It’s 2001, I'm 36 and I’m sitting in a small basement of a pastor's house with ten other people . My mother-in-law, who’s sitting next to me, insisted I come here with her. The basement is maybe three hundred square feet but the pastor is talking through a microphone. The microphone makes her words impossible to avoid in this tiny “church." She tells us that she’s going to give all of us “grace." I’ve heard of the term “grace" before but didn’t know exactly what she meant by it. Then she calls up the first person and asks him if he believed in Jesus Christ. As soon as he nods yes, his body starts shaking uncontrollably and the pastor sort of thrusts her right hand towards his head and stops it just before touching him. Then this person starts falling backwards… (he is caught by two people that were ready for his fall.) Then the next person, then the next person. There are seven or eight people on the floor crying and laughing and screaming and crying and laughing and screaming. I’ve only seen this stuff on television when I was younger but never in real life. I'm feeling little apprehensive but mostly I’m pissed at my mother-in-law for bringing me here. I'm thinking these people are putting on a show, led by the pastor.  You see, this pastor had visited my mini mansion a while ago and probably thought I had tons of money and was putting on an act to show me how powerful and mystical she was in order to get some money out of me. She obviously didn’t know that I was going through a bankruptcy and was about to lose everything I cared about. 

 

My big house, my big car, my money, my creditability, my status in the film industry, my twelve films that I developed, financed, produced and distributed. I tell myself I don’t have time for this nonsense and I’m about to leave when the pastor calls my mother-in-law. My mother-in-law goes up and she also falls backwards and immediately starts laughing and crying on the floor. Holy shit, this is no joke. I don’t know what I’m feeling. Maybe I’m scared? Then the pastor calls my name. I go up cautiously and stand in front of her with my arms raised. She asks me if I believe in Jesus Christ. I say yes and immediately, my arms start to move back and forth on their own. I can't control them. They are flailing. Then she thrusts her hand towards me, stopping just before touching my head. I feel myself falling backwards. Slowly. I’m fully aware that I’m falling backwards yet I’m not scared. I feel people catching me and gently laying me on the floor. Tears bursts forth and I’m crying out loud like a baby. I’m just wailing! No sense of shame. I’m getting drenched from my tears and from my runny nose. Then all of a sudden, I start laughing out loud uncontrollably. My tears and nose are still running. I’m on the floor crying, then laughing, then crying, then laughing. I’m exhausted. I slowly get up. Thirty or forty minutes had passed. I’m totally wasted. But at the same time, I feel so light, so liberated, like a ton of bricks had just lifted right out of me leaving a huge gaping hole. I’m not exactly sure what had happened to me but there’s now a huge hunger for answers to bigger questions about life: Who am I? Where did I come from? What is this life all about? What is reality? I can no longer ignore these questions. 

 

Because of my Christian background, I start going to bible studies during the week and not miss a sermon on Sundays to find answers. I think I'm a reborn Christian. For business, I’m thinking I would option one of the top ten spiritual books and adapt it into a movie. So I start devouring these books like crazy. I’m soaking in the words and the messages and I just continue reading book after book. It’s now 2004 and the business purpose of reading all these books is forgotten and I just continue to read them for personal benefit. These books are changing my belief system, my thoughts. But almost all the books I read say I need to meditate to truly experience what life is about, what I am really about. So, without any guidance, I just sit down and close my eyes. All sorts of thoughts rush through me at million miles per hour. I open my eyes thinking maybe 5 minutes had passed. Only 10 seconds! I try again the next day and the next day. Slowly my thoughts start slowing down. They no longer rush by. They become seldom. I'm still aware of all that's going on around me but they no longer seem to bother me as much. I open my eyes and almost three hours had gone by. I feel more calm and more at peace. I take up hatha (physical) yoga with my wife. I become very conscious of what I put into my body and my mind. I become conscious of not just my life but all lives.

​It's 2020, I'm 55 and I've now been a devout practitioner of yoga/meditation for 15 years, last 4 of which have been extremely profound thanks to Sadhguru (Isha.Sadhguru.org). My daily practice of yoga/meditation, my business and my family life are not separate aspects of my life each vying for time and attention. Instead, they are inter-connected in a well balanced, inter-supportive oneness. I'm much more alive than ever before, full of energy, clarity, and awareness. 

​How can I express my energy, clarity, and awareness in such a way that I can help others also wake up and lead a more conscious life? Many people are trying to change, transform, and save the world by fixing the outside world. But doesn't the world transformation start with your transformation and my transformation? The world doesn't' need saving. It's you and me that need saving. So... WakingUp Media was born with the intention of providing filmed entertainment that awaken hearts and minds; that question and explore the nature of reality; that touch the depth of our soul, the spiritual essence of our being; that wake us up from the limited to the unlimited. 

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