Sitang Kirtland

My spiritual journey began when I was still a little girl, living in the middle of Bangkok, in Thailand. With my mother and father out working in the day and with only a selection of dusty books to keep me company, my school holidays and most weekends were usually spent reading at home, or in the home of relatives. That’s where I discovered a book called ‘Got Heng Gam’, an 800-page book about  the Law of Karma.

I read it from cover to cover, several times. 

​Even though I was only seven years old, that book made me think long and hard about what life was really about. I found myself asking the same questions over and over again: Why is happiness so temporary?  What happens when we die? How can I stop myself and those I love from suffering? 

Like most Thais, since I was very young I’d heard many stories about famous master monks who'd devoted most of their lives to meditation and developed all kinds of ‘magical’ powers and supernormal knowledge. I thought that perhaps practising meditation was the answer. . .

So, at 16 years old I attended a silent one-week meditation course. That week helped me to understand some of the basics, like how to make my mind more peaceful and powerful, but it wasn’t enough. That type of meditation only helped me to feel peaceful temporarily; I quickly realised that it couldn't stop suffering and bring true happiness.  

Soon after that, I entered university and studied Law, which took up most of my time and left little space for spiritual pursuits. After another few years at university and a couple of high-powered jobs, I finally met my husband, Rick, who helps me to deliver some parts of the courses you see here. 

At that point, I should have been happy. It seemed I had tried everything that society teaches us will bring us happiness. I'd done all of things that everyone else does: I was married, had degrees from the best universities in the country, and had a good job. But I knew deep inside that it this still wasn't the type of happiness I was looking for.

It was also at that time I realised two important things: firstly, that the only type of happiness the outside world can provide is short-term, temporary happiness - a fake kind of happiness; secondly, that lasting, permanent happiness - true happiness - can only be found on the inside, within our own mind, and only through a certain type of spiritual practice. 

So, from that point on I decided to commit myself to finding out everything I could about it. I read literally hundreds of books, sought out the best monks and teachers I could find, and practised meditation and mindfulness diligently for thousands of hours, year after year, until I finally found the answers to all my questions and understood the way to True Happiness. 

From there, I created Awakeness, a fully integrated programme that makes that path to True Happiness easy to understand for modern people in our modern world by encouraging them to look at and experience there life in a completely different way. By combining an understanding of the body, mind and way our universe works, and by presenting ancient wisdom in its original form as well as through modern science and with a modern lens, Awakeness teaches us how to see reality.

And when we can finally see reality, we are finally on the path to True Happiness.  

I've helped thousands of people discover this secret and totally transform their lives - and now I can share it with you.