Whether we realise it or not, life is always a spiritual journey. The difference lies in how conscious we are of it.
The search for bliss is innate within all of us. It is the soul’s call to return to its natural state—Ananda, the state of eternal bliss. The lesson, however, is in where we seek it. Is it found in material possessions, a successful career, status, relationships, or substances? Or, ultimately, can it only be found in one place? The place where it exists, ever-new and without conditions: within, in the true nature of our eternal Spirit?
This has become my greatest life lesson, and now, I share with you how I came to uncover it.
From drugs to devotion: A journey in search of bliss...
A free spirit and rebel of religion
I went to a Jewish school as a young girl, but I found the religious studies suffocating and restrictive. I asked questions they didn’t want to answer and often rebelled against the instructions. During a period in high school, the Rabbi would move my desk just outside the classroom door at the start of each lesson, allowing me to listen, but not interact. From a young age, I felt I had to find my own path—a journey of self-discovery, not one of dictation. I eventually came to see that the essence of all religion is rooted in truth, unity and beauty, expressed in many different ways. I just found it rare to see it expressed or taught in a way that maintained this pure essence.
Escaping through substance abuse
The search for my 'own' path didn’t start well, and I ended up turning to substance abuse. My late teens and early twenties were consumed by what I now recognise as self-destructive behaviour and addiction. From a distorted self-image to simply wanting to stay high all the time, I sought anything to numb the pain of feeling like I didn’t belong, and that I was unloved, unworthy, and alone. It wasn’t just peer pressure or the party atmosphere that drove this behaviour—it was deep-seated, painful emotions that I didn’t know how to handle. The heavy drug use and partying began in Australia, in my mid-teens and at 21, I set off to explore the world, in a serious attempt to run away from it all.
Looking for bliss around the globe
Relationships with men deluded me, I could not stay, commit or take them seriously. Everything felt like a lockdown and I had to break free. One month after my 21st birthday, I jumped on a plane with a one-way ticket to Bangkok. I didn't know if I would ever return home to Australia. I didn't know what I was looking for, I just knew I had to get away from the life I had created so far. I found the Island life of Ko Samui and Ko Phangan, the full moon parties and the party drugs, home for a while, and then India called me.
A taste of India, Europe, spirituality and meditation
I landed in New Delhi at 1 a.m., undaunted by the hustle, activity, and overpopulated surroundings, even in the middle of the night, it somewhat felt like home. I met a fellow traveller, an English woman, and we shared the journey into the heart of the city, where I woke up the following day to the vibrant colours, fragrances, and diversity of Mother India.
My first visit to an Ashram and meditation experience took me straight into the colours and lights of the astral world—a deep experience I would never forget. True bliss, a sense of expanded freedom, and all without any substances. Yet, my karma of searching for this bliss in the wrong places was not yet resolved, and I quickly left the ashram to continue my travels. After four months in India and a visit to Nepal, Europe called me. After several years of further travelling, in Europe, South America and Asia, and partying with hallucinogenics like LSD/acid, ecstasy and others, I faced a daunting reality. It came at age 24 when I had been living in Italy for almost one year. After an intense week of all-night cocaine binges, I found myself at my lowest point, the comedown, thinking of my beautiful mother back in Australia, and her worry about not knowing whether I was ok or even alive (no internet in those days).
The realisation hit: if I continued down this path, I wouldn’t be alive for much longer.
It was time to change. Time to grow up, clean up and find purpose. After four years of travelling the globe, and missing my mother and family back home, I decided to return to Australia.
More meditation, travels to India and entrepreneurship
My first ongoing meditation practice began at the Transcendental Meditation Centre in Peth, where I received the TM mantra technique. I had heard of people levitating and experiencing ecstatic states, and the unaccomplished 'bliss seeker' in me wanted those experiences too. But they didn’t come. What did come, however, were entrepreneurial ideas, and I started and sold several businesses. For a few years, during this time, my meditation practice waned. Still, a few more visits to India, with longer visits to the Oneness UniverCity, inspired and deepened my knowledge and practice. Yet, I had still not had the deepest realisation, that I must wholeheartedly turn inward and completely surrender the 'seeking ego' if I am to reach the ultimate truth.
I developed a strong interest in health, particularly organic food and plant-based living. After many years of using chemical substances, I recognised the importance of healing my body and restoring my well-being.
This led to the discovery and creation of my next entrepreneurial adventure, Coconut Magic, a fair-trade, organic coconut food company that I had founded in 2010, as a result of my one-year visit to Thailand, working and staying at wellness and detox retreats.
Marriage now knocks on my door
During the early years of Coconut Magic, I met my husband Andrew, a trusted partner in every sense. Our time together has shown me emotional and spiritual growth in ways I could not have conceived possible during my younger years without him. His spiritual journey had taken him to Peru, and into the South American jungle to explore the sacred Plant Medicines. For the first few years of our marriage, I was content with my learnings and practices from the Eastern Traditions and not interested in the glories of these Native ceremonies. But, one day, that all changed.
Plant Medicine and Psychedelics
When I was first introduced to plant medicine and its potential healing powers, I resisted. It reminded me too much of my younger years—drugs, hallucinogens, and searching for a ‘high.’ I didn’t want to get caught in that same cycle of highs and lows, only to find myself back where I started: lost and confused.
But sometimes, as it seems, you don’t get to choose your plant medicine; rather, she chooses you.
It became crystal clear to me when Mother Ayahuasca called. I felt the pull, the intuition, and turned to my husband Andrew, saying, “Honey, I’d like to sit in ceremony with Mother Ayahuasca.”
I felt a deep need for healing. There was energy stuck in my lower abdomen that I couldn’t shift. Now, Ayahuasca seemed different—a medicine to cleanse and purify. I began to see the natural plant world as a sacred gift for healing, ritual, community, and growth.
I’ll cut to the chase: over 2-3 years, I sat in 41 Ayahuasca ceremonies, experienced several frog medicine cleansing journeys, and undertook a one-week "Mapacho Dieta"-the sacred tobacco medicine.
It seems that my all-or-nothing nature quickly kicked in with the plant medicine.
The medicine brought me experiences of what I now understand as Samadhi, Oneness, and the intuitive insight of the “I” as the Vast Self—one unified consciousness, I felt the heartbeat of Mother Nature as my own, my eternal soul, and more. I encountered visitations from departed loved ones and a glimpse of the karma that I must experience in this lifetime.
Rich, deep, and diverse, these experiences came and went, leaving me with beautiful memories but not the lasting realisation, once again, that my soul was truly seeking.
Alongside these plant medicine journeys, my meditation practices continued to deepen and evolve.
In the last few ceremonies I attended, I settled into a state of witness consciousness. I sat in a stillness and silence that I had never known before, as Mother Ayahuasca revealed what I needed to see, and it became clear to me, that my plant medicine journeys were now complete.
All that I had been searching for—after all these years of travelling, seeking and exploring—was in one place: inside my heart, behind the veils of conditioning, ignorance and delusion, and true meditation, was the way to a purified heart and mind, a cleansing away of those veils.
It was now time for Yoga, the search for God in the heart, and union with the Supreme Spirit, through the path of devotion, meditation, service and self-realisation.
My brother passes away
When my elder brother Danny was diagnosed with stage-4 cancer, he was overwhelmed by the demands of city life, work, and family. He came to stay with my husband and I, seeking care and peace. A very successful businessman, he had gained enormous wealth and prestige in his life, and his decision to stay with us during this sensitive time caused a rift and confusion among family members, particularly his wife and children. This rift was mostly directed at me.
During his stay, he joined me in my daily meditations and embraced a healthier lifestyle. We did our best to care for him, but it was an emotional rollercoaster. One day, with his ambitious nature, he asked me, "How long will it take me to become a Yogi?" I had no idea how to answer, but what came to mind was: "You must read the book Autobiography of a Yogi." At that time, I hadn’t read it myself, only heard of it. I bought him a copy, which my visiting niece (his daughter) helped him to read. At a later date, he went onto Amazon and purchased The Yoga Sutras, The Bhagavad Gita, and several other profound spiritual scriptures and healing texts.
He left his body before those latter books arrived and they were delivered directly to my home.
Soon after his passing, I began reading all of his books, The Sutras, The Gita and Autobiography of a Yogi, which led me down the path of Yoga philosophy, Vedanta and eventually to the practice of Kriya Yoga.
One day, as I was expressing my sadness and loss to a friend, and reflecting on how beautiful it was to see him embrace such deep spiritual teachings in his final days, my friend said, "But Jenni, he will take that desire for spirituality with him into his next life." This gave me some comfort. Perhaps our souls had come together as brother and sister, in this lifetime, to spiritually grow in this way.
Africa: The Wild as My Teacher
When my beloved dog Mocha passed away, I was overwhelmed by the depth of grief I felt. To help ease the pain, I invited a friend over with his singing bowls. As I lay on the couch, absorbing the vibrations, I could feel Mocha’s spirit all around me. She was everywhere. A profound joy and love flooded my being. It was then that I began to experience her communication—her wisdom of life and the spiritual world. This connection continued, and I began to relay her messages to my husband, always preempting it with, 'You’re going to think I’m crazy, but…' until one day, he simply said, 'Stop with the preframing and just tell me what she said.
I began searching for answers about this 'phenomenon' of animal communication and discovered that it is, in fact, a real, grounded, and deeply loving way to connect with animals—and with all of God’s creatures and creation Herself, Mother Nature.
This search turned into an intense 12-month practitioner training with AnimalTalk Africa, and field experience with AnimalSpirit. Interspecies communication training, took me to the heartlands of South Africa: The Star Lion journey, a wilderness immersion in Infolozi and an extraordinary Safari in Botswana.
I always wanted to visit Africa—not as a tourist snapping photos from a distance, but as I did, someone seeking a deep, intuitive connection with nature. I longed to share my reverence for the extraordinary creatures that walk this earth. These visits allowed me to honour that truth and learn from being amidst the Wild, shedding my fears and comforts, and experiencing the freedom of disconnecting from the mental matrix of modern gadgets and so-called 'necessities'.
Nature Connection, Meditation and the Yoga Life
At this point, meditation has become a staple in my life. It offers me more than just a time to relax; it's a quiet space to tune in to my higher self, where I can find deep inner peace and truth behind the incessant thoughts of the mind. It has become my anchor, helping me to remain present, grounded and evenminded amidst the flow of daily life. After attending numerous inner work programs and immersing myself in the practice for many hours each day, I’ve come to make meditation the cornerstone of my day, the focal point of my life. It is now time to take this journey further and become a teacher of Yoga and Meditation, so I can guide others in experiencing the same peace, bliss and inner transformation. And now, The Divine Way is born.
"And now Yoga" I am ready for a true guru
Sage Patanjali begins his Yoga Sutras with the phrase, "And now, Yoga." This aphorism marks the moment when we come to know that the material world—the world of time, space, and causation—cannot provide the ever-new joy and bliss that our soul seeks to return to. It marks the beginning of the study of yoga, signalling the transition from preparation to the practice itself, while also reflecting the wisdom and depth of the teachings to follow.
That free-spirited, free thinker and rebellious young girl in me needed some direction. Simply put, I needed to be told what to do by a Sat (true) Guru, a self-realised master who sees reality as it is and has dedicated his life to sharing these teachings, without any selfish desires, with those who are willing to learn.
Reading Autobiography of a Yogi, the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Sutras, and later studying these texts, marked a profound shift in my life—a 360-degree turn inward. This shift opened me to the presence and teachings of true saints from all religions, as well as the many great masters of Yoga.
Meditation & Yoga Teacher Training
I took to the path of Yoga in both my personal and professional life, and am now a Certified Ananda Meditation Teacher, PremYoga Teacher (RH 200), and Spiritual Counselor, certified in accordance with the standards set by the International Yoga Alliance through the globally respected PremYoga and Ananda School of Yoga and Meditation.
My training has been under the guidance of Swami Mukundananda and his team at PremYoga, Radha Krishna Temple in Dallas, USA and India, as well as Swami Kriyananda, a direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, and the Nayaswami order of Ananda Worldwide.
These teachings blend the deep philosophical wisdom of Vedanta and Yoga with their practical application through introspection, meditation, asana practice and Kriya Yoga—the scientific meditation technique introduced in Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda.
The Ananda [Sanskrit word for Bliss] teachings are central to my spiritual practices, my continuous learning and the way that I teach.
The Ongoing Inner Work and Embracing Life as My Teacher
Not a day goes by that I am not working on myself in some way, for my own growth and because I know that it is the only way that I can truly be of service to you.
The inner world—filled with thoughts, emotions, subconscious patterns, and shifting realities—can be in constant flux. Yet, I embrace this journey of self-awareness, knowing that each moment holds an opportunity for growth and transformation. It is an invitation to accept reality as it is, to surrender to divine will, and to learn how to keep the heart open through it all.
Through sadhana, satsang, and service, this inner work forms the foundation of The Divine Way, and it is at the heart of my practice and my life.
This is how I can bring The Divine Way to you.
Your true nature is divine.
Welcome to The Divine Way
A journey for the soul toward transcendental bliss.
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