Videos & Teachings
Watch & Learn
A library of Jonah's teachings, sessions, meditations, and conversations — from short glimpses to deep dives.
New here?
Begin Here
Three videos that cover the range of the work — pick whichever fits where you are right now.
Spiritual Progress Boils Down To This, Every Day
The clearest distillation of what the work actually asks of you — and why the answer is simpler, and stranger, than you might expect.
When Meditation Isn't Enough (What Actually Opens Awakening)
If you've been on a spiritual path for years and something still feels incomplete — this is likely why, and what actually moves the needle.
I Walked Away From Everything To Find Truth. Here's What I Found.
Jonah's full account: the near-death experience, what it revealed, and what that has looked like in practice ever since. Long — and worth it.
A free place to begin
A free and immediate pathway to your own direct experience
Each chapter of this ebook and guided meditation invites you into a living shift in awareness, not a description of it from a distance.
The Library
Filter by series, or browse everything.
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What Is Being Disturbed - And What Isn't?
There's a peace in you that even the worst suffering can't reach — protected by the same mechanism that lets you set down a stray thought or an itch in your throat. A gathering exploring what is actually being disturbed and what remains untouched, how to return from a hijacking thought without judgment, and how to tell the still small voice from the reactive ego.
His Body Was Shutting Down. He Had Never Felt More Alive!
A guest conversation on The Infinite Mind podcast about Jonah's near-death experience — what it felt like to dissolve into consciousness, the real difference between pain and suffering, and how that moment has continued to unfold for decades.
What Is Being Disturbed - And What Isn't?
There's a peace in you that even the worst suffering can't reach — protected by the same mechanism that lets you set down a stray thought or an itch in your throat. A gathering exploring what is actually being disturbed and what remains untouched, how to return from a hijacking thought without judgment, and how to tell the still small voice from the reactive ego.
His Body Was Shutting Down. He Had Never Felt More Alive!
A guest conversation on The Infinite Mind podcast about Jonah's near-death experience — what it felt like to dissolve into consciousness, the real difference between pain and suffering, and how that moment has continued to unfold for decades.
The Same Fear Came Back 4 Times
The same fear met four times across a lifetime — at eight years old, as a terrified teenager, at 37, and once more in Guatemala, where it finally stopped being something to fear at all. What changed wasn't the experience. It was what he brought to it.
He Couldn't Sit Through a Movie After 8 Weeks of Meditation
Eight weeks ago, Jerry didn't believe in meditation at all. Now the drama in a movie is too absurd to hold his attention. A conversation on moving from being affected by the world to watching it from an entirely different vantage point.
He Ignored His Thoughts Completely. Then Everything Changed.
Jerry stopped trying to manage his thoughts — he just withdrew his attention completely. What opened up in that space turned his understanding of reality inside out. The conversation from the gathering where he shared it.
Your Ego Knows Silence Is Dangerous
A question from a Zoom gathering: if stillness feels good, why does part of you refuse to go there? On the 'ghost thoughts' that appear near the edge of meditation, and the fear of losing something in silence — which turns out to be the whole opening.
God Isn't Angry. You Just Missed the Mark.
A live Zoom conversation on shame, forgiveness, and what the original meaning of 'sin' actually was — from an archer's word for missing the mark. No cosmic ledger. No fundamental brokenness.
I Walked Away From Everything To Find Truth. Here's What I Found.
What an awakened mind actually looks like from the inside. What genuinely changes. What doesn't. And what the genuine promise actually is — which turns out to be more remarkable than the myth.
Birthdays, Mortality, and What Keeps Me Sane
An unscripted conversation on birthdays, the passage of time, watching people approach death, and a world that feels on fire — and the only solid ground I've found beneath all of it.
The Deepest Thing You Are
A brief meditation — almost a prayer — on the question: who is aware of every thought, every emotion, every perception? This is meant to be felt into, not just understood.
The World Feels Like Too Much Right Now. Here's What I Actually Do.
Three graduated approaches I actually use when the weight of the world lands on me — from the simple and immediate, to something more radical I've hesitated to say publicly for a long time.
If Today Feels Overwhelming, Watch This
A quiet reflection that invites you to pause and reconnect with the part of you that has always remained steady and unchanged. Just a breath. Just a moment.
A Simple Breath to Calm Anxiety and Support Meditation
A simple breathing technique known as the physiological sigh — a natural way to reduce stress and gently support nervous system regulation before or during meditation.
Presence Meeting Presence | Healing by Divine Principle
What actually happens in a healing session — not as technique or method, but as presence meeting presence. The Divine here recognizes the Divine there, and something that was obscured becomes visible again.
When You Lose Your Inner Peace — This Is the Practice
A practical teaching on what to do when inner peace seems to disappear, and how to return to the stillness that was never really lost.
When Meditation Isn't Enough (What Actually Opens Awakening)
Meditation can quiet the mind, but it doesn't dissolve the ego or lead to lasting peace on its own. Explore the three kinds of inner practice that actually undo the blocks to awakening.
Why Spiritual Seekers Get Stuck and How Awakening Really Happens
Watch in real time as a client discovers the direct experience of stepping out of ego and into presence — and find out why most seekers try too hard in the wrong direction.
The Secret Side of Meditation Science Cannot Touch!
There is an aspect of meditation that goes beyond what neuroscience can measure — a doorway into direct knowing that science has not yet found words for.
The Shocking Truth Sitting Quietly Can Reveal!
The simple act of sitting quietly can reveal something that most people are not expecting — the nature of the one who is sitting.
What Actually Unlocks Your Highest Self (Most People Overlook This)
Accessing your highest Self is far simpler than most seekers believe. It doesn't come from trying harder to meditate or chasing hidden techniques — it's available here and now.
What Happens When I Place My Hand on Someone's Head
A direct and honest account of what actually happens — from Jonah's perspective — in the moment of working with someone. Not energy transmission. Not technique. Something stranger and simpler than that.
What's It Like? Grand Canyon Winter Backpacking Retreat
Four days backpacking alone in the Grand Canyon in winter. A reflection on how the wilderness experience mirrors and inspires the inner journey.
How Do I Deal With Physical Pain On The Spiritual Path?
A direct and compassionate exploration of meeting physical pain on the spiritual path — drawing on personal experience and nondual understanding to find peace even here.
Near Death Experience
Jonah's account of a near-death experience — what he saw, what it changed, and what it confirmed about the nature of consciousness beyond the body.
Peace In This Crazy World For Spiritual Seekers
For the spiritual seeker who has been cultivating inner peace but finds the world seeming extra challenging — a way through that doesn't require looking away.
Flip Your Spiritual Practice On Its Head! ...And Integrate It Into Daily Life
A guest who found Jonah through his NDE account discovers how to integrate her deepest spiritual knowings into regular daily life by gently turning one of her own experiences upside down.
Letting Go Of Fear — A Major Part of My Spiritual Awakening Story
Fear was the central obstacle in Jonah's own awakening — and letting it go was not a decision but a discovery. What he found on the other side of it.
What I Wish I Knew 10 Years Ago About My Spiritual Journey
The things Jonah knows now that he really wishes he'd known at the beginning — practical, honest, occasionally uncomfortable.
When Time Stood Still: A Spiritual Journey Transformed
When time stood still for a participant in a free Zoom session, it changed everything about how she could meet the challenges of her life and spiritual journey.
How To Find Peace In A Time Of War
Whether the war is external or internal, how does finding peace and healing really work? A way to think about it grounded in spirit yet leading to tangible, real experiences of genuine peace.
The Truth Of Who You Are And How To Find It
The truth of who you are is beyond the limitations of ordinary time-space — and there is a remarkably accessible way to find this, to experience it directly, even in everyday life.
The Everyday Experience That Points to Non-Dual Truth
Every day, you've already touched this. In any moment of something genuinely loving, something real is present — directly known, even if not yet recognized for what it is.
How To Keep Your Peace? Nonduality In A Busy World...
How does one keep their peace when the world is so busy, loud, and demanding? The nondual truth of what we really are can show itself, even here, if we're willing.
What If It Doesn't Matter What I Do On The Spiritual Journey?
Spiritual seekers often ask: what do I do? But what if it doesn't really matter? What matters is where you come from — and that changes everything.
Want To Give Up On Spiritual Seeking? ...And The Power Of Releasing Judgment
A conversation about disenchantment with spiritual seeking, and what it's like to meet harsh inner judgment from the peace of one's deepest being — and let it go.
The One About Weed, Career, And Telling God To Get Lost...
A wide-ranging private session covering spiritual ground on recreational use, career aspirations, and the power judgment wields in our inner and outer life — including when directed at telling God to get lost.
A Transformative Meeting: Taking Back One's Power & No-Self In A New Way
A participant has a transformative experience around regaining her own power and finds a deep new understanding of what it means to ask 'who am I?' — recognizing there was no self in the one asking.
When Awakening Feels Like You're Losing Your Mind (You're Not)
Many people go through intense phases where old identities dissolve and inner perception shifts rapidly. A personal account of what is actually happening beneath the surface — and why it's okay.
Spiritual Awakening: The Side No One Talks About
Most people, even most spiritual seekers, don't really want a true nondual spiritual awakening — but only because of a profound misunderstanding about what it actually is.
Your Deepest Peace In Under 10 Minutes — A Guided Meditation
Deep peace can be described as taking a step back from any kind of identification or doing. A guided meditation and sharing of freedom — the deepest stillness available.
Lost Track Of Time? How This Can Put You On The Path to Nondual Awareness
In moments in which we've lost track of time, we've already touched something important. Four steps that may bring the experience of nondual awareness and healing to the deepest parts of your mind.
Will You Just Walk Away From Everything? — The Nondual Spiritual Journey
On the nondual spiritual journey, the notion of walking away from everything comes up often — sometimes as a fear, sometimes as potentially freeing. What will it be for you?
Spiritual Progress Boils Down To This, Every Day
Spiritual progression — especially nondual awareness — will be impacted by one particular choice made in moment after moment during the ordinary course of daily life.
The Startling Truth Of Nondual Awareness: Death Of Ego?
Nondual awareness is sometimes called the death of ego or the death of self. An exploration of what this actually means — and why it's less frightening than it sounds.
Going Inward to Advance On The Nondual Spiritual Path
Spiritual progress — whether described in nondual terms or not — is always an inner game. Our outward experience hardly has a chance to change unless we go inward.
A Freedom You Cannot Find Another Way
There is a kind of inner freedom which leads to outer freedom, found by discovering that the sense of personal self inside is a fiction — and what remains is far greater.
So What Do You Do In A Session With Someone?
A spontaneous answer given at a small satsang gathering right after a healing session — what exactly happens when presence meets presence, and what one person 'does' for another.
How Spiritual Awakening and Change Really Happen
The process of spiritual awakening, healing, and change is much like when a ship changes course via the shine of a lighthouse — gradual, natural, and real.
The Real Secret To Being In The Present Moment
The real secret to presence is not a technique. It is a recognition of what you already are — here, now, already whole.
How Does Spiritual Awakening Really Work?
An honest look at the actual mechanics of spiritual awakening — what it is, how it unfolds, and why it is so different from the myths most people carry.
The Simplest Doorway to Truth
The simplest doorway to truth is not found through effort or technique but through an honest meeting with what is already here, already present.
Free from Karma
Exploring what it means to be free from the wheel of karma — not through avoidance, but through the understanding of what karma really is and how it ends.
Here And Now
A reflection on the ever-present nature of the here and now — the only place where peace, truth, and freedom can actually be found.
What Is The Truth About Souls?
A nondual exploration of the nature of the soul — what it is, what it isn't, and what remains when all our concepts about it are gently set aside.
A New Way to Forgive: Advanced Forgiveness
Advanced forgiveness goes deeper than releasing the past. It is a way of seeing that dissolves the very ground from which grievances arise.
What Is Spiritual Enlightenment or Awakening Really Like?
An honest, personal account of what spiritual enlightenment is actually like to live — not the myth, but the lived reality, including its surprises.
Enlightenment Is a Letting Go Process
Enlightenment is not a gaining of something new. It is a letting go of what was never truly ours to hold onto — and what remains is more than enough.
Self Sabotage On The Way To Awakening
A look at the ways the mind subtly resists its own liberation — and how to recognize and gently release these patterns on the path.
Why Are We Here?
A contemplative inquiry into the deepest question: why are we here? And what becomes possible when we stop needing a conceptual answer.
There Must Be Another Way
A reflection on the moment of spiritual turning — when the old ways of seeking stop working and something deeper, quieter, and more honest begins.
Light Shines When the Clouds Are Gone
Light doesn't appear when the clouds part — it was always there. A reflection on the nature of awareness and how it naturally reveals itself when the obscuring layers thin.
Why Is Inner Stillness Helpful?
Inner stillness is not a spiritual luxury — it is the ground from which clarity, healing, and genuine insight can naturally arise in all areas of life.
Letting Go of Thoughts
A gentle meditation on the nature of thoughts and the simple practice of letting them go — not through suppression or force, but through understanding.
It Doesn't Matter the Size of a Grievance
Whether large or small, a grievance blocks the light equally. The practice of releasing judgment applies to the smallest irritation and the deepest wound alike.
Letting Go Doesn't Have To Be Difficult
Letting go is often thought of as a painful discipline. But when understood correctly, it can be as natural and easy as releasing a held breath.
Hearing The Still Small Voice
The still small voice within is always speaking. The question is whether we are quiet enough — and willing enough — to actually listen.
Concepts of Self Are Like the Branches of a Tree...
Every concept we hold about who we are is like a branch on a tree — useful for a time, but not the root. A meditation on identity, belief, and true nature.
Shorts
ShortThe Peace Isn't Somewhere Else. It's Here.
The peace I'm pointing to isn't above the world. It's beneath it. Behind it. All around it. And it's available right now.
ShortThis Isn't Spiritual Bypassing. It's the Opposite.
Touching a deeper peace doesn't mean checking out of the world. It means you stop amplifying the fear that's already everywhere.
ShortThis World Is Not the Ultimate Reality
The hardest thing I say publicly — and the most important. Beyond all appearance is a peace so fundamental it cannot be threatened.
ShortMy Name Isn't Jonah. Except... It Kind of Is.
My given name is Jonathan. A friend started calling me Jonah years ago. The funny part? What we're doing in this work is dissolving attachment to identity.
ShortUnderstanding Evil Doesn't Excuse It. It Just Costs You Less.
Anger and despair at the state of the world cost me everything and changed nothing.
ShortWhere Does the Suffering Actually Live?
When the weight of the world lands on you… try this.
ShortWhen the World Feels Too Heavy, Do This
When the weight of the world starts pressing in, the first thing I do is surprisingly simple.
ShortHow One Moment Reorients Your Life
A single moment of genuine seeing can reorient everything — not by changing your circumstances, but by changing the ground from which you meet them.
ShortStillness Isn't Spiritual Bypassing
When the world feels like it's on fire, stillness can feel like abandonment. But that's a misunderstanding of what stillness actually offers.
ShortHow Truth Sets You Free
You wake up through your own encounter with truth. A story cannot do that for you. But when something is directly recognized from the inside, that moment becomes a reference point.
ShortPresence Meeting Presence
Sometimes what we share with each other is not advice, explanation, or fixing. Sometimes it is simply presence.
ShortAwakening Happens Through Your Own Encounter With Truth
No one wakes up because of someone else's story. Stories can point, but awakening itself comes through a direct encounter with truth.
ShortThe Physiological Sigh: A 60-Second Nervous System Reset
A simple two-breath technique that gently shifts your nervous system out of fight-or-flight and into calm. Two or three breaths. About a minute.
ShortIt's Just a Deep Breath and a Pause
Sometimes that's enough — a deep breath and a pause to reconnect with the stillness beneath the surface of a busy day.
ShortWhy I Don't Call Myself a Healer
If the separate self is an illusion, how could it be the cause of anything? A reflection on healing, presence, and simplicity beyond techniques and identities.
ShortEveryone You Meet Is a Teacher
Not through words — but through how they see the world, how they treat others, and how they understand themselves. What do you want to be demonstrating?
ShortTrees Make You Smarter! (Here's Why)
Slow walks in nature without distraction lower stress and activate the same brain regions used in meditation and insight. No earbuds. No agenda. Just presence.
ShortI'm Not the Healer
This is not healing by me. It's a shared moment of presence — where something deeper reveals itself. I'm as much a witness as you are.
ShortYou Are Already Whole
There is a deeper awareness within you that is already whole, peaceful, and complete. Real healing arises from recognizing our true nature — not from fixing what was never broken.
ShortAwakening Isn't What You Think
Awakening isn't all incense and mountaintops — sometimes it's messy, funny, and disarmingly real.
Music
Highly produced short films and curated music — offered without commentary, simply as beauty.
The Family Of Man — A Musical Meditation on Our Shared Humanity
The most famous photographic exhibition ever shown, set to Max Richter's 'On The Nature Of Daylight' — a soulful meditation on the oneness of our shared human experience.
Tchaikovsky, Hymn Of The Cherubim — A Meditation on Spiritual Light
A visual meditation and prayer for the shining light of awareness and spiritual awakening, built upon Tchaikovsky's gorgeous Hymn of the Cherubim.
Benedictus, by Karl Jenkins
A deeply moving musical offering of Benedictus by Karl Jenkins — one of the channel's most-watched and most-loved videos, shared as an act of beauty and spiritual devotion.
Browse the full channel on YouTube → youtube.com/@JonahVanValin