At one point the best racer in our school, and one of the best in the

state (Minnesota), was said to have begun to meditate.

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He would close his eyes and envision the course. This grabbed my attention, and I began looking into it.  It took me into a new world of Eastern thinking that was both preposterous and supernatural, and yet the clarity of the writings and the depth of the traditions had me pouring into them for several years.

 

It was during college that I decided to put the Eastern spiritual books down and give due diligence to spiritual practice.

 

While at UC Berkeley I began in earnest my daily practice - for a brief time Hatha Yoga and then into Raja Yoga. My limbered-up ski racing background meant I could do difficult postures from the start. My practice was traditional, meaning that meditation was the main practice while asanas were an adjunct to the meditation. I changed to a vegetarian diet, practiced celibacy (more or less), and lived Yoga.
 
I meditated several hours a day, waking at 3:30am for morning meditation for several hours. Including asanas, active practice was 4-8 hours a day. Single sitting practice was generally from 1-18 hours, and typically in full lotus or half lotus.
 

I was determined to give full attention to the practice and at the same time it was also scientific inquiry. I had determined that the only way to truly "know" what the books were expressing was to go to deep into practice, real practice in all of life.

 

My research had tendered up one very clear message: if I gave it my whole heart, and no great revelations occurred, I would still reap the benefits of practice such as greater mental acuity, calmer and more patient behavior, and a host of other benefits, the list of which was growing every day. There was no downside to the practice. If it yielded what was written, then the treasure would far exceed the "gamble" of my time and effort.

 

It is important to note that this was never a religious endeavor. I did not desire to verify beliefs of any kind. The consideration of the word "Monk," used here, has no religious connotation. It is meant as "one who is dedicated to spiritual inquiry, inner practice and clarification of awareness, blindness and obscuration.”

 

This was a journey requiring a constant check to see that I was not fooling myself, falling prey to inflated assumptions, and projections. My motto from the beginning: carry a measuring tape and check to see if my head had swollen with false pride and false achievement; carry Salt to ward off the pressures of wanting to find things in what might be nothing, becoming duped by subtle, but entirely explainable nuances and increased senses.

 

About two years into full practice, I decided that I had done enough and would end the experiment. I had learned a lot, felt great, and enjoyed meditation, but I could not really attribute anything to it other than it was nice and felt good.

 

I do not mean to downplay the incredible changes that took place on the gross and subtle physical planes, but I was very intent not to allow these wonderful aspects of practice to persuade me into a belief system based on physical aspects and then extrapolated assumptions and baseless beliefs, which I found repulsive, blind and lazy.

 

Then, the very week I had decided this, I went to one last lecture at a Gurdjieff group I had been associating with. While standing and listening to the teacher speak, my third eye opened, telepathy popped-on, and a vast array of related siddhis (abilities) began a great expansion!

 

Oddly, I left most formal practice and set out for some ten years going to different colleges and "loosing myself" in the world. In 1982, I discovered a school started by Lewis Bostwick - a school for clairvoyance. While there, I was able to play with and expand many abilities, though all along, these abilities were only a byproduct of the real work and never a goal or prized possessions.

 

I began again to meditate, now for some 18 hours in a sitting. Many more siddhis arrived, clarity expanded and incredible sustained changes took place. Lewis and I became very good friends though we never talked too much at length. We shared Presence and that was enough.

 
After more than a decade with this school, the politics of group work at such organizations took its toll and I left.

 

I moved on into business, I was always broke in this pursuit of spirit. I was determined to end the poverty so that I could "retire" either with a pile of money or a money machine. Then I could go back at some point and do nothing but meditate and come what may.
 
After big success and big failure, I retreated to a life on sailboats and slowly recovered through buying and selling boats and inventing. I created some products, designing and patenting one, and became a manufacturer in the marine business. I never made much money, but recovered and stood on my feet again. I met Tania in 2001, and in 2007 our beautiful son, Lake, came into our lives.
 
At one point prior to his birth, Tania and I were walking to the park, and I mentioned that she had a "Being" very strongly in her womb. I explained that normally she had a hive of them hovering about, but this was different, this one was solidly in her body. 
 
She passed it off casually but then said, "I haven't had my period, it's about two weeks late." I immediately exclaimed that she was pregnant!  She found it difficult to believe since we had only been "trying" for about three weeks. I ran to the store, got the test kit and bingo, we were pregnant!
 
A few months into the pregnancy I realized a precious time had arrived and that I could speak with our child-to-be prior to its birth, but I needed clarity and I had not been meditating much for some time. About six months before he was born, and after his birth, I began meditating 3-6 hours every day, and speaking to him (telepathically).

About a year and a half after his birth, I decided to take over putting him to bed. Tania had a real job and a real schedule, I had my own schedule and so there was no need for her to stay up. It was also a perfect situation. When you put a child down for the night, you need to sit with them until they settle. Sometimes they open their eyes just to see that you are there. If you are not, they wake up again and cry and it starts all over.  It takes no effort to be with them, and even if it does, it is the kind of effort that is no effort at all. 
 
So, I put him to bed, made up outlandish stories and we would laugh and then he would fall asleep, and I would meditate from 8pm to midnight. Then I would get up around 3:30am and meditate until he woke up at 7am. For a long time, he went to bed with me in a lotus and woke up to me in a lotus (or whatever posture suited me and my legs).
 
Then one day in 2012, massive chunks of me fell away, "I" fell away. 

 

This Awakening has been an abiding shift since then and the story continues to be forthcoming.

 

At about the same time the Awakening took place, I began studying Qi Gong under Grand Master Monk Shi Yong Yao, formerly a head teacher at the Northern Shaolin Temple, China.  Several years later Master Yao asked me to teach, and I have been teaching Qi Gong regularly since then.