"My experience doing voice dialogue with Jogen granted me access to a previously unknown relaxation when contemplating what is most important to me. There is somewhere within me a voice that feels no pressure or judgment about pursuing my deepest aspirations, and I am now able to tap into that attitude when necessary. My internal life feels like it's been reupholstered in some beautiful way that I was not able to imagine.”

--Jikai David Menendez

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" Jogen is a clear, sharp and creative guide for living a joyful meditative life with a gift for articulating the ins and outs of the human heart."                                    

--Abby Mushin Terris, MA LPC, guiding teacher of Sangha Jewel Zen Center 

 

 

 

“For this work to be fruitful, it's important to be at ease to fully engage the exercise without excessive ego intervention. I could always relax with Jogen and delve into what needed attention with love, acceptance, and sometimes even joy, despite the challenging nature of my work.  Jogen brings a range of skills to the session--- connectivity, authentic care, ancient wisdom, and a timely understanding of individual and intergenerational trauma. These have helped me gain a deep understanding of what's "under the hood" in my mind and my heart, and my healing and development became supercharged as a result of our sessions. I highly recommend his service.“

--Christy Seicho Smith

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“I have met a number of teachers and healers who are experts at guiding people either through the 'ascending' path of spiritual awakening as depicted in the various wisdom traditions, or through the 'descending' path of exploring our individual shadows and the beauties of our particular, embodied souls. Jogen is a rare practitioner who is capable of assisting people in going both upward and downward at the same time. In doing so, he never compromises the importance of the journey in either direction. 

 

I also think Jogen has a profound ability to be absolutely serious and earnest at the same time as being playful, lighthearted, and plain silly. Around him, I feel my fire is lit to walk my path of awakening with full intensity without falling into the trap of totally identifying with the 'Very Serious Practitioner'. 

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As my Zen teacher for the past few years, he has consistently been able to inspire me in refining and expanding my meditation practice, with great fineness and gentleness, and with such a profound knowledge of the classic Zen tradition. When I’m on retreat with Jogen, his instructions so wonderfully balance poetry and precision, inspiration and technique, such that my practice is urged to a new level of devotion, and I feel I am sitting not out of self-improvement or a sense of lack, but out of sheer love of the mystery and faith in the inherent clarity of awareness.

 

In a recent Voice Dialogue session with him, I was particularly moved with how he was able to hold my Inner Critic with immense tenderness and respect, urging me not to try to overcome psychic tension, but to embrace and fully hold psychic division. As my Inner Critic felt truly witnessed, it was able to weep and fully feel its frustration and pain and anger, and also communicate its important messages to the rest of my psyche. 

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Also Jogen is just straight up one of the most generous and loving people I know. As teacher at Great Vow Zen Monastery, I witnessed times of him give up any semblance of having free time out of his love and care for his students and community there."

--Eric Hertz

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“Jogen came into my awareness at the perfect moment in my life. I was looking for his guidance but didn't know it yet. I am deeply grateful for his presence and thoughtful questioning that have helped unfold me. His kind smile and receptive eyes hold an easy acceptance of my parts. Our sessions have stretched my heart like a balloon. I have found self love in unexplored corners of my being. “

--Tom Hurlburt

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“Jogen is an incredibly intuitive and compassionate teacher. He is one of the people I most trust with my practice. His many years of practice manifest in the energy and clarity he brings to each session. I would recommend him to anyone looking to deepen their practice or better understand their mind and heart.”

--Peter Wills 

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“I can really feel the fruits of Jogen’s multi-faceted path of heart-mind training in our sessions together. If you’ve ever been to one of his soundscape listening meditations (which I highly recommend checking out his mixcloud), you know that he has a finely honed intuition for weaving together the harmonious and the discordant into a galactic-sized space of life-affirming abundance and acceptance. That’s just how I would characterize our sessions together. Nothing is ever too much, too loud, too quiet, too angry, too joyful, or too sad. His compassionate curiosity for all the different perspectives that make up this ever-shifting psyche help me to loosen my grip on very old beliefs and to embody and express parts of myself that I just haven’t known how to make space for. I just really trust in the beneficence and kindness of Jogen’s intention and offering.  “

--Maggie Medlin