Don Miguel Ruiz Sr., MD, is the international best-selling author of a series of books, including The Four Agreements, which spent seven years on the New York Times best-seller list. Born into a family of healers, he was raised in rural Mexico by a curandera (healer) mother and a nagual (shaman) grandfather. The family anticipated that Ruiz would embrace their centuries-old legacy of healing and teaching, and carry forward the esoteric Toltec knowledge. Instead, distracted by modern life, Ruiz chose to attend medical school and become a surgeon.

A near-death experience changed his life. Late one night in the early 1970s, he awoke suddenly, having fallen asleep at the wheel of his car. At that instant the car careened into a wall of concrete. Ruiz remembers that he felt as if he was not in his physical body as he pulled his two friends to safety.

Stunned by this experience, he began an intensive practice of self-inquiry. He devoted himself to the mastery of the ancient ancestral wisdom, studying earnestly with his mother, and completing an apprenticeship with a powerful shaman in the Mexican desert. His grandfather, who had since passed on, continued to teach him in his dreams.

In the tradition of the Toltec, a nagual guides an individual to personal freedom. Ruiz, a nagual from the Eagle Knight lineage, is dedicated to sharing his knowledge of the teachings of the ancient Toltec. For more than a decade, he has worked to impart this wisdom to his students through lectures, workshops, and journeys to sacred sites around the world.