Or..going for broke spiritually without going broke financially.

Or..why the Eckhart Tolle park bench and spiritual shabby chic is way overrated.

These are a few of my tips and commendations from 22 years as a sometimes earnest, sometimes disenchanted, often confused and always grateful consciousness cosmonaut and spiritual polyamorist.

Likely destinations.

Yes, the “path” is a pathless one, a gateless one, and a journey..and still..there are space/time coordinates where other peace pilgrims and members of our tribe are likely to gather. These are a few to help focus your wanderings.

Workshops/Seminars

• Esalen
• Omega
• Hollyhock
• Feathered Pipe
• Findhorn

Conferences & Events

• The Prophets Conference
• Burning Man
• The Rainbow Gathering

Buddhist/Meditative Types

• Spirit Rock
• Plum Village
• Dhamma Vipassana
• Green Gulch
• Pema Chodron

Energy/Healing/Intuitive Types

• Carolyn Myss
• Barbara Brennan
• Doreen Virtue

Cerebral Scholarly Types

• Integral Studies
• Alan Watts
• Andrew Cohen

Movement and Yoga Types

• Kripalu
• Yoga Journal Conference
• Moving Center School
• Nia Now

Spiritual Colleges and Universities

• California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)
• Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (ITP)
• Naropa University
• Pacifica
• University of Santa Monica (USM)

Teachers

• Adyashanti
• Byron Katie
• David Deida
• Gangaji

Techniques

• The Hoffman Process
• The Sedona Method
• The Diamond Approach
• Holotropic Breathwork

A few breadcrumbs as you make your way.

Don’t dabble. Follow the sage advice of Sri Ramakrishna who said, “Do not seek illumination unless you seek it as a man whose hair is on fire seeks a pond.” Throw yourself all in until the spiritual washing machine tosses you out.  As quickly as possible get over the idea that it is out there..there is no out there out there.  Uplevel your addictions to things that are light-filled and then let those go too. Cure the addiction to seeking the way some people do with smoking–chain smoke a whole carton of cigarettes until the thought of smoking ever again is completely repugnant and superfluous.

You will find friends, fellowship, sangha at retreats, conferences, workshops and other “spiritual” gatherings but the real journey is the 18 inches from head to heart and loving who you are and where you are.

Do  your friends and family a favor and tell them you are going to be a spiritual self obsessed jerk for a while until your money, conditioning, or resistance wears out.

Don’t over-rely on invisible means of support, as heroic or noble as it may seem.
American culture doesn’t support or even acknowledge spiritual sadhus. so being a spiritualized poverty case is a lonely rugged road. It’s not more spiritual to be poor and living on a park bench for two years won’t make you Eckhart Tolle. The world needs karma yogis who can live powerfully in the material and spiritual and bridge the two.

When the going gets weird the weird turn pro. There is a temptation with consciousness exploration or spiritual practice to get more and more out there or esoteric or weird..its not better or worse, just weirder. But the turning pro part is fun, because you can get paid to be who you are, do what you love, and actually live like you are on retreat or in a conscious loving workshop 24/7, instead of having peak experiences and post-workshop traumatic stress disorder upon re-entry to your divided “regular” life.

I’ve made a lifestyle out of being in spiritual/transformational circles with highly evolved and conscious beings and you can too.

In my next post I’ll share how.

Namaste,

Ojai Experience at the Ojai Foundation – Images by doug ellis

I am here….

to be fully present and available to Life.

and to let your light shine.

to see the extraordinary in the ordinary

peace amidst chaos

and love in all beings.

It is a small thing changing everything.

To let your Basic Goodness and beingness be.

This is my gift, given freely.

Passing through this called me.

–Doug Ellis April 2010

It takes a lot of discipline and commitment to organize a life around clear, full expression. To continually ask if something is artful, heartful, and True.

If you do, or are ready to, begin living a fully-expressed life, I invite you to contact me. You are the kind of being I like to co-create with.

May 9-16 I will be making custom publicity portraits at the Tamaya Hyatt Resort in Santa Ana Pueblo for the Conversation Among Masters 2010 coaching conference. It promises to be an action packed and exciting event and features Don Miguel Ruiz (author of The Four Agreements and The Fifth Agreement) and his son Don Miguel Jr.

It was Christmas 2002, and I had escaped the cold, ice and shadow of Glenwood Springs and embarked upon a 10-day road trip through Florida, starting with a three day stay at the Naples Bath & Tennis Club, a tennis academy. It was a lifelong dream to attend tennis academy, in the top 10 of my “50 Things to Do Before I Die” list, and I was in my happy place.

I was so enjoying the warmth, the birds, the breeze, and the thousands of things that had gone right and conspired to get me to Naples, I was floating, just letting my beingness be, glowing, not even noticing the drills and the exertion and the sliding and sidestepping of our feet on the green clay. An older, dour and sweaty-faced man pulled me out of my reverie on a break between drills: “What are you smiling about?” he grumbled through clenched jaws. Without thinking I smiled back, “Because I’m happy.”

Later that same day, another man in our group, an elegantly attired, perfectly composed man in his late 60′s with a South African accent and smile lines around his eyes remarked, “You just have the best smile. I love the glow and way you are being. No matter what you do, live to keep that smile on your face.”

It was disorienting to receive two different comments on my beingness in one day when that aspect of us is so often overlooked. To hear it from two different older men was even stranger. There is this cone of silence in the masculine code that precludes giving unsolicited coaching or advice to other men. In olden times men thought that was emasculating, a sign of weakness. I wrote that sentence to see what olden times looks like. I don’t think I’ve ever written it before. Stay with me this gets better.

Because the South African was obviously successful and happy, energetically felt ageless, and could appreciate the moment and my state without apology or expectation, something inside me took notice. Deeply took notice. My belly and heart softened with a deep recognition and relief. I knew that he was talking about something deeper beyond hedonism, that he had a broader context and more intimate experience our fleeting and terminal condition called life than I did, and was touching this moment lightly, playfully, meeting me where I was.

He was talking about being soulfish.

Being “soulfish” is living in alignment with what deeply feeds and nourishes that inner smile. It is a life clear on “for the sake of what?” and a life of service without the strain of sacrifice or effort.

Being soulfish is in a way it is to become invisible, for the relationship to “you” falls away and an enlightened action leaves no trace.

Being soulfish is “being the baby you always was.” and living from your basic goodness, original innocence that is your unique expression. The soul would rather be loathed for what it is than loved for what its not.

It is what Jon Gordon, in the 10 Minute Energy Solution, was talking about when he wrote: “The most powerful way to live a more energetic, happy, rewarding, and meaningful life is to identify your strengths and use them to serve a cause greater than yourself.”

Living “soulfishly” creates its own microclimate and attractor patterns. It unites and allows one to love even when it is inconvenient because life lives and loves itself through you.

My role as a coach is to co-create conditions favorable to the flowering of your soulfishness. We do that together, energetically, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Doing that, and being that, the planet heals one person at a time.

If you are ready for that, if you really get that there is no “out there” out there, you are ready to join me on a path of soulfishness.

Sending you a big smile,

In late April, I will be combining my photographic talents with a Naturopathic Doctor, a Chiropractor, an Authentic Movement/NIA instructor, a super conscious stylist, and other healing artists and luminous beings in the field of divine feminine transformation for a transformational group experience and celebration we call the Viva La Diva Celebration Gala.

Click below to learn more about Viva La Diva–a premiere gala of divine transformation.