Introduction
In this interview, Dan Lexow talks about the development of Maha Shakti Energy Healing, the relationship between energy and consciousness, and his journey into Kriya Yoga. We also explore prana, the chakras, Kundalini, distance healing and the deeper purpose of spiritual practice.
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PAA: Could you begin by telling us about your own spiritual journey and the experiences that first drew you toward energy healing, consciousness work and yoga?
When I was a child, I always watched my father practise yoga. At some point as a teenager, I tried doing the exercises myself and realised that it felt as if I had always been doing them. It felt like home. From that point on, I became interested in spirituality and started reading every book on the subject that crossed my path. Later, while studying abroad, I met my yoga teacher. The first energy healing method I came across was Reiki. So I learned the system and used it for a while, but eventually I naturally let go of it. Later I became familiar with the teachings of Ramana Maharshi. That opened a completely new door for me. I sensed that there was something true in what he was saying, but I could not really grasp it. It took many years of going in and out of non-dual teachings until, in one last attempt, I decided to fully dedicate myself to the study of Advaita Vedanta. After about two years, one day it clicked. I then had a strong urge to share that understanding with others. Over the years I also learned all kinds of healing modalities from different teachers: Quantum Healing, rune healing, hypnosis, Russian information medicine and Spiritual Spinal Alignment, to name a few.
PAA: Maha Shakti Energy Healing developed through your own practice and experience. How did the system gradually emerge, and when did you begin to recognize it as a distinct approach in its own right?
The story of how Maha Shakti Energy Healing came about sounds a little bit like a fairy tale, so I will keep it short. While I was in Mexico, I met a very powerful psychic who told me that I had a power, an energy, that I was not using. I told him that I was already helping people heal, but he insisted that my own energy was much stronger than all of that and that I would soon discover how to use it. I could not really believe him at the time, but it turned out to be true. Soon afterwards I started receiving what I would call downloads about how to use this energy and how to master it to a level where I could use it to help people heal.
That is how Maha Shakti Energy Healing was born. Soon many people were seeking me out, both in person and online, because I was also able to use this energy at a distance. In fact, none of my clients need to be touched, even when they come to see me in person. The results were often very quick and quite remarkable, and over time I became known for this kind of work.
Once we understand ourselves, healing becomes much easier to understand as well. In theory, I think everybody could be a healer. In practice, not everybody has a talent for it.
Dan Lexow
PAA: Were there particular experiences or breakthroughs that fundamentally changed your understanding of healing and eventually became central to Maha Shakti?
The basis of everything is the understanding of our true nature. Once we understand ourselves, healing becomes much easier to understand as well. In theory, I think everybody could be a healer. In practice, not everybody has a talent for it. With Maha Shakti there is a complex process happening internally and externally at the same time, but on a higher level of consciousness that cannot really be grasped through our ordinary senses.
PAA: For someone encountering Maha Shakti for the first time, how would you describe what it is and what makes it distinctive from other forms of energy healing?
Maha means great and Shakti means power or energy. I named it that way because of its potency. It is a healing method that involves energy and higher consciousness to achieve the desired outcome. A Maha Shakti session usually takes around twenty minutes. In contrast to many other energy healing methods, the focus is not solely on the energy itself. I do not simply stand there and let energy flow through my hands for a long period of time. From my point of view, a session is very dynamic. I am in a meditative state and basically look through what you could call the third eye. I can then perceive where the issue of the client lies and work directly at the root of the problem. There are many different aspects to a session. Chakras, timeline work, previous lives, trauma release, inner-child work and more. So in some ways the name Energy Healing does not do it full justice. During a session I can also perceive things that appear to be attached to a person. These can be parasites, other entities, things created by the person themselves and much more. Every person is different, and I am still surprised by how much there is that we do not know and by the invisible world that seems to exist around us.
PAA: What do you mean by “energy” within Maha Shakti? How do you personally experience or perceive it during healing work?
The energy simply flows through me. I think I have been used to it all my life without consciously knowing what it was, as I mentioned earlier. For me it feels very natural. For someone else, though, it can feel very intense.
PAA: Consciousness appears to be particularly important in your approach. How do you understand the relationship between consciousness and subtle energy?
Energy is basically consciousness in motion. That is probably the simplest way I can describe it.
PAA: What actually takes place during a Maha Shakti healing session, both from the perspective of the practitioner and the person receiving the work?
For the client, it is usually quite a relaxed situation. The person simply lies on their back and closes their eyes. Everybody experiences it differently, though. Some people see lights. Others feel energy rushing up and down their body. Some have emotional outbursts or experience shaking and other involuntary movements. And some people simply feel very relaxed. It is very individual. For me, a large part of the work is taking out things that the person does not need and, if necessary, introducing something that they do need. A little bit like Doctor Strange from the Marvel movies, but as a healer. That is probably the closest way I can describe it.
PAA: How does a practitioner learn to become more sensitive to subtle energy? Are there particular capacities that tend to develop through Maha Shakti practice?
People who work with energy naturally become more sensitive to it. The more you work with it, the more you learn and the more sensitive you can become. Intuition and intention are also important. Like I mentioned before, not everybody has a talent for it. Those who do usually know. With Maha Shakti in particular, the ability to see beyond the physical and to deal with things and beings from higher or other realms can increase.
PAA: How do you understand energetic blockages, and what happens when these begin to release or transform?
So-called energetic blockages can take many forms. They can be chakras that are not functioning properly, emotions, thoughts, fear, trauma left in the body and mind, and many other things. When these release, an immediate sense of relief can be felt. I think the illusion is that it always takes time. It does not. Once the issue is resolved at its root, it is gone. On the physical level, depending on the person’s age, it can sometimes take a few days for something to completely disappear. But there is usually an immediate effect, followed by further release after the session.
PAA: Maha Shakti can also involve distance healing. How do you understand healing and energetic connection when practitioner and recipient are physically separated?
Time and space do not play a role for me. There is no distance. You could be on the other side of the world or on the other side of the universe. Distance is created by the mind. Consciousness is all-encompassing and has no distance from itself to itself. And if consciousness is the substance of the entire existence, for lack of a better word, then there is ultimately no distance between you, me and everything else.
PAA: Where do you see the strongest parallels between Maha Shakti and the traditional yogic understanding of prana? Are they describing essentially the same phenomenon, or are there important differences?
The yogis call all energy prana. Prana can take many different forms and have different functions. It is a little bit like Shiva and Shakti. Without Shiva there is no Shakti, and without Shakti there is no Shiva. You could very bluntly say that everything is energy, and that probably would not even be wrong. But what I can say from my own experience is that there are many different energies. Maha Shakti in particular is an energy that is also used by beings in higher realms. And if you look very closely, eventually you find one main energy throughout the universe.
Shakti.
PAA: What role do the chakras play within Maha Shakti, and how has working directly with energy shaped your understanding of the chakra system?
In the same way that we are multidimensional beings, the chakras are multidimensional as well. I clean the chakras of my clients during every session, so they are one part of the whole procedure. Some people think the chakras need to be awakened, opened or activated. From my experience, the chakras are always there. The question is how well they are functioning. Clearing a chakra usually restores it to its proper function. On the physical level, the chakras are closely related to the nervous system and the glands within our body. When you zoom out from the physical level, they appear more like energetic vortices. They are sometimes described with different colours and other characteristics. By now, I think most of us have seen diagrams of the chakra system in books or online. What we see there is more of an astral representation of what they look like.
PAA: There is enormous interest in kundalini today. From your experience, what are some of the most important things people should understand before deliberately working with these forces?
From a yogic perspective, Kundalini is not something to play with. Before Kundalini is awakened, many purification practices, asanas and pranayama are traditionally used to prepare and clean the nervous system. Otherwise the Kundalini cannot rise properly and can get stuck. Imagine a dirty, clogged tube. How is the water supposed to pass through it? Now imagine that the pressure of that water is extremely strong. Would you not first prepare the tube so that it can handle that pressure? It is the same with the body, mind and nervous system. In truth, when someone is properly prepared, Kundalini will rise by itself. Today we hear many reports of spontaneous Kundalini awakenings, but we also hear about many difficulties connected with them. These experiences can cause serious physical and mental problems when a person is not prepared. The yogis themselves are not particularly concerned with Kundalini. Their focus is Self realisation. Kundalini may then become a by-product of that process.
If someone is seriously interested in working with Kundalini, I think it should happen under the guidance of an authorised teacher from a genuine tradition. What we often see marketed today as Kundalini Yoga is, in my experience, not the same thing.
PAA: Kriya Yoga has become an important part of your path. What originally drew you toward Kriya, and what were you searching for within the tradition?
I had been looking for Kriya Yoga for a very long time. My teacher taught me Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga, but after reading Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda, I became very inspired to learn Kriya Yoga. Having already gained a lot of experience in yoga, it took me a long time to find a teacher whom I considered qualified. Kriya is a peculiar system. It is strongly focused on pranayama and meditation. Basically, I would describe it as a higher form of Raja Yoga. According to the tradition, it has existed for a very long time in the Himalayan mountains, but it was Lahiri Mahasaya who began popularising it among ordinary householders in 1861. Yogananda described it as a shortcut to God. And from my own experience, I can say that it is very effective.
PAA: You eventually connected with the Kriya Yoga tradition associated with Lahiri Mahasaya and Panchanan Bhattacharya. What was significant for you about discovering this particular lineage?
It was simply my intuition that drew me there. I was not looking for a particular tradition. I was looking for true Kriya. Panchanan Bhattacharya was the first and chief disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya and preserved the exercises as they had been taught from the beginning. I wanted to learn as close to the source as possible.
After about twenty years of searching for an appropriate teacher, in my desperation I prayed directly to Lahiri Mahasaya. I then had an experience in which he guided me through all of the Kriyas.
Dan Lexow
PAA: You have described a profound inner experience involving Lahiri Mahasaya before receiving formal initiation. Could you tell us about that experience and what it meant for your subsequent path in Kriya Yoga?
Sure, but you will have to take my word for it. After about twenty years of searching for an appropriate teacher, in my desperation I prayed directly to Lahiri Mahasaya. I then had an experience in which he guided me through all of the Kriyas. From that point on, I kept practising what I had been shown. But I continued praying to him that I would also find a teacher in the flesh.
Soon afterwards I met Nandikesha. To my surprise, he taught me the same things that Lahiri Mahasaya had shown me. For me, that was the confirmation.
PAA: How has Kriya Yoga influenced the development of Maha Shakti? Do the two systems remain distinct practices for you, or have they increasingly illuminated one another?
They are distinct systems and do not necessarily influence each other directly. But the further I advance in Kriya Yoga, the stronger my focus becomes while performing Maha Shakti. More generally, I think yoga is good for everyone. I think everybody should practise yoga. It can help with the health of the body, mind and spirit, and it can help you in everyday life as well.
PAA: For someone seriously interested in developing greater awareness of energy and consciousness, what qualities or practices do you believe are most important to cultivate?
It is very important to be sincere and to be a good person, with little personal interest in what you are doing. When you become a healer, your role is to serve God, the universe and all beings. For me, that is the minimum requirement. And yes, it is a big one. Keep your job. Do not try to get rich by healing other people. First, work a lot on yourself. Choose a spiritual tradition or practice that genuinely interests you and follow it. The tools are all there. The knowledge is there. Do not constantly jump from one thing to another. Dedicate yourself. Meditate. You will know when it is time to share your knowledge and help others.
PAA: Finally, when you look beyond individual techniques and systems, what do you see as the deeper purpose of this work? Where can the exploration of energy, consciousness and Kriya Yoga ultimately lead us?
Everything ultimately leads us to God. The ways are many. The purpose is one.
PAA: Any other subjects or news you would like to cover?
I recently released a book on non-duality called You Already Know Too Much: When Even the Right Answer Becomes a Trap. It is about something I encountered again and again during my own years with non-dual teachings: you can accumulate a huge amount of spiritual knowledge and still miss what all of it is pointing to. Sometimes even the right answer becomes part of the problem because the mind turns it into something else to hold on to. The book is about seeing through that accumulation of knowledge rather than adding another spiritual system on top of it. Thank you for the interview and for giving me the opportunity to share my work. All the best to you and your readers.
PAA: Thank you Dan for sharing your journey with us.
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