The Toltec path is a challenging road to travel...

"The Toltec path is a challenging road to travel, and it requires serious discipline and dedication and commitment to experience it’s profound results. The Toltec path is one of many pathways to freedom, and if you choose it, you may be pulled to this path on a deep level for a reason you may not understand. The freedom you will experience is the freedom to live and be who you really are. You will move through a process of remembering your authentic self, the shining diamond core at the center of your being that has been covered over with years of social conditioning which the Toltecs refer to as “domestication.” Domestication isn’t good or bad, but domestication involves learning a script about who you are. The script involves labels, roles and limitations. It is who your parents, teachers and society always said you are.

Traditional therapy often aims at helping individuals to make slight changes in their script to experience better life results. The Toltec path is about moving beyond the script entirely to realize that you are the writer and director of your life, and you are not held back by anything you have been taught. To accomplish this is difficult, but to do so unleashes unbelievable empowerment. With dedication, it is possible. Many spiritual teachers will work to dismantle someone’s script and then the teacher will offer the student a new script, or a new way to believe. A Toltec teacher does not do this. A Toltec Teacher sets the sole intent to allow the apprentice to direct their own lives and choose their own beliefs, according to the natural guiding force of love the apprentice discovers within.

There is no set of beliefs that is core to the Toltec path, other than the right to choose your own. In order to take the drastic step to move outside the script you have been told you are involves using ancient tools used by shamanic practitioners of the Toltec path for generations. Some of these tools involve a practice called the “mitote book,” the practice of recapitulation, and the use of the medicine bag. I have my own method of using the medicine bag, which I call the “alchemical medicine bag.” This method draws from and builds on the medicine bag brought forward by the Nagual don Miguel Ruiz and through training I received through don Allan Hardman.

When I began this path, I was anxious to experience the sorts of things popular in the Carlos Castenada tradition, such as out of body experiences, altered states, and other far out things. My teacher Allan told me, “All of this comes naturally to a free mind. Work on freeing your mind, and the rest will come.” When I pressured him to experience these things, he told me that he would rather I be happy and content than to experience the unexplained. I have lived a life of profound peace and joy for the past three years as a result of Allan’s guidance. I am relieved that he did not encourage this sort of exploration as a goal in itself. I will tell you that as a result of practicing this path in a dedicated way for the past few years, my intuition has become very sharp. I have had many experiences that have shattered what I believe about this reality and that have led me to realize that we really are dreaming all the time and that we do have the power to change our dream and master the dream of our lives.

When I went through my advanced study with “Mother Sarita,” don Miguel’s 93 year old mother, I learned that it was safe to go into trance and experience visions. I learned that I could open myself to guidance from the unknown and still maintain my center and be even more productive and effective in my life. I previously had the concern that a shamanic path could lead to insanity. On the contrary, it has led to an expanded consciousness, more acute ability to sense truth, depth and energy and to forge a direct bond with the spirit of life itself. Practicing this path involves groundedness, balance and good mental health. No drugs are used in this lineage for any reason. Drugs are used to avoid reality and escape. Through my work with don Miguel, I have become strong enough to face fears within myself that I was terrified of. Through doing the hard work of living fully in my body and facing the illusions that scared me so much, I realized there is nothing but love on the other side.

The Toltec path is about moving into a “flow,” in which the spirit of life (love) begins to move through us as us. We learn the impeccable use of our energy, learning to put all of our available energy in expanding the expression of love in our lives. Love doesn’t come from outside us. Love is abundant within us. Don Miguel states that the only way to be happy is to express this love freely. There are no limits to living as the love we truly are. We are only limited by the beliefs we have accumulated through our domestication process. The Toltec path helps you to do the work to break apart the limiting beliefs yourself. My role as a teacher is to give you the tools, mirror back the truth of the love you are, and to remind you that your process is always unfolding perfectly. I hold you in my intent for your total freedom from all that holds you back, and work with you energetically throughout the process. If you are ready to let go of what you know and experience what it means to live your own life from a place of love, I am dedicated to acting as your guide."

All My Love,
Laura Paxton

Copyright Laura Paxton, 2002, All Rights Reserved.