Personal Story
You are not alone: Coyote invites you to reach out and to learn to be vulnerable with others, then shares thirteen transformations of his own — shame, trauma and grief, addiction, his body, depression and suicidal ideation, debt, chronic pain, fear, death — as proof the practices work, and as the reason the path is playful.
CREATING COMMUNITY
A big part of working through difficult things is knowing you’re not alone. A lot of the people I work with feel isolated in various ways, feeling stuck and depressed tends to create that. So, I want you to know you’re not. I’m a real person, available to interact with, and would love to hear from you. And you have others in your life too, you just might not know it, or be scared to open up and be vulnerable.
The core teachings I work with are from Buddhist teachings that are amongst the deepest teachings available to us that have dug deep into what it is to be human, to have the minds that we have, and how to work with our mind to be happy. Embedded everywhere in these teachings is the call to connect with other humans. So, please reach out, you never know where the conversation goes, and if it’s just a hi that’s great. My world is made better when I’m connected to you.
And a big part of transformation of our mind is learning how to be vulnerable about the tough things we face. So, reach out to your loved ones too and learn to connect. It can be very hard, but it’s worth it.
My Journey Of Transformations
Life has been a relentless teacher. Along the way, I’ve experienced profound suffering, immense joy and enlightenment, and everything in between. The transformation teachings I share are not theoretical; they are deeply personal, effective and arise from lived experience and refinement working with many clients from different walks of life.
The practices I’ve described here, paired with other modalities, helped me radically shift my experience of life from intense stuckness, fear, shame, and much worse to one of profound liberation and very tangible results - emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually, and across all of the seven realms of life we listed earlier.
Here is a brief account of my path and the key transformations that have defined it:
My Transformations
- Overcoming Deep Shame: I transformed pervasive self-hatred and shame into an embodied sense of fundamental confidence and basic goodness. This journey allowed me to release shame around my body and sexual orientation, replacing it with joy and love for myself and others.
- Healing from Trauma and Loss: Life has tested me with bullying, societal rejection, the death of loved ones, and immense grief. I walked through these fires and came out with a deeper appreciation for life and a boundless compassion for others.
- Recovery from Addiction: Addiction gripped my life for a time, but I emerged free, proving that even the strongest afflictions can be lifted.
- Body Transformation: I moved from obesity and debilitating body shame to a life of fitness, agility, and self-love, transforming from it being difficult to walk to competing in triathlons and being a bodybuilder. This wasn’t just about weight—it was about reclaiming my relationship with my body.
- Mental Health Transformation: Depression, anxiety, PTSD, agoraphobia, and suicidal ideation once dominated my days. Through persistent transformation and following the teachings, I shifted into a life of joy, curiosity, and appreciation.
- Financial Rebirth: Crippling debt taught me resilience and discipline. I transformed my relationship with money and found financial clarity and freedom.
- Chronic Pain and Fatigue Transformation: Chronic pain and intense paralyzing chronic fatigue were once constant companions. I shifted my relationship with these experiences, reclaiming vitality and ease in my body.
- Embracing Authenticity: Breaking free of societal expectations, I began living a life that truly reflects who I am—in my career, relationships, and daily choices.
- Spiritual Awakening: Meditation, shamanic practices, and profound inner work led to a spiritual awakening that changed my entire experience of life. I now live in a deep connection with love and interconnectedness. My spiritual path continues deeply with many enlightenment experiences and insights.
- Letting Go and Finding Freedom: I embraced simplicity, releasing material possessions and old constructs to create a freer, more meaningful life. Giving away almost everything I owned was a deeply powerful and transformative experience.
- Navigating Fear and Uncertainty: Fear no longer rules me. I transformed it into a guide, moving forward with courage even in the face of the unknown, and have gained deep insights into how it functions and how to work with it for transformation.
- Healing Masculinity: I redefined masculinity for myself, integrating compassion, love, and a deep understanding of what it means to be a strong loving man.
- Reframing Death and Loss: My experiences with death, as both a hospice volunteer and a grieving individual, reshaped my relationship with impermanence. I find awe and beauty in the cycles of life.
These transformations are proof that the principles and practices in this book work. They are not just tools—they are lifelines. As you read, you’ll see how you can apply these same principles to transform your own life, whatever challenges you face. I share these as an invitation for you to step into your own transformation and thrive.
Playful Path to Conscious Confidence
I’ve named this book “The Playful Path to Conscious Transformation” and perhaps that deserves a little explanation. Along my journey there were long periods of time where I was anything but playful. I was in deep depression and other afflictive mental states, or just feeling very overwhelmed by life and work and everything and not knowing what to do.
My very deep experience now however is that if we allow ourselves to do this work, if we summon up the courage to look into our fears and see through them, we will indeed find that the background energy of life is playful and loving. It’s of course hard to see this when we are consumed by lack and fear, but this is what happens as we transform. When we shift from unconscious creation to conscious creation, as described here, we naturally fall into alignment with loving-kindness, wisdom, joy and compassion, and open up to the playful intelligence at work.
The result is a deep confidence, this is the promise that is available if we follow our hearts. We become confident. Not in anything but fundamentally, absolutely confident - happy, content, unafraid of ourselves, others or of life itself. I know it may be a long way from where you are, or perhaps you can already taste that. But this is what the path develops.
Dive in, and go deep.
To learn more, follow these links to related content:
