Sometimes it takes a precise moment, a precise convergence of circumstances, to recognize the depth of mastery that hides behind humility. I had the honor of encountering this directly today. And although I rarely share experiences of this nature, something in me felt moved to write.
There are periods when something larger moves through the field. Call it energy, intensity, or something unnamed. Everything becomes heightened. Symbols begin to appear, and nothing feels random. In recent days, it revealed itself through sequences that defy ordinary explanation. I witnessed snakes crossing my path in alignment with a particular conversation, snakes crawling onto my shoes, confirming a state of mind I was in in the moment, fire alarms sounding at improbable hours, and moments that resisted any rational understanding.
The mind tried to interpret, to organize, and assign meaning to all of this. Nothing held. When I was asked, “What does it mean to you??, the answer was clear… it did not mean anything. Meaning itself felt too small. The question and the answer both belonged to the surface level, dense and in the moment irrelevant. What was unfolding moved beyond any interpretation my mind can come up with. It felt like a language not meant to be translated. My soul was placed in a position of a witness; the ego deemed it helpless. And had I not witnessed this day in the presence of a master, the mind would have dismissed it entirely as a dream, or something made up.
I had known her. Not just in this lifetime, but in a way that bypasses time. There was a recognition that did not need explanation; we knew consciousness placed us here, in form, yet something in us remained untouched by it.
From the moment we met nine months ago, there was no effort and no hesitation in this blossoming friendship. The connection moved effortlessly, without expectation, clinging, or demand. What appeared outwardly as something simple, such as a shared interest, spiritual revelations about the world, rather than anything that could answer the mind’s questions. The friendship appeared almost material, but it carried a depth neither of us needed to articulate. The mind searched for reasons: why now, why this meeting, why this form, why these activities. But something deeper did not question any of it. It was the beginning of a great paradox I was getting ready to witness.
She led this dance quietly, as I have learned now. Never imposing or declaring anything as truth. If anything, she concealed her depth. And my ego, confident in its “clear seeing,” failed to recognize what stood before it. Masters do not present themselves loudly; they remain unseen until the moment of recognition becomes inevitable.
There was space for me to feel as though I was leading, training, teaching, and arriving at my own realizations. Only later did I realize I had been guided the entire time. I never felt I was being directed, but I was met precisely where I was, until I was ready to see.
What unfolded today was unlike anything I had ever experienced. It was deeply humbling. For the first time, I was brought to my knees, metaphorically, literally, and most importantly – internally. It was time for me to ask for help. This does not come naturally to me; I have always been the one who holds, who supports, who guides, and resists any offered help. The shoemaker without shoes, I often joked, quietly hoping that, somehow, magically, someone would see exactly what I needed. Yet today… There was no alternative. Something within me had reached its physical capacity and mental limit, and I asked Dr. Ciceri for help.
What outwardly appeared to be an acupuncture session became something far beyond technique and what I had expected. It was as if an ancient intelligence moved through her in that space, humbling my mind and the ego that resisted receiving help. A thought slipped through my mind, this is not something she learned or practiced, she remembered from all the lifetimes we have met in before.
I layed on the table, Armell (Dr. Ciceri) placed oxygen on me to pace my breath and regulate the shock moving through my physical body from recent events and detox from California, and its dense energies. In that moment, it felt as though I was being lifted on wings, prepared for something that could not yet be named, something almost magical. I chuckled because the mind kept trying to grasp to something rational happening. After all, I never had oxygen placed on me before. Nevertheless, it felt out of this world in the moment of complete distress and vulnerability I typically keep in disguise.
With each needle, I descended into layers I did not know existed. I have had acupuncture before, but it always terrified me because of past experiences that were painful and incredibly uncomfortable. But with Armell, the body opened in ways the mind could not follow. The mind resisted, searching for something familiar and something to grasp to call “real.” There was nothing to hold, though. The more it resisted, the deeper I was drawn beyond it.
She did not force anything. She held a powerful field that did not allow interference.
At some point, the boundary between sensation and awareness dissolved. I could feel everything. My mind could not believe it. I felt every cell, every movement within my organs, the flow of blood through its pathways and my consciousness following that pathway, as if I was being carried by that current. Each crevice was felt, I felt as if I witnessed places I never thought of or paid attention to within my own body. I felt the pulse of every little nerve ending, the density of my bones, and their consciousness. I felt the subtle vibration of each strand of hair. I felt organs as living intelligence; I could almost hear them speak to me. The body became transparent, fully known from within, familiar… The intelligence I witnessed running through my vessel was unfathomable. And yet, simultaneously, there was nothing. There was no identity to attach to the experience, there was no body… There wasn’t even the mind that located itself.
I could not feel the body as an object, yet I felt everything. It was the most profound paradox that I have ever experienced.
Thoughts were no longer personal; I couldn’t claim ownership of the intelligence that formed them. There was a sense of shared knowing beyond language and interpretation. Not telepathy as commonly understood, but something prior to communication altogether. A recognition behind the mirror, reflecting the seemingly “real” world.
And then even the question started to dissolve, “Was I there, or was I not?”
There was movement beyond the body, and at the same time, a precision of the return into it. There was a deeper revelation that the body is a great instrument for consciousness and its intelligence. The mind may have understood this conceptually before, but now it was known directly. Armell was not doing something to me; I was witnessing her facilitating the removal of what stood in the way of seeing.
This is what mastery looks like… It does not announce itself or seek recognition. It does not create dependency or inflate identity and pride. It does not force itself upon another, promote itself, or scream loudly. It meets you exactly where you are, reflects your own depth back to you, and when the moment comes, it removes you from your own obstruction.
For nine months (a cycled theme that has been there since my mom had passed), this unfolded behind the scenes. A flow of movement guided by curiosity, and at the same time, lived in presence. This was a dance where roles appeared interchangeable; teacher and student shifting, dissolving, reappearing. Yet in truth, the roles were never fixed. What I believed I was offering was being shown to me. What I believed I understood was being deepened beyond measure.
And in that realization, I saw something very clearly today – I was never leading. I was always being held.