I’ve been working with students since 2010, and I’m very fortunate to have a full schedule with some very dedicated students.
I am very selective with whom I work because I want the relationship to be truly beneficial for a student. I can work at a lot of levels (mind, heart, body, and energy), and the more levels that are naturally accessible with a student makes the work that much more transformational.
From time to time, I have space for new students. My regular students have schedule changes for illness, vacation, business travel, etc. Long-term students and I occasionally take several month-long or year-long breaks, and from time to time, someone concludes working with me. So I do occasionally have time for new students.
If you’re interested in making a long-term commitment to the path to spiritual freedom and to working with me as a spiritual teacher, I’ve listed out some steps to joining my wait list to become a regular student of mine.
Also, I announce openings in my schedule first through my newsletter. You can sign-up to stay in the loop on this link:
Stay in Touch with Jim via his Newsletter
The Process for Joining the Student Wait List
The following are some steps to prepare you for working with me, for how to connect with me, and for how to be added to a list of students that I’ll work with regularly.
Step 1: Read my Blog and Watch my Videos
It’s great that my work can inspire someone to immediately reach out after reading a post or two/watching a video or three. But take a breath here. There’s much more on this blog to read and on my YouTube channel. Take your time getting to know me through these avenues to get a stronger sense of what I mean by spiritual freedom, spiritual awakening, healing, and growth. This could take a few weeks, months, or even years, but it’ll help you to be more clear about what working with me is all about.
Step 2: Develop Your Spiritual Practice
Many people come to me with no spiritual practice whatsoever. You’ll greatly increase the chances that I’ll work with you by having a practice. Your spiritual practice is also a springboard to deeper realizations of freedom.
Here are three things to have in your spiritual practice:
- Meditation–Have a 30 minute silent, seated meditation every day
- Journaling–Learn to inquire into your beliefs and emotions triggers
- Stay as awareness–Keep coming back to the neutral observer throughout your day
Step 3: Review My Session Information
I and some of my current and past students have taken the time to write a good deal about these sessions. Students have not only written testimonials, but they’ve also written about the process of this shared work in the “Student Perspectives About Working with Jim Tolles” post. I recommend reading these posts before reaching out to me.
You can find these posts and other important blog posts on the “Sessions” tab.
Step 4: Going to the Contact Form
Feeling still called to work with me?
Great!
Then go to my contact page on this blog. Read the instructions and follow them in writing your response. It’ll direct you to sign up for my free newsletter. If you are already signed up, then you can reply to any newsletter I’ve sent to contact me. Please still follow the instructions on the contact page in writing your message to me.
Step 5: The Waiting and Appreciating Intuition
After emailing me, different feelings and thoughts may come up. Breathe into those, and journal about them if you need to. Allow yourself to be at peace with what you’ve done after following the above steps. Whatever happens next, happens next.
For some of you, my intuition will guide me to respond. For others, my intuition will guide me not to respond. A few of you I’ll respond with some instructions to follow, but not to work together. If you truly want to work with me, then I encourage you to appreciate my intuitive guidance in whatever form it takes.
For those I interact with, intuitive guidance doesn’t necessarily give you what you expect or what you think you should get. Intuition gives you what you need at this point in your development. So if I do respond, practice being open to what I say.
Step 6: Corresponding About Sessions
When I respond to begin the process of becoming teacher and student, I’ll ask questions about you and your spiritual path, send more information about sessions, and ask about questions you may have. We’ll discuss what needs to be discussed prior to a first session, and I’ll send over some basic forms that I have all new students fill out.
Step 7: Scheduling the First Session
After the forms are filled out, we schedule a first session when I have space in my schedule such as when a regular student cancels or re-schedules. I’ll email instructions about what to do prior to a session.
The first session is a chance to do a couple of things, including:
- See how our energy interacts
- Help a student understand what deep spiritual work is like with me
- Give a student a chance to see how things shift in the days after the first session
After this, I ask my prospective student to take time to see if this relationship feels true to them. If the relationship doesn’t feel true to one of us, then we go no further.
Step 8: Being Added to the Regular Student Wait List
If a student and I both feel the connection is true to us, then I add the student to my student wait list to become a regular student. Regular students have sessions every 2 weeks, and that regularity builds a natural connection and energy. That connection helps people evolve, heal, and grow in countless ways.
I’ll reach out to the student on the wait list when I have an availability, and we’ll find a regular day and time to meet. That will be our day and time together every two weeks unless there’s a need for a schedule change.
Sometimes, I may wait on setting up regular sessions with a student as well to see how serious they are about this work..
No student is required to go longer than she or he chooses, but anyone who reaches out to me should be serious about making a long-term commitment particularly once I add them to the wait list. That commitment typically is several months if not years of work. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, some students have worked with me for years and not yet felt a need to conclude.
I wish you well on your spiritual path!
In love and kindness,
Jim
5 Comments
more than 5 years??
Yes. Dissolving the ego is rarely a fast process, and the teacher-student connection is a powerful one. People often stay in it because there are a few relationships that can even compare to it.
how do you discern between a dependent or a necessary relationship? Perhaps that student teacher relationship becomes another ego self structure that one now upholds? Have you had students you felt were being dependent? And perhaps it is more helpful to let them go?
I'm not surprised that you've had students for more than 5 years. People are in therapy for far longer. It's so good to have support in awakened presence as we go through the process of ego dissolution. I have a spiritual teacher here in Australia and I hope to always be connected to them. It feels like a supportive, empowering relationship and there's no sense of dependency. I go for long periods of time without communicating with my teacher. At the end of the day, it is I who has to really process and work with the lessons of life but like I said, it's 'so good' to have awakening presence and support. There is nothing else like it.
Thanks for sharing Amna. 🙂