Don Miguel Ruiz Jr., author of The 5 Levels of Attachment and The Mastery of Self, followed his Mesoamerican grandmother's passion as a healer. "She passed away in 2008 and is still the spiritual head of this family," he recounts. His journey began as her apprentice, translating her teachings into English. When he reached his mid-20s his father intensified his training and instructed him to find his way out, go home, and master death by becoming life.

After experiencing a rite of passage through ceremony, his assemblage point [energy] shifted, and he realized "there is no such thing as faking it until you make it. Your truth is always with you." Facing the difficult truth that he wasn't the person he'd been pretending to be his entire life, he needed to start anew. "You cannot bring your distortion into that [channeler] world." So, at the age of 27, he began and do the real work required to become a true healer and channeler.

"My greatest teachers are my kids, my wife, my family, ...the barista at the coffee shop. Life. Every consequence. Everything has something to teach you. The thing is, you have to get your self out of the way to hear it."