Why Students Continue Working with Me

You can read my Testimonials to understand the benefits of working with me, but these responses from current students paint a broader picture as to why they choose me as a teacher and why they stay with their spiritual teacher.

If you have questions about one-on-one sessions, feel free to reach out to me. Also some of my students reference my online, small-group, facilitated communities in their answers. If you want to be eligible for those, you have to connect with me in a one-on-one session first.

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Actually Knowing the Spiritual Path

Why did you choose me as your teacher?

From reading your stuff, I realized I had been blindly muddling through a process that was happening in my life that I had absolutely no understanding of. I also liked what you wrote about communities. The communities or spaces I had found so far when I started realizing I needed to change….didn’t seem to know anything about how to actually move through a process like this or to be healthy communities, despite their words sounding pretty.

Everyone was just muddling along, and I just kept seeing the same classic problems being replicated but just looking better because it was couched in spiritual or therapy language now. I didn’t want to keep going round in circles like that and you seemed to actually know what you were talking about.

I thought your writing sounded sensible and rooted in reality and practicality rather than the vagueness (and over identification with various things) I had come across so far in the spiritual and therapy world. I liked that what you spoke about was about letting go of identity rather than building another one and, in particular, not in a way that denies the human experience or denies the ‘spiritual’ (but your writing quite drastically de-escalates the spiritual stuff from being ‘special’ which I liked).

It just made sense.

I also sensed you would be upfront and honest. So I felt like I could maybe trust you.

However I was also really scared.

Why have you stayed as a student?

I feel that I can trust you to point out what I actually need to hear and hold me accountable.

I appreciate it a lot.

I’ve realized by this point I can’t really do this on my own, and I need reliable feedback for where I am at from someone who can actually see reality and who isn’t a therapist. I really appreciate how you’re able to meet me where I’m at and give practical steps.

I like that much of it is working at the very practical levels of being a human, relationally, materially, whatever. Because there is so much transition I need to navigate, and I’ve wasted so much time trying to navigate big changes alone….to do that without this support now would just be so hard.

I’m finding the practical-ness of everything as well as the community really valuable–the community both for letting myself get triggered and also to just be around other people who are doing this and learn what healthy community could mean and look like.

I feel like I’m actually making progress whatever that means.

Maybe it means everything feels like less of a confusing mess.

Physically I feel a lot better from doing the diet. I am less numb than I was and gradually coming back quicker when I do notice the numbing habits are back. And this process to start speaking the truth of the heart–I would have never got to taking action on that on my own. I “knew” on a deeper level that this expression is what I have needed to do, but no idea ‘how’ !

It’s the push and clarity from you as well as having a community where it’s possible to actually practice this that challenges me to actually do it, when it seems my system would have me do anything but that.

A. F.

2025–ongoing student

Rooted in Reality

Why have you stayed as a student?

I have stayed because as I hit each different layer of trauma and pain, issues, false beliefs, patterns, etc., you have provided me with practical advice rooted in reality that have truly opened me up to different options and choices.

The safety and support you offer is also a major factor.

The sense of danger I carried internally is no longer there and has transformed into a sense of being safe with you. This container of feeling safe is now seeping into my whole world, while being discerning and having informed boundaries in my relationships with others, society, and myself.

Finally, I have actually healed so much, and I feel so much better now and all the time even with life not stopping with its ups and downs. I’ve learned that healing and living fully is a multi-pronged approach with thoughts, behavior patterns, food, exercise, learning, rebirth, atonement, and freedom all requiring attention.

Char C.

Canada

2013–ongoing student

A Grounded Path Out of Enormous Emotional Pain

Why did you choose me as your teacher?

I was in an enormous amount of emotional pain. I found your blog soon after experiencing my spiritual awakening.

I had no idea that type of shift in awareness could happen and my ego was desperate for “answers.”

I was researching a ton of blogs – everything from kundalini yoga to twin flames to quantum leaps. I kept using your blog as a reference; I would compare what you were saying and describing to what others were saying.

Your words were so clear and just made sense in a practical way that put me at ease.

I was in unfamiliar territory and wanted validation that I wasn’t “going crazy.” I remember reading one of your blogs and it resonated so deeply that I cried and then I immediately donated because I felt so seen.

A few weeks later, I took one of your classes on the topic of “giving and receiving” around Thanksgiving and remember being impressed by how grounded and clear you were.

What questions did you have that got you searching and found my blog?

I think at one point I literally typed in “spiritual awakening process” into Google.

My ego really wanted to conceptualize and understand the process.

I have journal entries that say, “Something is happening to me. I need to get to the bottom of what’s happening to me.” I was also shaking like crazy and your “Energy-caused Involuntary Muscle Spasms or Kriyas” blog helped soothe me. Other blogs that were especially helpful to me in the initial stages were: “What Is a Spiritual Awakening?”, “Phantom Physical Pains and Spiritual Awakening,” “5 Misunderstandings About Spiritual Awakening,” “The Desire to be Special to Your Spiritual Teacher,” “Spiritual Humility and Life Under God’s Grindstone” and “The Spiritual Bypass: The Illusion of Avoiding Your Difficulties.”

Why have you stayed as a student?

Our community is unlike any other. I have felt loved, seen, and humbled in ways I didn’t think were possible. The community has truly become a refuge for me; it’s where I feel most authentic, supported and inspired to thrive.

The more I commit to this path, the more invested I am in seeing myself and the world clearly.

I want to continue seeing what’s possible.

Kate L.

USA

2021–ongoing

Holistic Understanding and True Wisdom

Why have you stayed as a student?

I have stayed as a student and continued to choose you as a teacher because I feel true wisdom come out of your mouth when you speak and write. You have a way of getting right to the heart of things and avoiding bullshit that I have not really encountered in others. That’s one of the key things–you are able to see what’s really happening or needed in a situation and speak to it directly and holistically, keeping in mind other important factors.

For example, like how taking care of our bodies is part of the surrounding to reality, AKA the spiritual path. Others may talk about certain topics, but seem to lack this holistic view. I hope and believe there are other people out there like you, but I have yet to encounter them. I also really appreciate your ability and willingness to call out all of the social and cultural BS we see and live in, while offering a path out of it.

Felipe CD

USA

2021-ongoing student

Challenging and Direct

Why did you choose me as your teacher?

I wanted to work with you 1-on-1 based on your writing, as most other teachers that I have encountered in the reality/nonduality-type camps either encouraged students to suppress and bypass emotional triggers/trauma material and were not trauma-informed, or they stayed in the zone of intellectual nonduality, as if to prove that they were enlightened.

Your writing made pragmatic, gut-level sense to me, and I could tell that you would be direct and challenging as needed. I also watched you call out someone in an online class before we worked together in a way that confirmed that you didn’t let the group languish due to one person’s ego enactments.

Why have you stayed as a student?

I have stayed because I continue to have the experiences with your individual guidance and group leadership that drew me to your writing. You adapt to the moment, bring authenticity, show me what I need to work on, are trauma-informed, and don’t hesitate to say what needs to be said in the group format. You are savvy about transference issues in the teacher/students relationship and careful in pacing the unpacking of material. I am having new experiences, reflected by my partner, that indicate this work is yielding something new.

Z.C.

USA

2024–ongoing student

Concrete, Down-to-Earth Instructions

Why did you choose me as your teacher?

There was not immediate recognition (of you as someone who could be my teacher) for me at first. I was too addled with projection and pride. I first heard you on BATGAP, and somehow I had a magnetism of curiosity for your work, but wasn’t sure why. I couldn’t stay away. It kind of bothered me, actually .

At the time I was more looking for neo non-dual flash-bang-answers-to-all-my-problems-I’ve-got-the-secret-I’ll-be-healed teachings. You were direct and used actual English to describe concrete, down-to-earth actions that could be taken to move along the path.

And that really struck me.

Why have you stayed as a student?

Because I have already directly experienced the fruits of this work in my life, even after a short while. The learning curve is high. And while I currently experience backsliding and would only describe having very small glimpses of reality thus far, I have started to see that this work works.

As an example, in regards to what I’d call more “clear seeing”….where people are being manipulative, self-made victims, gaslighting, etc., and more, I can now see when I am doing those things myself as well. I can also notice when things are hollow and dead ends: collecting experiences, various forms of entertainment, pursuing the high of athletic performance (attachment to the body), and so on.

Additionally, I’ve stayed in the community because it is hands down the most nourishing thing in my life at the moment.

Sarah D.

USA

2024–ongoing student

A Space to be Seen and Heard In

Why have you stayed as a student?

I feel seen and heard, not judged. I trust that you want to help me find my way out of suffering. I have learned to engage with others in the community.

Collette T.

2024–ongoing

Help Shedding Ego Instead of Building a Spiritual Ego

Why have you stayed as a student?

I feel like the teachings are straight to the point and very aware of how easily one can build a spiritual ego, and by being more bare and clear teachings, I can follow the path in a way that’s aligned with where I am at and shedding parts of my ego, rather than building new spiritual identities.

I also have liked the community organization and that element of being a student and seeing other people’s paths.

Amani F.

USA

2021–ongoing