Biography
Jim, a native of New Zealand, served with New Zealand artillery forces in Vietnam from June 67 – July 68, and then attended Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. After graduation, he opened his first office in Santa Rosa, California. He practiced as a chiropractor for 25 years. However his real passion, sparked by a health crisis when we was just 29, was awakening to the truth of his being—to the freedom and joy that do not depend on outer circumstances, and that he intuited was his true nature. He was initially inspired on his quest for freedom by the teachings of J. Krishnamurti, and then in 1984 met European nondual master, Jean Klein, who became his teacher. With Jean’s guidance, he finally realized freedom from the “I,” the “me,” and all its stories in the spring of 1995. Ever since then, he has been dedicated to sharing his message of heart-centered awakening—and of creating a new, more empowering life experience and "story"—with others.
His own awakening was severely tested by another health challenge, when he suffered three strokes over a period of five months. The third stroke landed him in the intensive care ward at UCSF Hospital in January, 2004. He was forced to quit his practice, and it took him several years to recover, but throughout the whole process, he just flowed, basically, harmoniously with whatever was happening. As he writes in his book, End Your Story, Begin Your Life (Hampton Roads, 2011) regarding the experience of his strokes: “As I see it, this is the litmus test of our freedom: how we deal with life’s changes and challenges. The more unconscious and unaware we are, the more such challenges will cause us to spiral down into fear, unhappiness, depression, despair, suffering, and misery. The more conscious and aware we are, the more we discern the difference between real and imaginary challenges. “From this place of clarity and present-time awareness, we deal with whatever actual challenge may be confronting us, meeting it calmly and confidently, with wisdom and love.” End Your Story, Begin Your Life contains the essence of his teaching: that while we are a story-telling people, the great freedom or liberation is realizing that we are not our thoughts or stories which, like the emotional reactions they trigger, come and go, but rather the clear, ever-present consciousness that is always here. In this book, he maintains that most people can realize freedom within a much shorter time than it took him, providing they commit to doing the three-step practice of freedom, which is at the heart of the book and of his teaching work, whenever they experience conflict, upset, or suffering. The book can be ordered through your favorite bookstore, or online at www.amazon.com, or www.barnesandnoble.com. See below for an excerpt from the book, about how he awakened. He has also published The Ultimate Cure: The Healing Energy Within You (Llewellyn, 1995), his first book on spiritual transformation, which was translated into 4 languages, and The Way of Harmony (Avon, 1999), a guide to dealing with relationships, work, and daily life in a conscious way, written just after his awakening. His novel. Falling into Light, about a young boy’s spiritual journey, is available through emailing him at j