Edward Salim Michael’s spiritual journey (1921-2006)

Of Anglo-Indian descent, Edward Salim Michael spent his entire childhood in various countries of the Middle East. He never had the opportunity of attending school and did not have a mother tongue.

The Chaplain’s wife taught him music which he assimilated at a stunning speed. His first orchestral piece, composed after only two years of study, won a competition and was played at the Albert Hall in London.

After the War, from which he emerged terribly bruised, he pursued his musical studies with passion and in addition to composition, became a solo violinist. He gave his first concerts after only three years of study. In 1949, another providential meeting awoke within him a mysterious silent memory.

It was in London at the house of Mr. Adie who was part of the Gurdjieff groups in England, that he saw a statue of Buddha for the first time in his life. He remained transfixed in front of it and, when he returned to his home, he immediately put himself into the same posture as the statue with no difficulties, closed his eyes and began to concentrate on an inner sound that he heard within his ears and head, without even knowing that what he was doing was called meditation and the sound on which he was concentrating was known as the Nada in India and comprises a concentration aid known to both Hindus and Buddhists.

In parallel to his career as a musician, he then embarked on his spiritual practice with all the passion and exactingness of a great artist. Through the exceptional concentration skills he had developed as a composer, he swiftly began to have profound spiritual experiences.

As his parents had never practiced any religion, he had been sheltered from any religious conditioning. His lack of school education and book knowledge left him with a slate clean from prejudice and projections. He would follow the path of direct experience, beyond all dogmas.

Health problems obliged him to abandon his career as a solo violinist. He devoted himself solely to composition, struggling in the Parisian music scene to get his works performed. As his music (which he composed under his first name, Edward) remained tonal, he encountered ever greater difficulties in getting it performed.

India

In 1968, he came to the decision to give up composition to go to India, the country of his maternal grandmother, with a view to dedicating himself fully to his inner life.

Fascinated by Hatha Yoga, he started to practice it in Paris. In Poona, where he stayed for two years, he worked one to one with Iyengar for several months, then, when he went to live in Madras, he perfected his technique with the son of Krischnamacharia T.K.V. Desikachar.

In both cases, it was only a question of technique for him; the science of asanas was certainly spectacular, but lacking in the concentration and presence to oneself which for him was the essence of spiritual practice.

He would come to practice asanas and breathing control (Pranayama) three hours per day, to help his body, but above all with the aim of stabilizing a state of vigilance and pure presence, for which hatha yoga is only one means.

Despite his lack of scholastic education, at the request of the lady who would become his wife, Michèle Michael, he agreed to embark upon writing his first book with her help, which he wrote in English, The Way of Inner Vigilance, published in London in 1983, written under his middle name Salim.
This book was republished in 2010 in the United States by Inner Tradition with a new title : The Law of Attention, Nada Yoga and the Way of Inner Vigilance.
Over the course of following years, Edward Salim Michael would write seven others books directly into French.

He taught until 2002 and departed from this world at the end of November, 2006.