Heatherash Amara is a fabulous teacher and author of The Warrior Heart Practice, a beautiful guide to living a more heart-centered life as we move through this miraculous world. Her wisdom is profound yet is so easily accessible. This show was an absolute joy to be a part of in every way.

In Her Own Words...

The transformative heart of my teachings come through my long Toltec apprenticeship and teaching partnership with don Miguel Ruiz, author of The Four Agreements. The Toltec were a group of people who chose to come together in South and Central Mexico to study perception. They considered themselves “artists of the spirit.” As don Miguel writes: “Find yourself and express yourself in your own particular way. Express your love openly. Life is nothing but a dream, and if you create your life with love, your dream becomes a masterpiece of art.”

In the early 1990s I dreamt that I would soon meet a person who would change the course of my life. A few weeks later a friend excitedly told me about a teacher from the Toltec tradition who was visiting our area. I had no idea what a “Toltec” was, but when I heard don Miguel’s name, my body rang like a bell struck at dawn. That same full-body knowing that I had felt as a child vibrated through me when I met the Toltec community and first heard don Miguel speak. I felt I had come home.

Toltec means “artist of the spirit,” and the Toltec path is one of personal freedom, the freedom to choose how we want to create our inner and outer world through our perceptions and intent. Many people in the 1970s and 1980s were first introduced to Toltec philosophy through the writings of Carlos Castaneda as he shared his experiences with Yaqui Indian don Juan Matus. In the late 1990s don Miguel’s first book, The Four Agreements, opened a new, simple pathway to access this ancient tradition. While Castaneda’s writings were like a lightening bolt that illuminated a radical new way of being, Ruiz’s bestselling book was a trusty flashlight that shined a clear path to releasing personal suffering and reclaiming our natural state: happiness.

“The real mission you have in life,” don Miguel writes, “is to make yourself happy, and in order to be happy, you have to look at what you believe, the way you judge yourself, the way you victimize yourself.” Prior to immersing myself in the Toltec teachings, I would have said I was happy. I had work I enjoyed, a partner whom I loved, and a great community surrounding me. On the surface I was happy. But deep inside I didn’t feel happy; I didn’t feel joyful. I struggled with feeling flawed, with the constant fear of not being good enough, and with deep-seated self-criticism. When I embraced the Toltec teachings and dove deep into a new state of being, I discovered an eternal, connected wisdom flowing within and around me.

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