Back in September, I attended BhaktiFest in the middle of Joshua Tree Desert, CA. Partly to represent the skincare collection and partly to have uplifting (ie life changing) experiences doing yoga in the middle of the desert. The latter was accomplished indeed and I can very much thank Mark Whitwell on my path to higher self-awareness and better understanding. I was introduced to Mark by another kindred spirit I had just met at BhaktiFest who insisted I come take his yoga class. I did not realize a beautiful talk and a deep asana practice was to follow.

Mark’s presence is illuminating. When he spoke, I felt the energy of many enlightened people emanating from Mark. For me, what resonated the most about Mark’s talk was about the phases of emotions we need to go through in order to reach ultimate love, compassion. Mark discussed the five stages of emotions and the way he conveyed the information led to clarity on:

1. fear

2. anger

3. pain

4. sadness

5. compassion

The key?

Honor each emotion as we experience it to lead to liberation so we could move on to the next.