If you’d rather watch and listen, I’m on YouTube.
I can understand why some people are curious about the author of the products that they are buying or the content that they are reading and watching. Bearing that in mind, I decided to set aside a page to briefly describe what I consider relevant regarding the experiences that sparked my interest in spirituality.
I will briefly touch on some topics that shaped my world view, the relationships that helped me mature, and some of the people that I have met in my journey. I have no intention to be exhaustive – no one would be interested in so much information. My goal with this page is to shine a light on how I interpret what happens in my life – how I define what matters and what doesn’t and, with that, enable you to make an informed decision about joining me in this journey or not.
By the way, the photo in this page was generated by Artificial Intelligence: based on roughly 30 other photos of mine. Interestingly enough, I think the picture makes it look like I work at a large German corporation and that I have a particular passion for structure, organisation, and processes.
Despite being born and raised in Brazil, I do work at SAP, and I do have a passion for structure, organisation, and processes.
Let me take this chance to highlight that I am not authorised to speak on behalf of my employer and that the opinions and views expressed in this website and the related content in social media are my own.
I am also a Pranic Healing ® Instructor, licensed to teach by the Institute for Inner Studies – and in a similar way, I am also not authorised to speak on behalf of the I.I.S. in any way, shape, or form. What I share through this business is my personal opinion.
My four main drivers
There are four topics that I am passionate about, they are: spirituality, communication, growth, and understanding – they’re all somehow interconnected and can also be described in relationship to each other.
I feel the need to be upfront and mention that during most of my life I had large phases where I was mostly unaware of the negative impact some of my actions had on other people and I acted in rather selfish ways. Those tendencies still exist in me but my I do make a conscious effort to keep them under control.
This is one of the key reasons I love the topic of spirituality so much: I also see it from an angle of personal growth, becoming a better person and, in the process, having healthier relationships with the people around me.
Over time, I’ve been exposed to several different kinds of approaches to spirituality – from organised and institutionalised religion to hippier approaches that reject labels and take an instance of “I am my own guru”. I learned something from all of them.
A quote by Ramakrishna Paramahansa
“All religions are true. God can be reached by different religions. Many rivers flow by many ways but they fall into the sea. They all are one.”
The Jewish roots
My family is Jewish from all sides – as I attended a Jewish school for a few of my earliest years (including practicing Hebrew for my Bar-Mitzvah) I ended up being familiar with the public side of Judaism and, at home, I had a chance of reading quite a bit about Qabbalah as well. The esoteric and mystical side of my ancestry has always interested me – though I was very quick to reject any and all associations with the Jewish religion itself.
As I attended a Jewish school for a while and joined other community related events, this was the social setting where I grew up, where I was bullied and also felt most unwelcomed. I suspect this is a common pattern: when we’re raised inside of a certain group, we’re able to see up close all of their issues and problems and this might trigger some of us to reject that group. On a surface level this is very clearly what happened to me and to many of my friends – whether they were raised Jewish, Catholic, or Protestant.
Though here I have to make a clear cut: there has always been as aspect of the Jewish social life that made me feel absolutely uncomfortable: the idea that Jewish people are the “chosen one” – as if Jewish people are better or somehow holier than others. I absolutely despise that.
The Catholic society
All of this Jewish upbringing was happening in Brazil, a country that, at that time, used to be known as one of the countries with the largest percentage of practicing Catholics. This also had an impact on me as I had been to many churches throughout my life… for weddings or masses and whatnot. So I have never been completely ignorant about Catholicism and Christianity as a whole – the terminology, prayers, and dogmas were actually very familiar to me.
Christmas is a huge deal in Brazil and something that I loved. My family used to be invited to celebrate it with catholic friends and I even got Santa’s gifts until I was a certain age. I cherish celebrating Christmas up to this day.
Though, once again, another idea that made me absolutely uncomfortable is related the concept of heaven and damnation– the notion that people that are not Christians will burn forever. That’s disgusting as hell.
The Hindu world
Just because this Judeo-Christian mix is so common, my parents decided to make things a bit more interesting: my dad joined the Self Realisation Fellowship and became a student to an indian Guru called Paramahansa Yogananda – with a little less interest, my mom also took on some classes. This happened before I was born.
Growing up, I had access to several of Yogananda’s books at home, including books by his own Guru – Sri Yukteswar. And my curiosity around the theme got me to spontaneously read the “Autobiography of a Yogi” for the first time when I was 17 years old. This was truly the book that opened up my life to a world of spiritual possibilities.
It was through this book that I started to understand the connection of exoteric religion and esoteric spirituality – that, at the core, these are different paths suited to different Souls – and that I needed to find one that fits me.
Additional Influences
At one point in my life I became more aware of the concept of vital energy – or Prana. I also found out that traditional Martial Arts also have a spiritual side to them and that they also share teachings on how to manipulate that vital energy. This is how I ended up taking Karate – and this is also what drove me to study the Japanese language for over 5 years (with little success).
Around the same time, I was also taking Hatha Yoga lessons with an Indian monk. Tattwaratnananda Saraswati was a major influence in my life, a spiritual guide, and it was with him that I had my first experience of spiritual initiation in a ceremonial sense. He also taught me the basics of Sanskrit which is the reason I knew that “Prana” in Sanskrit and “Ki” in Japanese were the same thing – and why I was so interested in Martial Arts (though I was terrible at it).
Wrapping Up
I had the chance of being exposed to spiritual teachings from all over the world. Some of those I took more seriously and some of those were nothing but a fleeting curiosity.
I never felt truly at home until I found Arhatic Yoga – which is the right school for me. My purpose with this business is to support your own journey towards finding the right spiritual school for you – whichever one that might be. No matter which path someone decides to take, spiritually we are One.
