ABOUT MY PROGRAM
To Cultivate Deep Meditation, the Subtle Body Must Be Systematically Awakened
To truly still the mind, it isn’t enough to rely on the mind alone. You’ve probably noticed that you can’t simply sit down and command your thoughts to stop.
Why? Because the subtle body — the etheric energy body — contains specific points and channels that quietly keep the mind active. Until you learn to recognize and skillfully work with them, they continue to stir thought and restlessness. Some of these points need to be awakened, others quieted, and still others aligned with awareness in very particular ways.
It’s much like learning a musical instrument. Playing a single note — analogous to only using a simple breath or mantra practice for meditation — is not the same as creating chords and harmonies. True meditation is the art of bringing these inner elements into balance, until they resonate together and lead you into silence.
When these points of the subtle body are understood and integrated, the mind settles naturally and effortlessly — and meditation deepens from stillness into silence.
ABOUT ME
mindo Pod
My Approach:
After decades of practice and study, I saw that many meditation methods bring calm but eventually plateau. My teacher Mark revealed the subtle art of truly stopping the mind — but his teachings were often too deep for most students to absorb.
My gift has been to translate that depth into a clear, step-by-step system, combining his core principles with wisdom from my other teachers. Each stage is made simple, learnable, and directly practicable — so you can progress steadily and with confidence.
With a lifelong passion for meditation, a gift for teaching and a talent for making complex concepts easy to understand and use, I offer a unique approach for you to unlock your Self to yourself.
My life has been shaped by the guidance of many profound masters of meditation, each contributing to the path I now share.
I began meditating in 1970, more than 55 years ago. A teacher of Transcendental Meditation™ traveled hundreds of miles to instruct a small group of us in our high school outside of Aspen, Colorado. For me, it felt like coming home. I went on to become a teacher of TM™, was in the first graduating class of Maharishi’s new university, MIU, then spent a year doing in-depth meditation directly with Maharishi in Europe, and attended several of his longer programs after that. I publicly taught TM for some time, then become involved with different businesses, including computer science and architectural work.
Despite my strong background, my practice eventually plateaued—I felt as though I was simply treading water. I was inwardly led to seek Shaktipat, the awakening of the Kundalini energy, and was fortunate to be directed to Shri Anandi Ma in Northern California. This accelerated my practices tremendously.
My path then led me to Gurumayi and Siddha Yoga™. Gurumayi is a brilliant teacher, as was her guru Swami Muktananda, and his guru Bhagawan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri. So much of who I am now has been shaped by the force of grace running through this lineage.
My exploration of meditation was furthered through my friendship with the great meditation teacher Sally Kempton, who was also part of this lineage (as Swami Durgananda).
Yet still I wanted more.
The pinnacle of my instruction in meditation came through the teachings of Mark Griffin, who was also a direct disciple of Muktananda. Mark achieved Nirvikalpa Samadhi just as Muktananda took mahasamadhi in 1982. Under the guidance of Kalu Rinpoche, Mark stabilized this rare and advanced state. His teaching style emerged as a unique blend of the Siddha and Vajrayana traditions. For the next 30+ years of his life, Mark never stopped refining his methodology of teaching meditation. He was brilliant, patient, tenacious, and as a Westerner he could speak about spiritual experiences in a way we’d never been privy to before. His teaching was unlike anything I had ever encountered. What a master!
I was fortunate to work closely with Mark for many years. I edited and compiled his talks into published books, started a bookstore for his organization, and created a monthly correspondence course. Together with my partner Evelyn, I also helped render and publish a fresh translation of the ancient text Shri Guru Gita.
My final teacher has been my own private sangha. For several years I have offered spiritual training to a small group of friends, some of whom were new to meditation, others who’ve been meditating for decades. The saying “The teacher always learns more than the student” is so true. In guiding others, I discovered even more about the Path itself — and how to pace and adapt teachings so they become easy to absorb and live. Today, I share these insights with all who feel drawn to explore meditation with me.
What I discovered:
In my first 35 years of practice, I immersed myself in mantra-based meditation programs. These methods can bring calm and stability, but I noticed that most practitioners eventually plateau. They spend years — sometimes decades — treading water. The “effortless meditation” approach provides a comfortable resting place for the mind, with the occasional glimpse of stillness, but rarely the true stopping of the mind that Patanjali describes in the Yoga Sutras — the phase transition that transforms everything.
When I studied with Mark, he taught the subtle art of stopping the mind directly. His teachings were profound, but so deep and far-reaching that many in attendance simply couldn’t absorb them. That’s why I created his first correspondence course — to bridge that gap. My own way of thinking, combined with years of carefully parsing his words, gave me a rare ability to grasp and retain his transmissions. That foundation empowers my teaching to this day.
Still, I recognized that if I presented Mark’s teachings exactly as he gave them, most students would feel lost. So I developed a unique approach: a clear, step-by-step sequence of modules that distills the essence of his core principles, integrates the wisdom of my other teachers, and makes each stage accessible, learnable, and immediately practicable. This way, you can progress steadily — understanding each layer before moving on to the next.
DOES YOUR MEDITATION FEEL LIKE TREADING WATER?
IT DOESN’T HAVE TO!
I invite you to study with me — in the support of the group or in the depth of private sessions.
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