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What is Walking with Masters About?

Walking with Masters: A Journey Home is an examination of healing, of love, and of the possibility of learning to live a life “at ease of heart” from the vantage point of my singular story in time. Through the wisdom of three profound teachers–Master Won, a physicist and Tai Chi master; John F. Barnes, physical therapist and the developer of Myofascial Release; and Krishna Das, internationally acclaimed kirtan and chant leader in the devotional path of Bhakti–Walking with Masters unfolds as both memoir and map.

Rather than treating these disciplines as separate paths, Walking with Masters explores the deeper truths that unite them. Through embodied movement, healing touch, and devotional sound, I discovered a shared wisdom pointing towards presence, surrender, and the wisdom of the heart. Each tradition became a lens through which the same fundamental invitation was revealed: to soften, to listen, and to return to what has always been within.

Weaving ancient practices into the realities of modern life, this book is not a story of escape from the world and its struggles, but a return to authentic presence within it. It reminds us that wholeness is not achieved through accumulation or striving, but through remembering–again and again–the simple act of coming home to the heart.

Poetic, practical, and profoundly human, Walking with Masters offers humble guidance for anyone seeking to live authentically, compassionately, and with ease in a restless age.

Why Did I Write It?

I was enjoying a night out at a restaurant with friends many years ago. They had games on the table to entertain patrons while they dined that would have you ask questions of your companions' lives-thoughts, opinions, hopes, and fears. I was asked, “If you wrote a book, what would you call it?” Immediately, without thinking, I replied, “Walking with Masters.”

Long after that event, I started on this project as a part of my own Healing Journey. The act of writing these memories and teachings helped me understand them more, to allow me to embody the more fundamental truths that each Master was conveying. What began as memories quickly began to morph into the title I had nestled deep in my psyche… a walk.

I remember when I first read Johnny Cash’s autobiography Cash, written in a style that only a modern-day bard like Johnny could conjure—non-linear and essayistic, centered around the themes of his life: music, addiction, faith, etc. I envisioned myself sitting on his front porch in Tennessee, and the sun would just be starting to set on the horizon as he began to tell me about his life. The chronology would be fuzzy, but the story, the message that he was trying to convey, was there. The conversation was honest.

This peculiar style of narration can be seen in the book. Walking with Masters: A Journey Home can best be described as a memoir, but only because it was a convenient vehicle to transport these stories. To share whatever wisdom I have gleaned studying at the feet of these Masters.

What began as a chronological narration quickly morphed into various vignettes—snapshots of the time I spent with these individuals as they shared their practice and their hearts.

As new chapters in my own life started, the concept of HeartMind Therapies took shape. That led to sharing this book, this walk, with all of you.

Meet the Masters

Pencil Portraits by Mehmet Karadon (@mehmet.karadon)

Master Won

Master Wonchull Park is the founder and head instructor of Wuwei Tai Chi School, where he has spent decades teaching the principles of Tai Chi, Qigong, meditation, and Taoist philosophy through his incredibly unique lens. Before dedicating himself fully to teaching, he worked as a principal research physicist at Princeton University, bringing an uncommon blend of scientific rigor and contemplative practice to his understanding of human movement and awareness.

A lifelong student of the internal arts, Master Park has trained under distinguished teachers in the Chen, Yang, and Wu traditions of Tai Chi, including Master Chen Peishan, a 12th-generation successor of Chen Xiaojia style Tai Chi, Master Zhang Yun of the Northern Wu tradition, and several direct students of Professor Cheng Man-ch'ing. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the International Society of Chen Taijiquan, of which Wuwei Tai Chi School is recognized as an American branch of the Society.

Yet credentials alone do not explain Master Won's influence.

His teaching is rooted in the conviction that Tai Chi is far more than a martial art or a health exercise. Through the principles of wuwei (effortless action), relaxation-in-action, and what he calls Nowflow, he invites students to discover a way of living that is simultaneously grounded, relaxed, attentive, and fully engaged with the present moment.

For me, Master Won was the first person to demonstrate that profound wisdom and scientific understanding are not opposing ways of seeing the world. In his teaching, they become two languages describing the same reality—a realization that would become one of the first steps on my own journey home.

John Barnes

John F. Barnes was an internationally recognized physical therapist, educator, and the pioneering developer of the John F. Barnes Myofascial Release Approach®. Since the 1970s, he has transformed the understanding and treatment of pain by helping healthcare professionals look beyond symptoms and recognize the profound influence of the fascial system on the body, mind, and human experience. Through decades of teaching, writing, and clinical practice, he trained more than 100,000 therapists and physicians worldwide, shaping one of the most influential approaches to manual therapy in modern rehabilitation.

Yet those who have studied with John Barnes know that Myofascial Release is about far more than technique.

His work invites therapists to move beyond simply treating conditions and into a deeper relationship with the person before them. Patience, presence, intuition, and compassionate listening become just as important as skilled hands. Healing is understood not as something the therapist does to another, but as something that unfolds when space is created for the body's innate wisdom to emerge.

For me, John Barnes forever changed the way I understood healing. He taught me that the body is not a machine to be fixed, but a living expression of a person's history, resilience, and potential. Learning to place my hands with patience rather than force became a lesson not only in bodywork, but in how I would come to meet life itself.

Krishna Das

Krishna Das is one of the world's most beloved teachers of Bhakti Yoga and the best-known Western practitioner of kirtan, the devotional practice of chanting the Divine Names. A lifelong devotee of the Indian saint Neem Karoli Baba (Maharaj-ji), he has spent decades introducing audiences around the world to the transformative power of devotion through music, storytelling, retreats, and spiritual practice. His soulful voice and disarming honesty have made him an unexpected bridge between Eastern devotional traditions and modern Western seekers.

Yet it is not his music alone that draws people to him.

Krishna Das teaches that the spiritual path is not about becoming someone new, but about allowing the heart to soften enough to remember what has always been present. With humility, humor, and remarkable openness about his own struggles, he reminds us that devotion is not reserved for saints or mystics. It is available to anyone willing to meet life with sincerity, compassion, and love.

When I first encountered Krishna Das, I expected to hear beautiful chanting. What I found instead was a teacher whose greatest lesson was not about music at all, but about the courage to "Trust in the Heart." Through him, I began to understand that healing is not completed through knowledge or discipline alone—it is fulfilled when wisdom flowers into love.