WOMEN+POWER: Dr. Lena Miller of Urban Alchemy

“Dharma is not upheld by talking about it. Dharma is upheld by living in harmony with it.” - Lord Gautama Buddha

As a species, we are awakening to the pain from which births our unified consciousness, to the evolution of the collective higher sense which empowers our neurological pathways for quantum activism. There is a clear connection calling us all, to rise upright from the pain as we invoke the sacred fire that illumines our collective heart-sense: the eternal torch that intuitively compels us to yearn endlessly for more, to serve our lower selves into empowerment through our own path of spiritual resurrection. Where do we begin?

We all deserve an equal opportunity to experience the natural flow of life in harmony with the Universe, the everflowing nectar of immortal bliss that churns through our pursuit of purpose. Such is our Dharma, to realize the inner resurrection of our connection to a higher power, an emerging force that redefines our lives, that liberates our minds and heals us from the inside. Have you surrendered to the power within?

We have all forgotten exactly what we are made of, and that is why life blesses those who endow others with second chances. Unique opportunities, that challenge us to awaken the brilliance that burns inside, open our spiritual eyes to the sensory connection of our hearts harmonized. Actualizing the sacred gifts that we are born with to transform the pain of our collective, that is the secret of life – only to be realized through spiritual alchemy.

URBAN ALCHEMY: THE LIVING RESURRECTION

In 2018, as presidential candidate Marianne Williamson was preparing her vision for a U.S. Department of Peace, Dr. Lena Miller, PhD launched Urban Alchemy to harness the ancient Vedic wisdom of mystic rishis throughout recalled history to midwife the birthing of consciousness.

Spiritual beings, those realized upon their path of enlightenment, live to behold the connection to the divine and train to master the bandwidth of our spirit’s radiant frequency, as the eternal voice of our soul delivers us through the tumultuous path of sovereignty, by means of empathy.

Realized beings, whose Dharma expands multiple star systems, as we awaken to the fire of our souls to purify the karma-embedded within our ancestral pain, we naturally attune to the divine power which modern-day gurus boast as hidden wisdom.

According to Custom Market Insights, the global self-improvement market is projected to reach $90.3 billion by 2033. Complementary to Tony Robbins, whose self-help empire has stacked his net worth to an estimated $600 million, Lena Miller has structured her selfless vision to serve the very streets in need of healing, unraveling the emotional genius within the disheartened, yet willing.

TRUE WEALTH IS REALIZED THROUGH THE SENSE OF WORTHINESS AS YOU SERVE THE COLLECTIVE HEART’S EXPANSION

Miller: “I’ve always conceptualized my calling as a natural expression of my purpose, much like a white blood cell’s purpose is to seek out disease in the body and heal it. It almost feels like my DNA was programmed to do the work, much the same as my eyes are green. I don’t feel that I had much choice in the matter, other than to embrace it and learn to become obedient to my calling or to rebel against it through laziness, distractions, or low self-esteem.

My personal belief system is that all living beings are like cells in the body of our Creator. Some of us are muscle tissue cells, some of us are skin cells, bone cells, etc. I believe that I make up the “tribe” of the white blood cells. Our job is to go do the places in the “God body” that are suffering from disease, cancer, and toxic pollution, and to saturate and heal it through energy of a higher vibrational frequency. The way most of us experience this vibrational frequency is love, compassion, appropriate boundaries, safety, and connection. I believe Urban Alchemy is simply the manifestation of the Creators call to its own immune system to heal its wounds and dis-ease. Just as the immune system works by recognizing viruses and other attacks through experience and memory, I believe my own and the lived experience of Urban Alchemy Practitioners make us so much more powerful to recognize the afflictions of addiction, anger, despair, and dis-ease, of those on the streets in our communities.

We are able to extend that healing to others through the same processes we used to heal and master ourselves, by increasing our vibration to align with the resonance of the Creator. In plain language, this means to form authentic connections, to accept, and extend agape love without judgement, to those who suffer from afflictions of rejection, isolation, self-judgement, self-hatred, and shame. As we become attuned to divine frequency, our power amplifies as do the blessings. Those who also have become attuned to this frequency recognize each other and I find that my life is filled with the most amazing people and satisfying relationships. As I submit to my purpose, I find that I am calmer, experience less anxiety, more acceptance, and self-love, like rowing my boat gently down the cosmic stream. I am at peace with myself and increasingly finding my peace in the world.”

THE FIRE OF THE HEART’S AWARENESS DISPELS THE DISEASE THE ENSNARES SOULS WITHIN THEIR OWN TOXIC NARRATIVES

Dr. Lena Miller of Urban Alchemy

Miller: “While I have always had a deep knowing of my purpose and to some degree, my destiny, I do not live in my minds’ eye. I live in the real world, where those around you and those closest to you attack you with criticism, jealousy, ugliness, and carelessness. I wasn’t born with a halo of exceptionality.

My childhood could most likely by encapsulated by the story of the “ugly duckling.” I internalized that toxic narrative and the rejection of the experience and rejection of my very existence. That deep sense of sadness, loneliness, and rejection led me to seek out the connection that I did not feel with my fellow humans and find it in the divine. When I was at my lowest points, I called out to my Creator with all my heart and soul, to communicate with me to give me the strength to fulfill my mission.

As any true seeker knows, if you reach out to the Creator with a sincere heart, the Creator will reach back. It is up to us to remain open and understand the language through which it speaks. My experience is that language is one of patterns and “coincidences.” I learned to pay attention and trust my intuition. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more fluent and have become more in awe at how the Creator is constantly speaking to us in so many languages. We are just not paying attention. Of course, this understanding does not mean that I have been protected from the snares of man, it just means I can see them coming and call on divine intervention. However, I must do all of the fighting.

This intentional connection to the pulsating life force stirs both curiosity, attraction, envy, and hatred in others, especially those who feel disconnected from cosmic consciousness. These intense feelings of mistrust, envy, hatred, and rejection have particularly plagued Urban Alchemy. Despite clear and consistent outcomes, transformation of the most chaotic and desperate spaces, and new models that bring hope, love, and connection to our most vulnerable and disconnected members of society, Urban Alchemy has been the subject of ongoing smear campaigns, by those who fear exposure, competition, loss of revenue, and undermining of their political platforms.

While Urban Alchemy was the poster child for success for reentry programs and the transformative power of redemption when we were a small, boutique organization, as we’ve grown to a multi-million dollar, multi-state disrupter of social services, we have become the proverbial boogie man, the “600 pound gorilla (LA Times), and “the convicts running the asylum” (the New Mexican). We have been the subject of lawsuits for sexual assault, wage theft, organized crime, etc. There have also been financed, organized efforts to provoke our Practitioners to violence to catch us on film and destroy our reputation. Despite these varied and ongoing efforts, nothing has stuck and our growth has only accelerated. In fact, those who have organized those attacks have found themselves the victims of decreasing credibility and political influence, physical maladies, and budget cuts. As the saying goes, “God doesn’t like ugly.” Our victory and ability to overcome, in each of these situations, while experiencing incredible growth and gratitude from all those we engage with on a daily basis, continue to validate that our work is anointed and that the only ones who can actually hurt us, is ourselves. This is the reason we treat our work as an offering to the Creator, a prayer of our devotion, not in words, not in pageantry, but in showing up and doing the work every day.

As I travel throughout the country and meet with Practitioners, they tell me their personal stories of redemption and how Urban Alchemy saved, or transformed their lives. The same individuals that were the most destructive and deadly influence in their communities have now become the most powerful force for change. They are compelled to balance their internal scales of justice to right their wrongs and change the world in a way that the average person simply cannot conjure up the motivation for.

These are men and women who have experienced true hell on earth in the streets and then in the bowels of maximum-security prisons, and decades of solitary confinement. These are men and women who thought they would die in prison who reached out for their Creator in their darkest moments of despair and found the light. These are the individuals who Urban Alchemy has cultivated, nurtured and structured to change the world.

As they see their efforts actually impact their environments and the quality of life for so many segments of the public, as they see Urban Alchemy grow, as they move up in the agency from bathroom attendants to Supervisors, to Directors, and even Chiefs, they recognize that they do indeed have the power to change the world for the better. More importantly, the recognize their own power and courage to change themselves in order to activate the transformation of the vibrational frequency of their environments.”

THE REWARD IS REALIZING THAT WHICH WE SEEK AWAITS US UPON THE PATH OF LIBERTY. IT IS THE MAGNETIZING POWER OF THE HEART THAT TRANSFORMS OUTCOMES

Miller: “Urban Alchemy’s trainings intentionally combine clinical psychology with the life experiences of former “lifers.” This life experience includes a formalized curriculum that was developed by men who had life sentences to satisfy the prison’s requirement that they participate in therapeutic process groups. Because no therapeutic process groups or curriculum existed, they endeavored to create and facilitate their own process groups, grounded in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and humanistic therapy, mixed with plenty of the now outdated confrontation therapy methods. Some of the architects of Urban Alchemy’s training curriculum, both participated and facilitated therapeutic groups for decades. They examined the dark and haunted recesses of their childhoods, teens, and early adulthoods. They faced feelings of being unloved, sexual and physical abuse, neglect, fear, and loneliness. They learned to be honest about their triggers, motivations, and defenses. They had to accept and respond to challenges from their peers when they attempted to bypass accountability or truthfulness. They learned to look themselves in the mirror, acknowledge their flaws, and commit to different behaviors. When they finally came home and began to work for Urban Alchemy they were presented with opportunities to live their amends and their intention to heal the harm they had inflicted on their community.

In addition to groups, many of Urban Alchemy’s Practitioners who had life sentences, and typically spent between 5-12 years in solitary confinement, reported that they were drawn to alchemy and/or metaphysics. Through metaphysics they found both control and freedom even in the most dehumanizing and restrictive environments. Through alchemy they learned a formula to systematically impact reality by shifting their consciousness. This ability is documented in several peer reviewed scientific studies in the 1980’s, known as the Maharishi effect, where organized meditation proved to significantly decrease crime in over 48 major cities across America. Today, this effect has been commodified in various movements aimed at teaching people to manifest their reality. While many of these approaches emphasize the visualizing and emotional aspects of manifestation, they usually don’t put as much emphasis on the practice. Alchemy is the practice of manifestation. The practice is the prayer. The prayer amplified through more practice becomes the reality.

Much like the coordination of the meditators in those early studies, Urban Alchemy provides a structure and goal to transform the emotional and spiritual climate, except instead of gathering in a quiet place and meditating in silence, they stand on corners of the most dangerous intersections in the country and engage with the people. They acknowledge the presence of all those who walk by, of those laying in the streets, smoking dope, having a psychotic episode, or seeking a friendly conversation.

Their meditation is a spoken prayer to the people. It is engagement. It is connection. It is love. It is when you experience this miracle that you begin to truly understand that love is the true source of power in our world. When I realized that truth, I experienced profound relief and gratitude. After all, of all the potential forces holding together the molecules that comprise the web of our existence, isn’t it reassuring to know that substance is love after all. But it is so obvious, love binds, it is the ultimate adhesive. It transcends the physical and moves through the ether. What other substance is strong enough to bind every molecule on this earth together in both substance and spirit. It has always been and will always be love.”

AS THE SOUL’S FIERY AWARENESS SHALL ALWAYS ATTRACT PAIN TO HEAL, OUR COLLECTIVE VISION OF HEAVEN ON EARTH IS UNFOLDING BEFORE OUR VERY EYES. THERE ARE MANY AVENUES FOR SUCCESS FOR THOSE WHOSE PURSUIT IS TENDER LOVE AND CARE.

Miller: “At its very core, Urban Alchemy is an organization that was created by and for men and women returning home from extended prison sentences. While we started with a simple public toilet contract, we have expanded into several business lines, including interim housing, street cleaning, public space activation, and community based public safety. Each of these business lines are centered around unhoused and other vulnerable people who gravitate to urban areas for safety, services, and resources.

As part of their healing and recovery journey, most individuals who are preparing to return home from prison and integrate into society, vow to live their amends by giving back to their communities to make up for the destruction they caused and to be a force for good. Unfortunately, what many people find, is that there are limited resources and opportunities to give back to one’s community, find a source of employment, or integrate back into society. Urban Alchemy provides a structured format for employment that is in service of the community. While the jobs tend to be centered around the unhoused, Urban Alchemy Practitioners engage with housed community members, business owners, police, city workers, tourists, and other passers-by. They are thrust back into the hustle and bustle of most vibrant cities and expected to greet, engage, problem solve, and deescalate conflicts. This means that they do not have time to engage to the anxiety of returning home and becoming active in their communities.

Because they are surrounded by peers who have also recently returned home from decades long prison stays, they find a built-in support network that guides them on the cultural norms, accessing housing, building credit, relationships, and all of the other scary things returning citizens face. Most importantly, they also find individuals who did 20-30-40 year sentences who have been home for a few years, who are now in impressive positions within Urban Alchemy, not only within the Operations Department, but also in the finance, contracting, data, and human resources departments. When they see their former cell mates, the guy that was in the opposing gang, their buddy from the yard, etc. managing multi-million dollar contracts with hundreds of employees, and making six figures, they quickly understand that they have the opportunity to write their own narrative for this new chapter in their lives. They are not limited to a life on the couch, a shell of a man, supported by the women in his life. They are not limited to a life of toiling in a kitchen, scrubbing pots and living in a shabby SRO. They have an opportunity to pursue a career in various areas within the Urban Alchemy organization.

For positions that require advance degrees or certifications, Urban Alchemy provides connection and support to financial aid and time to complete the educational process, during work hours. What we find is that men and women rise to the occasion and overachieve, not only in their professional lives, but at home. The pride and dignity they find in being protectors and providers for their families transforms their identity and reinforces their decision to devote themselves to living upright. Their gratitude for the opportunity to come home to a job, an ability to give back, a community, and a career inspires a passion that has fueled Urban Alchemy’s meteoric growth and unprecedented impact.

While this outcome is surely impressive enough, it has also quietly activated another paradigm or reality shift that no one saw coming. Because of Urban Alchemy’s success, other social service organizations have engaged in actively poaching our staff. In fact, many have even resorted to recruiting directly from the half-way houses where long-term offenders are paroled after being released from prison. They have witnessed and experienced the discipline, dignity, and integrity of these men and women and are attempting to improve their workforces with them. While this is extremely annoying for Urban Alchemy, we also understand the beauty of this phenomena.

Where there was once a stigma against hiring formerly incarcerated individuals, especially those who had long term and life sentences, now businesses are actively seeking them out and offering them increased wages and senior positions to attract them to their workforces. This is yet another example of how changing the most deeply held beliefs and practices can be fundamentally transformed without self-righteous speeches, politically correct educational campaigns, or moral urgings. Real change comes when people see real action. You can’t talk a cop into trusting an “ex-con,” nor can you trust a returning citizen into trusting a cop, but if they are both in a situation where they must rely on each other for their safety and paycheck, when they are on the front line together and find each other to be trustworthy and consistent team mates, perceptions can change literally overnight. This experience has taught me that talking change into existence is a fruitless endeavor, intellectual masturbation. If you really want to change the world, shut up and do the work!

Urban Alchemy is on a mission to change the world! We understand that once purified, our souls are the proverbial Emerald tablet, the substance of transformation. Our mission is to go into the belly of the beast, where the intersections of extreme poverty, addiction, and mental illness meet, and to transform communities and individuals with love and respect. These outcomes are captured by Salesforce, analyzed by data scientists, and reported to government officials and the public. The outcomes are being studies, analyzed, and reported by scientists in universities with peer reviewed studies.

Urban Alchemy is on a mission to transform the social services industry. We are calling out the providers who have been content to provide the same models that were offered in the 1980’s, almost 50 years ago, and are no longer relevant to the problems of today. We are calling out the shelters, missions, and organizations that have not even attempted to evolve or improve to meet the emerging challenges in real time. Social service and homelessness has become among the top issues/crisis in every major urban area across America. It is a billion-dollar industry. We need to start acting like it.

As a San Francisco native, I’ve watched many industries boom and bust. In particular, I’ve had a front row seat to the tech industry. I’ve observed techies obsessed and driven with pushing the boundaries of their industry, building their companies, and cashing out to become some of the richest people in the world. While social services does not provide the cash incentives that the tech industry does, it does pay extraordinary dividends in the spiritual and emotional realms and decent paychecks in the physical realm. Those who have taken up leadership in these fields should be driven by the same passion as those who are driven by money. Afterall, we chose our careers.

Urban Alchemy aims to be the gold standard for social services, supported by outcomes and peer reviewed research. We want to disrupt the social service field and inspire others to join in. We want to create a competition so that other social services are actively engaged in pushing the envelope, evolving, and seeking new strategies and interventions to connect, heal, and nurture our people. We want to spark the revolution in social services that is as frenzied as the one we are witnessing in AI. Those with ears to hear, let them hear. Those with eyes to see, let them see. The most valuable commodity and source of power is love. There is no other pursuit more worthy or fulfilling.”