about James

This question has inspired my path and honed the principles which guide my work. 

I began sitting meditation retreats when I was 15, at the Insight Meditation Society. Since then I have completed over a year’s worth of silent retreat practice, some of which I spent in Sri Lanka as an ordained monk, deepening in the Buddha’s teachings on liberation. Dharma practice, mainly in the lineage of Western Buddhist Insight, serves as a foundation upon which I understand and relate to my life. 

For me, liberation is an active and ongoing line of inquiry, which provides a framework for radically investigating and understanding oneself and the world.

Since 2020 I have been in ongoing study and practice with my teacher, Rodney Smith. This relationship has furthered my process tremendously, consistently supporting a movement within the dharma that is humbled by the process of moving beyond self-deception and into a radical liberating awareness. I began teaching more formally with his invitation in 2024.

Another core influence in my life has been The Event Training, which is an experiential training, led by Khandro Kelly and Fleet Maull, designed to facilitate the embodied integration of unconscious shadow material in the psyche. The Event is an invitation to turn towards, rather than away from, pain and fear, which allows for access to deeper layers of compassion and truth. Willingness and curiosity are critical to any path of growth and healing.

I have been involved with The ManKind Project (MKP) for several years and it has benefited me as a man to be in deep process work with other men. The training offered through MKP has been foundational to walking the talk of men’s work and to learning the art of showing up more fully in one’s life and in the world at large. 

I have also been involved with an organization called Young Men Awake, sitting in circle and group process with younger men, asking the challenging questions of what it is to be a man in today’s world. This work keeps me in accountable relationship with other men who challenge me into the fullness of who I am beyond the strategies of self-sabotage and fear that so easily run the show. 

I am a dedicated student and practitioner of Somatic Experiencing (SE), which is a body-based stress and trauma healing modality. Somatic Experiencing has fundamentally altered the way I understand trauma, illness, and psychological conditions, as it addresses the body as the primary gateway to resolving and renegotiating a wide variety of trauma and pain. In the words of the SE Founder, Dr. Peter Levine I believe that “that trauma is not only curable, but that the healing process can be a catalyst for profound awakening.”

In addition to Somatic Experiencing, I deeply believe in the work of Dr. Diane Poole Heller and Dynamic Attachment Re-patterning Experience (DARe). So much of what manifests in our world today as harm caused is a result of harm incurred, largely in the form of early attachment and childhood wounding. By engaging these wounds and reprogramming our attachment systems for security and connection, there is the potential to reduce so much unnecessary suffering and harm in the world. 

I work as a Trainer in Mindfulness Based Mind-Fitness Training (MMFT) under the guidance of Dr. Elizabeth Stanley. We are currently working in Ukraine with veterans, care providers, and military psychologists, as a part of an international relief effort to bring tools of mindfulness-based nervous system regulation to crisis zones.

I also work with Somatic Experiencing International (SEI) as a Lead Trainer for the Crisis Safety & Stabilization (CSS) program, to teach responders of all kinds to interrupt and prevent the symptoms of stress, shock, and trauma during a community-wide crisis, such as a disaster, mass casualty event, war, or pandemic.

In January of 2024, I was invited by my teacher, Rodney Smith, to begin sharing the Dharma.

There are countless people that have supported and informed who I am today. It is this undeniable web of connection that is responsible for my ability to offer my work. It is a great honor.