The Eye of a Hurricane

An Excerpt from An Awakened Life by Julie Hoyle

The day began with a Year 10 group of mainly boys. They loved art and would run to line up outside the door.

Cancino Lightbourne was the first to arrive this particular morning, panting and mopping his brow with a small white hand towel. Jolly and round with a beautiful wide toothy smile, reflecting his happy-go-lucky nature, Cancino chimed out, “Good morning Miz Hoyle.”

In the next breath while looking down at my feet he innocently declared, “Man, Miz Hoyle, you does need a new pair of shoes. They’re looking a bit rough.” I laughed, casting a downward glance and had to agree; it was true, my shoes were worse for wear.

Cancino ventured, “You should go to Mike’s shoe store. They’re having a sale today.” I thanked Cancino, but thought there was little likelihood of finding anything there. Mike’s specialized in plastic-type footwear and I decided I would not go.

An hour later, my elderly colleague, Edna, called out through her classroom window, “Hey, Hoyle, you know about the shoe sale at Mike’s?” I told her I’d heard, and wondered about the synchronicity of the message, but still thought it would be a wasted journey and decided once again, I would not go.

Edna, bless her heart, would not give up. Half an hour later, she chimed, “Hey Hoyle, you been to Mike’s yet?”

At that, I knew there was a message in there somewhere and thought, “I had better go to Mike’s. Maybe, I will meet someone who will be able to tell me what last night’s experience was all about.” I decided to head there during my lunch break.

The sale was housed in Mike’s warehouse. Parking the car, I stepped into the frenzy of people searching through cheaper than usual merchandise.

Clamoring to try on this and that, women were climbing over boxes scattered all over the dusty floor and stepping on discarded shoes that had proved not to fit. Amid the confusion, I stood looking around, trying to connect with a sense of why I should be there.

Nothing happened. It didn’t feel right. I knew there was nothing there for me, so I turned around and walked out. Heading to the car, I suddenly thought, “Unity Church is close by, maybe I’ll go to the bookstore and find something I’m supposed to read.”

Entering the bookstore, I gasped. There was Cheryl, the lovely, gentle, lady from my dream the night before. I exclaimed, “Cheryl! This is amazing, I had a dream of you last night and here you are!”

Pulling her to a quiet place, I excitedly described my dream. Listening intently, Cheryl kept tapping her heart then she told me, “You know, I haven’t been to this bookstore in a year or more, but today I had a strong message to come. This is profound. Your experience is an ‘initiation’ dream. You must come to my house later this afternoon and I’ll explain everything to you.”

At four o’clock that afternoon, I drove to Cheryl’s house and found her waiting for me. Settling down with glasses of apple juice, Cheryl began to define what the dream experience meant. She told me, “The dream is an incredible gift of grace. What you have been given is the gift of Shaktipat, which is the awakening of the spiritual energy.”

Stunned, I recognized the word, “Shaktipat” from my last visit to the meditation center and I wanted to know more. Cheryl went on to explain, “Ordinarily, the spiritual energy is dormant. It lies asleep, at the bottom of the spine, in the base chakra.

In the yogic scriptures this energy is described as being like a sleeping serpent, coiled three and a half times around. This serpent-like energy is known as the kundalini and once awakened, it begins to ascend up the spine, passing through and clearing out all the energy centers on the way, until it finally becomes established at the top of the head in the crown chakra. When this happens,” Cheryl continued, “Then a person is living in a state of Enlightenment.”

Engrossed by this revelation, although I did not understand what Enlightenment was; I knew what Cheryl was saying was true. Waiting a moment, Cheryl drew a breath and then ventured, “There’s something I want you to see.” Disappearing into a back room, she emerged a few moments later holding a book on yoga and meditation.

Taking the book, I slowly leafed through the first few pages and gasped in astonishment at the face staring back at me. “Oh, my God!” I exclaimed. “That’s a picture of the yogi who was in my dream last night!”

Cheryl took the book from my shaking hands and looked at the image. Studying a small, black and white photograph of a Saint, sitting in lotus posture, Cheryl declared, “My, oh my! That’s Nityananda. He was an extraordinary Saint and an Avadhut; one who is born into the world as an Enlightened Master. This is an amazing blessing!”

I knew it. I could feel dramatic changes taking place within me. One noticeable change was that there were pulsations of very strong energy in my body. It was as if I had been plugged into a major electrical source, forcing my physical framework to expand in order to accommodate it.

Secondly, inside and out, extending for what seemed like ten feet or more, I could hear a humming sound, inside of which was profound stillness. It was like walking through the noisy, ‘busy-ness’ of life, with all the usual sounds, movements and distractions, yet being in the centre of a still point; the eye of a hurricane.

Additionally, my heart was happy and open and I felt expanded, light and free. What’s more, I knew I had done nothing to precipitate these changes. They were the result of the touch of Nityananda.

With these physical signs and deeper perceptions, it was obvious I had been given entry to a whole new world. There was a sense of certainty that my life had been irrevocably changed and deep inside I knew this was just the beginning. •

Next: Life Changes »

© 2012 Julie Hoyle. All rights reserved.

Julie is a writer, spiritual teacher, natural intuitive and trans-personal hypnotherapist. Her profound spiritual awakening is detailed in her eBook, An Awakened Life — A Journey of Transformation. More »

Updated 1/17/14