The Transformative Power of Practice

People who act as spiritual mentors do so in different ways from different directions. If you asked me about what I do, I would tell you that one of the things that is most important to me is empowering people with the ability to change their own destiny.

There is a Chinese proverb that says, “If you don’t change direction, you’ll end up where you are heading.” Unfortunately, we don’t always recognize that we have the power to change direction, especially if we are considering the direction that is dictated by the deepest habits of our identity. We don’t know how to change who we are, so that we can shift into a new destiny.

The day that I realized the transformative power of practice happened about two weeks after I completed an exceptionally powerful two-month long meditation retreat. I was standing at the bottom of a staircase talking to someone standing on the landing above. They asked why I looked so happy. I said, “I now know that I am always free, even when I don’t think I am.”

I was beaming because that retreat had convinced me of the power of practice. Over the course of 60-days, I did 1000 prostrations each morning, meditated for eight hours, and chanted for two hours everyday. I gave all of my energy to every moment of my practice and held my heart wide open to receive whatever blessings of spirit were gifted to me.

I had been a spiritual seeker for twenty years already and had lived in a spiritual community for ten. I had had many powerful spiritual experiences before, but nothing had prepared me for the rush of cascading breakthroughs that occurred during that retreat.

Everyday my practice lifted me to higher, wider, and deeper realizations of truth. It ignited the spiritual energy of kundalini in my soul, transported me into cosmic consciousness, and left me existentially settled in a sense of unbroken contentment with being.

What I realized from this is that you can harness the power of spiritual practice to transform who you are. I can honestly say that the person who is writing this essay is not the person that began that two-month long retreat. The person who finished that retreat was not the person who started it.

The person I am today is fundamentally and essentially different due to those hours spent in practice. It was not easy, it took tremendous effort and equally tremendous surrender, but in the end my heart, mind and spirit were irrevocably transformed.

I know that it is possible for us to work with our own minds and bodies to change our destiny. We can step off of the path we are on and let a new one unfold miraculously. I know that spiritual practice doesn't always have the kind of transformative effect that I have experienced, but I also know that it can.

When I teach, I do everything I can to inspire people to feel empowered to change their destiny through the power of their practice. I am still a dedicated practitioner, and although some of my practices have changed over time, the inner attitudes and intentions around them have stayed the same.

I realize that spiritual practice in and of itself cannot change you, but I also know that practice done with the proper inner orientations and inspirations can and will. I teach because spiritual practice changed my life in miraculous ways and I want to help you realize the same transformative power in your own.