Endorsement Letter from Cloud Mountain Retreat Center

Dear Friends,

It is Cloud Mountain’s usual policy to not share our mailing list or to use it for purposes other than to bring your attention to Cloud Mountain’s own scheduled events. This is the first time we have made an exception to that policy and announced any event other than a retreat at the center. However, David and Laura have found our work with Michael Torresan and the Authentic Living Institute so meaningful and impactful on our own lives and practice that we are making this mailing exception to let you know about it..........

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Article - My Experience with Authentic Living
Tsukina Blessing, Student of Western Sufism for seven years and ALI student for one year

Noticing a change in me, an old friend asked me recently how it's been. It's been an amazing journey to an authentic life. I feel as though a beautiful melody that was always there but mostly inaudible has been born into the world, and many of the old screechy parts of myself are fading to background noise. There is peace, fire, and joy in my life, instead of frustration, hope, fear and disappointment. I'm more spontaneous, capable, and present. In practical terms, what this means is that my husband tells me I'm a lot easier to be around most of the time; I no longer find myself in fits of impotent rage when dealing with my family of origin; my career is still stagnant, but that's no longer a source of frustration or anguish; and my satisfaction rating of life in general has gone up 1000%.

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Endorsement from (Shaikh) Hafizullah Chishti (hafizullah@aol.com),
Authorized Representative, Sufi Order International (http://www.sufiorder.org)

I would like to draw your attention to a series of talks to be given by a dear friend of mine, Michael Torresan. Michael was a senior teacher in the Ridhwan School for two decades, and is now pulling his own wagon as the director of the Authentic Living Institute.

Michael has a capacity to tune the participants of his workshops, with grace and humor, to a level of being and of compassionate and fearless personal inquiry that is equaled by very, very few of those working in the field of spiritual unfoldment. This body of work is light-years ahead of almost anything else out there. It has been my privilege to both participate and occasionally to guest-instruct in Michael's workshops over a five-year period in the 1990s; my experience there catalyzed my transformation in a most amazing manner. I owe a significant boost in my capacity as a teacher --- and a huge increase in the love, joy, and clarity in my life --- to my work with him. While my teachers in the Sufi tradition have shown me the "what," Michael gave me invaluable keys to the "how" of getting unstuck from some very problematical places in my being, and making what I had received in Sufism "grounded" in a way that would have taken far longer otherwise. This approach is entirely compatible with Sufism --- and I should think, any path --- and provides unparalleled ease-of-access to the actuation of deep consciousness in one's being. This is a wholly unsolicited personal testimonial. I can't recommend this approach too highly, and it is out of profound gratitude that I invite anyone who is truly serious about their self-transformation to investigate Michael's work.

"I have been expanding my appreciation of the my essential nature for over eight years with Michael Torresan. I have meditated, chanted, explored, drawn pictures, stuttered, cried, ranted, studied and delved into the pursuit of truth and light. During this time I have had the incredible pleasure and joy of working with other dedicated beings in trying to honestly commit ourselves to losing our minds. Wheeee!" - Jeanne, ALI Student for eight years

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