My Story and How I came to Discover Visionary Practices

My first significant exposure to Visionary Practices began when I was 17 years old. I was on my way to Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH for my college admission interview on a Greyhound bus from Washington DC. I sat next to a man who was reading. We rode all night, and it wasn’t until the next morning that I spoke to him. I offered him some snacks and will never forget his response: “I can’t take food right now. I haven’t done my meditation yet. I am a monk.” That moment sparked the beginning of my spiritual journey.

Visionary Practices are techniques, rituals, or methods to help you see beyond the ordinary and broaden your vision, allowing you to overcome limitations. They help open your intuition and help you understand things more clearly.

I shared things I was bringing for my interview and told the monk all about my plans at the time. He listened, examining me with a smile. Before we parted, he took my address and invited me to a meditation retreat in Missouri, which was far away from where I lived. I considered it politely, though most likely, I would never have gone if he hadn't surprised me with such kindness a few weeks later.

One day, I received a package in the mail— a small box with a book about meditation, a CD of meditation music, and some pamphlets about the retreat in Missouri. There was also the contact information to a local teacher I could learn from. I remember feeling goosebumps, wondering who on Earth would be this thoughtful to a boy who was met in passing. Now, more than twenty years later, I thank Dada Gana, the monk on the bus, for his invitation and his thoughtfulness. I completed the pilgrimage to the retreat in Missouri, not without obstacles. Yet, I was rewarded with learning my first Visionary Practice—meditation.

​​My interview at Antioch went well, and I enrolled as a student that fall. There was a wonderful professor there named Dr. Ann Filemyr, PhD, who eventually would introduce me to the term "Visionary Practices," though not during that time. At Antioch, she was my college advisor, nurturing my academic growth. Yet, she became a spiritual mentor too, inviting me to my first sweat lodge ceremony in the tradition of her teacher Grandmother Keewaydinoquay, a beloved Anishinaabeg elder. Twenty years later, I pursued a PhD degree in the program Ann founded called Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership at Southwestern College in New Mexico. A new circle began—our academic and spiritual lives intertwining once again.

Ann’s program invited doctoral students to explore learning through dreams, ritual, pilgrimages, art, and deep listening, not just to learn academic theories. One day, while we were visiting Petroglyph National Monument near Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ann explained Visionary Practice in the following way: “We have the capacity to expand our awareness. We have the capacity to go beyond what someone else tells us is real.” Whether that happens through a dream, a piece of art, a conversation with a mentor, or meditation, Visionary Practices are about being in relationship with something greater than self.

In my new book, Stuck in Yesterday, I am offering Visionary Practices to help you find yourself, heal the past, and step into a future rooted in who you truly are. This book can help you find deeper meaning regardless of where you are in your journey, or it can help you rebuild your life from rock-bottom. Together, we will unlock strategies to help you know your purpose, get clear on your values, and plant a Vision Seed. You won’t be asked to fix yourself. You’ll be invited to remember yourself. In the book, you are invited to move through six key milestones to build what I call your Higher Purpose Codex, each one designed to bring you closer to a life of greater meaning, alignment, and direction.