When you ask Jyoti (Jeneane Prevatt, Ph.D.) to describe herself in one word, she responds, "Midwife." Not to women in childbirth, but to anyone undergoing an internal, spiritual awakening, as well as to those wishing to develop their lives into a living, humane process. Jyoti has been involved in various methods of transformation for many years, including her own as a result of the awakening of her Kundalini (the intelligent life force situated at the base of each person’s spine). In fact, her first Kundalini experience came after the birth of her second son, now 27 years old. The death of her father served as the catalyst for her spiritual awakening.

Kundalini awakening and spiritual emergence are not well-known concepts to mainstream Western society today, but they are occurring among more and more people in all strata of society worldwide. Often Kundalini evidences itself through visions, memories of past lives, bodily and perceptional changes, and other expressions that can mimic psychological illness. Jyoti, a former director of the Spiritual Emergence Network (SEN), devotes much of her time to helping others undergoing this process of spiritual emergence. She also works to inform the medical powers-that-be that people undergoing Kundalini experiences should not be misdiagnosed as mentally ill when they are, in reality, in the process of developing their spiritual selves.

People having Kundalini experiences seek out Jyoti and her husband, Russell D. Park, Ph.D., a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice, at their healing retreat center called Kayumari ("sacred blue deer") located on a mountaintop in Columbia, California (about three hours east of San Francisco). Here, among the beauties of nature, they participate in various individual and group healing and life transformational workshops and seminars to help integrate mystical experiences into their everyday lives. Sometimes individuals with life-threatening diseases, such as cancer, journey to Kayumari to work through various issues. "We try to help them flow into acceptance and love, rather than be controlled by fear," says Jyoti. "We also teach them how to stay in touch with the present and help them deal with their transition." Jyoti has witnessed many miraculous healings since beginning her work.

Those who want to delve further into the study of new ways of thinking and living in a new social order can do so by participating in Jyoti’s and Russell’s "Stargate program". Stargate, which has been in progress for seven years in California, on the East Coast and in Europe, allows people to forge their own destinies.

Starting this year, Stargate is a one-year study group program. Over the course of 5 extended weekends professionals and non professionals wanting to work with non-ordinary states of consciousness can participate. The course draws upon rituals, breathwork, transpersonal imagery, sound and meditation techniques. There is a program for facilitators to become certified in this program. Each session focuses on a theme to access deep evolutionary energies which begins the understanding necessary for the transformation of suffering and pain into surrender and finally empowerment.

The work helps people to become more aware of their unconscious behavior and helps them to make conscious choices; helps individuals to open up and listen to their inner wisdom and discover the person that lives inside, to step out of any falsehood that they’ve created, and enables them to live more consciously and joyously.

Jyoti sees her role as one of restoration of balance within the individual, and in how the individual relates to other people and to the earth. "We need to learn how to hold our feelings and experience without judging them" Jyoti says, "in order to be true human beings. It’s important to listen to and care for the children and elderly in our society, not to cut them off from society," she continues. "Children are our most precious natural resource. And if we relate to Mother Earth more closely, we’ll want to keep her healthy."

Jyoti emphasizes that living in the present moment dramatically improves the quality of individuals’ lives. "We’re at a critical point in humanity’s history," she believes. "We could again manifest balance on the planet and love can become a state of consciousness shared by all rather than hate, fear and violence." "If each person would access his/her creative intelligence held within, we could change our world for the better!"