I first met Miguel in the Summer of 1994,  My brother invited me to a talk he was giving in Northern California.  The talk was nice, nothing earth shattering,  just a very pleasant man giving a talk on what exactly I don’t remember, and for me a strange social setting of people hugging each other and sitting on the floor listening to a man in the front of the room speak in broken English.

 

I probably would never have gone to see  Miguel again except for the fact that later that week I had a dream in which he appeared and was trying to talk to me, only I could not understand what he was saying because my head was in a fog. I also shortly thereafter picked up a book in a bookstore that a woman had written about her experiences with a Shaman in San Diego, California.  I found the story interesting and then it struck me that she could have been talking about the same Miguel I had gone and seen in Sacramento.  My brother confirmed that the woman was writing about her experiences with the same man.

 

At this point in my life I was in my early thirties and had never heard of the word Toltec, never gone to see any spiritual teacher outside of attending the Catholic Church I was raised in, and certainly never attended any kind of event or workshop held by a Shaman.  I had been searching for ways to “change” my life in order to be happier.  I was frustrated with careers that were dissatisfying and up until recently had had what I would term heartbreaking romantic relationships.  I had been looking for answers in self help and spiritual books but had had little change in my life.  I was not much interested in listening to another human being as a teacher or guru.  I had never met or seen anyone who embodied what they were trying to teach and believed that change and happiness in my life was something that I had to create for myself.

 

Over the next 2 years I went to a couple of more talks and attended two weekend workshops.  Each time watching Miguel and the group of people who were working with him and seeing their unabashed expression of love for each other all the while   wondering where was the catch?  I kept looking for when would the “real” people slip out from behind what they were pretending to be, especially Miguel, but what I found were genuine people all on their own personal journey but sharing it together.   Each time I went to an event I would go with a question about myself that I would want to have answered and each time,  during the course of the event, the insight would come quickly, and each week following the event an insight into myself I had not even been looking for would come to me.  This is what kept me coming back every few months. 

 

A turning point came at the second weekend workshop I attended about 2 years after I had first me Miguel, again held at someone’s private residence.  It was Sunday afternoon, a group of about 20 of us were all sitting together in the living room and all of a sudden I was connected to myself in a way I could remember feeling, but it had been so long since that feeling was with me that that I had forgotten it.  I was full of this feeling and “knew” that I was going to do this work, the phrase “I’m going to do this” kept repeating through my mind, meaning I was going to go full force into this work with Miguel.  I no longer wanted to dabble with putting my toe in and testing the waters, I wanted to fully jump in. The thought that immediately followed this knowing was that this was going to create absolute chaos in my life.

 

Six months later I went with Miguel on one of his 5 day experiential workshops, called a power journey, to Teotihuacan Mexico.  By the third day I had completely lost “my mind”, that is the part of my mind that was constantly, thinking, judging, analyzing, figuring things out, keep me separate from everyone else.  I was in love, with everyone, and I was completely happy.  I did not know that you could live like this.  I came home and the bliss stayed with me for weeks, but gradually I returned to what I would call a somewhat normal state of mind and emotion except for the fact that the experience started a fire inside of me that propelled me to keep going with this work. 

 

Personal changes started slowly, bit by bit as I tried to understand the concepts and practices that Miguel was teaching,  A year after my first trip I took a second trip to Teotihuacan,  this time experiencing something completely different but causing huge releases and transformation in me over the next several months. 

 

It turns out I was right,  following this path did cause chaos in my life.  And chaos was exactly what I needed to change how I lived life.  Since that time I have been to Teotihuacan several more times with Miguel as well as Peru and Egypt, I have attended more workshops than I can count.  I have had insights about myself, human beings and their emotions, and the nature of consciousness and awareness.

 

The information and practices that were so difficult to grasp and accomplish early on have become second nature with practice.  I have traveled so far from the person I used to be that I can barely remember what I was like.   I have seen the way I dream my life and chosen to become free of what I believed I should be so that I can choose who and how I want to be. 

 

Looking back over my experiences with Don Miguel Ruiz,  I learned the Mastery of Awareness, Transformation and the Art of Dreaming,  but what I mostly received from Miguel was the inspiration of his impeccable example of acceptance, love and common sense that he used with everyone who wanted what he had.  Miguel has always said “you can live in heaven on earth  in your own mind, your own dream right here on earth, I have done it,  and if I can do it you can do it, and if you can do it the whole world can do it.”

 

I am still practicing living in Heaven in my own life, and now I also teach this path of personal growth and freedom to others who are interested in being the director of their own transformation,  the expansion of their own awareness and the evolution of their own consciousness.  Please contact me by telephone or email if you would like to find out more about the Toltec work.

 

My sincerest gratitude to Don Miguel Ruiz

 

 

 

Leo is currently living in Saint Helena California.  Where he is leading Four Agreements and Toltec wisdom classes in the Bay Area.