Does spirituality need botox and a guru robe? My first encounter with IKYA was during a beauty treatment.

For about a year now, I have been studying with Enlightened Master IKYA, and it's the best decision I've ever made in my life. Around 15 years ago, my spiritual journey began. I attended countless courses on consciousness development, energy work, meditation, breathwork, bodywork, and awakening. But I never really went deep. The patterns I hated but somehow couldn’t change, stayed with me or transformed into other patterns that were equally harmful. Many things changed superficially and kept shifting back and forth, but I didn’t truly move forward, and I ended up spending quite a bit of money.

Last year, I had a business coaching session with my friend Carolin from Germany. At that time she was already a dedicated student of Spiritual Teacher IKYA, and she said, “Check out IKYA.” A few days later, I was in downtown Zurich, having a beauty treatment, and suddenly IKYA appeared in front of me in the air, in his subtle presence (more ghost-like) wearing his teaching clothes kaftan, and saying, "Hello, Julia.“ After that, I immediately signed up for the IKYA Mantra - Collection 5 one-year spiritual study, and there was no turning back for me. It didn’t feel strange at all that IKYA had appeared to me during a beauty treatment; I was just very grateful to be shown this path.

The past year has been both the most intense and the best year of my life. Never before have I been confronted so strongly with my karma and resistance through life itself – a real rollercoaster ride at the speed of light. IKYA’s words, “Take it all in,” have repeatedly helped me navigate through complete overwhelm and allowed myself to be guided.

Many of the issues I had tried to resolve and transform for years – they no longer exist. The teachings and daily meditations have become essential parts of my life, and are now impossible to imagine living without.

Spirituality in Switzerland

I find it very interesting to look at the horizontal spiritual world today. In Switzerland, there is now a vast range of spiritual seminars and retreats on offer: cacao ceremonies, breathwork, sound healing nights, yoga, dancing, etc. I think these offerings are great, because they encourage people to start asking questions like:

• What is the purpose of my life?

• Why am I here?

• What’s really going on behind the scenes of this world?

• How can I better connect or center myself?

These activities in spiritual communities often help people take a step forward and are also a lot of fun.

Since I started studying with IKYA and observing what’s happening in spiritual circles, I want to raise a few questions.

1. Can spirituality and beauty treatments go hand in hand?

2. Are you a better person if you are spiritual?

3. Do spiritual people live in harmony with nature and follow a vegetarian or vegan diet?

4. Do spiritual people only use natural remedies and avoid conventional medicine?

5. Do spiritual people go to nightclubs and drink alcohol?

6. Do they laugh so hard that they sometimes roll on the floor?

There are so many expectations and rules nowadays that you have to follow to be considered spiritual and part of this horizontal scene that it can be exhausting to meet them all.

-- Is there still time left to genuinely explore:

-- Why am I here?

-- How can I keep connecting more deeply with the Divine?

-- What is truly real?

-- What could I do differently?

Julia uses IKYA Essences, like Abundance, in her practice and study.

How should a spiritual teacher look and market themselves?

Many people I talk to about IKYA here in Switzerland think he seems arrogant and unnatural. Often, I hear comments like:

• “He doesn’t look like he’s from this world, totally unnatural.”

• “IKYA’s face is so angular, like that of an alien.”

• “A spiritual teacher who calls themselves enlightened is arrogant.”

• “IKYA has a guru-like vibe.”

• “Does IKYA get Botox injections?”

• “The IKYA Crystal course is quite expensive; it’s all about the money.”

• “There’s something about IKYA that I just don’t find likable…”

There are so many expectations for a spiritual teacher... and then we are back to the resistance people have toward their own growth and toward the world. For some, that resistance appears in IKYA’s radiant skin and seemingly alien face, while for others, it appears in his “guru-like” clothing of a traditional kaftan.

If we see these judgments as what they truly are – simply resistance – then why shouldn’t a spiritual teacher have beautiful skin or wear traditional kaftan robes like gurus have throughout history? IKYA is simply wearing the types of clothes he grew up with, and he makes a point of not belonging to any particular human culture or time. His face is strangely enough natural, although his physical features – including his elongated body – look more otherworldly. 

Most people also find IKYA intimidating and unfamiliar at first. What you discover over time is that he does not operate on the human level and that your subconscious reacts to this fact and tries to take control of something beyond your current understanding of reality.

But, isn’t it rather cool then that IKYA first appeared to me during a beauty treatment?

Isn’t spirituality really about studying and experiencing life with all its facets, inventions, offerings and possibilities? Trying out new things and seeing how they affect us? Then making new, ever more conscious choices? Letting go of all ideas of how something or someone should be?

That’s where true aliveness and true spirituality can unfold. After all, as IKYA reminds us often, “Life is the best teacher.”