Billy Barefoot Yogi
After having an experience of awakening in the forest of Alaska at the age of 7, Billy moved through what could be said as a typical or normal life. But throughout his childhood and into his teenage years, Billy continued to experience alternate states of consciousness, otherworldly visions and dreams, out-of-body experiences, and empathic and intuitive feelings. Not knowing what he was experiencing, he usually kept quiet about them. When he did speak up, he was told something was wrong with him and was taken in for therapy. Even at an early age, Billy could see through the concepts of psychology and eventually learned to just play along with the game of human experience.
Many years went by and, like so many of his peers, Billy fell into all of the traps of looking for happiness: sex, drugs, violence, and a myriad of self-destructive motives. But deep inside, beyond all of this, he had such a deep love for the world and the search for truth. In the year 2000, Billy began a very earnest attempt at "cleaning up" his life and discovering who he really is and to be reunited with that feeling of "waking up" back in Alaska, so many years prior. This would begin a long journey through Christianity, Buddhism, Zen, Mysticism, history, quantum physics, neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, yoga, meditation and so many more outlets of "knowledge". Yet, it wouldn't be until many years later that it all began to come together, or, in some sense, fall apart. All of this knowledge couldn't hold a candle to a brief moment of Samadhi that Billy had experienced during meditation one evening in 2011. Actually, it isn't really an experience BILLY had... But it was a profound realization that THAT is what he had always been and all that he could ever truly be: pure awareness.
In the years since, Billy has been teaching Yoga, Meditation, and holding Satsang in and around the area of Clarksville, TN, with intermittent periods of seclusion and travel. Billy's approach is always welcoming to everyone. He is a very lovable being who is kind, caring, and affectionate to all, yet firm when the moment arises. His teaching varies from moment-to-moment, from soft and gentle, to firm and seemingly abrasive, but be assured that it all comes from what he calls the "Heart Space".