Don Miguel’s published
material is extraordinarily powerful, yet simple. It is also a small
fraction of what he has shared over my years of study with him. The
majority of his teachings and the techniques for transformation that he
has mastered, and shared, will never see a printed page.
He has shared with his
apprentices and students the teachings not only from the Toltecs, but
also from esoteric traditions around the world.
His most popular book, The Four Agreements, is a condensed
understanding of the path to personal freedom.
It is easy to take a paragraph, read it, and feel that we
understand it. Yet for those
of us who have spent years with him, it is easy to take a paragraph, and
spend half a day exploring the depths and significance of what it means to
our life.
In the workshops we
discover deeper insight and engage in the practices of the material don
Miguel has published, and venture into completely unwritten work as well. Each workshop is a blending of presentation, discussions,
meditations, dreaming exercises, interaction, and ceremony.
It is always my intent to create a new experience for each
participant each time. The workshop
has to be different because the needs of the people that show up are
different. Direct
experience through interaction and action, is always faster and more
powerful learning than hearing a description.
In the beginning it is the
Guide that leads one to the transformative experience.
After practice, participants will have the personal power to take
themselves there. With more
practice, they will master the transformation process themselves.
It is impossible to say
specifically what will be covered in each workshop, or how it will be
taught. I have yet to teach
two classes the same way, even if it has been on the same subject.
I am always faced with a different group of students and a
different set of beliefs and perspectives.
The beauty of this is that it inspires me to new ways of expression
and teaching that will bring participants to a transformative experience
and a new point of view.
Understanding this
flexibility, it is always unknown to me exactly what I will be teaching,
or how it will be presented. This
is truer in my individual classes. In
the workshops, I generally attempt to provide a framework of topics
beforehand that I plan to address during the day or weekend.
However, Life sometimes has a way of inserting itself into all of
our affairs in every moment. In
these cases, I honor Life, and toss my insignificant plan aside.
If you find this
flexibility disconcerting, perhaps it is based on a set of assumptions
that give you little freedom in your life.
Keep these assumptions if you choose, if you can.
However in doing so, be aware that it is these hidden assumptions
that trap us in our world of hell that Life is seeking so tenaciously to
pry us from.
In my teaching and sharing
you are always invited to not believe me.
I actually encourage it. Practice
your skills as a skeptic of what you are asked to believe.
However, I also ask that you also be a skeptic of what you believe
I ask that you consider
what I believe. If it makes
sense to you, try it out, experiment with it as a belief.
If it works to make you happier, keep it, until you find a better
one. If it makes you less
happy, discard it. You can do
the same with all that you already believe.
In practicing this, you will discover that you can be a master to
what you believe, instead of being a servant to all those agreements that
you have been living for.