to handle. Seeing others go through similar circumstance, I recently researched the nature and effect of spiritual openings and kundalini phenomena and am writing a book on the topic. On the research theme, my master’s thesis, entitled The Phenomenology of Meditation, empirically studied meditator’s internal experiences, both during meditation and in daily life. I found things like: over time, the amount of internal dialogue people find in their heads during meditation doesn’t decrease that much, but their ability to transcend it

increases immensely. This shows that it isn’t necessary to have a still mind to advance in meditation, but to gain the skill to cut through it. Interesting to have this empirically documented.

I speak from my own experience. I participate in all camps, and belong in none of them - I’m not into “isms”. I am more interested in being a catalyst that brings people into resonance with their inner truth, connecting them to spirit and their life direction rather than teaching information, although I know a great number of helpful techniques and practical pointers that will help along the way. I like to work with small groups that allow personal contact, guidance and dedicated teaching, taking an interest in people, seeing them over many years. This is my life’s work. Even if I had a billion dollars I would do just the same thing.

The words ‘self-realization’ have great allure, promising potential that nothing in material life does. Having come across these words as a teenager, these words became a central inspiration that threaded through the rest of my life. Along the way, much has been explored, from profound mystical experiences to serious yoga practice, teaching, healing, and scientific research. Long hours have been spent in deep meditation and introspection during those focused years in the Himalayas. Many more hours were spent in study, workshops, healing sessions and discourse in the company of spiritual masters, healers, and wonderful friends around the world throughout this life of growth and learning.

It is one thing to get good at transcending human consciousness, but a whole step further to transform human consciousness and find a place that is balanced and effective in every day life.

I was born in England in 1958. It was not the most secure home life, but a home that was relatively conducive to spiritual development since my mother regularly shared her bible revelations and her latest spiritual findings, and would chat freely about many mystical aspects of life. By the late sixties, yoga and meditation were just beginning to find their way into life in England, along with the words ‘self-realization’ that were to spark so much inquiry.

In 1977 I entered Bristol university, England, as a pharmacology student with the idea to get some academic credibility for an intended future in natural medicine. I hadn’t realized how ardent I was about non-killing and harming. When the course forced me to do vivisection, I transferred to Psychology.

Days after finishing my B.Sc. I went to live in Germany to be near the Alps. After six months I had accrued many Deutch mark with which I traveled with a friend to India. India presented many great sages and spiritual groups, and introduced life in a Himalayan meditation hermitage. Ideas about being a scientist or science lecturer quickly fell away to be replaced by a wish to raise consciousness on this planet, starting at home base. The outward adventure was replaced by the inward; a one pointed focus of attention turned towards the infinite.

Life with a guru is not all roses - it was a pretty rough ride. The heights of united consciousness show up all the more critically the shadows and recesses of the mind, and this guru did not spare me. Perhaps true spiritual life is never a smooth one.

I immigrated to Canada in 1986. In 1990 I had a full program of yoga and meditation classes that were held in an Ottawa meditation center. During this time, I completed my MA in psychology, putting myself through on meditation and yoga classes. Academic work is dry, but it served in getting me to clearly think out and put in words just what is actually happening in this nebulous process of meditation, expansion of consciousness and personal transformation.

More recently I’ve been exploring the possibility of expressing this awareness through writing, music and painting with a view to opening to all ways of communicating light and awareness. This has given birth to books, recordings and paintings that emanate from a central theme of higher awareness. The beginning of many things to come.

Based in Ottawa, I continue to teach yoga and meditation, to help people release stress and reconnect to their spirit, and to inspire all who are interested to higher states of consciousness, personal transformation and achieving their highest possible potential. Transformation is about becoming your highest dreams and aspirations through aligning with your spirit. Connecting with your spirit - through meditation or any means - is the key. All else follows from the heart of your own being.

May, 2009 Moved by the current predicament we are in globally, I spend an increasing amount of time exploring solutions for the coming time. Some of these are spiritual, involving an increasing awareness of our interconnectedness, some are practical. I'm particularly exploring urban sustainability. It's all very well being self sufficient living in the woods, but 80% of Canadians live in the city, so we have to figure out how we can make this work a way that is gentler on the environment - and gentler for people since the rat race tread mill doesn't really suit anyone. I look forward to more conscious, sustainable, loving, community oriented living.