I first self-published Emotional Clearing in 1994. I didn’t even try to find a publisher because it seemed impossible, but when I printed up those first 2500 copies and started sending them out free to bookstores, an amazing thing happened - bookstore owners recognized there was something different here, and put out the book, and buyers took them home. The results they had with the book are documented by the extraordinary testimonials I have received, 100+ of which are reprinted on this website.

As the book kept building, and as foreign publishing offers came in, gradually I was able to awaken the interest of the big boys, and in 2000, after I had sold 22,500 copies on my own, Random House released a revised, updated hard cover edition. The Emotional Clearing movement itself has grown so that now I’m training therapists in the approach, and we're on the way to establishing a world-wide network.

How did I get into this? Or, maybe more to the point, how did somebody with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell U. get into this?

Right after I got out of college, I realized there were other things I needed to do instead of working in the corporate environment. For me, it was the arts - I found that in spite of, or maybe because of my academic training, I had a burning urge to see how far I could go as a songwriter-singer. I knew I wouldn’t be happy if I didn’t try it. Breaking with mainstream values, I found myself at home in New York.

Along with the intense interest in the arts was an intense interest in consciousness. I felt that working on myself - evolving my consciousness - was also one of the important things I needed to do. I was quickly led to an association with Babaji’s Kriya Yoga, through a “chance” meeting with Yogaji SAA Ramiaah, a direct disciple of Babaji. Yogaji picked me up with his radar in a bookstore where he was working weekends on the Lower East Side, and invited me to his classes on East 4th St., then a wild frontier. All of us young kids - we were dedicated to pursuing yoga with this real guru from India with a zeal not often found today.

Making a living during this time had to be something alternative, and I tried a number of things. I did a year stint as a caseworker in NY. I became a yoga teacher. Finally I settled into being a woodworker, designing and building. The music was going strong, and after ten years, I bought a loft in NY and built a recording studio and went into the studio business. All during this time, consciousness was a major concern. Practicing yoga, meditation, reading voraciously, living holistically - this was important.

After some years I phased out of the studio business, not finding it stimulating any longer, and, in looking around for the next thing, found myself drawn to the Kripalu ashram in Lenox, Mass. where Gurudev Amrit Desai was presiding at that time. I’m not a guru chaser, and after so many years on the path, I didn’t think I needed a teacher anymore. But the very first time I went there, on a pleasant Spring Sunday, as I was taking a yoga class with only four other people, led by a sincere but inexperienced yoga teacher, I had one of the most important experiences of my life.

Halfway through the class, I found myself feeling strange. Things seemed different, I felt a little weak and dizzy, like there was a shifting happening. I had to stop the yoga. I crawled over next to a wall and leaned against it with eyes closed. I was vibrating, and going into space. I recognized the vibration - it felt like the cells of my body were pulsing. I was outside my normal self and in an expanded state of consciousness.

The teacher came over after the class and was tremendously reassuring - just stayed with me and comforted me. When you’re in these places, you’re very sensitive to other people’s vibes. After a half hour, I was able to walk, and I immensely enjoyed the rest of the day, lingering with the experience, being open and joyful. In my association with Kripalu over the next few years, I would spontaneously have a few more similar experiences - Shaktipat, I learned they were called.

Gurudev had a lot of wise things to say about many topics, but what I picked up on were his comments about the emotions, and how to approach them - specifically, his concept of self-rejection: If we reject our inner emotional experience, whatever it is - even in the name of spirituality - we reject ourselves, and our inner progress stops. This was something new for me. It was not old-school yoga philosophy, which I knew cold, this was something I did not know, and needed badly.

Because in spite of 20 intense years on the path, I was an emotional wreck. Anger, sexual compulsiveness, and being driven for success were at the top of the list. I started putting some of his principles to the test, and I discovered they worked. In meditations, I experienced cleansing and catharsis like never before, just because I had moved into this new relationship with my feeling self. It was incredible.

In fact, it was so incredible that I thought I should write a book about it. I looked around, and I didn’t see any other books that seemed to be saying the same thing. I took the next two years off, and starting where he left off, I extrapolated and put together a system and philosophy that seemed to sum it up.

And so, the work has continued into the present. I started getting correspondence from readers immediately after the book came out, and began doing one on one counseling. I discovered I was a natural for this kind of deep, meditative, psychological work - obviously, I have had much experience along these lines in the past. Presently, I feel quite at home in this field, and I am completely confident about training others. I feel I’ve connected to what I’m to do in this life - what the tight yod in my astrology chart represents - and I feel fulfilled.

So, if this work appeals to you, please join it. I feel it really is what’s most important for all of us, perhaps especially spiritual seekers, since there’s very little guidance for them about how to really incorporate feelings work on the path, and the feelings must be clear before any significant spiritual progress can be realized.

Best regards on your journey,

John