This is a student testimonial of working one-on-one, in community, and in-person with me. More testimonials can be found on this link:
If I could summarize my feelings about working with Jim in two words, it would be: Thank God.
Thank God I found Jim’s blog when I did. Thank God he chooses to teach, and thank God I have continued to work with him. He has changed my life.
I had a spiritual opening in 2019. I was driving on a solo cross-country road trip when all of my worries dropped away. I was everything and nothing at once. I spent three days in a blissful state of wonder. After the heightened state subsided, my attachments, fears, and patterns quickly returned.
Awakening to Oneness
I forgot about the experience until 2021, when I had a spiritual awakening in a park near my house.
It started in the same way—a beautiful state of oneness. I realized I was “no one” and that all my choices were just that: choices. It felt like I’d been stumbling in the dark, and suddenly all the lights had been turned on. I saw and believed for the first time that freedom from suffering was truly possible.
I also saw that I was carrying an immense amount of emotional pain. The severe childhood trauma I had avoided was illuminated, and I felt completely blindsided. A few hours after the initial high, my body started shaking.
I had no idea what to do.
Finding Solace in Practical Wisdom
Desperate for grounded information, I started reading articles online. In a sea of self-help nonsense, delusional practices, and magical thinking, I found solace in Jim’s clear, practical wisdom. I attended a class and joined one of his online communities a few months later.
Being part of Jim’s online communities prepared me for eventual one-on-one work. They taught me the importance of:
- giving and receiving support,
- holding myself and others accountable,
- navigating and resolving conflict, and
- allowing myself to be witnessed in a safe, vulnerable space.
Surrendering to Trauma
About a year in, I uncovered a repressed childhood sexual abuse memory during a call with another community member. This initiated a two-year healing process that included EMDR, psychotherapy, and in-person support groups. Even though Jim is not a trauma therapist, his support was invaluable during that time.
Once I had healed the bulk of my sexual abuse trauma, I could see Jim more clearly. My nervous system struggled to trust men, as I subconsciously anticipated further attack, abuse, manipulation, or domination. After clearing out those projections, my work with Jim became much easier.
After 3.5 years in Jim’s communities, I finally had the capacity to start working with him in regular, biweekly one-on-one sessions. I started coming out of hiding and trusting him more, which revealed more early childhood issues to untangle.
In retrospect, reaching that point didn’t have to take 3.5 years.
Jim had been offering helpful guidance the entire time, but I did the bare minimum out of fear and resistance. My advice to any new and current students: listen to Jim’s guidance and fully embrace the goodness on offer!
Evolving the Teacher-student Relationship
I’ve now been working one-on-one with Jim for a year [written in 2026], and our teacher-student relationship continues to evolve.
I’ve gone from physically shaking and emotionally hiding during sessions to genuinely looking forward to them. The more honest I am, the faster I untwist old conditioning, rehabilitate younger parts of myself, and break unhealthy loops. Jim is a powerful partner in this work because he willingly helps you repattern broken ways of relating and practice healthier ways of being.
In the past year, I have also transitioned from working with Jim exclusively online to meeting in-person, which has made a huge difference. Our sessions depend on what is most supportive and relevant for me that day.
Examples include:
- writing sessions to reclaim my voice,
- strength training sessions to cultivate empowerment,
- cooking sessions to learn and practice healthy nourishment,
- walking sessions to process realizations, and much more!
Jim creatively uses all sorts of tools to help unlock realizations; I’ve had powerful moments with play-doh, body paint, singing, hiking, and bouldering. His guidance is firmly rooted in practicality.
The spiritual teacher-student relationship is unlike anything I have ever experienced. I wish we talked about it more as a society because I think it’s deeply misunderstood.
Growing up, my image of spiritual teachers fell into one of two extremes: miracle-performing legends or manipulative cult leaders. Jim is neither. He is a grounded, intelligent, and deeply kind man who genuinely wants to help you realize freedom. He models healthy boundaries, acts with integrity, and sincerely cares about his students’ wellbeing.
Accessing New Levels of Self-love and Connection
I came to Jim shaking, dysregulated, and in extreme pain. Everything he has done has been in service of helping me move through that pain more quickly and with greater clarity. Throughout my time with him, I have accessed layers of love, connection, and reality that I never knew were possible.
The spiritual path is not easy. It demands a great deal of sincerity, humility, patience, and surrender. But the work becomes clearer, faster, and infinitely more meaningful when you have a true teacher walking alongside you, continually pointing you toward the truth.
If you are considering working with Jim, I wholeheartedly encourage you to take the leap. It is one of the best decisions I have ever made.
It’s hard to adequately encapsulate my gratitude for Jim. I just keep returning to the same two words: Thank God.
Kate L.
Oregon
USA
2021–ongoing student
