About Elizabeth

Hi!
I'm Elizabeth Cantey, D.D.

I'm an award-winning author, minister, and Inner Transformation Coach. And I'm someone who has been right where you are: knowing the teachings, and still losing my peace over a tone of voice, a phone call, a diagnosis. For 30+ years, I've helped people close the gap between knowing the Truth and living it.

Book a SHIFT Session

A free 30-minute conversation about what keeps pulling you out of your peace, and what's ready to shift.

A few questions for you

Are you living enlightened?

Do you love your life, all of it, every wild and crazy moment? Or are there days when life seems to throw more at you than you can hold?

Are you living your passion? Do you wake up excited about how the day will unfold? Are you using the gifts you know you were born with?

Wherever you are in life, are you able to see the beauty and joy that is abundant everywhere? To experience the unconditional love that surrounds us in every sunrise, and releases itself in every flower?

One of the things I'm often asked is

"What does it mean to live enlightened?"

It doesn't mean being happy all the time. It doesn't mean a life without loss, illness, or heartbreak. Mine hasn't been.

Living enlightened means being right where you are, being with whoever you're with, doing whatever it is you are doing, and meeting all of it, the hard parts too, from the peace of who you really are.

Enlightenment isn't something we add or achieve. It's what's left when the stress and the striving fall away: the lightness of Being, our true Nature.

Elizabeth Cantey looking out at the ocean

My story

I never set out to be a spiritual coach or teacher

I set out to fix what felt broken in me. Even as a kid I felt lost, although I had a happy childhood, good parents, great schools, and wonderful friends and family.

I still felt like something was missing, like I wasn't given a few pieces of the puzzle, and I was searching for the missing pieces. It seemed as though everyone around me was content with the way things were. With all that I had, I felt oddly alone, and like I couldn't figure out true happiness.

Have you ever felt like that?

How could I have so much and still feel so lost?

I searched through religions for answers, but it wasn't until I studied the world's mystic traditions that I discovered a direct path that led to awareness, and a sense of wholeness and oneness. I learned to integrate my spirit, mind, and body.

I finally felt whole and connected to life. Even though I had felt lucky all my life, being lucky meant that my luck could run out. Now I could love my life, every hill and valley, every change, every transition. I feel a sense of peace, the peace that passes all understanding, in knowing my true nature. Eventually, I could radiate that into even the toughest of circumstances.

Looking into my life now, you might not know that much has changed. I'm still chopping wood and fetching water, as the Buddhist saying goes. But my life is abundant and full of beauty and joy and peace. It feels like every moment of every day has purpose and meaning.

I love my life! And I live my passion!

And I want to share that with you

It's not that things don't go wrong. Living enlightened does not make anyone immune to the flow of life and nature. The difference is in the way we deal with what is before us.

I have had a few things shake me to my core, such as being diagnosed with cancer, twice. And when my son was a teenager, he experienced being very sick for a long time, with some very difficult prognoses. If I didn't have these teachings, practices, and experiences, I am not sure we would have seen the healthy outcome that we both experienced.

What would it be like to meet whatever comes, the diagnosis, the argument, the 3 a.m. worry, from a place of peace instead of fear?

I flow through life today because I rest in the Nature of my Being. The boulders are there, the challenges arise, but I am the water, fluid, yet powerful.

Most of us are living life from the outside in. The news, the economy, and the constant pace of change can all feel so overwhelming.

When we learn to live from the inside out, we begin to let go of our judgments, attachments, reactions, and our resistance. As we do, our true nature is revealed. Happiness isn't something we get. It's who we already are.

Enlightenment is simply a sense of wholeness, a oneness with all of life. It is living in the present moment and integrating spirit, mind, and body. When we are centered in wholeness, we are not looking for anything out there to complete us. We know that we are already complete, and we bring that into everything we do.

We stop being affected by the news, by the problems, the challenges, and we begin to show up as the solution.

It took me a long time to learn what I now know. I've been to many retreats and workshops, and taken what seems like an infinite number of classes. I still do! I am always learning and growing. Yet I know it doesn't have to take you the time it took me. All we need is a roadmap, and some guidance and support now and again. And wherever you are right now, even in the middle of a hard season, is a perfectly good place to begin.

And that's where I come in!

Credentials and books

30+ years of teaching, coaching, and ministry

I teach, coach, and minister to people who know the Truth and want to live it every day.

Training and ministry

Doctor of Divinity (D.D.)
Ph.D. and Master's degree in comparative religion and consciousness studies
Ordained and licensed minister, Center for Spiritual Living
Minister and practitioner at Agape International Spiritual Center with Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith
Practitioner and teacher of Center for Spiritual Living courses for 30+ years
Studied with Michael Beckwith, Eckhart Tolle, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Fr. Richard Rohr, and others
Certified SKY Breath instructor, licensed Sudarshan Kriya teacher through the Art of Living
Founding member, Los Angeles Tribune Women's Journal
Host of the Living Enlightened with Elizabeth Cantey podcast

Books

Gold Winner · COVR Visionary Awards

Living Enlightened: The Joy of Integrating Spirit, Mind, and Body

A practical, heart-centered guide to bringing your spiritual understanding into everyday life, so that spirit, mind, and body work together.

Buy on Amazon → COVR Visionary Awards Gold Winner seal

Why You Can't Change Your Habits book cover

New

Why You Can't Change Your Habits—even when you really, really want to

The habit isn't the problem. It's the protection. Why change is so hard, and the SHIFT Method™ for working with what's underneath it.

Learn more →

I loved having the support and understanding that Elizabeth provided for me. I needed some drastic changes in my life and wasn't ready to create them. I didn't know how. She gave me tools and practices and worksheets to keep me on track. I am in a much better place than I could've imagined 6 months ago. Thank you, Elizabeth!

MISSY K. · COACHING CLIENT