By Dani Antman
Growing up, I had an ambivalent relationship to Judaism. The religious services I attended never inspired me, and when I started my search for a spiritual path, I turned to the teachings of Yoga. Later, when I discovered Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition, my interest in my own religion was rekindled.
The Kabbalistic teachings immediately spoke to my soul and felt familiar. They awoke in me a hidden love, the desire to explore the nature of God, reality, suffering, and spiritual awakening.
I was astonished to find everything within my own tradition that I had looked for in Yoga: meditation, spiritual philosophy, chanting, and self-inquiry.
After many years of studying Kabbalah and working as a Kabbalistic healer, teacher, I found myself feeling burned out, physically exhausted, and spiritually uninspired. I had all the outer trappings of success: a steady stream of clients, a new house and a great community. However, I knew something wasn’t right – I had hit a plateau, and I wasn’t finding the help I sought from my teacher. The thought of leaving my spiritual community terrified me, yet I yearned for spiritual guidance more than the comfort of my current position.
One night I prayed for help, asking for a teacher who could lead me to self-realization. My prayers were answered just a few weeks later, when I serendipitously met a realized Swami from Rishikesh, India. His name was Swami Chandrasekharanand Saraswati, and he was a lineage holder in Kundalini Science, the knowledge of the divine feminine force of awakening, called Kundalini.
According to this lineage, Kundalini is not energy, or sexual energy. Kundalini is “supreme grace and love, the life of the life force, self-illuminating, the principle of sound, pure joy and bliss.” It is the Divine presence within every human being, the force behind all spiritual paths, that when awakened, leads to self-realization. Contrary to popular belief, it is not dangerous when awakened in a safe manner, under the guidance of a qualified teacher.
Imagine my surprise when my teacher told me that I had a challenging Kundalini rising due to a Jewish past life in which I had had a tragic fall from grace. He attributed my fatigue and burnout to a weakened energy system, and under his spiritual direction, I received yogic practices combined with Hebrew names of God, which healed and repaired my subtle body. As I did my practices, I had profound inner experiences that connected me back to my Jewish lineage. I discovered that every spiritual tradition has its inner and often hidden methods of preparing the seeker to be a fit vehicle for self-realization. This is how we are all Wired for God.
During a twelve-year period, I experienced a wild and intense renovation of my whole being through my dedication to my spiritual practice. I healed my fatigue, as well as my ambivalent relationship to Judaism, and experienced the Tree of Life within me as a roadmap to higher consciousness. My practices culminated in an opening to the great Vastness, the primordial ground of being that underlies all spiritual paths.
I wrote Wired for God, Adventures of a Jewish Yogi, because I hope my story will serve as a gentle guide for both Jewish and non-Jewish spiritual seekers. Like many seekers, I have encountered many challenges on the spiritual path: a healing crisis, misplaced trust, loss, and divorce – which fueled my search for a spiritual path. My message: Don’t give up on the spiritual path, until you find what you are truly seeking!
I wrote my book to give inspiration to all sincere seekers looking to make real spiritual progress and find their own unique spiritual path.
Dani Antman is an internationally known energy healer and interfaith minister in Santa Barbara, CA. She has been at the forefront of energy medicine and healing since 1992, when she graduated from the Barbara Brennan School of Healing. She was a senior teacher at The School for Nondual Healing and Awakening (A Society of Souls) for over nine years. She is dedicated to helping others on their spiritual path. Her book, Wired for God, Adventures of a Jewish Yogi is available on Amazon.com Pick up you copy today on Amazon here.
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