About US

Miruh

My most memorable experiences of spiritual fervor as a child were times spent in a mountain monastery of the Benedictine Brothers. I loved the rituals, the smells, the peaceful ambiance and the silent contemplation of my Catholic upbringing. When I was twenty I went on a hatha yoga retreat at another Benedictine monastery and loved the blending of the sounds of the monks singing their early morning liturgy in close juxtaposition to our group chanting mantras. I realized then, that all spiritual paths bring us in touch with the sacred and they all lead to the realization of divinity no matter what name we give to that transcendental experience.

Throughout my teenage years and early twenties, I read widely on mysticism and the mind. I was most inspired by the writings of Alan Watts, Ram Dass, Suzuki Roshi, Chogyam Trungpa, Swami Sivananda, Swami Muktananda and Jane Roberts. In my late twenties I traveled to India and studied meditation. Although I was practicing meditation I still didn’t have the tools to deal with my emotions and psyche, which isn’t effectively addressed in Indian philosophy. I wanted a more psychological approach. That led to my studying Buddhist philosophy and I studied a little with a Tibetan lama. I learned how to be more skillful in dealing with my mind but I was not interested in the rituals of Buddhism. Since then, I focus on chanting and mediation as my daily practice, while I continue to integrate all that I appreciate from the different traditions I have explored.

Edward

As a teenager I was fascinated with the mind and read everything I could find by Gurdjieff, Carlos Castaneda and Carl Jung. I read the I Ching and the Tao Te Ching. I enjoyed long discussions with my friends about spirituality, so it was an exciting time when I moved to Berkley, California after high school. I enrolled in workshops on dream analysis, hypnotherapy, tai chi, and read a lot of John Blofeld and other Taoist writings. I was very drawn to studying Asian mysticism. However the closest I could get to that in the west was to study Acupuncture at the Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences in Oakland, California.

Over the years I continued to study qi gong and meditation with different masters. I am an insatiable learner and continue to study many of the spiritual traditions from around the world. I always come back to Taoism because of its practical integration of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

About this Blog

This blog is an attempt to explore what we have learned and what has worked for us. We have been on the spiritual path for most of our lives and have been health practitioners since the eighties. We do not claim to have found any magic answers but we would like to share with you, our fellow seekers, insights and discoveries on this ongoing spiritual healing journey. Our intention is to introduce spiritual concepts; these posts are not meant to explore any one teaching in depth. For readers who want to explore a path more deeply, we encourage you to find a qualified teacher.

The journey can be a lonely experience, especially in the beginning when friends and family may not understand the changes that you are trying to make to heal your life. The changes you may be making can be as simple as being aware of what you eat, what entertainment activities you choose and yet these changes will have an impact on your family and social circle, which can sometimes cause hurt and misunderstanding. Our hope is that this blog will provide a space for community.

Namaste! (A Sanskrit greeting meaning: The divinity in me salutes the divinity in you)