Book excerpt: Waking up spiritually is a life-altering event that shifts the world view, and changes the perception of what it means to be human. It is a significant grace in anyone's life, bringing the potential for profound peace, unconditional love and intuitive wisdom. However, spiritual "seekers" rarely have a clear understanding of what it means to become Awakened or Self-realized, nor do they recognize the natural tendency to become stuck in various cul-de-sacs along the way, or know how to cope with the challenges that arise in this process. Awakening is both sudden and gradual, often beautiful and ecstatic, but it can also be disorienting as the "seeker" falls away. Few spiritual systems or therapists are able to offer guidance to those in this process, and this can lead to confusion, detours and lengthy periods of darkness before embodiment and freedom are established. "The Awakening Guide" reveals how the search for love, wisdom and wholeness unfolds for those who meditate, and also those who have sudden awakenings to expanded consciousness, radiant emptiness, Oneness and the realization of Self. This might happen following breathing or energy practices, transmission or diksa, traumatic or near-death events, drug experiments, biofeedback, or spontaneously while walking down the street. Consciousness shifts. Wham! Another reality is opened, and the world you know changes before your eyes. Consciousness is invited to recall itself as Source. An initial awakening is seldom permanent, and many seekers are disappointed to discover that this first flash of insight was only a glimpse, and the subsequent months and years require trust, patience and a commitment to living in Truth if they hope to be stabilized in an awakened state. This inspirational book, written by a non-dual teacher and therapist who has explored the path of spiritual awakening for more than 40 years, and witnessed the spiritual emergence of over 2000 people, is a companion to support a new perspective as an old identity falls away. It offers some guidelines for awakening, descriptions of the varieties of experiences that have been called awakening, comments by people who have had glimpses of awakening, and a revelation of the primary issues and resolutions an awakened person may need to face. It is a companion to Dr. Greenwell's book "The Kundalini Guide."