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that, things fall into place. So itis about learning to hold a balance between the parts of yourself that you’re already identifiedwith and the parts that may bemore hidden. It doesn’t have tobe any big scary thing; we justhave to learn to get more comfortable with our hidden parts.Because the point of all this is tobe as fully complete as we can.Awareness: As kind of a segue from that, I’d ask you to saymore about your statement thatin being true to yourself andfeeling more alive, you may alsofeel more uncomfortable in risking change Shakti: As we become awareof something that we weren’tconscious of before, which happens as we go through our life— it can be initially a little scary.The status quo is the safest. Atleast it feels like it’s the safest. Itprobably isn’t always. So we dohave to be willing to take a littlebit of risk.It doesn’t have to be a lot. Imean, it’s fine to go step by smallstep. As people who are interested in developing and growingand making a contribution to ourlives and our world, it’s definitely a necessity to take steps.Awareness: I really do valuewhat you’re saying and I felt itreally clearly in this reading ofthe book. An amazing alchemycan happen by just taking stepsto become more aware and totake some action. I think yougive a lot of really groundedbut caring encouragement todo just that. In anybody’s life,if they take one step and theykeep going, they can realizemajor change over time.Shakti: Yes, life has a way offinding the exact way to pushyou on, and to help you getwhere you’re going.Awareness: In terms of becoming more in our light, hereI’m quoting you, “We create ourown experience of reality andwe need to learn how to takeresponsibility for doing so.”Shakti: Yeah. I think it’s important to understand what thatreally means. Of course my experience of reality is a little different then your experience ofreality. Some people take it tofeel sort of guilty — like, ‘Oh,my gosh, I created my realityJANUARY / FEBRUARY 2012and because I didn’t create itperfectly, is there somethingwrong with me?’ It’s an ongoingprocess of co-creation betweenall of the beings on this planet.So it is really learning to takeresponsibility for how we handle the experiences we have inlife. I think that is a better wayto describe it.Awareness: Okay. I’ll relateit to something else from yourbook. Often when we thinkabout creating our own realityas you have made a referenceto, it feels very heavy to manypeople. You had made a pointat the beginning of the bookabout your experience that ison the other end of the spectrum, “that the universe wantsme to have everything I trulywant.” So can you talk abouthow that’s been for you?Shakti: Well, the process ofdiscovering your own truth isreally biased by how alive youfeel in the moment when youare doing whatever you’re doing.That’s a wonderful thing. Sometimes people say, well, how doyou know? And you don’t. Youhave to learn how. Letting thatguidance move you gives moreof a sense of aliveness.If what I’m doing right nowmakes me feel more alive, itmay also be a little scary — Idon’t want to say scary becauseI want to tell people, it’s reallynot scary, but it’s a little challenging. That’s a barometer youcan use to know if you’re kindof going in the right direction orthings are right. If you feel kindof deadened by something thenit’s probably not quite where youneed to be, so it’s really kind of acall to find out what makes youtruly alive.What makes you feel that wayon a daily basis? I do this by justchecking into how I’m feeling,what I’m aware of, and what Ineed to do for myself right now.I have this real simple little technique; it’s a little meditation toconnect with your inner guidance that I teach people. It’s sosimple that anybody can use it.Basically it’s just having somebody get in a meditative spaceand then go deep inside andask for whatever it is you have(Continued on page 8)AWARENESS MAGAZINE /7

Shakti.(Continued from page 7)a question about or a need for.Then you just listen to that, orfeel into that, and you feel itguiding you to a sense of greateraliveness.You just ask in the meditationfor whatever it is you need to bemore aware of or need in yourlife, and then you let go and goabout your life. Then very often something comes up that’sa reflection of what you got inthe meditative space. It’s sort ofshowing you the next step.Awareness: Well, that leadsme into another area. I reallyenjoyed your descriptions ofboth your awareness of spiritand the awareness of humanform. In one chapter you describe how spirit tends to bemore expansive versus form,which tends to be more aboutsecurity for instance. Would youtalk a about integrating thesetwo forms of consciousness? Ireally love that.Shakti: The main thing is youreally need to include everything. Every part of us is important, valuable, and needed. Soreally we can spend our livesessentially developing the different aspects of ourselves asfully as possible. That for me isthe greatest thing.Awareness: What would yousay if somebody is sacrificingone over the other in his orher lives? How to balance thatout?Shakti: Well, most of us aretrying to do that. And that’s whywe have a lot of internal conflict. Everything that’s in us is apart of who we are and a partof who we need to be. So weneed to learn to embrace all ofthat. And each part of us has itsown job to do. There’s a part ofme that I mentioned earlier thatis very, very responsible. So I’llabsolutely make sure to get everything done that can possiblyget done in any given situation.That’s wonderful. It’s a goodquality that helps me be a successful person in my life, butif it’s too out of balance or I’mworking too much or pushing toohard or being too responsible forthings, then it won’t work or itwon’t feel good. So we have topay attention to that and sort offeel into what would be an opposite part of that. Well, for me,the opposite of super responsibleis kind of carefree. Playful.I used to be a super seriousperson. It felt like I had thewhole weight of the world onmy shoulders. But I’ve learnedto embrace that more carefree,lighthearted part, because I needit for balance. I feel much betternow that I have both sides. Youdon’t give up anything, you just— develop more of it.Awareness: Is there anythingyou would say about this universal creative element of lightthat you have found remarkableor would like to share? I meanyou’re a major spokesperson forthe light in people’s lives.Shakti: And the dark. I saysort of half jokingly that I’m aspokesman for the light andthe dark because I feel like mymain message at this point isabout being able to pause andto dialogue with the differentparts of yourself until you reallyget to know them, until you really can appreciate all parts. Somy main message these days isthat all parts of us are valuable.Even the ones that don’t seemlike they are.Awareness: I really get it. Mylast question is about the biggertransformation that’s happening. I’ll give you two examplesthat have been drawing my attention. For me, I feel like thereal food movements and nowOccupy Wall Street are showing that there’s some incredibleresonance happening with lightsparking to light. Those are ex-amples I would use, and I wanted to ask for your perspectiveon the big transformation thatyou have indicated is happening.Shakti: I think all of us feelthis sense that the world is getting shaken up. This is the senseI have, and it can be very difficult to cope with. Yet I feel likeit’s just in our own personal processes. If you want to grow andlearn, you have to be open tofinding new ways, and I feel likewhat’s happening right now is allthe stuff we’ve swept under therug because we didn’t know orwant to deal with it, is comingout in these recent years.It just feels like again, it’s justa — I don’t want to say reallydark. Its just some things arecoming forth — coming to light,and we’re all looking at it going, oh, my gosh! These thingshave been functioning this wayfor a long time but nobody paidany attention. It’s just how everybody did things, but now reallywe are looking at doing things ina new way and we don’t knowexactly what that is.I do think it’s a very powerfuland important time. A lot is happening and it may look like it’swrong or bad to see things thatare happening. Of course theydo sometimes involve a certainamount of suffering for people,and that’s hard. I do feel thoughthat we’re really on quite a journey. I don’t know what’s going tohappen, but I do have a feelingthat we really are changing andgrowing and we’re going to bedoing more and more of that.Awareness: I like what you’resaying about this on the biggerscale, that just as we know fromour own personal process evenif it feels hair raising and scaryat times, that by doing what youneed to do, amazing things canhappen. So there’s an openingin that.Shakti: Very well said . . . putthat in the article.To find out more about Shakti’s25th anniversary edition of “Livingin the Light” or her other books andevents, go to www.newworldlibrary.com or www.shaktigawain.comDonna Strong is a writer and authorof “Coming Home to Calm, Awakening to Divine Intelligence.” She worksas a spiritual and creative catalyst tohelp people live in a soul-aligned manner. www.donnastrong.com8/ AWARENESS MAGAZINEJANUARY / FEBRUARY 2012

Sojourns of the SoulAn Interview with Dana MicucciAfew years ago, Elizabeth Gilbert becamea sensation with herbook, Eat Pray Love,in which she gorgedherself on pasta in Italy, dipped atoe into the spiritual waters of anashram in India and found lovein Indonesia.In a similar vein, Dana Micucci shares the gifts of her soulsearching adventures as shetravels to seven ancient, sacredsites in her new book, Sojournsof the Soul: One Woman’s Journey around the World and intoHer Truth, published by QuestBooks.However, Dana delves muchdeeper into the rituals and customs of seven of the world’smost ancient and sacred cultures as she encounters Anaconda snakes, Caymen crocodiles, poison-spiked trees, andhostile governments, while pursuing a multitude of fascinatingmystical experiences that leadher to a great personal awakening.Dana explored these sevensites over a 14-year period, traveling as a journalist on assignment writing about the art andcustoms of each ancient culture. But the lessons Dana culledat a soul level from each ofher personal encounters weremore meaningful and intriguing to her than the content ofher magazine articles. When herinsights and stories demandedto be written as a book, Danacomplied.In Sojourns for the Soul, Danashares the fascinating details ofher outer journey and the equally rewarding insights and lessonsshe learns as she embarks on herempowering and amazing adventures.Dana’s journeys took her tothe Australian Outback, the pyramids of Machu Picchu, the tombsof Egypt, the heart of Tibetandmore. She came to realize thatJANUARY / FEBRUARY 2012By Randy Peysereach of the seven sacred sitesshe explored held a deeper personal meaning than one mightimagine — each correlated withone of the seven chakras in herbody. As she moved from sacredsite to sacred site, she realizedthat each chakra was, in turn, being activated in a new way.Randy Peyser: What prompted you to begin traveling?Dana Micucci: I have alwaysbeen a seeker. Early on, I decided to become a journalist. Ihad reckless ambition and a hightolerance for risk. I knew that Ihad to explore the world and tobe as free as possible. Therefore,I decided that I didn’t need tobe confined to my apartment inorder to write when I could beout experiencing the world.Randy: Where did your firstsacred journey take you?Dana: I had been commissioned to write an article aboutAboriginal art, so I went to investigate the ancient rock artpaintings throughout the Australian Outback.Randy: What did you discover in Australia?Dana: The Australian Outbacktook me into the root chakrawhere I learned how to experience a deep connection withMother Earth. The Aboriginesare the oldest continual livingculture on earth. They are connected to the Spirit world, to thedreamtime myths and legends,and they have highly-sensitiveenergy bodies, which have become very well-honed becausethey live so close to the earth.The Aborigines believe thatduring their dreamtime, their ancestors sang the world into existence. They know the land veryintimately, and can travel whatthey call, “song lines,” or whatwe might call, “lei lines.” Theseare the energetic, electro-magnetic fields of their landscape.They can travel without a map,compass, or GPS system just because they are so finely attunedto these earth energies.They also sing their paintings into existence. Their art isrustic and primitive looking, yetimbued with spiritual power because the artists go into trancelike states when they are creatingtheir art; they connect with theearth and with all of her sacredcreatures.Randy: Was there anythingthat surprised you about theirculture?Dana: The Aboriginal peopledon’t have a word for “time.”Time is not linear to them. That’swhy there are concentric circlesin their paintings. After just a fewdays in the Outback, my watchbroke. I took this as a messagethat while I was there, I wouldbe outside of time.Randy: How did it feel to bethere?Dana: The Australian landscape felt timeless and serene tome, and at the same time, it feltfluid and dynamic. I felt incredibly connected to the naturalworld in my body in a way thatI never had before. I was awakened to my own divine essenceand my own infinite connectionwith Mother Earth, nature, allcreatures, and the cosmos.Randy: What did you learnfrom the Aboriginal people?Dana: I learned that we cango on shamanic journeys and vision quests and go floating outthere and connect with the cosmos, but we need to bring thosefrequencies down through ourbodies and root them into theearth. We are conduits and pillars. We are vessels connectingheaven and earth. Our missionis to create heaven on earth, so(Continued on page 10)AWARENESS MAGAZINE /9

Sojourns.(Continued from page 9)we need our bodies. We can’tbe spacing out and leaving ourbodies to be spiritual.Randy: Where did you gonext?Dana: I went to Angkor Wat,Cambodia. That’s where I explored grief and despair, whichare some of the emotions associated with the second chakra.This was a difficult journey, yetit was exhilarating. At the time,Angkor Wat was a dangerousplace to travel. Landmines werestill active, and when I arrived,some British anti-mine personnel had just been kidnapped.Randy: What did you discover there?Dana: I was continually confronted with my own shadow.Our country had bombed theheck out of Vietnam during thewar, and here I was, a privilegedjournalist traveling through thatregion. I felt guilty. I also felt anxiety, fear and anger, as I talkedwith some Cambodian studentswho had lost their families at thehands of the Khmer Rouge.I asked these two beautifulgirls in their twenties how theyfelt about all of this, particularlyabout the role of the Americanscoming in and what had happened. I was amazed when theysaid, “What’s done is done. Welove the Americans. It’s time tomove on.” These girls felt incredible hope for the future inspite of the trauma they’d gonethrough. They appeared to be ina state of forgiveness and acceptance.Randy: What were the lessons in that for you?Dana: These were lessons insurrendering my own anger,doubt, fears and my shadow, andto realize that in this world ofduality, both the light and thedark exist. We need to movebeyond this into the state ofoneness, into the heart, into theplace where the duality is dissolved. When we can turn offour worry, anxiety, depression,fears, judgments, and all thatHealing HandsSchool of Holistic HealthBECOME A CERTIFIED: Massage Technician Massage Therapist Holistic Health PractitionerProviding heartfelt, holistic healtheducation to over 5,000 graduates!ENROLL TODAY FOR CLASSES!Other Classes include: Reflexology Deep Tissue Massage Sports Massage Shiatsu Reiki Anatomy Aromatherapyand many more!TO RECEIVE MORE INFORMATION AND A CATALOG CALL(760) 746-9364 or (800) 355-646310 / A W A R E N E S S M A G A Z I N Econstant chatter, we can stepinto the eternal Now and thesynchronicities can flow.Randy: Throughout all yourseven journeys, were there anycommon themes?Dana: Yes. The theme thatlinked all of my journeys together was that of transformation.It’s the transformation of the selfat the deepest level. All of myprevious perceptions and limiting beliefs were challenged andanything that kept me from stepping into my true divine essenceand power was blown away.Randy: When did you actually start writing your book?Dana: I began writing thebook after my Peruvian journeyduring my adventure with thesacred plant, Ayahuasca. In onemy sessions with this sacredplant, I heard the words, “Get itdown.” I felt a sense of urgencyto get these wisdom teachingsout there, to share them withpeople.Randy: How did that particular adventure unfold?Dana: I was in the Amazonwith the Peruvian shamans. I waswith a very experienced teacherin a sacred ceremonial space. Ihad never taken any drugs, butI knew that the shamans usedsacred plant medicines, likeAyahuasca to amplify their psychic and healing powers and toopen to other dimensions.Ayahuasca is the mother of allplant medicines. In fact, it is often called “Mother Ayahuasca.”It has similar chemical properties to LSD in that it can blowyour consciousness into higherstates. However, in addition toits spiritual appeal, it also wreakshavoc on the body and leads toexcessive vomiting and a loss ofcoordination. It can also causedeath if the dose is improper orif a person is not in good physical condition.When I took it, I was nauseousand started seeing visions. Junglecreatures and the faces of peopleI knew came to me. Then muchto my dismay, pieces of furniturecame to me. I told my guide Iwas disappointed. He told methat shamans spend a lifetimeengaging with this sacred plantmedicine, and he encouragedme to speak to her, and to getto know her and the spirit of theplant. He told me that I had tomerge with her.The next time I had the opportunity to try Ayahuasca, Iasked her to be gentle with me,and she delivered. This was anextremely beautiful experience.The physical symptoms weren’tas bad this time and they subsided quickly.At one point, I saw a crystalgoblet pouring golden light liquid into my crown chakra. In thisliquid were the faces and bodies of people I knew. When theywere altogether in this liquid,I said to myself: “This doesn’tmake sense. Why do they haveseparate bodies? Why shouldthey be separate?” Then I heard avoice saying, “We are all one.”We’ve all heard that phrasebefore, but I really got it. I feltlike I was floating in the cosmos.What we think of as outer spacewas happening inside me at apoint of light. This was a hugeexpansion of consciousness forme, and I experienced a deepcellular understanding of unityconsciousness. That’s what thegift was for me from Mother Ayahuasca. That was my 7th chakraexperience where we access thespiritual knowledge.Then I had a final gift wherea jaguar appeared to me in a vision. She was a formidable beastand I asked her why she hadcome to me. She said, “Don’t beafraid of your power.”That is a message for all of us.Not one of us should be afraid ofour power but we are at times.Randy: I am curious aboutwhat adventure connected youto your heart chakra?Dana: That was Tibet, whichreflects the heart chakra of loveand compassion. There is suchoppression there. Of over 6,000monasteries, only six remain.Most monks have left Tibet forasylum in Dharamsala in Northern India with the Dalai Lama orthey are imprisoned.They continue to be arrested,imprisoned and tortured whilecalling for Tibet’s independence.There are surveillance cameraseverywhere, including the monasteries, all to ensure that noone speaks the name of the Dalai Lama, or even carries a p

Shakti Gawain has been kindling spiritual light and help-ing others discover the wisdom within since 1978. With more than six million readers world-wide, her message has found a deep resonance with a global audience. Two of her many works, Creative Visualization and Living in the L