“I knew that something was happening when I was meditating. It was happening for me. And so, if it could happen for me, it could possibly happen for him.”

Renee came to this work with desperation and just a “tiny flicker of hope.” In the years since her young son, Sam, had been diagnosed with autism, no treatment had seemed possible. They couldn’t pursue any kind of therapy or medication – because it was too distressing for him. He simply wouldn’t comply. And so, their lives were small and isolated – Renee, her husband, and Sam, closed in their home. If anyone other than his grandmother came to visit, Sam would hide.

Renee brought her dreams of Sam being out of their home – and in the world – with her to her practice. And over time, she brought the love and healing she found in her meditations to the hours she would lie with her son, trying to soothe him so he would sleep. Their breakthrough happened when, lying there with Sam, Renee began to turn the love she was sending to him back on herself. She felt a surge of love open her heart – and from there, everything changed.

“As I got better, he got better. And as he got better, I got better,” Renee says today. “And things escalated.” In a short time, her vision of her smiling little boy – connecting with others and beloved in the world – became a reality.

Recorded at the Denver Week Long Advanced Retreat in July 2023