I am pleased to observe how well academic learning can go along with

experiential practices and direct life experiences.

Students of transpersonal psychology at the ITP have assignments based on venturing into nature,

blending energetically with its elements,

observing the inner (one's own internal process)

and outer (surrounding environment) landscape and their interconnection,

noticing non-verbal communication among people,

remote sensing, and deep listening,

just to name a few.

I had a regular spiritual practice before I came to this program

and have been a passionate advocate of daily sadhana for a long time.

I appreciated very much that this requirement was a part of the program.

We had to choose a meditative or other spiritual practice,

adopt a healthy living program, get used to a regular journaling

and at times keep a dream journal as well.

For some students it was a novelty

and they were pleasantly surprised by the outcomes.

For myself it meant taking a closer look at my own routine

and bringing new life and vitality into certain components

to which I had not been attentive enough.

I brought more awareness into what I was doing

and paid more attention to the essence of such practices.

This awareness delivered new insights

and resulted in enhancing the adjustments that were occuring.

Psychological work and learning based on direct experience

is something truly wonderful.

It reflects the times of the Aquarian Age

when knowledge is not important any more

(you can access facts with a click on your computer),

but the experience, which I like to call wisdom or applied knowledge, is essential. We can read hundreds of books without any effects on the quality of our being: what comes also goes unless we capture it with our own personal energy.

Such is the case with the plenitude of self-help books, DVDs, manuals, intentions

or New Year's resolutions, which after the initial excitement

remain in the dust of the past for the majority of people. 

Therefore, self-discipline is the first requirement

on any path towards the improvement of one's life or self-actualization.

If you aspire to do anything like this, please, consider seriously

the importance of your personal time, which you set aside to be just with yourself without any other interference

- a simple solitude, at your home, workplace, or in nature.

In our demanding, almost neurotic society it may sound like a luxury.

However, it is the right and natural requirement of every human being

who wants to remain sane and healthy in the current world.

There are as many ways of spiritual practice as there are people in this world.

There is a wide variety of approaches to listening

or relating to one's inner voice or soul.

The choices are unlimited.

My favourite practices for re-connecting or grounding into my Self

and realizing the divine flow of life or the interconnection of many different realms are:

Morning sadhana (prayer, Sun Salutation, Kundalini kriyas and meditation);

Gratitude (bowing to the 7 directions or keeping a Gratitude Journal);

Journaling (keeping a dream and day journal, two in one);

Mindfulness at work (bringing awareness into every thought, word and action);

Observance of nature (best at the beach or in the forest);

Swimming;

Dancing;

Resting in solitude and quietness;

Dwelling in the heart;

Ho'oponopono;

Forgiveness practice.