In my early 20s, a friend invited me to try a yoga class. I heard yoga was a form of moving meditation, and I was curious to try it. The hour-and-a-half workout was hard and invigorating, but my expectations changed when the teacher instructed the class to lie down for a final resting posture called a corpse pose. I lay on my back, relaxing deeply with eyes closed, legs and arms apart, palms up, when I suddenly experienced an out-of-body event. I found myself moving through a light-filled landscape in an endless realm. My name and identity were no longer a part of me, and I felt deeply peaceful. I might have remained there when I heard laughter. I opened my eyes and found myself in yet another world. I turned my head and saw people. One of them, a woman, was smiling. She asked, “Are you back?” I couldn’t recall her or the others in the room. Yet a powerful clarity remained. I was aware of my existence, without beginning or end, as if that part of me always was and would always be.

Memories of my life quickly returned. The smiling woman was my friend; the other people, the teacher, and the yoga studio filled my senses. The event left me unsure what happened, even though it felt familiar. In those moments away, I experienced a profound awareness that I existed beyond my body and touched the infinite within me. Opening my eyes was like meeting myself for the first time. This moment of discovery revealed my deeper self, my essence.

Our essence connects us to other worlds, which we naturally experience in flashes of insight, intuition, and creativity. We experience expanded awareness daily and can learn to cultivate our abilities in small ways. We have two selves. Our physical self builds our external narrative and reveals our life story. We also have a quiet spiritual awareness of our essence that reveals who we are. When our two selves meet, we see ourselves with greater clarity. Enlightenment is a momentary experience when we touch the infinite within us. In these moments, there’s nothing to do, nothing to change, nothing to become. Only being. Quiet reflection, standing in a sunset, painting, and listening to music are ways we tap into the inner reservoir of our deeper self for strength and peace. The practice of only being tunes us into our deeper selves, our essence, for the benefit of expanded awareness beyond our five senses. That’s a huge advantage. Connection is our greatest achievement, and our greatest gift.     

We Are Energy

Our lives begin with the first awareness of ourselves. The first time we saw our reflection in a mirror. The first time we rode a bicycle. The first time we felt love. The first time we found a purpose and contributed to the world, we were filled with the awareness of our independence and freedom of spirit. We are at the frontier of awakening to everything and everyone, including what is yet to be discovered. With every feeling and every thought, we look beyond ourselves, furthering our awareness of who, what, and why we are. We awaken our potential to greater fulfillment, happiness, and peace. The adventure is limited by the boundaries we create and the lens we focus.

Like many people, I felt I was a part of something much bigger than myself—that reality was far more than what could be seen or touched. I started taking stock of out-of-body experiences, intuitions, and dreams since childhood. To help me understand the events, I opened a dialogue with a voice that had been present in the back of my mind—what I call my higher self. This relationship offered me insights into wholeness. Wholeness is connection to our empathy, compassion, and love, which tunes us into intuition, creativity, and emotional healing. Wholeness represents our ability to access intelligent sources of information within us.

A deeper part of us knows who we are, holding the memories and knowledge of our origin. We are energy. An essence. Timeless and intelligent. The isness of us, which makes connection possible. Everything else—intellect, ego, emotions, and physical body is part of the suit we wear. Empathy, compassion, and love are feeling with our essence. Insight, intuition, and creativity are seeing with our essence. Our essence gives us the capacity to feel what others feel. To see what others can’t. It is our nonhuman self, existing without the boundaries we know. Our human experiences are moments in time. Our essence is with us throughout all time, immersing us in our life experience, helping us heal old wounds and live with greater purpose and peace.

Published in Best Holistic Life magazine, 2025.