Born into an East Indian family in London, England, Panache Desai grew up steeped in spiritual practices like meditation. Though recognized by spiritual teachers as possessing a special gift, Desai rejected his spiritual foundation as a teenager, trading it for the excitement of London’s rave music scene of the 1990s before moving to America.

It wasn’t until he was 22 and living in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Venice Beach that the pain of the way he had rejected his true inner nature reached a crescendo. In opening himself up to the possibility of the divine, Desai underwent a spiritual awakening that has led him to dedicate his life to helping others make their own journey from self-rejection to contentment.

Unaffiliated with any one religious or spiritual tradition, Desai works with simple, yet powerful principles of energy to help free people from self-imposed limitations and unlock their potential. His first book, Discovering Your Soul Signature: A 33-Day Path to Purpose, Passion & Joy, just released, is a departure from his earlier focus on creating meditation CDs and other audio recordings.

What was the key turning point in embracing your life’s calling?

Every time I would visit a spiritual teacher as a kid, they would say, “We’ve been waiting for you.” But I just wanted to be normal and was also skeptical; not every well-intentioned person is necessarily leading you home. I reached a turning point when I knew something had to change. I told myself that if this thing called God really exists and if I’m here to be a messenger, I have to experience it personally.

In that moment, I began to undergo a transformation that culminated in a direct experience of the divine; an infinite ocean of energy vibrating with unconditional love. I felt part of what every spiritual teacher has been telling the world for thousands of years: that the true nature of reality is love, a love that expresses itself through all life forms. That experience allowed me to accept my role of helping others see and achieve their potential.

How does the universal energy you speak of affect us and how can we shift our dance with it?

We are vibrational beings inhabiting a vibrational universe. Yogis and mystics from traditions throughout time have known this. The subtlest form of vibration is the soul, which is overlaid by the emotional, with the physical as the outermost layer of energy. Because the emotional layer can accumulate a density that enshrouds our soul’s light and potential, it’s important to address it.

Energy is like water—it wants to flow and can shift states at any moment. Judging or rejecting any aspect of our genuine identity disrupts that flow of energy. For example, if instead of being available to feel your anger when it arises you repress or deny it, that accumulating emotion acquires density and over time, becomes rage. But if you can learn to slow down and lean into the emotion, the anger can wash through and out of you and energy again flows freely.

By allowing ourselves to acknowledge, experience and release these emotions without judgment, we are clearing the obstacles to our authentic self, what I term one’s “soul signature”.

How is discovering our soul signature related to finding our calling?

The soul signature is our purest potential expressed. You can have a calling to be a writer, but unless you are connected to who you are at the deepest level, your writing won’t have the same impact.

Accessing our soul signature is a process. We didn’t end up where we are overnight, and it can take time to get back to that place where we can express our truest selves by working with the techniques of energy transformation described in my book.

What are good first steps for someone newly initiating a spiritual practice?

The most powerful tool is our breath. Witnessing and honoring our breath in every moment allows us to transform every day into living meditation.

Find author blogs on how individuals live their soul signature at PanacheDesai.com.

Connect with freelance writer April Thompson at AprilWrites.com.