Shunyamurti had made contact with the power of Yoga in his youth, and developed his own form of meditation combined with writing poetry. But in his college years, he began a long apprenticeship in both martial arts and formal Yogic training, including five years of intensive practice under the direction of Baba Hari Dass. This was followed by ten years spent in a Raja Yoga monastic order in India. While at the ashram, he was often asked for counsel from other students, and he came to understand that the western mind is too fragmented and complex to be able to benefit from the austere and simple Eastern approach to meditation and ego transcendence. Recognizing that a more integral approach must be developed, he returned to the U.S. to study psychology and to discover what other modalities of transformation were available. He became an adept therapist and shaman, able to work with both normal psychological conditions and in paranormal realms of consciousness.