I remember the day like it was yesterday. Vivid in my mind. I was sitting in my little gray cubicle in an office building in Albany NY. I was happy. I was typing away and listening to HayHouse Radio. It was 2pm in the afternoon on a Thursday, the music came on and then that voice!
I thought to myself…’Who is this man, davidji? He sounds kind of like a surfer… that kind of tone in his voice… and Peaches the Buddha Princess?’
I kept listening.
It’s been almost 4 years and I’m still listening.
It only took me a few days to warm up to davidji’s teachings. A meditation teacher that grew up in Queens NY and after his own life took him on a wild ride ended up in Carlsbad CA, his very own “sweet spot of the Universe” he’ll tell you enthusiastically!
And Peaches the Buddha Princess, his adorable morkie sidekick.
I used to sit in a conference room with the door closed and listen to davidji’s guided meditations. I would close my eyes and enter what he calls, the gap – the stillness and silence that rests within. It was beautiful. This was my second shot at guided meditation in my life, and I was thrilled that I so quickly had found a teacher to help me. It was what I needed and what took my life from good to amazing in a matter of weeks.
I give credit to myself for committing to a daily meditation practice, but I give davidji all of the credit for teaching me that it’s something totally practical, like brushing your teeth!
“It’s a practice because you get better and better at it every time” he reminds his students.
It was about 6 weeks between when I first started meditating with davidji’s recordings to when my life changed in an incredible way.
I was finally feeling peace. I was working my corporate job that I’d been at for almost 8 years, and I was happy with it. FINALLY happy with it. I was the designated happy person in my office! I was filled with joy every day. I drove an hour to get to work and an hour back home, and loved every minute of it as I began to train my mind to think about how wonderful things are in my life.
I continued to feel gratitude for my life, listening to other teachers, Coaches, uplifters… listening to inspiring music, being happy for the time I had to myself.
At work I was productive. I was happy to be with people I loved, co-workers I’d had in my life for many years, people I appreciated, doing work that finally felt meaningful. I used to keep a running Microsoft Word Document of the things that I loved, my running ‘love list’ – adding to it as things entered into my mind spontaneously during my shift. I would write down wonderful experiences that seemed to be appearing more and more often.
Then one day I was called into a conference room I’d never been in. I laughed to myself when I asked my manager where that room was, thinking ‘isn’t that the room they fire people in??’ I was told my position was being eliminated, that my last day was today, that I would be paid severance, that they appreciated all of my work.
I was elated.
Shocked, thrilled!
I created this situation I realized. I actually was on the verge of bursting out into laughter because at that moment, I realized all of the meditation, the positive affirming I’d been doing, the praying, the appreciating, had led me to this.
This was a huge opportunity and I knew it.
In the months that followed I meditated religiously every morning with davidji’s recordings. His RPM system (rise, pee, meditate) got me going every day. I would sit with my earbuds in, in my garden, my car, or in my bed, and meditate. I would set up my day with his words that always seemed to be catered to whatever I needed to hear at that time.
The months that followed were the platform when I created Natural Peace Living.
I would listen to his radio shows, and a few times was able to speak with him on air… which was so awesome to me. This person who had such an amazing impact on my life and he took the time to speak with me. I was honored and a little bit star struck!
In May of 2015 I remember following one of davidji’s guided meditations, and in the words he spoke, was a phrase ‘pregnant with possibilities’… Something in that sentence hit me.
I soon found out why.
I was 6 weeks pregnant the day I heard those words.
I used davidji’s meditations and my daily practice to help me through my pregnancy.
I was expecting our second little girl and this pregnancy was so much different than my first. I was full of peace and joy. I was honored because in my mind, my unborn daughter had chosen me, chosen her father, chosen her older sister. I was in such a wonderful state of mind with this pregnancy and I give credit again, to my meditation practice.
Our 2nd daughter Felicity was born on the morning of January 6th, 2016 at 8:08am. My husband drove us to the hospital that morning for a scheduled C Section and I meditated with davidji’s recording in the car. It was beautiful.
Sat, Chit, Ananada – I repeated as my sanskrit mantra.
Truth, knowingness, bliss.
These words radiating through my mind just hours before Felicity entered the world, keeping me calm while she was born.
And what a name on our little girl… Felicity, in Latin, appropriately meaning Joy.
In April of 2016 while both of my babies were sleeping soundly I sat in my room and meditated. As a mother of 2 now, I began squeezing meditation in the cracks as often as I could. It was the day after Easter and the ground was covered with snow. After the meditation ended I remember looking out the window and watching the flakes fall from the sky.
The thought that came to me next is why we meditate. It’s not so much what happens during meditation, it’s what happens after.
I looked out at the woods behind my home, appreciating more than I can describe the Adirondack Mountains, the calm natural beauty, the fresh snow, my home.
I had recently heard that davidji would be hosting a retreat in September 2016 at Minnowbrook Conference Center, in the heart of the Adirondacks. I wondered why he would be drawn to my neck of the woods.
Instantly, the thought came to me – ask him!
I got to work.
I called Minnowbrook, I got a number for the woman who was coordinating the event. I spoke with her THAT day. I emailed davidji’s assistant and asked if he would consider speaking to me about the event so I could write an article to be published about it.
He agreed.
I pitched the article several times and was disheartened when a few of my outlets didn’t respond.
After a few weeks with no movement, I got a call from Andrea Willis – the event coordinator – who asked if I’d found a magazine to print my article. I hadn’t yet, but I thought of one more magazine and told her I’d get back to her. She lit a fire under me and within the day my article was accepted by The Healing Springs Journal, a holistic health journal out of Saratoga Springs NY.
As much as I wanted to attend the Minnowbrook retreat with davidji, it was not something that was possible for my family at the time. However, I had planned out a trip to go see him at Syracuse University a few days before the retreat began. He was leading a massive group meditation at the University and giving a lecture as well! I even called my cousin and his wife who said they’d be happy to have us stay with them while we were in town in Syracuse.
A few weeks later my article was published in the Healing Springs Journal. I couldn’t have been more excited. I’ve done freelance writing in the past, but this article, from start to finish was my creation. Another meaning to davidji’s phrase pregnant with possibilities.
Through a series of incredible synchronicities, I was able to go to the Minnowbrook Retreat. I walked into the dining room and met some of my new friends that would be sharing this experience with me. The fact that I was there was astounding in my mind. I remembered telling Andrea several times on the phone ‘If the Universe wants me there it will get me there’.
Trust in the Universe to deliver you to where you need to be.
Davidji told us while we were at the retreat, there aren’t really words to describe what happens while at these things.
There aren’t.
Amazing love, transformation, realizations, healing, insights you can’t even imagine, connection, compassion, hope, upliftment, release. 
Beliefs I had held onto in my life for well over two decades surfaced, bubbling up into my conscious mind, realizations hitting me hard, knocking me to my knees. I saw patterns that I’d never seen before, patterns that were there since I was a little girl, that were carrying over into my daily life.
My God!
Is this how we all live our lives?
Yup.
Probably… there are a lot of us carrying around a LOT of things that we should have let go of years ago. But if you don’t know, you can’t change them.
Those days with davidji and the other 27 amazing friends (when you surrender to this experience, you realize how much we are all connected, and these people all become more than just acquaintances) were life changing.
I went back home and my life was different. The things I had learned at the retreat transformed me. Davidji says, when transformation takes place, you can’t go back. I couldn’t go back to the way things had been before I got to Minnowbrook.
It’s been over a year since that experience – it’s hard to believe – and my life has changed drastically. I’ve seen my daughters grow, I’ve seen family members fade away, I’ve seen pain, change, and I’ve seen incredible love. I’ve gained tremendous courage. My husband and I made a life changing decision weeks after returning from the retreat and 8months ago packed everything we owned 600 miles south to a completely new community in Norfolk Virginia.
I’m happy to say, we are thriving.
I don’t believe that we can ever give someone total credit for the experiences we have in our life. However, I had tried guided meditation. It didn’t work for me the first time I was introduced to it. I didn’t know what I was getting into, I had expectations that weren’t practical and I quit. I ALMOST changed the channel the first time I heard davidji on HayHouseRadio… I thought he was a little odd!
I’m so glad I didn’t.
His teachings have made me realize that meditation is what you make it. There is no specific posture, there is no set time, there is nothing but your intention to be. My life has changed because I meditate. My life has transformed because I have made a commitment to accepting myself the way I am, that I love myself, that I take the time to create a new trajectory when I meditate. It’s a platform for me. Davidji taught me to look at the pain, that there are lessons in the things we fear and the pain that we experience and it’s those lessons that will transform you into who you are supposed to be.
On my bucket list is to become one of davidji’s Masters of Wisdom Meditation Teachers. I can’t imagine a better person to teach me than the man who’s already taught me so much. But he’s not looking for credit. One of davidji’s biggest beliefs is that “the guru rests within”. He’s spent years training people, years practicing meditation, what it is and what it may not be. The thing he has discovered that is so important – it’s what drew me to him – is that the best type of meditation is practical and can be done daily, that it can be ritualized. He’s noticed that most people just want to incorporate meditation to feel themselves becoming more aware, becoming a better person, becoming more accepting. He created this Teacher Training program to expand upon an already profound ripple of meditation that is covering the globe. He has taught people from every walk of life, working with doctors, dentists, law enforcement, military personnel, mothers and fathers, teachers, hospice workers, healers,CEO’s and everyone in between.
The more people we have teaching others to meditate the better the world will be.
There are many things taking place on this planet right now that meditation can probably help.
Look at my story. 
So much awareness is cultivated when we just take the time to sit and be, with no expectations. We are human beings… not human doings. There is no perfection in any of this. I’m guilty of falling off the meditation wagon, sometimes for weeks at a time… and I always come back. I’m not trying to save the world, and I’d say davidji isn’t either.
When I asked him how it feels to hear stories like mine, to hear how he has helped… his response – and I quote…
“Euphoric!”
To my teacher, my mentor, my friend… davidji, I thank you with all of my heart.
Natural Peace Living 