A guide and teaching book — personal story weaving spirit and science, Mayan and Vedic, sacred geometry and quantum physics, into the perennial thread that runs through every tradition.
I Am the Snake ~ In Lak'Ech is a guide and teaching storybook — a work of spiritual initiation and alchemy that carries the universal teachings of the world's wisdom traditions in story form. It follows one Soul's path through initiation, transformation, and the discovery that all rivers of wisdom return to one sea.
Guided by Mayan elder Dr. Miguel Angel Vergara in the Yucatán — former cultural director of the sacred Chichén Itzá Pyramids — and shaped by years of study across Yogic, Egyptian, Greek, and Native American lineages, Michael Shankara weaves teaching and story into a single living tapestry. Sacred geometry, astronomy, astrology, music, quantum physics, and the hidden mathematics of the cosmos all find their place here.
The book features over 115 original color photographs, drawings, and sacred-geometry art by the author — with loving contributions from his wife Katrina and his teacher Dr. Miguel Angel Vergara — along with a comprehensive glossary of 308 entries spanning the Mayan, Vedic, Scientific, Sacred Geometry, Mathematical, Lakota, Astrological, Egyptian, and Hermetic traditions.
From the first crack of awakening through the fires of Mayan ceremony, encounters with elders and wisdom keepers across many traditions, and ultimately to the recognition that has always been waiting at the center.
A radical, irreversible shift in consciousness catalyzed by a single mystical experience of the Soul — and what it asks of us when we finally listen.
The Path of the Shaman, moving between megalithic Europe, quantum physics, and a first meeting with a Mayan teacher.
A deep dive through the exoteric, mesoteric, and esoteric layers of Mayan wisdom — and the revelation that "Mayab" is a state of consciousness, not a culture.
A first deep journey into the Mayan jungle — ceremony at sacred waterfalls, the Temple of the Foliated Cross, and the alchemy of Ego into Self.
A past-life remembrance of a lifetime lived as a beetroot in ancient China — a cellular memory of what unconditional love actually feels like.
The ancient understanding of Time as a living, spiraling force — Mayan calendars, the Celtic seasonal wheel, and the four sacred quarter-points.
On the Day of the Dead, a dream-vision becomes a guided shamanic journey through the Bardo — and a reunion that transcends death itself.
Three nights of solo ceremony 400 feet beneath the Earth — and a final moment, alone with a living snake, where fear and love must choose.
Three beings of light above the canyon rim, a band of Native wisdom keepers, and a stunning thread connecting Hebrew and Aztec cosmology.
An initiation that braids two journeys into the same cave — separated by a century, joined by a blind Mayan priest who claimed to be ten thousand years old.
An initiation as a pipe carrier beneath Taos Mountain — when the pipe finally opens, the mountain itself speaks.
Number, geometry, music, and cosmology revealed as living languages — the Feathered Serpent as the universal symbol of consciousness returning to itself.
The full initiation at Chichén Itzá: Atlantis, the planetary Kundalini moving from the Himalayas to the Americas, and the warriors of light awakening.
The culmination — not as prose but as poetry. A transmission that can only be received in the open country of the heart.
More than a reference, the glossary is a reader's companion — a standalone teaching woven into the larger work. Three hundred and eight entries spanning nine wisdom traditions, organized for both linear study and intuitive dipping.
Open to the page on Shakti and you'll find yourself reading about Kundalini. Read Kundalini and you'll arrive at Ku Kul Kaan. Read Ku Kul Kaan and you'll meet the Hermetic principle of correspondence. The glossary teaches the way the book itself teaches — by following the thread.
"Don't get on that plane."
I continue down the highway for another mile toward the airport.
"Don't get on that plane."
Both times, the voice was clear, but even stronger the second time. It came from all around and was heard through all of my senses. A third time —
"Don't get on that plane."
The Voice was now very loud, spoken from beyond and within. As I continued to drive, I felt more physically ill the closer I got to the airport.
"Don't get on that plane."
It was said again a final time, and it vibrated my entire head, buzzing through my nervous system. I finally pulled off to the side of the road, looking out to the prairie, sweating with nausea from the power of the voice and message. I got on my phone, called the airline ten miles from the airport, and canceled my flight with no refund. I sat there dumbfounded, asking —
"Now what?!"
Then the Voice arose again, this time much softer. A whisper.
"Shoshoni."
Over 115 original photographs, drawings, and sacred-geometry illustrations by the author — with loving contributions from his wife Katrina and his teacher Dr. Miguel Angel Vergara — are woven through the text. Pilgrimages and ceremonies from Mexico, Guatemala, India, Greece, Scotland, Portugal, France, and the American Southwest.
A full gallery of images and original art will accompany the published edition.
Seekers drawn to indigenous wisdom, consciousness expansion, and the bridge between ancient lineage and modern science.
Revered Mayan Elder, Wisdom Keeper, and Mayan Priest. Former cultural director of the sacred Chichén Itzá Pyramids and one of the most respected living carriers of authentic Mayan wisdom. Speaker, international retreat leader, and author of several books on Mayan tradition spanning more than thirty years. Michael Shankara's teacher since 2013.
In this Book, you will find many of the answers that Author Michael Shankara has found in the search for his Sacred Path.
Michael is a Seeker of Truth and Ancestral Wisdom, and has been able to find every morning at Sunrise the key answers to understanding the reason for our existence — questions we ask ourselves such as: Why am I here? Who am I? What is the purpose of my life?
Michael has written this Book with the purpose of helping Humanity, family, friends, brothers, and sisters who seek the Light of Truth in their existence.
The phrase "Walker, there is no path… the path is made by walking" can be applied to his life, since he has traveled through different Sacred Sites on the Planet, where the Masters of Light and Our Divine Mother have taught and guided him to share this Sacred Knowledge with all Humanity.
Michael — you looked at the sky and the stars that shine there, and when you walked, they guided you at night along the Paths of Light in Tierra Maya. You were amazed to the deepest part of your Cosmic Being with the magnificence inherited by the Mayan Masters of Light — in their magnificent Temples, Pyramids, Steles, Sculptures, Paintings, Calendars of the Sun and the Moon, Cosmic Designs in their Codices, and their Stories and Legends. They have spoken to the mind and heart of the author of this Book and deposited that very great desire to share this great Wisdom with all those souls seeking the Truth.
For these reasons, I highly recommend this Book written by Michael Shankara — where everything he has written is part of the Spirit of Light and Truth that has guided him in his life, united with his sincere and honest love of heart to find and share this knowledge with every human being who feels it.
May this Wisdom elevate you to the deepest part of Heaven.
My desire is that what Michael has written in this Book be shared widely in this time — in which it is now necessary and urgent to return to the Sacred Knowledge left by Our Masters of Light.
Michael has been a teacher and community leader at Karma for over thirteen years. Drawing on his shamanic and yogic training, he offers transformative experiences through music, sound healing, crystal healing, energy work, and astrology readings.
He blends Taoist and Vedic yoga, shares the principles of sacred geometry through drawing classes and workshops, and teaches from the lineages he has been entrusted with — Mayan, Vedic, Greek, Egyptian, Lakota, and Hermetic. As an apprentice of Dr. Don Miguel Angel Vergara since 2013, he carries those teachings into every class, ceremony, and circle he holds.
The mermaid of the mountains, Katrina Marie seeks the heights of the peaks and the depths of the oceans in her practice. Through the wisdom of the heart, her purpose is to help guide others to open their own. She has studied in the temples of India, the pyramids of Mexico, and in the crucible of modern life — finding the sacred in the rhythm of the seasons, the stars, and every second of life.
As the founder and creator of Karma Yoga Center, Katrina brings the Bhakti from all wisdom traditions to her classes — singing, chanting, dancing, and journeys into the heart. Beyond the mat, she offers Spiritual Counseling and Energy Clearings, drawing on her studies in Dr. David Frawley's Vedic counseling program. Her sessions are warm, grounding, and deeply restorative — helping people find their way back to themselves.
Together they are known as The Shaman & The Mermaid. Their shared work shows up in monthly Full Moon astrology forecasts on YouTube, in 200- and 300-Hour Teacher Trainings, in sacred-site retreats to Greece, Spain, Mexico, and Ireland, and in the daily life of Karma Yoga Center — the sanctuary they have built and rebuilt together across three Denver locations over seventeen years. Their mission is simple: to build community, to share the spiritual teachings, and to inspire others on their own path of self-discovery, healing, and growth.
Karma Yoga Center has been a sanctuary for Community, Connection, and Ceremony for more than seventeen years. From the first studio Katrina opened on Franklin Street in 2010 — with a small business loan, a dream, and a deep knowing that sharing authentic yoga was her soul's purpose — to our beloved years on Pearl Street, to our newest 5,000 square-foot home at 1760 S. Broadway, the heart of the work has remained the same.
We have never been just a physical yoga studio. From day one, we have stayed true to the deeper roots of yoga — bhakti, devotion, spirit. We chant in Sanskrit. We teach from the Vedas and the ancient wisdom traditions. We encourage prayer, meditation, loving-kindness, and selfless service. Over the years we have graduated more than thirty teacher training groups, hosted dozens of transformational retreats around the globe, and offered free Full Moon astrology forecasts through The Shaman & The Mermaid. Most importantly, we have built a home for seekers — a true spiritual sanctuary in the heart of Denver.
This is not just a yoga studio. It is a sanctuary for the heart.
Karma is built on a single intention: to be a place where Earth, Sky, and Spirit meet. Where breath finds rhythm. Where the body remembers it is a temple. Where the ancient wisdom traditions are received with reverence and lived in daily practice.
Here, yoga is the union the word actually means — the practice of remembering that we are not separate. Not from the mountains, the rivers, the stars. Not from our ancestors. Not from each other. We draw on the perennial wisdom that runs beneath every tradition we have been entrusted with — Mayan, Vedic, Lakota, Greek, Egyptian, Hermetic — and we offer it back to the seeker as a path.
Our offerings reach far beyond the mat. The weekly rhythm includes our Meditative Creatives art series five days a week, Tea Ceremony, MindFree Fridays sound healings, community talks, live music and kirtan, and workshops in meditation, breathwork, and mantra. Throughout the year we offer weekend immersions, 200- and 300-Hour Teacher Trainings, and deeper studies in astrology, sacred geometry, Vedic philosophy, perennial wisdom, ceremony, Ayurveda, women's health, and self-study. Every offering is designed to deepen your journey back to the heart and soul — and to build the kind of community and connection that nourishes us all.
Alongside the classes and trainings, our Healing Arts offer personal sessions in spiritual counseling, astrology readings, and energy work. New to Karma is our Soma Spa — an Ayurvedic sanctuary offering Shirodhara, massage, Reiki, and a range of restorative healing and wellness modalities.
Wherever you are on your path, you are welcome here.
Voices from the Karma Yoga Center community — the readers who received the ceremonial edition.
Given the oral, ceremonial, and transmission-based nature of these teachings, the author's own voice is essential. Audio and video chapters are forthcoming.
Author-led video readings and teachings woven with imagery from the journey.
An author-narrated audio edition, with the cadence of the original transmission.
Monthly Full Moon astrology forecasts and spiritual teachings from Michael & Katrina on YouTube.
