Padre Pio, a Capuchin priest from San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, was said to have manifested a variety of unusual phenomena. Among them were the stigmata, bilocation, prophecy, conversion, anomalous scents of perfume, and remarkable healings (Mary, 1999). Although he died in 1968, his Brazilian supporters claim that people are still being healed through his intercessions. They also feel a connection with the American seer Edgar Cayce, and derive inspiration and direction from his “readings” and from books about his life and work. Padre Pio was canonized in 2002 as a result of so-called “miraculous healings” that supposedly resulted from his post-mortem intercession.

Krippner’s “carioca” (i.e., a resident of Rio de Janeiro) friend, Maria Lucia Sauer, works at the House of Padre Pio where she practices “Lightbody Infusion.” She describes this treatment as a type of “mind-body-spirit healing” that was introduced to her by the Brazilian medium Luiz Gasparetto in 1979 at the Esalen Institute in California.

The director of the Padre Pio Center, Luiz Augusto, claims to incorporate the spirit of a Chinese master, Chung In-Lang. Maria Lucia studied with him, and now teaches “Lightbody Infusion” in seven countries. She returns to Esalen each year where she is eagerly awaited and enthusiastically received (for information, contact hmarialuciah@aol.com).
A Casa do Padre Pio (The House of Padre Pio) is supported by a group of about 200 patrons, members of the Associacao Holocentric Spritualistica Padre Pio de Pietrelecma (Pietrelecma was Padre Pio’s birthplace). Krippner and Yanez were told that a hospital is being planned by the Association, and that 20% of the beds will go to people unable to pay for medical treatment. Members of the Association believe that spiritual work needs to be accompanied by social work. Also in the planning stages is a Padre Pio Community for poor people, a model that can be taken out into the world.

On August 3, we visited Luiz Augusto de Queiroz at his bank in Rio de Janeiro. He told us that he has a Jewish name that was originally brought to Brazil by the Dutch when controlled part of the Northeast. Luiz Augusto’s father is from Serra, and his mother is from Rio. His grandmother came over from Portugal when she was pregnant. She was renowned as a medium and was said to have transmitted complex medical and philosophical information. She had 15 children, and worked with people in the neighborhood, transmitting messages from their deceased loved ones. Neither Luiz Augusto’s mother nor father had any inclinations toward mediumship but when he was in the fourth grade he began to experience mediumistic phenomena. Luiz Augusto reported the phenomena to his parents and they supported his interest. He knew of his grandmother’s mediumship and when she was dying in 1983 she asked Luiz Augusto to continue her work.

He told us that after his grandmother’s death the phenomena increased. He went to study at the Frei Luiz Shrine when he was 29 because when he was 16 he had met Dr. Rochalima, the founder of the Shrine. His grandmother had advised that he go there because she had done social work at the Shrine, and Rochalima treated him “like a son.”

In 1993, a friend gave Luiz Augusto a book about Padre Pio, and he put it on his bookshelf, unread. Luiz Augusto left the Frei Luiz Shrine in 1995, sensing that a new chapter in his spiritual life was about to begin. In 1996, he heard a voice identifying itself as that of Padre Pio. The voice told Luiz Augusto that they would work together. The book fell off the bookshelf while he was asleep that night. He read the inscription from his friend: “Muito gusto, my friend. Padre Pio will always be at your side to accompany and protect you.” Luiz Augusto’s began to “talk” with Padre Pio through intuition, clairvoyance, and—on occasion—auditorially. In 1997, he started meeting weekly with friends who were interested in spiritual matters; Maria Lucia Sauer was a member of this group.

Luiz Augusto continues to work in the bank he owns because it helps him remain a “balanced” person. On Mondays, the group holds study sessions that involve discussions as well as “energizing therapy” treatments by Luiz Augusto. The group studies the Kabala and other spiritual systems such as the work of Swami Yogananda.

We told Luiz Augusto that we appreciated our time together and looked forward to our visit to the House of Padre Pio that evening.

With a friend of ours, Sergio Schilling, who had just arrived from Chile, we arrived at the House at 7:00PM. Before we started the session with the healers, Maria Lucia suggested that we begin to pray so that we would have “a more intense experience.” At 7:25PM we entered the waiting room, guided by a woman dressed in white. There was absolute silence, except for soft relaxing music, and the hum of an air
conditioner. There were 13 women and 10 males in the waiting room, all of them praying. Everybody waited to be guided into the darkened healing room by the woman who tried not to disturb the prayers when she indicated to people that they were next to experience “Light Infusion.”

There was complete silence in the waiting room which was suffused with a soft red light. A black curtain separated the waiting room from the area where the healing sessions took place. The floor of the waiting room was covered by a colored carpet. Yanez recalled, “I was sitting against the wall, so a beautiful painted landscape named ‘Hope’ was in back of me. I could not distinguish the specific pathologies of the people in the waiting room with the exception of a dark-skinned woman who seemed to have a short leg. There was a table with some glasses and water in one corner of the room; a vase of three beautiful white, red, and pink roses graced the table. I took a closer look at the painted landscape in back of me and could see the face of ‘Hope,’ which thrilled me. I was so overcome with emotion that I closed my mouth and began to cry softly.”

We waited for two hours, while clients entered and left the healer’s area. Yanez remembered that “during that time, I closed my eyes and experienced a light show. There was a sudden flash of lights, the same lights that have appeared in my prayers on several occasions. Finally my time had come and the lady in white took my hand. When I walked through the black curtain, I noted that some mediums were sitting on a black sofa, while others were standing by a wooden table made up like a bed covered with white sheets. Some healers had their arms elevated, and some were making strange noises. I counted a total of 16 healers. Once I reclined on the table, they began some sort of examination followed by the restoration of my energy. They started touching some of my acupuncture points, with subtle gentleness and love. Specifically, they touched my three-thumb point, my thymus point, my liver and spleen point, and a point in my ankle. They stretched my hips in order to reach the latter point. They proceeded to touch areas all over my body. At times, when they touched me, their arms started to vibrate. It felt really wonderful.”

Yanez continued, “They paused before touching my nose, passing their fingers up and down the very place where I once had surgery due to a chronic allergy. And finally they checked my carotid pulse. The ‘light show’ continued until I was told that I could go back to the waiting room.”

Krippner did not see “lights” in the waiting room but saw several once he was on the bed in the healers’ area. He recalled, “I assumed that the tiny lights were painted on the ceiling with some sort of phosphorescent substance. However, I closed by eyes and the lights were as vibrant as ever.” Schilling told us that when he was in the healer’s area, he experienced one large light above the table. It resembled the moon and floated slowly across the ceiling during his healing session.

The three of us had the opportunity to speak to some of the mediums after the sessions had ended. All of them had come to the House of Padre Pio as a result of different life experiences, but each spoke of the inspiration they derived from Padre Pio, either through what they knew about him or from a sense of “presence” when they entered the House.

Postscript

Sergio Schilling left us the following day, carrying Krippner’s shirt with him. However, the laboratories in Chile told him that a DNA analysis required a judicial order. Yanez took the undershirt with him to Mexico to have it analyzed at a Mexican laboratory.

In March 2006, Krippner received his prostate examination report from Kaiser-Permanente where he had been tested twice a year since his radiation treatment in 2001. His PSA level was 0.5, about the same as it had been for four years. The report concluded with the statement, “We will now check you only once a year since you are remaining stable.” The effectiveness of the treatment can not be measured by PSA levels, of course, because “Dr. Frederic” had worked with the “perispirit,” not the physical body. Nevertheless, our experience with the lights, sights, and sites of Brazilian healers provided an experience that was unique for us, but part of the everyday reality for many Brazilians.

On two previous visits to Brazil, one of us (Krippner) had taken groups of Americans and Canadians to the Frei Luiz Shrine, a healing center outside of Rio de Janeiro. The work at this center also has been influenced by the writings of Allan Kardec, and attracts many Brazilians as well as visitors from other countries. It is named after a Franciscan monk, born in Prussia in 1872 as Teodoro Henrique Reinke. After his ordination, Frei Luiz arrived in Salvador, Bahia, in 1894. After spending two years at the Sao Francisco monastery in Salvador, Frei Luiz was assigned to Pernambuco and later to Petropolis, Rio de Janeiro. He also lived and worked in the state of Minas Gerais before he died in 1937. Frei Luiz was venerated for his kindness, for his devotion to charitable projects, and for his healing powers.

We arrived in Rio on August 2 and during the evening one of us (Krippner) was taken to a private home. He had suffered an insect bite a few days before leaving for Brazil, one which left him with a fever and a large abscess on his neck. Antibiotics had brought the fever under control, and Yanez had brought medication to reduce the swelling. However, a “carioca” friend, Maria Lucia Sauer, had arranged for him to be seen by Fernando Gilberto Arruda, the chief medium of the Frei Luiz Shrine.

Krippner reclined on a long padded table while Fernando incorporated the spirit of Frederic von Stein, an alleged Nazi physician who died in the final months of World War II. “Dr. Frederic” regretted the wartime role that he had played, and now works from “the other side” to bring healing and restoration to people who are sick or suffering. Krippner was told that “Dr. Frederic,” working through Fernando, directed a team of half a dozen people also affiliated with the Frei Luiz Center. “Dr. Frederick” allegedly “drew from the channel” to bring about the desired healing, a non-contact healing intervention.

Krippner expected the team to work on his abscess, which was still highly visible. Instead, they focused on his groin area. One of the members of the team, Luiz Augusto de Queiroz, directs the House of Padre Pio, which Krippner and Yanez were to visit the following night. During the healing session, Luiz Augusto claimed that Padre Pio had told him that Krippner’s abscess would disappear in a few days but that he had prostate cancer in his “perispirit.” As a result, the healing session focused on the prostate gland. Krippner had not told anyone in the group about his 2001 treatment for prostate cancer, but it was no secret to his friends and colleagues in the United States.

Krippner watched much of the procedure because it was performed under soft lights while recorded music was playing. Luiz Augusto chanted, “We are giving our brother our love so that he will be free of prostate cancer.” Krippner closed his eyes and listened to the chants and the music. About half an hour later, the session came to an end. “Dr. Frederic” left Fernando, and the room’s normal lighting was restored. Luiz Augusto told him that his “perispirit” was now free of cancer and that it would not return.

Krippner climbed off the table, and noticed a large orange, red, and white stain covering both his white shirt and the t-shirt underneath. It felt cold and wet, although he had not noticed the sensation earlier. When he asked for information about the stain, Fernando replied, “It is blood, lymph, and ectoplasm.” Krippner had the stain analyzed by a medical laboratory in Mexico in July, 2006. Despite the passage of one year, the stain was still red; had it been blood, the color would have changed to brown. The laboratory examination concluded that there was no trace of blood in the stain, and that it was most likely vegetable dye.

The Casa is surrounded by lush vegetation which leads to a waterfall and a small pool. There is a “recovery room” where people can rest following surgery, before returning to their hotel for a longer rest period. In fact, the Casa has brought prosperity to Abadiania, where a number of hotels and restaurants have been constructed to accommodate the steady stream of visitors. Krippner viewed another room filled with crutches, wheelchairs, and prosthetic aids said to have been left by visitors following their recoveries. Some “operations” are “spiritual” in nature, involving manipulation of what Kardec called the “perispirit,” one’s “spiritual body.” Many of those interventions that utilize surgical instruments have been videotaped, and Krippner had seen several hours of these procedures before his flight to Brazil.

Some of the “operations” that have been videotaped show Joao inserting a surgical instrument through a client’s nasal passage. The celebrated magician, James Randi, has questioned the purpose of this intervention, concluding that there is no evidence that Joao “has ever accomplished anything but revulsion by sticking forceps up a victim’s nose.” Randi (2005) has gone on to suggest that Joao’s organization “has set up a situation in they simply cannot fail.” If there is no recovery, the client came to the Casa “too late,” or did not have “the right attitude” or that it sometimes takes weeks or even years for the intervention to take effect – long after the client has left Abadainia.

The videotaped “operations” also appear to show Joao “scraping” the eyeball of a client with the edge of a knife. Randi pointed out that the sclera (the white section of the eye) is relatively insensitive to touch and doubts that Joao’s knife reaches the cornea. Randi’s reaction to these videotaped “operations” was that Joao typically blocks the view with his body when the camera zeroes in for a close-up.

An on-site investigation of 30 “operations” by de Almeida, de Almeida, and Gollner (2000) found no sign of infection after a three-day follow-up. Commenting on the lack of infection following the “operations,” Randi noted that not all breaking of the skin, through incision, scrapes, or punctures, results in invasion by bacteria or viruses.

Randi has been most critical of non-Brazilians who visit Joao de Deus instead of opting for medical treatment in their own countries, and some of the “advice” given by the spirits. Josie RavenWing (2005), a visitor from the United States, enthusiastically wrote, “A voice began to speak to me, telling me I’d been shown the gift of transmutation of energy, and that as long as I chose to continue to smoke tobacco, I could stop worrying that it would do me any harm.” Randi stated that there is “zero evidence” supporting the claims of Joao’s followers that his ministrations are effective, except for those that can be explained by expectation, the placebo effect, and the passage of time. Bragdon (2002), in her book about Joao, countered by claiming that Joao “has been studied by teams of legitimate scientists from Russia, Germany, Japan, France, and the United States. “Pathology tests reveal that the tumors, substances and tissues the Entity removes from the sick are indeed human tissues from the individuals operated upon.” A 1997 book by Savaris, published in Portuguese, details a number of purportedly successful interventions. From my perspective, an article in an English-language journal that is peer-reviewed is overdue. In the meantime, Bragdon wrote, “Nothing in this book is meant to replace the advice of a physician….No healer, physician, or disembodied entity who makes him or herself available for [this] healing is perfect.” This cautionary statement should be kept in mind and seriously considered by visitors to Abadiania.

ABSTRACT
In 2005, we visited the Padre Pio Healing Center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
We interviewed two of the mediums and volunteered for healing sessions
ourselves, along with a psychologist from Chile. The three of us were
treated separately, and each of us reported sighting the "spirits of the
light" who are the alleged healing entities of the Center. One of us visited
Joao de Deus (John of God) as well; his healing center, The House of Dom Ignatius of Loyola, was filled with over one thousand people on that particular day, the anniversary of Joao de Deus' first reported "incorporation" of Saint Ignatius. One of us also had visited the Frei Luiz Shrine near Rio on a previous visit; in 2005, a healer from the shrine performed a non-contact healing intervention that left stains on his white shirt, stains that were later analyzed in a medical laboratory and were found to contain no trace of blood.

Introduction

Brazil declared its independence from Portugal in 1822, and freed its slaves in 1888. Before either of these events occurred, homeopathic medicine had been introduced and a spiritual healing movement had evolved in an alliance with homeopathy. In 1858, this movement galvanized with the arrival of The Spirits’ Book by Allan Kardec, the pseudonym of Leon Hippolyte Denizarth Rivail, a French educator. Kardec’s book, based on interviews with and observations of practicing mediums, described a spiritual practice that, for many Brazilians, was more sophisticated and relevant than what they had encountered in either the Roman Catholic Church or the syncretic African-Brazilian religious movements of the day. Spiritism (or Kardecismo, as it is often referred to in Portuguese) fostered such doctrines as reincarnation as well as such practices as the “incorporation” of spirit guides in its healing services.

The House of Dom Inacio of Loyola

Each of Brazil’s many religious traditions boasts renowned healing practitioners, and in July and August of 2005, we visited a few of them. One of us (Krippner) arrived in Brasilia, the capital city, on July 29 where two friends met him at the airport and drove him 70 miles to “O Casa do Dom Inacio de Loyola,” The House of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, in the hamlet of Abadiania. There were more than one thousand people at the Casa, as this date marked the birthday of Dom Inacio and the anniversary of his “incorporation” by Joao Teixara de Faria, better known as “Joao de Deus” or John of God. Although he only had a few years of formal schooling, Joao is reputed to have performed complicated surgeries without causing pain or infection, and without using anesthetics or antibiotics. Joao works with some thirty spirit guides or “entities,” the principle of which is Dom Inacio.

Ignatius of Loyola is an appropriate choice of an entity for alleged “incorporation.” He selected the first Jesuits for the flexibility of their perception and their powers of mental imagery. By learning how to control their mental imagery, the Jesuits became exemplars of will and achievement, eager to pursue novel and unusual experiences. According to John of God, Dom Inacio has lost none of his interest in novelty, even after death.

No spirit guides were incorporated during Krippner’s visit, but a colleague of his had taken his photograph to the Casa in 2001, shortly after Krippner had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Joao said there was no need for Krippner to make a personal visit to Abadiania because he would make a satisfactory recovery, and sold Krippner’s colleague a month’s supply of herbal capsules with the instructions that he should take one each day with water, praying before ingesting them. During the 2005 visit, Krippner joined the line of people (most of whom were dressed in white) asking for Joao’s blessing. Krippner briefly thanked Joao for his advice in 2001 and was given another prescription. Krippner went to the Casa’s “pharmacy,” bought (at a nominal fee) two bottles of capsules (made from passion fruit flowers), and received instructions not to smoke, drink alcohol, or eat pork during the two months it would take to deplete the supply. As he had in 2001, Krippner followed the instructions, remembering that the passion fruit flower blooms in the shape of a cross.

The ability to be curious is essential to the ability to connect with the beauty and the lessons of life. The very energy of searching, the open-mindedness of curiosity, and the playfulness of exploration help us to see extraordinary things in ordinary moments. In his wonderful book, “The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things,” my friend Dr. Larry Dossey begins with the reminder, “if you want to hide the treasure, put it in plain sight. Then no one will see it.” His wonderful reflections remind us of the astonishing things that surround us everyday, if only we have the awareness to see them. Another wonderful teacher and author, a pioneer in the spiritual training of physicians, Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen once told me that curiosity and the ability to be surprised is one of the most important things she teaches. She explained that a mind that is always jumping to conclusions is a closed mind, but a mind that is open to new things, looking for surprise and mystery, is a mind that is ripe for transformation. Practice being open, inquisitive, and willing to embrace and even draw out the mystery of things.

Open hearted curiosity is also important in relationships, it takes us out of judgment and into dialogue. If you struggle with someone in your life, notice where you are making assumptions, ask yourself if you have all the facts? Ask yourself if you have truly heard their side of the story? Ask yourself what you can learn from the situation. Stay curious.

2. Seek Beauty:

It sounds deceivingly simple, but beauty is one of the most natural and common ways we encounter the presence of the sacred in our lives. Not the beauty of an airbrushed fitness model, or a designer home, but the sort of beauty that takes your breath away; beauty that causes you to stop in wonder; beauty that stops your mind for a moment to allow a sense of gratitude and amazement to arise. This beauty can be found everywhere. In this experience of beauty, the soul recognizes a deeper nature in the world; the soul is humbled and inspired. For a moment we sense the power that is within us and the world - hidden in every moment. The true gift of many great artists is to reveal, what we often call, “the inner beauty” of things even when the subject is difficult or painful. We see it in carefully shot black and white photos of homeless people, and feel the depth of their character and experience. We hear it in music – sad songs of loss that we cannot help but feel the beauty of. We can find it in photos of demolition or war – the terrible beauty that draws us into a place where we touch the spirit of distant people and events.

In this commonly encountered facet of the Spiritual World we see not only the beauty of Creation, but also the beauty in the heart and soul of the human process. We see that we are capable of creating things who’s simplicity or complexity is beyond the ability of our mind to fully grasp. A sort of emergent quality occurs, where the sum far exceeds the total of the parts. This beauty is available to us everywhere: nature, art, science, creation, destruction, joy and sorrow, even the cycles of the human body and its intricate balance.

The world and the universe is an extremely beautiful place, and the more we understand about it the more beautiful does it appear.

Richard Dawkins

The important thing is not to be passive about sacred beauty. Seek it. Create it. Let your home be a temple: an expression of your soul – not an expression of the latest local catalogue. Choose colors, fabrics, styles and patterns in your life that feel “right” to you. Let your-self be expressive, creative and artistic in as many ways as possible, so that everywhere you look you find reminders of the sacred beauty of life.

Finally, it is important to remember that beauty does not come with a price tag. Many of us today have been brainwashed to believe that beauty is something you buy, something that requires money and wealth to enjoy. A good example of the illusions we have about wealth and beauty can be seen in the homes and houses people choose. I have visited million dollar homes, filled with art, technology and grand designs, and I have slept in the simplest African huts, made of mud and clay, furnished with the barest essentials of life. In India I stayed in the humblest ashrams, sometimes my room had only a cot, a bucket and a light hanging from the ceiling. I lived for a short time on the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona in an old log Hogan, a traditional hexagonal one room home, designed to reflect the patterns of the cosmos. Looking back on such experiences, the greatest beauty is where there is love, sincere devotion, and a reflection of self. Not all, but most of the expensive homes I have visited felt cavernous, vacant and soul-less. Fancy “things” are not the beauty I am talking about. Surprising to many, most of the humble homes I have stayed in have touched me deeply with the beauty of their simplicity and sincerity.

When I take people with me to Africa, often the people come from comfortable lives and homes. At first they are concerned about the “accommodations.” We usually stay at the village of one of my mentors in Northeast South Africa. Two people typically share a one room hut where they find simple beds, a single dresser, a thatched roof, and candles to light the way at night. Outside, the courtyards are plastered like the walls of the rondovels (huts). The rondovel walls are white washed, and maintained with pride. The courtyards are often painted with patterns, hearts, flowers or geometrical designs. When these North American travelers see the loving attention poured in to each living quarter, they remark with a sense of awe, at the visual beauty and the beautiful feeling the space creates. In moments, they no longer see poverty or simplicity, they see a beauty that surpasses anything you will find at a five star hotel. It is the beauty that is seen with the heart.
Beauty is everywhere, but you have to take the time to see it.

3. Create Harmony: Honor Your Truth

Truth is not that which can be demonstrated by the air of logic. If orange trees are hardy and rich in fruit in this bit of soil and not that, then this bit of soil is what is truth for orange trees. If a particular religion, or culture, or scale of values, if one form of activity rather than another, brings self- fulfillment to a man, releases the prince within him unknown to himself, then that scale of values, that culture, that form of activity constitutes his truth.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Truth is a tricky word. Many of us think truth refers to something final. Many believe in some situations it does. But there is another kind of truth that we all know and live with. It is the sense of what is authentic and honoring for our Self - uniquely. It is about our inner nature, our “true nature.” This true self, true nature, is about our fundamental sense of self and identity as we best understand it in any moment. This is a sense that changes over time, only because it deepens as we unravel and undo the many layers of expectations, roles and attitudes that have been thrust upon us in life.

Most of us have had the experience of a relationship, a job, or another form of commitment or action, that “just doesn’t feel right.” Not in the moral sense, but in the deeply personal sense. We say things like “I don’t feel like myself anymore.” Or, “when I am with that person, I don’t feel like myself.” What we mean is that despite all the good reasons we accepted that situation in the first place (and often we choose it) at some point we realized that the part of our self that chose it was a part that feels false. If you think of a time when you felt you had to lie knowingly about something, you will remember how it felt. In fact, you may recall a physical sensation in your body when you found yourself saying or doing something that didn’t honor your true nature – your fundamental personality: your spirit. The sad and dangerous reality is that when we do not listen to the inner voice that guides us to what feels authentic and honoring, we find that dis-ease and disease are never far behind. It is true, you can fake it for awhile, but eventually the imbalance will show up in your life. So, learn to create harmony.

True religion is real living; living with all one's soul,
with all one's goodness and righteousness.

Albert Einstein

Creating harmony is simply about working towards choices, attitudes, and actions that help us to create a congruence, or consistency, inside and out. This type of harmony is not about always making people happy, nor is it always about doing what we “want,” if you recognize that our desires don’t always reflect our true self. Our desires often reflect our social self, and our wounded self. The journey to sort these out, to uncover what is true and to live from it, that is creating harmony. Harmony in life naturally leads to healing, increased vitality and a sense of peace. Harmony helps us to have those mystical moments of Truth and Beauty that leave us feeling connected, safe and compassionate in this world.

4. Be Here Now:

One instant is eternity
Eternity is the now.
When you see through this one instant
You see through the one who sees.

Wu-men

One of the core hallmarks of a life of Truth and Beauty, is the experience and awareness of timelessness. We can all remember a time when we became transported by the power of a moment: you lost awareness of time, felt an expanded sense of self, and the feeling that you are connected to something greater. Though those moments are brief, we find our attention to be profoundly present. Our awareness is of only the moment we are in and its blessing. Fortunately, this teaches us a way to enter into the moment as well – let go of preoccupations with the past and future. For many people, this is a familiar concept, though a less familiar experience. Spiritual teachers of most traditions throughout time have taught the importance of “being in the moment” or “being in the ‘now’.” Modern masters like Ram Dass, and Andrew Cohen have strongly emphasized the essential importance of this teaching to all levels of healing and self-realization. Many popular authors such as Eckart Tolle and Jon Kabat-Zinn have literally based their careers on teaching people how to be “present.”

When we look to the power of meditation, prayer and most other spiritual disciplines, we find the common focus on the importance of releasing our attachments thoughts and feelings, in order to become fully aware of the moment we are in. While this can be a challenging practice, it is also simple in its goal. The challenge for most people lays in calming and quieting the mind. Many people are used to allowing their thoughts to unfold without control, intention or self-awareness. We can become the victim of our own mind, caught up in cycles of worry, desire, fear, prediction, avoidance, anticipation and other emotions and thoughts that keep us from actually experiencing what is at hand.

There are many practices and tactics to help slow the mental and emotional cycles we get lost in. The most important thing, as mentioned in the section on creating harmony, is to choose a practice that you feel is natural to you and your personal culture. Many people can find these practices in their own cultures, and some choose to explore the practices of others. Vipasana meditation, centering prayer, mindfulness practices, yoga, tai chi, advanced breath work and many other modernized popular spiritual techniques. Which ever way you choose, make a commitment to yourself to practice it for an extended time, and be sure to find a good teacher to mentor or guide you when you get stuck or frustrated with your practice.

As a start, I recommend two simple things. First, practice being self-aware. Observing your reactions and the thoughts and feelings you are experiencing. You don’t have to judge them, understand or analyze them, just recognize what is going on inside your heart and mind. Pay attention to how you react. An attitude that is free of judgment – blaming, labeling, evaluating – is essential. Secondly, use your breath to slow your reactions down so that you can practice re-focusing your attention on what is actually occurring in the moment you are experiencing. Learn to quiet your mind and you will find a much deeper and more healing experience of reality then you are presently aware of. Of the five steps outlined here, the ability to be in the moment is the most powerful way to empower you to apply the other steps suggested.

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