Ish Hasan Connect

I guide men through crossings.

Work with me

I spent a lot of my life afraid. Afraid of taking up space. Afraid of what people would think. Afraid of my own desire. That's what happens when you grow up in a conservative Muslim family, living undocumented.

So I became agreeable. Quiet. Meek. I performed the life I was taught to want instead of finding the one I actually wanted. My society called me good. I was as good as gone.

Then, in 2014, I jumped off a 70-foot cliff in Yosemite. I couldn't swim. For three minutes I was between life and death — and down there at the bottom of that water, I met something I'd spent my whole life pretending didn't exist. I have only one phrase for it. The Divine Light. A peace and a purpose I'd never touched until then.

I didn't return enlightened. But I did become more honest. I couldn't keep performing after that.

Then life kept breaking it open. Military. Immigration. Divorce. Chronic illness. Each one cracked a piece of the performance until what was left was just me — raw, and more alive than I'd ever been. Each one somehow returning me to those three minutes, reminding me what life is actually about.

Ish Hasan

The man I am now is the man who was forged in those three minutes. What I learned down there: fear isn't the enemy. It's the compass.

That's the crossing I guide people through. Not weekend catharsis. Not optimized performance. Not a productivity hack with a campfire. Something slower, harder, and more permanent.

This work is for those who are done managing their lives, ready to actually live them. Not to become someone new. To finally trust who they already are.

How I guide

The shepherd goes into the field.

I don't guide from having arrived — you can read my shadow bio for all the things I'm still learning. I guide through the lens of experience.

I equate the work I do to that of a shepherd. The shepherd doesn't point from the shore. He goes into the field with those who wandered off, and stays until the last one's through.

My work is rooted in meditation traditions, ancestral rites of passage, intimacy education, and masculine/feminine embodiment. I work through the body and through nature.

I'm grateful for the guidance of Amir Khalighi, John Wineland, Co-Dependents Anonymous, the Shipibo-Konibo traditions of Peru, and the wild places that keep teaching me whether I'm ready or not.

Some of what I've been

  • a military intelligence officer
  • a meditation teacher
  • a polarity facilitator
  • a wilderness guide
  • a carpenter
  • a tech bro and a frat bro, too

Some of what's broken me open

  • a marriage and a divorce
  • moving countries
  • living with one usable kidney
  • a stutter I had to fight to speak through

Some of what I've trained in

Body & breath

  • Yoga Therapy — Ajna Yoga, Victoria
  • Breathwave Facilitation — Robin Clements
  • Energy Work — Chris Bale

Men's & relational

  • Men's Work — The Mankind Project & The Men's Circle
  • Transpersonal Facilitation — Amir Khalighi
  • Masculine Embodiment — Justin Patrick Pierce
  • Sexual Polarity — John Wineland

Earth & rites

  • Shamanic Apprenticeship — Aya Healing, Iquitos
  • Andean Apprenticeship — Kucho, Sacred Valley
  • Wilderness Vigil — School of Lost Borders, Big Pine
  • Nature Connection — Thriving Roots, Victoria

Mind & method

  • Meditation Teacher — Unified Mindfulness
  • Hypnotherapy — HCH Institute, Lafayette
  • Transformative Coaching — Erickson International
  • B.S. Information Systems — San Francisco State

Testimonials

Stop performing. Start living.

Work with me