About

From a young age, I could only feel at peace if I was accomplishing something extraordinary and being recognized for it. If others were being praised more than me, then I’d want to completely disappear. If I or my work were made fun of, I’d be obliterated. I was very sensitive, but I was also gifted at shielding myself from this vulnerability. It started with “you’re so mature for your age” and transitioned to “you’re so accomplished for your age.” My childhood and adolescent years were spent performing as an adult. True rest, ease, and play were foreign.

If a young man could have been designed in a petri dish to guarantee that others would be impressed with him, then that was me. I became one of the best and most influential card magicians in the world when I was in high school. In my final teenage years, I became the president of my high school, was a college athlete, became one of the youngest TED Conference speakers ever (before TEDx existed), organized a Guinness world record-breaking event in Times Square and one of the first TEDx conferences. I used these leadership accomplishments to become the youngest person at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, the only person in my class permitted to pursue an MBA directly out of college. Stanford brought me to Silicon Valley where I worked at Udacity, helping to transform the education industry, and Google[x]. Then I became the CEO/Co-Founder of Cape, an autonomous drone company that raised over $20M and sold to Motorola, creating the Drone as a First Responder (DFR) industry now used in cities around the world, enhancing the safety of tens of millions. All of this before I was 25.

You can sense the desperation beneath these accomplishments to feel okay. Peace was fleeting and conditional, but I was skilled at satisfying those conditions often. Until I wasn’t. In my late 20s, I lost most of my money into my second startup. This activated a year of undiagnosed depression. I was failing at the one thing I thought I was good at: starting and leading companies. It was too much, and I couldn’t ask for the support I needed for far too long. I retreated inwards, experienced a disordered relationship with eating and mismanaged my wealth. I viewed my life as a cost center to be minimized: best to limit the impact of this failure, best to hide him from the world.

Thankfully, somehow, I finally asked for help. I hired a coach. Whitney. She helped me save my life and I worked with her for four years. She inspired me to become a coach, to support and transform others in the way she supported and transformed me.

Since 2020, I have coached around 200 CEOs and executives. My drive was channeled into coaching: I spent years searching for deeper, better ways to serve my clients, and in 2024 I discovered Guided Shifting. That’s when Jason changed.

The main research that this method is based on comes from Dr. Jeffery Martin. For over 15 years, Dr. Martin and his team have conducted the largest international study on the types of consciousness commonly known as enlightenment, nonduality, the peace that passeth understanding, unitive experience, and hundreds of other terms. This resulted in the first reliable, cross-cultural and pan-tradition classification system for these types of experiences. After tracking down and interviewing hundreds of people around the world who seem to live life in these special and mysterious ways, he discovered that there are common patterns for how these experiences show up in one’s life regardless of where you’re from, the beliefs you hold, or the method you used to deepen into these states. He organized these patterns into a “map,” which I’ve outlined along with some other fascinating initial findings from his research on the Scientific Foundations page.

10 years ago, with a map of these states in hand, Dr. Martin then set out to develop a way to safely, reliably, and effectively bring people into these globally sought-after states in a secular way. Historically, people spent decades committed to various practices and lifestyles, some of which involve rejecting aspects of modern society, with the hope of one day shifting into one of these states. So Dr. Martin designed a new course that incorporated the best practices discovered through his research subjects’ experiences. Best of all, it was designed to be incorporated into one’s daily, modern life. Still, the initial courses were about nine months long and involved 1-2 hours of daily meditation, a huge upgrade over a multi-decade commitment but a large commitment nonetheless. Since then, he’s made many improvements to the course, eventually simplifying it to a 45-day protocol requiring 1-2hrs of daily practices that can still be taken here.

One of the key discoveries in the development of his 45-day protocol was that in order to facilitate a successful shift, you use the specified meditation practice until you get a glimpse of deeper qualities of relaxation, and then you completely drop the meditation instructions and relax as deeply as you can into those qualities. At that point, according to Dr. Martin, a shift tends to occur.

Enter me.

In 2022, I met Dr. Brenda Sanders, an environmental scientist and professor in biological sciences at California State University, Long Beach and the Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco, CA. Brenda and I bonded through our shared passion of elevating the world’s leadership through the scientific use of spiritual best-practices (sounds like an oxymoron, right?), and she told me about Dr. Martin and his research. Dr. Martin did his PhD at CIIS, his dissertation being the foundation for the research I described above, so Brenda has known him since the beginning of his research. For months, Brenda tried to convince me to do Dr. Martin’s 45-day course, but I was skeptical of Dr. Martin and his claims. It seemed too fantastic in its outrageous-sounding promises. But I trusted Brenda who, like me, approaches all of this stuff through a scientific lens, and she assured me that despite its imperfections, Dr. Martin’s research is leaps and bounds above anything else in this field. So I dove into his research and was instantly fascinated and impressed. I signed up for his 45-day course with the following intention: if I can use this method to experience these incredible shifts myself, and if these shifts do indeed benefit my life in the way the research claims they will, then I will incorporate these techniques into my coaching practice with my clients so they can benefit from them, too.

Then I (metaphorically) banged my head against the wall for nearly two years. 

I used Dr. Martin’s protocol for well over 45 days and every time I’d get a glimpse of those qualities and start trying to relax deeply into them, my silly mind would start fantasizing about telling others about my successful enlightenment or something, and then I’d be back at square one. Where was this magical shift? And how exactly was it supposed to occur? I found Dr. Martin’s guidance sub-par here. To make matters even more challenging, Dr. Martin’s research indicates that these glimpses that you’re supposed to relax into tend to only start appearing once one has been continuously meditating for around 45 minutes, so the next day I’d invest around that much time just to have a shot at trying again. More like, failing again. After investing hundreds, maybe even close to a thousand hours meditating according to Dr. Martin’s guidance with no success, I was ready to throw in the towel.

In April 2024, everything changed.

But first, a brief rewind to 2016. Alumni of Dr. Martin’s courses wanted a way to keep in touch and support one another after the courses reached their completion. They created a free, self-organized, leaderless community called Perfectly Okay (POK) that has since grown to over 2,000 members globally and hosts over 70 free live virtual meetups every week. It’s an incredible resource, and if you want to be in more community with folks who are not only exploring these states but are also discovering how best to integrate it into a healthy, fulfilling life, check them out here: https://perfectlyokay.org/ .

Over the last two years, the POK community charged ahead of Dr. Martin’s published findings, eager to discover the uncharted territory of his map and share their findings and best practices with one another.

I’ll make a confession here: I’ve always devalued the importance of community. I’ve taken the American cultural value of individualism hook, line and sinker, believing that if I’m intelligent enough and disciplined enough, I can achieve anything all on my own. Dr. Martin’s research and protocols also seemed to have an individualist, solo-practitioner bias as well, with about 80% of his 45-day protocol focusing on solo rather than group practices.

The POK community has transformed our understanding of these states in two ways. First, being in community with others who have also shifted into these states seems to have a hugely positive impact on the wellbeing of people experiencing these shifts and how smoothly the overall experience goes. Going through some of the more advanced shifts down the road without knowing if what you’re experiencing is normal or abnormal can be terrifying and isolating. The POK community, perhaps for the first time in history, has connected people around the world from across traditions and beliefs with folks who can reassure you from their personal experience that what you’re experiencing is normal and will pass soon. The long-feared “dark night of the soul” that various spiritual traditions warn about tends to not show up for folks in the POK community. It’s incredible!

The second way the POK community has changed our understanding of these states is that the actual mechanics of shifting, which you might recall my heroic struggle to figure out all on my own, actually becomes super easy and enjoyable when done in direct partnership with someone else.

Enter a dude named Rastal.

Rastal, an active and beloved member of the POK community, cracked the code on the mechanics of shifting through these states. Early in 2024, he started experimenting with guiding people 1-on-1 using his new method, and the results were shockingly positive.

Now we’re back in April 2024. I had my first 90m 1-on-1 session with Rastal on April 6th. I was so convinced it wouldn’t work for me. But it did! Two shifts occurred in that first session, and it was easy! Rastal and I instantly became good friends and collaborators, each of us passionate about bringing this new approach to the masses in our own ways.

Halfway through my first session with Rastal, I completed my first shift. I opened my eyes, and I noticed that something felt different. My body felt buzzy and heavier. My mind was significantly calmer. Something real had happened, even though I didn’t fully understand precisely what it was. We proceeded with the second shift of the session. As that shift was unfolding, I encountered some familiar, distracting sensations in my heart area. My heartbeat became heavy and distracting, and Rastal gently supported me and kept me on track. That feeling in the chest dissolved on its own, and I completed the second shift. I opened my eyes, and things felt very different. Asked to dive into the details of a specific memory, I noticed that it took so much more effort than normal, as though the present moment was fully the default now. I felt deeply peaceful, as though nothing had to be done.

Guided Shifting made peace unconditional, rather than conditional. It was my home now, rather than a place I could aspire to only temporarily visit.

Later that day, I was attending the birthday party of a new friend, going to the party by myself. I hadn’t been to big social events since before COVID, and they would always be energy-intensive performances. I was never fully at ease. Instead, I’d always be planning out how I’m going to talk about myself, sensitive to who was getting more attention than me, and self-critical about how I could have behaved differently in certain interactions.

I showed up to this party and, probably for the first time in my life, I felt fully at ease in a large group. That mental chatter was completely gone. I often found myself in between conversations standing alone and simply enjoying watching everyone, without feeling anxiety and overly self-conscious about what I’m doing or should be doing next. I had such a lovely time connecting with new people. I felt free and at ease.

This blew my mind. I had spent years working as a coach, helping clients articulate powerful goals and them working with them for extended periods to meet those goals. And all the sudden, this extraordinary outcome arrived without any effort, goal-setting, or work.

Days later, I noticed a funny pattern: thinking about upcoming coaching sessions on my calendar no longer activated the flicker of heat in my chest that I had become accustomed to. It struck me that I probably had mild social anxiety my whole life, but I didn’t notice it until it had vanished!

Shortly thereafter, I was with someone very close to me who surprised me by sharing how angry they were with me. This came as a complete shock, and this was someone who I was deeply supportive of over the years, essentially being on call for years at a time whenever they were in crisis. As this conversation was happening, I noticed that my entire body was trying to shake and tremble. I kept a lid on it for about 24hrs, and then all of this deep, repressed anger that had been building for years suddenly poured out. It was so freeing, and it was only happening because my body finally felt safe enough to feel this deeply repressed emotion. I then shared my truths kindly and completely with this person, and that set into motion months of relational realignment. Now, our relationship is the best it’s been in a very long time.

Over the course of 6 weeks, Rastal guided me through the rest of the shifts. It was a fun and easy experience. Different, subtle changes arose along the way, with peace permeating more and more of my experience.

I suddenly connected very deeply with animals and children. I discovered that alcohol instantly made me feel worse, so the desire to drink dissolved. Colors, in particular purples, are super vibrant for me. I can now easily enjoy extended periods without mental activity, but for the most part thinking is great because it no longer disrupts the sense of peace. At any point, I can fully envelope myself in this sense of vibrant, buzzy aliveness or spacious emptiness. Doing absolutely nothing, or waiting in lines or traffic, is deeply enjoyable now instead of frustration. Intuition is readily available and flowing, with each right next step revealing the next one.

In the months that followed, I guided around 40 individuals through Guided Shifting sessions over Zoom. I refined the method, incorporated elements I had learned from therapeutic modalities like Somatic Experiencing, ran loads of experiments, and discovered that this is something everyone can benefit from. By the end of 2024, I figured out how to facilitate Guided Shifting sessions asynchronously through the web, creating the opportunity to bring this to the world via www.guidedshifting.com

Now, my two main priorities are bringing Guided Shifting to the world and continuing my personal healing journey. The two are beautifully connected: life reveals a new, deepest layer of healing ready to be met, and when that’s healed or been released, that expands what’s possible for my intuition around Guided Shifting. I still have a ways to go, and I hope to one day share a companion inner healing journey that is on par with the efficacy and power of Guided Shifting.

There is still so much extraordinary work to be done in this space. Here’s what I know is around the corner:

• Discovering how to best share this widely. This website is an ongoing, living and breathing experiment to serve this goal. You’ll probably see little changes and improvements appear suddenly throughout the website, since I’m always tinkering with it and trusting my instincts.

• Developing accompanying therapeutic best practices. While some emotional reactivity and trauma commonly automatically dissolves for clients, the deeper wounds require more work. The best practices and modalities in therapy and psychology are optimized for people pre-shifting, not post-shifting. There’s an entirely new field of therapeutic methods to be developed here that leverage the state that people’s minds and bodies are in after Guided Shifting.

• Deepening our scientific understanding of Guided Shifting. What exactly is happening in the mind and body during and after a Guided Shifting session? How do brain waves, neural activity, cortisol levels, etc. change? What part(s) of the session are providing the most benefits? Are there ways to lean into those benefits in sessions even more? Precisely how stable are these transformative changes over time? Which psychological conditions is this most suited to support the healing or maintenance of? These are just some of the delicious questions that I hope we can start answering in the comings months and years.

If any of these projects or questions ignites something within you, then please reach out over email!

Thank you for reading all of this and being a part of this fun, unfolding journey!

-Jason Soll, February 17, 2024