How to Develop Real Faith
Ten years ago, I hit rock bottom for about the tenth time. I was battling depression and an addiction to psychiatric medications. I barely had enough money to pay next month’s rent. With nowhere to turn, I, an adventure writer by profession and at heart, decided the only option I had was to hit the […]
Yes, Growing Your Heart Is Possible
When I moved to Austin, Texas, from Boulder, Colorado, last year, it took me about three hours to discover and fall in love with Barton Springs Pool, an old-school, thousand-foot-long, three-acre public pool built in 1932 and fed by cool, underground springs. Most summer mornings, after I finish my coffee, I arrive at The Springs […]
Welcome to Enlightened-ish
This month, I’m wrapping up final revisions on my forthcoming memoir, Into the Soul of the World: My Journey to Healing, published by Hachette Books in March of 2023. (You can pre-order a copy now on Amazon.) The book tells how I became a successful freelance adventure and political journalist. How my life fell apart due to […]
The Path with Brad Wetzler Podcast | Ep 2: Matthew Andrews on Yoga, Pilgrimage, and Devotion
WORDS CHANGE US: WHEN THINGS FALL APART by Pema Chodron
“Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.” This quote from Pema Chodron is today’s WORDS CHANGE US. Pema’s words feel true to me. They reflect my own experience. Where there’s fear, there’s heat, and something to look at. I was 51 years old and,admittedly, stricken by both doubt and fear when […]
WORDS CHANGE US: THE TEACHINGS OF DON JUAN by Carlos Castaneda
Tonight’s WORDS THAT CHANGED ME comes from a modern spiritual classic, “The Teachings of Don Juan” by Carlos Castaneda. Here it is: “Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t, it is of no use.” I’ve liked this quote since I first read it in the late […]
WORDS CHANGE US: THIS IS WATER by David Foster Wallace
Tonight’s WORDS CHANGE US comes from “This Is Water” by the late David Foster Wallace. I think these words speak for themselves. What do you worship? “Here’s something else that’s weird but true: in the day-to day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as […]
WORDS CHANGE US: Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Today’s THESE WORDS CHANGED ME comes from Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. After days of listening to the Buddha’s teachings, Siddhartha, a wanderer seeking enlightenment, encounters The Awakened One in a grove. And guess what he does? He gives the Great One a piece of his mind! Here’s what he says: “The teachings of the enlightened Buddha […]
Alan Watts and the Art of Living Your Weird
I was in my mid-thirties and quite depressed when I first stumbled on a recording of Alan Watts’ unique style of spiritual entertainment. Within a few minutes, I was chuckling out loud and had forgotten I was depressed. These days, I no longer suffer from depression, and Watts’ recordings still crack me up and fill […]
What My Bluenose Pit Bull Taught Me about Love
When I used to travel a lot as a magazine writer, I tried to work fast so that I could explore more of the countries I visited. I gravitated toward holy sites. Temples, churches, ashrams, ancient ruins, active charnel grounds. I wasn’t a believer, so I wasn’t even sure what “holy” meant. But those sites, with their […]
Yoga of Writing
Years ago, I committed to a daily yoga practice after two decades of casual three-days-per-week practice. Within months, I saw tangible results. I became more fit, more flexible, a little happier, a little less reactive, and even more connected to my spiritual self, which I’d abandoned years earlier. All good stuff. I kept at it. […]
How I Turn Early-Waking Insomnia Into a Gift
I wake up early. Not by choice really. There’s not much to do at 4:30 a.m. or 5 a.m. but practice. I look serious here. But that’s the mood, the vibe, before sunrise. At least, to me. It feels like a time to consider and contemplate and journal. Life. God. Purpose. That kind of stuff. […]
What Yoga Taught Me about Faith
Hi Friends, I’ve been thinking about faith lately. Faith is a central theme in the travel memoir I’m writing. Faith has been a central theme in my life. Since I was a kid, I’ve been drawn to religious and spiritual paths. But as strong as the pull toward God has sometimes been, my relationship with […]
Yoga and My Quest for True Self
A consistent yoga practice can be powerful. It’s like standing in front of a mirror and staring at your reflection. This can be frightening for anybody, but for a middle-aged man it is especially so. First, you see things that surprise or shock you. Is my belly really that lumpy? Is my hair that gray? […]
How Yoga Shows You Who You Really Are
A consistent yoga practice can be powerful. It’s like standing in front of a mirror and staring at your reflection. This can be frightening for anybody, but for a middle-aged man it is especially so. First, you see things that surprise or shock you. Is my belly really that lumpy? Is my hair that gray? […]
A Middle-Aged Journalist Grows Up to Be a Yoga Teacher
Last February, a few weeks after my 51st birthday and on the twisting road to becoming a middle-aged yoga instructor, I skulked through the orange-themed lobby at a Boulder, Colorado, yoga studio. Past the racks of Lululemon yoga pants and T-shirts that read “Spiritual Gangster,” I finally came to a halt in Room 1: a […]
How Travel, Journaling, and Yoga Bring Us Home to Our True Self
Working in memoir requires a writer to stand in the fire of truth. This means holding ourselves accountable to seeing what’s true about our lives. Part of my process as a book writing coach is to point clients to ways they can write with a more open heart. Writing well about our life requires us to open our […]
Short Memoir: How Pilgrimage Shows Us the Way Back to True Self
Last winter, I traveled to southern India for a pilgrimage to Arunachala, a conical mountain considered by Hindus to be the embodiment of Shiva, the god of destruction and rebirth. The night before the pilgrimage, I dropped onto the mattress in my bamboo hut hoping for a peaceful rest. I fell asleep listening to mosquitoes […]
How Bhakti Yoga Brings Us Back to Our Hearts
Spiritual practices are an important way I stay connected to my deepest self. Yoga and meditation are my go-to practices. When I practice consistently, I do better at staying grounded in the present moment. And when I stay grounded in the NOW, I am slower to react to difficult situations and people, and I’m better able […]
Short Memoir: How Pilgrimage Shows Us the Way Back to True Self, Part 2
Something changed in me that day on Mount Arunachala. I glimpsed something I’d never seen before. At least, not since I was a boy. It was only a glimpse, so I can’t say for certain what I saw. But during and after my circumambulation, I peered deeper inside myself than I had done before. Deeper […]