About Tony

As a teenager I started working in the family restaurant in Boston. I enjoyed cooking for others, but the environment was incredibly stressful, especially with my alcoholic father barking orders at everyone. I enrolled at Johnson & Wales for culinary training but was called back home to the family business before I finished. My father was in the process of destroying both his self-built empire and every relationship he’s ever had. 

This turned out to be a blessing in disguise. In my mid-20s, with the family lineage reduced to nothing but debt and bad feelings, I was free to step onto my own path for the first time.

I had always been very good at doing celebrity impressions. My dyslexic mind went into fantastic realms and I “became” the character. My mother and sister were extremely supportive of my acting abilities, so I started taking professional acting classes and voice training lessons. Then I saved up enough money to move out to the West Coast. Hollywood! Where else does an aspiring actor go?

I was excited about this new life for a few years. I landed some roles in film and television, and even got my SAG card (Screen Actor’s Guild union membership). But something inside me wanted me to leave. Eventually, I did just that. I didn’t know why until much later.

During those aspiring actor years, I found a technique that helped me overcome the learning disability aspect of my dyslexia. (Otherwise, it is truly a gift to be dyslexic and it’s essential to my life’s mission. You can learn more about dyslexia by clicking here.)

With my newfound reading skills, I became a studying maniac, devouring self-help books of all kinds—inspirational, mystical, empowering. My wife will attest to my intense studying methods—she makes fun of my well-worn favorite books that have huge amounts of highlighter, underlines, stars and notes in the margins. When I learn something, I go over it many, many times. I want to really learn it completely and not miss anything.

Leaving Hollywood, I turned to traveling sales work because it enabled me to work directly with people, which I love. I made the most of it, though increasingly as time went by, my heart was not always in the things that I was selling. I yearned for a more meaningful way to help people and have deep conversations about things that truly matter.

I spent any spare time I had learning more about consciousness. I was compelled to explore and know more. I studied and practiced lucid dreaming and astral projection to have expansive learning experiences. I was fascinated with knowing more about what and who we are, because obviously we are so much more than just physical human beings living in a rat race reality.

My quest for knowledge and experience eventually led me to The Monroe Institute where I enrolled in a number of their excellent consciousness exploration programs. That’s where I met my wife, Debbianne, back in 2012. When I was at a crossroads, career-wise, she encouraged me to give acting another chance because it seemed like I had some unfinished business with Hollywood. 

So back to L.A. it was. I landed some acting gigs here and there, and worked at a day job that allowed me to work on myself, which was much more important. Incidentally, acting was never superficial to me. Doing an impression of another person or assuming the role of a character is like merging with them, soul to soul. There is no room for judgmental attitudes in acting because you must be willing to embrace all sorts of people, characters, beliefs, actions and motives. Acting is not pretending to be someone else; it’s finding the sameness or connection between you and the character. And above all, where there is comedy, there is laughter, so it can be very healing. 

At that time, my mother became seriously ill. I flew back to Boston to be with her, and helped her find peace with the inevitability of dropping her physical body. I coached her to meditate and explained that she would be meeting with her beloved parents soon. She responded well to these ideas and passed away peacefully shortly after my visit. I think this was the start of my personal experience and passion in helping people, especially elders, to find peace toward the end of their lives. Fear of death is widespread in our society but it doesn’t have to be that way. 

When my mom passed on, I felt sad… but also strangely free. I quickly realized that this dream of becoming an actor was really my mother’s dream for me, and not my own. I never really liked being in the entertainment industry because it was crammed with big egos, dishonesty, social veneer, deception and manipulation. I suddenly felt liberated from this “dream” that had become a burden, and I was ready to leave Hollywood for good. My wife was right: I did have unfinished business with Hollywood. And now it was finally finished. It was such a relief to give myself permission to move on, even though I didn’t yet know what I was moving on to. 

I immediately began doing energy healing work. I also had some powerful interactions with my mother from the other side. My wife was amazed at how quickly I became adept at these things. She concluded that it wasn’t just from reading books, but that I’d already practiced these healing arts in other lifetimes. She was experiencing some very intense pain in her body at that time, and I was able to eliminate it with hands-on energy healing. Often when I did the energy work, I would slip into a type of channeling state and my guides or angels would perform the healing through my hands. It just happened effortlessly because it was needed. Later on, I received formal Reiki training and certification. 

Over the next several years I continued to study and practice energy work, channeling, manifesting using the law of attraction, raising kundalini energy, psycho-kinesis (or telekinesis), presence meditation, and more. Intermittently, I was dealing with my own challenges resurfacing while doing a lot of inner work to heal the remaining remnants of those childhood abuses. It all seemed to culminate and take shape in a single event: when Debbianne and I returned to the Monroe Institute on vacation to mark our 7 year anniversary together, I was spontaneously invited to give a presentation.

Though I had the knowledge and experience needed to give the presentation, I froze. I felt like I was drowning. Literally I experienced the feeling of drowning. My wife, friends and program trainers helped me get through it and I gave the presentation, which was very well-received. This was a huge turning point in my life.

Before that, I had been studying quietly and occasionally teaching a friend or two. I didn’t know that I was afraid of “going public.” I was able to finally release the trauma I had been storing—stuck energy that was virtually unknown to my conscious mind. I started feeling much more relaxed and free to express myself without fear. Finally, I could make use of all my years of study and share these gifts to help and teach more people. I no longer felt paralyzed with fear of being attacked. This was huge. My conscious mind was made aware of all this, and my total self (subconscious and otherwise) was cleared of the past and brought up to date in the present moment. 

These days, the veil between our physical reality and non-physical reality or the spirit world is thinner than ever. It is part of our evolution as humans to strengthen the connection between our conscious mind and higher mind/God/universe, and integrate our whole self. Another way to say it is that the “little I” of your physical personality and ego, and the total “I Am” consciousness of your larger being are becoming less separate. And when you feel connected to yourself, you naturally feel more peaceful, happy, healthy, and whole—knowing you are on the right path.

I believe we are here at this time in history to clear away our blocks and get on with the Love and Lightwork! It’s a big turning point in human evolution and the change starts within the consciousness of each individual. 

Thank you for reading my story. I wanted to share everything with you so you’ll know that it is also safe for you to share your story with me. I’m honored to be in your life and to be able to use all these powerful tools to make your life better and more fulfilling.

With Love,
Tony