I’m Daniel, and everything I share here comes from my own path of learning how to heal, grow, and live with meaning. Here’s how that path unfolded.
For a long time, I just wanted what everyone else seemed to have: stability, love, a good job, and a sense of belonging. Maybe I wasn’t a dreamer, but to me, living the version of life we’re all shown felt exceptional, mostly because it felt out of reach.
But part due to curiosity, part due to desperation, my life took a different turn and veered down a track I never could have expected. There was a quiet unrest that nudged me toward the existential, where that well-together life became a distant image in the rear-view mirror.
Soul Seeker’s Path grew out of that journey off the beaten track, and slowly evolved into a space for others who are asking the same questions:
Who am I? Is there more to life than this? How do I create a life that feels good on the inside?
The search for answers consumed me, and in my early twenties, I set out to find them by throwing myself into the world and crafting a life around self-exploration. I spent years traveling through different cultures, learning from teachers, and exploring spiritual traditions that continue to evolve to this day.
It hasn’t been a smooth journey either. There’ve been breakthroughs and breakdowns, detours and renewals. But nothing has taught me more than the ongoing experiment of soul searching and building a life that feels real.
I didn’t set out to build a website or teach anything, I just wanted to understand myself. Here’s where that journey began.
How It All Began
I grew up in a good home, with loving parents and the kind of comfort many people never get. But inside, things didn’t feel so easy.
I struggled to learn the way others did and stumbled over things that seemed effortless for them. I wasn’t the kind of kid who seamlessly got along with others or could make them laugh, and I wasn’t the typical troubled kid either.
I was reclusive, awkward, and just different. The type of kid who always felt a few steps out of sync and just didn’t understand the world around him.
At recess, I’d walk laps around the school yard so people wouldn’t see me alone. I remember watching other kids my age laugh, play, and grow into themselves while I stood on the outside, trying to understand why everything felt so far away.
That gap between me and everyone else grew noticeably wider and started to harden into something deeper over the years. I didn’t understand what was “wrong” with me, and that confusion slowly ate away at me.
By my early teens, the weight of it turned into depression. Life became increasingly two-dimensional and seemed hopeless. I felt invisible, desperate for some kind of answer… any way to feel whole again.
The Light I Had Been Looking For: Personal Development
I used to think people were simply born the way they were: confident, social, and happy. If you were given a bad hand of cards in life and didn’t have the qualities and characteristics needed to live a happy life, bad luck.
Then, one day, while reading about social skills, I realized something simple yet life-changing: you can learn them.
It was like a lightbulb went off in my mind. If skills could be learned, maybe I could build the traits I thought I was missing to feel whole. Social confidence, competence, human connection…
For the first time in years, I could see a light at the end of the tunnel. So I dove in.
I studied everything.
Eye contact, body language, voice, and presence. Then I went deeper into confidence, intelligence, even the subtle art of being ‘cool.’ I built an entire catalogue of how to be someone, mapping out the sort of person I needed to become to live a good life.
It was slow going for the first couple of years, but there was some progress. After a while, however, I noticed something strange.
My outer self was shifting, but inside, nothing felt different.
I could wear the mask of confidence, yet the same old emptiness sat underneath. I wasn’t building a better self, just a better disguise.
But where were those big transformations I was looking for? The ones that would surely make me feel whole?
What if I had been asking the wrong questions? Rather than how to have a better life, it became why do I want a better life? What am I actually looking for, and how am I so sure that having these things will make me happy?
That curiosity opened the door to a deeper journey, a search that would eventually draw me toward spirituality.
When Curiosity Met the Unknown
No matter how much I read or practiced, I couldn’t “learn” my way into happiness. I was in my late teens by this point, and felt completely stuck. Something deeper was asking for attention, but I had no idea what it was or where to find it.
It was around then that psychedelics entered my life. They began as an escape from the dull ache of everyday life. But over time, I realized they weren’t just a doorway out. They were a mirror in.
The same substances that once helped me escape began showing me the parts of myself I’d been avoiding. They opened doors to buried emotions, patterns, and insights I couldn’t reach through logic alone. Each journey revealed new corners of my mind I had never looked at before.
My relationship with psychedelics started to change from recreation to self-exploration, and the occasional trip turned into a regular part of my life. It became a kind of inner apprenticeship.
Alone in my room, I’d journey into the strange, vast landscapes of consciousness. Some journeys were blissful, others terrifying. Yet each taught me to surrender a little more, to sit with what surfaced, using the space to process pain, release old patterns, and meet parts of myself I’d long avoided.
They formed an education unlike any teacher could provide. The deeper I went, the more I sensed that consciousness had no real ceiling, only layers waiting to be peeled back.
Still, I hadn’t gotten close to reaching that state of complete loss of self I had heard so much about: the so-called “ego death”. Curiosity got the best of me. Although I was afraid to take the plunge, I felt I had to go deeper than I have ever been if I wanted to experience the highest levels of transformation.
A note on psychedelics and plant medicines
While psychedelics have played a pivotal role in my journey, they’re not shortcuts or escapes from suffering. These are powerful tools that must be approached with respect, ideally within traditional or therapeutic settings. Used carelessly, they can cause harm. If you feel genuinely called to explore them, I recommend doing so only in a professional, shamanic container. You can find trusted retreat options here.
The Awakening That Changed Everything
After almost a year of anticipation, I took a dose meant to push me beyond the edge, sitting quietly with my journal, awaiting the journey into the deepest levels of consciousness that have not yet been met. I had no idea that one experience would alter the course of my life.
As the medicine began to take hold, a surge of energy rose from the base of my spine, hot, electric, unstoppable. It moved through my body like fire and light all at once, until there was nothing left to do but surrender.
Then came ego death.
I shot through a tunnel, and everything: body, mind, time, self, disappeared. What remained was pure awareness, infinite and beyond description. It felt like touching the essence behind all things, the silent consciousness that had always been there.
I can’t tell you how long this experience lasted, but it felt like an eternity. When I returned, everything was different.
The person I’d been was gone, replaced by an inner transformation that could never quite be put into words. Later, I’d understand this as a substance-induced kundalini awakening, but at the time, it was simply Truth revealing itself.
That experience marked the end of one life and the beginning of another.
The Rebirth
When I opened my eyes, it felt like waking into a new lifetime. The depression and anxiety that had shadowed me for years were simply gone, but so was the old sense of identity. So were the old fears and stories I’d lived inside.
It felt like waking up from a lifelong dream. A rebirth in the truest sense of the word.
Something fundamental had irreversibly shifted in my consciousness. I was flooded with joy, clarity, and an almost childlike wonder at being alive.
For two weeks, I lived in a state of pure euphoria. Colors looked brighter, I felt unconditional love pulsating through all things, and I saw a world of infinite possibility, adventure, and opportunity.
I could sense that death wasn’t an ending, that consciousness continued, and that the universe was far more alive than I’d ever imagined.
That moment marked the true beginning of my spiritual life, not because I understood what happened, but because I could no longer pretend I didn’t. I no longer wanted to study life, I was ready to live it fully.
So I made a decision: to travel the world, follow my curiosity, and see what else this existence had to teach me.
Taking Life Down a Different Path
At the time, I was studying Landscape Architecture and decided that I wanted to do an exchange semester abroad. I never even considered traveling solo before, but now, why on Earth wouldn’t I take this opportunity? After all, I had been working for years saving money, maybe it was time to enjoy it.
Being halfway through my degree, there were only two application rounds, so I knew I had to make one count.
My first choice was the Netherlands, but I wasn’t selected. Too many applicants, and my grades weren’t high enough.
One chance gone.
For the second round, I applied to study in Cincinnati, Ohio. My university approved it, and all I needed was the partner university’s confirmation. Everyone else in my group soon got their acceptance letters, but mine never came.
Weeks later, I finally received the envelope. Denied.
That was supposed to be my last shot, but I was given an option to study in New Zealand as a fallback, which was safe, beautiful, and familiar.
But something in me resisted.
I wasn’t looking for comfort. I wanted to step into the unknown, so I declined the invitation and felt defeated by this point. It had been well over a year pushing for this opportunity, and now it was gone forever.
Then, one evening, my phone rang. It was the student exchange coordinator.
“We are currently opening a new partnership with a university in Brazil. If you’re interested, we can send you as our first student, but the semester starts next month.”
Without hesitation, I said yes. Despite all odds, everything fell into place in synchronicity, and I made it before the semester started.
At twenty-three years old, I boarded a plane to Curitiba, Brazil. This was the first real step into the life I’d been craving, and explore a whole new chapter of myself.
My First Year Abroad
Moving alone to a country where I didn’t speak the language was nerve-wracking, but also thrilling. For the first time, there was no hand-holding. Just me, the world, and what I made of it.
It was sink or swim, but I felt it was time to put everything I learned to the test.
The beginning was rough, but soon enough I found my rhythm. I met other exchange students who became close friends, and together we lived fast. My social life was buzzing, and my dating life skyrocketed. I partied too much, drank too much, and was constantly having new invigorating experiences.
Not to say I didn’t have my share of setbacks too, but those paled in comparison because for the first time in my life, I felt like I was thriving. The feeling that all the inner work had finally paid off was priceless. I was at last the person I needed to be, to have the sort of lifestyle I always desired.
After my semester in Brazil, I spent another six months backpacking through South America, volunteering in hostels and chasing that same wave of freedom.
But somewhere amid the noise and celebration, curiosity began to grow. Beneath all the fun, I felt there was more to life than just the next night out.
That pull led me to a shamanic healing center in Ecuador. I didn’t know what I was looking for, only that I felt drawn to step further inward. From the moment I arrived, something clicked, I felt at home. I later traveled to Peru, venturing into the Amazon to take part in local ceremonies and deepening my exploration of shamanic traditions.
Each experience demanded surrender. Surrender to the intensity, the purging, and the emotional tides that rose and fell. Yet what struck me most wasn’t the discomfort. It was the clarity that followed. Each purge seemed to wash away layers of old residue in the form of trauma, pain, and patterns I had long outgrown.
By the end of that year in South America, I felt renewed. When it was time to return home, I carried with me a renewed sense of purpose and a deeper trust in the path ahead.
The Beginning of my Nomadic Journey
Returning to Australia, I tried to ground the freedom I’d found abroad. I built my first website, finished my degree, and worked while saving to travel again. But I knew my path wasn’t meant to stay still.
It was basically a scrapbook of recycled personal development ideas, more a space to collect my thoughts than to teach anyone else. I had no clue about websites or business, but it gave me a place to start.
Life felt lighter then, but I felt there were still deeper levels of self to explore.
I was working, finishing my degree, and holding onto the sense of freedom I’d found overseas. But travel wouldn’t leave my mind. I wanted to keep growing through experience, to see how far this new version of myself could go.
So, in 2018, I left for Vietnam with a one-way ticket and a TEFL course waiting. That chapter stretched into two and a half years of traveling and teaching in Vietnam. I had a lot of fun and enjoyed living in this bustling culture, but it more or less felt the same.
More partying and socializing between work, traveling, and seeing new places. Sure, it was fun, but I felt my growth was also plateauing.
Then came 2020. When borders closed, I found myself in limbo. The school I was working for permanently closed, and Vietnam was no longer issuing visas. By that point, Melbourne had locked down hard, and I simply couldn’t afford to pay many thousands of dollars for my own quarantine and repatriation.
So I flew to Mexico, spending the next eight months backpacking and volunteering through Mexico and Guatemala, mostly buying time until I could get into Ecuador to start volunteering at a shamanic healing center I was coordinating with.
But months passed, and Ecuador had no sign of opening back up to tourism in the near future.
At this point, money was running low, both of my passports were about to expire, and the embassies were closed. I felt trapped in motion and started to feel the stress. I first secured a job in the Virgin Islands, but my soon-expiring passports barred me from entering.
So I turned to my last resort, flying to the US. I was a dual citizen after all, and there were no rigid measures to get in.
I landed in Texas, where I found work in hospitality and faced some of my darker nights of the soul. It wasn’t glamorous. It was a grind, and I felt more distant from my calling than ever, but it also gave this long journey more depth.
Exploring Shamanic Traditions in Ecuador
By 2022, I returned to Ecuador, this time to serve. I began volunteering at a healing center, which soon evolved into paid work. My days were spent supporting guests, assisting in ceremonies, and studying the traditions I’d once only glimpsed.
It was the most aligned I had ever felt. I was finally exploring shamanic traditions not as an outsider, but as part of the space itself.
For six months, I lived and worked there, learning from the shamans and healers who became mentors and friends. Their teachings reshaped how I understood healing, which was much less about fixing, more about clearing away the accumulated baggage to reach a more pure expression of self.
The teachings weren’t just spiritual ideas but rather lived practices, and inspired me to step further along this path of wisdom.
When I wasn’t at the center, I was deep in the Amazon, working with local traditions and medicines that each carried their own wisdom.
After five years abroad, my Ecuadorian visa neared its end. The world had reopened, and it was time to return to Australia to work, reconnect with family, and integrate everything I had lived through these years.
A New Chapter: Exploring the World, Deepening the Path
Back in Australia, I spent nine months working and saving to prepare for another chapter abroad. Years of teaching and writing experience have given me the flexibility to sustain this path while deepening my spiritual studies.
When the time came, I flew to Peru and joined a shamanic community in the Sacred Valley. Over the course of two months, I took part in my first vision quest, followed later by my first master plant dieta.
The vision quest was one of my first true initiations into the shamanic healing space. I spent three days and nights in solitude, alone in a Tipi, without food, water, or any external distractions.
At first, the stillness and emptiness were disorienting; my mind churned, and every fear and expectation surfaced. But as the days passed, something shifted. I began to let go of control and surrender to the process.
The isolation humbled me, revealing layers of trust, patience, and clarity I hadn’t known I possessed. It became a mirror for my intentions, a calibration of what truly mattered to me, and a doorway into the deeper practices of self-understanding that have guided my work ever since.
Those weeks were transformative. Somewhere in the middle of it all, I met my partner, and we decided to keep traveling together.
Over the next year and a half, we wandered for ten months through South America, then another five across India and Nepal, balancing our travels with spiritual exploration and online work.
During this time, my interest in spirituality deepened, especially in shamanic wisdom and inner transformation. It felt right to rebrand my website to Soul Seeker’s Path, a name that reflected what my life had become.
As I traveled, I poured more energy into building Soul Seeker’s Path, not just as a blog, but as a platform for exploration and education. Balancing content creation, coaching, and community building became both my work and practice.
As the site grew, so did the community around it. What began as a passion project slowly evolved into something meaningful and sustaining, a space where I could share what I was learning and connect with others walking a similar path.
In India, we immersed ourselves in local traditions and Sanatan Dharma, staying in ashrams and exploring practices like Lama Fera healing, Vipassana meditation, and Yogic philosophy.
The Vipassana retreat gave me ten days of uninterrupted silence, a rare space to observe my mind without distraction and notice the subtle patterns that shape my experience of life.
Learning Lama Fera, an energetic healing technique, revealed striking parallels between this modality and others I had encountered on my journey, deepening my understanding of how energy, intention, and consciousness interact in different spiritual frameworks.
Through these studies, I began to see the threads that connect diverse traditions, showing me how these practices could be integrated into daily life, and how I could bring that understanding into my work with Soul Seeker’s Path.
After fifteen months abroad, I returned once again to Australia to recalibrate and prepare for the next chapter. The plan now is to return to South America in early 2026, to keep studying the medicine traditions, deepen in community, and begin planting more permanent roots there.
What This Journey Has Taught Me
This path of self-understanding keeps unfolding in ways I never could have planned. What started as curiosity about the mind has turned into a lifelong exploration of the spirit.
But spiritual growth isn’t linear. It’s messy, it’s raw, it’s uncomfortable, and most of all, it’s real.
The more I travel, study, and sit with different teachers, the clearer it becomes that every tradition is speaking about the same truth in its own language. Whether through prayer, meditation, ceremony, or service, the aim is connection with ourselves, with the divine, with life itself.
These common threads inspire me to keep exploring, to keep learning from as many paths as I can. I hope to weave what I learn into something practical and grounded, a way of living spirituality rather than just understanding it.
My philosophy centers around shamanic wisdom, but also incorporates Sanatana Dharma, Buddhism, Taoism, and other bodies of wisdom. I don’t follow strict doctrines or a laid-out faith.
Rather, I believe that the soul-searching journey is about building your own faith, incorporating elements that resonate with you, and looking for the common denominators to discover deeper truth.
I’ve learned that spirituality isn’t found in a single place or practice, but in how we meet each moment. My work now is to share those insights, bridge traditions, and help others walk their own path with curiosity and respect.
I’ve talked a lot about my story here, but if you want to get into the heart of my teachings, I suggest grabbing my free eBook by signing up for my email newsletter here.
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