One of the greatest gifts that I have received from my years of deep depression has been the ability to examine my thoughts, feelings and habits during those times. Over the years, I have worked with countless individuals, helping them to lose weight through proper diet and exercise. Typically, I would find that, no matter how motivated, most people were not able to use will power alone to overcome their destructive behaviors. For years, I saw one hopeful person after another fall back into their unhealthy ways unless the reason for changing was life threatening. This would ultimately leave them feeling more frustrated, weak and powerless than before.
Then in June of 2000, I had what many Eastern traditions call a Satori experience (instant awakening), as a result of a meditation CD by Wayne Dyer. For the first time in my life, I realized that the hole myself and everyone else was trying to fill with excessive unhealthy foods, drinking, drugs, exercise, sex, TV, etc, was only to be filled by one thing... God! Now, I am not a religious man by any means, so when I say God, I am referring to that universal energy that runs through all living things. The life force of all creation. Some call it God, others Love, others simply Life. Call it what you will, but it is nourishment that is available to each and every one of us... if we are only clear enough to receive it.
So after my life changing evening, my quest became to find a way to give people the same experience that I had been blessed with on that dark hotel room bed. This became my singular focus. To find the "red pill" that would pull society out of the Matrix.
Since meditation was the catalyst for my transformation, that was where I started. I began telling others about the power of meditation and its ability to enable us to create whatever we desired. I shared of my experience with anyone who would listen. I told them that meditation was the key to happiness and how I had never felt so alive. But I found that most individuals where not likely to embrace of I had because the results were not immediately apparent.
Then, I explored sensory deprivation tanks. While many were intrigued, it was not very practical or accessible to the public. I went to countless workshops and seminars, bought numerous home programs and meditation CDs, practiced yoga, trance dance, chanting and anything else that I thought would give me the tool to help others transform. Then I found fasting. The perfect catalyst to give people a powerful spiritual experience. Fasting will crack you open by dissolving all the layers of the ego and removing everything that so many use as a way to distract us from the TRUTH of who we are. During a true fast, there is nothing left but God to provide nourishment. Once you experience this, your perception of Life, God and Yourself is forever changed!
Gandhi once said, "For fasting to be successful and produce the desired outcomes, fasting of the body has to be accompanied by fasting of all the senses." This is the key... to remove ourselves from everything (all the noise) that we typically use to avoid feeling the emptiness. It enables us to fill the hole by becoming WHOLE once again. A "deliberate" spiritual awakening.
Let's face it... we do not need another "how to" book telling us what is good for us and what is not. If it were all about the how to's, we'd all be skinny, rich and happy. There is not another diet out there that is going to work, not another pill, not another book or TV show... Ironically, fasting may serve the only food for the emptiness our world feels inside. Sending you love and light.
Namaste.
PS... A true fast can certainly be a challenge to attempt at home with all the distractions of Life. This is why fasting is most powerful either during the solitude of a Vision Quest or at a quiet retreat center, far away from the noise of the world. Licensed Yoga and Hypnotherapist, Erica Boucher and myself will be holding a fasting retreat in Bali in August or September of 2009, but if you are ready now, you may want to check out http://www.dharmahealingintl.com in Thailand. With all the change going on in the World, it may just be what your soul is thirsting for.
As a Spiritual Teacher and Guide, Patrick O'Connor (MBA, CPT, CYT) has devoted his life to understanding, integrating and deepening his own spiritual transformation in order to guide others with theirs. Patrick spent much of his adult life battling suicidal depression; a painful gift that lead him to a profound and sudden spiritual awakening in June of 2000. During the next six months, Patrick visited the light of the 7th dimension through daily meditation to learn from the Ascended Masters. It was this life changing event that advanced Patrick's work of the physical body into a deeper understanding of conscious evolution. Throughout the years, Patrick has assisted countless individuals in their own personal awakenings through his coaching, lectures and website. He is a co-author with the likes of Wayne Dyer, Tony Robbins and Bill Harris in the soon to be release book, Wake Up Moments: the story of his transformation from darkness to light. And in March '08, Patrick returned home from a 7-month solo backpacking journey throughout Southeast Asia. His e-book, Journey to Nourish the Soul chronicles his adventures and lessons learned while traveling as a "US Ambassador of Love."
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