When I was completing my yoga teacher training several years ago, I desired to seek out a guru.

What I learned was not quite what I expected. I hoped that I would find one person who would be able to see in me where I am lacking in discipline or blocked from divine insight. Someone who could hold up the mirror of accountability with love and divine light and change my life. . . Some kind of spiritual parent. . . Taking me under their wing and showing me the long routes and short cuts to enlightenment.

When an outside teacher did not appear to reflect this to me in a flood of light and love, I was frustrated. I felt out of sorts and like my prayers and intentions may have been for naught.
Somewhere, some time after the frustration and irritation had passed and I had given up on it, I finally discovered that I had an inner guru who could share all this info if I was quiet enough to observe.

There is a saying that goes something like this;”when the student is ready, the teacher appears.” This seems to be the way of the universe. We must clear the space in our lives and seek within, practice with the disciplines we have been taught in meditation, yoga and dancing and read the reflections of the mystics and continue to show up and observe with detachment.

We have to make room for reflection in order to have clarity and we must have clarity to grow toward our divine purpose. Only then do we discover gurus in all experiences and people we encounter.

There are people who roam the earth and channel divine light more visibly than others, but in truth, we all have this capacity and we are all teachers and students alike. . .

We want answers from an expert in ANYTHING. Financial, Religious. Emotional. Career-related. Pray this way, pay that way. . . We feel we need outside affirmation, outside security.

We get diseases, hit by cars, our banks close – even when we’ve been closely following the advice of “experts” we die anyway. We lose loved ones. We trust. We get screwed. We trust again.

Yesterday after a long hot day of mind blowing meetings and a session, I went to the springs. Listened to music, water, people, a guy named David with a stringy beard and big beautiful open eyes walked up sat down and learned to play the mandolin and he chanted beautifully in sanskrit. A beautiful deaf 22 year old named Jamal taught me and my girlfriend some hula hooping tricks. I relished with the other hot swimmers in the magic of the cold springs. I saw some pretty fish. I swam with my whole body.

In the midst of a completely upside-down time of my life, I blissed out anyway.
It was awesome.

Tools I have learned from my all my gurus. Thank you ALL.

Practice Gratitude when you feel good and when you feel unfulfilled
Clear the Path, let go of relationships, things and habits that aren’t serving growth
Observe without attachment or taking things personally
Let go of the “story” and the expected ‘outcome’ of everything (being selective here doesn’t work)
Tell the truth
Notice the dance between your faith and your action
Recognize the information within and around you
Align with Integrity
Channel Creativity
Love Completely from whatever distance is appropriate

Bliss out ANYWAY!