Teaching with Heart and Humor
Authentic transmission from the Kriya Lineage
I am here for you
As I transition the Level 1 training to the online course, some people have expressed concern about having support as they move through their process. I am here for you. There are many means of connecting. Monthly satsang, weekly online meditation and our social media channels are there as means of community and support.
If you need my personal attention, feel free to email using the button below. I will answer. Depending on my schedule, I may not be prompt, but I will answer. If you find you need more extensive support, perhaps personal coaching would be appropriate.
My Pathless Path
Many have asked how my path of self-awareness began. Here is the extended tale.
In the 80s, I was in Key West for Spring Break when a sign for psychic readings caught my eye. I had been interested in such things for a while and I must have mentioned it too many times, because my girlfriend said with exasperation, “Why don’t you just go in there?” I did… and everything changed.
The shop was mostly T-shirts and tourist kitsch. In one corner were shelves and display cases housing spiritual books, tarot decks and metaphysical items. Standing beside it was a striking man in a black shirt with a neat black beard and long black hair in a tight pony tail.
He asked if he could help. I couldn’t recall the name of a book I was seeking, so I described it and the author. As I spoke, the man’s eyes widened noticeably, as though he recognized me or something about me. He began to pull books and a tarot deck off the shelves and give them to me. At the time, I was interested in native American spirituality and he was handing me books on the Western Mystery Tradition. I explained this to him. His response was, “You don’t understand. I am not selling these to you. I am giving them to you.” I was a bit flabbergasted and still too green and naive to understand what was happening. Later, I came to understand that he made me pay for what I wanted and gave me what I needed.
At some point, he mentioned Tantra to me. After giving him a blank stare, he asked if I knew of Tantra….
When I said I hadn’t, he explained that Tantra is the basis of all spiritual, mystical and magickal systems. The feminine and masculine energies and the sexual/creative life force are at the root of all. Only the names are different. He then added Sunyata’s book, Jewel in the Lotus to the pile.
The next evening, he did an amazing tarot reading for me. The following evening, he initiated me into two esoteric schools. The initiation experience left no doubt in my mind that I had encountered tangible spiritual knowledge. I thirsted for more. I was sent out to seek and explore and was told that another teacher would appear one day. I never saw that man again, other than in dreams.
I read voraciously and practiced diligently, often until past dawn. I had no idea of the progress I was making. Since I was the only person in the area who was studying such things, I had no basis of comparison. I did not follow any particular path other than my own.
One of the tasks of an aspirant is to study all religious and mystical traditions until it can be seen that they all come from the same Source. This I did. I can’t say that I am a scholar of any religion, but I have explored enough to know they come from the same Source and teach the same truths using different language. Though I did not follow a particular path, multiple paths coalesced inside me into a path that was truly me.
Someone once asked me what path I was on. I responded that I was on the path-of-don’t-f**k-around. Pathless path sounds better in polite company, but the point is that I was on a path of my own making and it was not a path at all. The focus of my life was 100% on spiritual growth and expanding awareness. It was as though I was breaking brush in a spiritual wilderness, finding my own way to the goal.
Years after Key West, I met Sunyata at a retreat where he came to lead an advanced practice. He told me later that he had been watching me for days before we spoke. I watched him, too, as I strongly felt the resonance between us. Eventually, he spoke to me directly and I asked some questions. He responded to one question by saying, “I think you are more spiritually evolved than you are consciously aware.” That blew my mind. I didn’t sleep that night, pacing the temple until dawn as realization after realization clicked into place and the progress I had made integrated into my awareness.
Soon after the retreat, I began having series of profound spiritual experiences. It took a full year to integrate them. During that time, Sunyata would not respond to my attempts at communication. I realized later that to be an independent individual, I had to integrate those experiences on my own. Otherwise, I would have become a satellite of Sunyata and he wouldn’t allow that.
A year later when I saw him again, he looked me in the eye and said, “You got it.” Although there was always more to learn from the walking library that was Sunyata Saraswati, from that moment on, we were no longer teacher-student. We were ancient friends and spiritual allies.
Observation of my life to date shows that the larger the number for whom I work, the more positively effective I become. Thus, it is obvious that if I work always and only for all humanity, I will be optimally effective.
– R. Buckminster Fuller
My Purpose and Vision for the Future
There are solutions to every challenge that humanity faces. We have all of the technology and logistical skill we need to create a paradise on Earth in which every human can live a healthy, abundant, fulfilling life. All we need is to collectively make the decision to do so.
My life is dedicated to that cause. To me, there is no other enterprise more worthy of my time and energy. I have taken a four vector approach to addressing these challenges. I invite you to join me on this journey.
Teaching
Consciousness is the foundation of all solutions. Humanity won’t seek or integrate real solutions until they rise out of the consciousness that created the problems. That is why teaching Kriya and other spiritual sciences is a priority.
Permaculture and Regenerative Agriculture
Permaculture is an ethical design system that prioritizes Earth care, people care, return of surplus and zero waste. Regenerative agriculture builds soil and regenerates ecosystems while producing food and other products.
If all agriculture is converted to regenerative, we can sequester enough carbon to return to pre-industrial atmospheric levels without removing a single vehicle from service while producing more and healthier food, eliminating agricultural pollution, recharging aquifers and restoring degraded ecosystems. I have been studying permaculture and regenerative agriculture for years and recently received my Permaculture Design Certificate from Geoff Lawton’s Discover Permaculture school.
Community
Rather than just preach and teach about social change, I intend to put the principles into action by creating a community of the future. Skeptics can then see the tangible results, know that change is possible and choose to participate when they are ready. We can demonstrate that ecology and economy can go hand-in-hand. Principles and profits can go together.
The initial focus will be on food security and resource independence. The community would include resident homes, intern and apprentice housing, a retreat center to teach spiritual sciences, regenerative agriculture, healing arts and to support agri-tourism. Regenerative agriculture will produce the needed food, clothing, shelter and other necessities of life in regenerative ways, leaving more soil and resources after each harvest. Plentiful bounty will be sold to the public, providing cash flow and demonstrating the profit model. The possibilities will be endless as we live our truth together in natural abundance, harmony and prosperity.
Social change
I have written an 800 page book that describes how we can create a universally prosperous, fulfilling and regenerative society using existing technology and logistical skills while keeping an eye to new innovations on the near horizon. The book needs editing and updating prior to publishing. Soon, I will begin creating video content for social media that shares this information in a more accessible format.
Join the effort. If anyone is inspired to participate in one or more of these vectors and wishes to contribute time, skills or other resources, please reach out to me.
Testimonials
“The Level 1 practice and Cobra Breath initiation has been life changing… It has been a profound journey of self-discovery and expansion. Jeff is refreshingly down to earth and holds a safe space with full integrity.”
“Why take the stairs when you can take the elevator?”
“Take charge of your spiritual destiny. YOU are your own Guru.” That is what Jeff says, and that is what we know to be true, isn’t it? I took this workshop and it has already changed my life in just a month… No dogma, nothing to believe in. Just you, your breath and energy. If you have the slightest curiosity - JUST GO!!!! There is no way you will regret it!
“I love the Level 1 practices. They are very practical and to me these practices are like the extract of many spiritual books and they took me to a different level of life and awareness...and I feel this is just the beginning… Thank you Jeff"
Personal Coaching
In certain instances in which an aspirant is exceptionally dedicated to their growth, healing and expansion, I will engage as a personal coach. I prefer candidates to have received Cobra Breath and Kriya Yoga Initiation, but am willing to consider sincere individuals still engaged in the Level 1 course.
My goal is to help you be you. I am very direct and to-the-point. I will do what it takes to help you overcome your barriers. That includes pushing when I sense resistance. If you are interested in applying for personal coaching, send an email expressing the goals you have, the challenges you face, what you would expect from me and why you feel you would be a good coaching candidate.
Sunyata and the Kriya Lineage
If you wish to learn about the roots of Kriya Yoga, I recommend Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda and the documentary movie Awake: The Life of Yogananda. For now, know that Mahavatar Babaji passed the science of Kriya Yoga to Lahiri Mahasaya. Lahiri taught Sri Yukteswar who taught Paramahansa Yogananda and sent him to the USA to teach Kriya to Americans.
When Yogananda came to the USA, he mainly shared the Bhakti path, the path of devotion, since most Americans were focused on Christianity or other devotional systems. As a child, Goswami Sunyata Saraswati, my instructor and mentor, was taken to Yogananda who recognized Sunyata and knew that the Bhakti path would not suffice for him. Sunyata needed to know and understand, not worship.
Since Yogananda was based in Los Angeles, he had Sunyata study with Goswami Kriyananda in Chicago, Sunyata’s native city. Kriyananda was a student of Toronto-based Sri Shelliji,
whose focus was the Jyoti Path, the Light of Knowledge. Young Sunyata studied and practiced in Chicago during the school year and went to India during the summers. When he was old enough, Sunyata moved to India to continue his studies full time.
Less known than his relationship with Lahiri Mahasaya is that Babaji also passed Kriya science to Sivananda Saraswati in India and to Janardan in Nepal. Janardan focused on Ajapa Japa, Cosmic Sound Current Meditation. Sivananda taught Kriya to Satyananda Saraswati, who focused on Kriya Jyoti Tantric Yoga. Sunyata studied Ajapa Japa directly under Janardan in Nepal, and learned Kriya Jyoti Tantric Yoga directly from Satyananda in India.
In Sunyata, three branches of Kriya Yoga were rejoined: Kriya, Tantric Kriya, and Ajapa Japa. Sunyata’s desire to learn did not stop there. He learned Karma Yoga in Sri Lanka, Chi Kung in Hong Kong, Tibetan Lama Yoga at the Monastery of Nine Fire Dragons, Egyptian Solar Yoga in Heliopolis, Egypt, Native American Quodoushka in the American Southwest, esoteric meditations in the Temple of Seven Rays in Peru, Western Mysteries in Germany and Sound Current Meditation of several systems. Sunyata was a Master or Grandmaster of five different Taoist martial arts and nine different Buddhist martial arts (Kung Fu) and he was a 7th Level Tibetan Seichem Reiki Master.
I had the honor and privilege to learn from Sunyata for years and to live with him for a time. He was more than a mentor to me. After I experienced and integrated the results of Kriya practice, Sunyata and I transitioned from teacher-student to ancient friends, brothers and spiritual allies. Even as I write this and recall these memories, I am humbled to have known him so intimately and to be asked to carry on the work of so many amazing bright lights.
Early Years
As a young child, I knew something wasn’t right. Poverty, pollution, war, racism, ill health and more happened before my eyes. These ills resonated dissonantly in my being. Deep down, I knew there was a better way. I knew there were solutions and I couldn’t understand why people weren’t working together to create better lives for all.
I determined then, even before I was ten years old, to find solutions and help enact them. I knew we could have a paradise society in which all live in abundance and fulfillment. I studied history and sciences. I explored how society could be restructured to maintain individual freedom while providing for the needs of all.
Mostly, I wanted to understand what life is about, why we are here. I still remember adults asking “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Asking this of a five or six year old seemed ridiculous. How could I answer that when I had no idea what life was about? I still feel people have that backward. It makes more sense to figure out the purpose of life and our life purpose before pursuing careers.
When my teenage years arrived, hormones kicked in and partying became a form of rebellion. It wasn’t long before I realized that wasn’t productive and returned to seeking solutions. In college, I asked the internal questions again. Answers came. “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.” A series of synchronicities brought me to a teacher and my pathless path began.