Spirituality, Yoga & The U.S. Mental Illness Crisis – Could We Be Handling Things All Wrong?

What would those around you think if, after having built a highly successful business and life, you suddenly had a lightning bolt of energy explode throughout your body and you felt driven to leave everything behind? They would think you were crazy, right? That’s exactly what happened to Joseph “Joey” Nittolo and his family after he began hearing voices in the middle of his shower and sensing people that nobody else could see. Little did he or his family know, but Joey had just experienced a spontaneous spiritual awakening!

Joey went to the doctor but, as you might imagine, the medical world was not equipped to deal with whatever had happened to him. At a loss, he was committed to a mental hospital for a year! And what was so scary was the fact that the more he explained his newfound clarity, the more “insane” he looked!

Crazy, right? The thing was, Joey was not your average spiritual seeker, constantly looking for enlightenment. He was a hardscrabble kid, raised on the streets of Hollywood in the 1970’s. His father was a PIMP and a heroin addict, and as a result of his upbringing, Joey pursued financial success as a means of ensuring he would always be taken care of. Succeeding wildly with a successful career in real estate and film production, Joey produced <em>Pool Hall Junkies</em>, with Christopher Walkin and Chazz Palminteri and even wrote the original, <em>A Man Apart</em>, starring Vin Deisel and Larenz Tate.