We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jon Freeman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jon below.

Jon, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

I had been pastoring in a church in Amsterdam for a couple of years. It was a church of about 500 people. I was in the zone flourishing doing what I loved. I was a big fish in a small pond. My wife and I made the move back to the US, to Chicago so she could finish up her physical therapy studies. I joined a mega church, about 20,000 people in Chicago and began serving there working with the twenty something community. I was now a small fish in a big pond. It felt like I had gone from being on the starting 5 basketball team using my gifts, serving, teaching, etc. to sitting on the bench where I was relegated to just watch.

I had grown up in a dysfunctional home where I lived with a violent alchoholic Father. I saw and witnessed abuse. As a little guy growing up in this home I learned well how to hide feelings, how to stuff emotions, how to carry on with my life on the exterior while experiencing fear and terror on the inside. There was much in the interior of my life that I had stuffed that I was not aware of – the buried deep emotions, the co-dependency.

Going from a small church where I was on the starting 5 to a mega church where I was sitting the bench was a defining moment in my life. It forced me to begin to see how I was finding my worth in the work I was doing as a Pastor. My identity was wrapped up in the things that I was doing, in the role of a Pastor. As I began to face the uncomfortable feelings of unworthiness due to sitting the bench and the trauma of my past, healing began to take place.

During this time I was fortunate to be part of a small leadership co-hort of about 6 people led by a woman who was taking us on a deep dive into our soul. I remember a one on one meeting with her sitting in her office describing some of the horrific events that took place in my life growing up. I remember just stairing at the floor recounting such an event without any feeling or emotion. After finishing what I was saying, I looked up at my Spiritual Director and she had tears streaming down her face. As soon as my eyes witnessed this something deep in me released and the emotion began pouring out of me as I wailed and wailed. She was feeling the emotions that are normal, but ones I had buried for years. She was mirroring back to me what it is to be a healthy emotional adult. This changed everything for me and was the beginning of a new chapter in my life.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Life is a journey and my life feels like it has been a winding journey leading me into a variety of different disciplines and careers and yet there are some things that run through all of them.

I grew up the youngest of 6 kids, 2 sisters and 3 brothers. My Father was an alcoholic and when drinking would become violent and beat my Mother. He was a man of two minds. When sober he was gentle and loving but when drinking he would turn into another sort of beast. My mom held the family together with her dedication to us kids, her deep love for us and her steadiness.

My brothers and sisters were all athletic and being the youngest and wanting to be like them I got into sports myself. Basketball became my love and I commited myself to be the best I could be. I would stay after school starting in elementary school working on my game. It also allowed for me to stay away from the chaos that was a part of my home life

Basketball became my first career. I was fortunate enough to play college ball and then after college to play 4 years professionally in Germany and former Czechoslovakia. What an amazing experience to get paid to play a game I loved, to travel throughout Europe, experience new cultures, languages and peoples. After my first year in Germany I came back to the US to marry my wife and take her back to Europe. She was a volleyball player and played as well.

Growing up I don’t know why but there was something in me that always wanted to make lots of money. Perhaps it was seeing my parents struggle to pay bills and rent and experiencing getting cars and a boat repossessed because they could not make payments. In high school I had a desire to become a millionaire through investing in real estate. I attended courses and classes. I purchased tapes and books seeking ways that others had made their fortune. I posted notes in my bedroom stating goals to be reached. I joined a few different multi-level marketing companies including selling water filters, door to door. I sold water filters door to door. It was also during my high school years that I had an interest in the Spiritual. I was reading esoteric books as well as self help books looking for ways to better myself

I left for college mainly to play basketball but knew I wanted to major in business as that would be a good foundation for making lots of money. Last two years I was playing ball at a Christian college. I wasn’t a Christian but I was open. I was there to play basketball and get my degree in business. I was required to attend chapels and take bible courses. Long story short after graduating I became a Christian and had a strong desire to study the Scriptures so after my career in Europe playing basketball I was off to Seminary. I guess my becoming a millionaire would have to wait!

My second career was a long one – missions work and pastoral work back in Europe and the US. So many lovely experiences and meeting beautiful people from all over the world. My wife and I have memories that will last a lifetime. After many years serving in the church however my heart continued to expand and grow and the church was not able to contain it. The particular flavor of Christianity that I was serving in is what is called Evangelicalism. It was like by body continued to grow but I was still wearing my childhood clothes and they became so tight and controlling that I just needed to break free. I went through a deconstruction of my faith letting go of many limiting and toxic beliefs that had been holding me back. It opened up an entire new world for me where following Jesus now meant loving and connecting with my brothers and sisters from other faiths including Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Sikhism, Sufism, Contemplative Christianity.

There was a new found freedom in my soul and at the same time it was very challenging as many of my friends struggled with the changes that were going on in my soul and beliefs. I stepped out the local church and my role as Pastor. It was also a time that I needed to figure out how I was going to make money, pay the bills and did not know what was next for me. I went through a bit of a dark night wrestling with this season of so much uncertainty.

Prior to leaving the church as a pastor my wife and I pursued a two year certificate in Spiritual Direction Training. This is an age old practice of coming alongside people who are looking for support on their spiritual journey. It is a deep practice of listening, not teaching but rather supporting with loving attention. It has been a joy for us to sit with people and provide them sacred space as they unfold their life journey. Such a privilege to be a witness to this tenderness!

My soul reminded me of my entrepeneurial spirit as a young high school student. Now was the time to go for it as a real estate investor. I went for it and started buying homes. My strategy was buy and hold, so I bought homes in great locations. Buy homes in great locations for a low price, rent them out and hold for long term. Currently we own 5 homes and the passive income has been tremendous for us, allowing me the freedom to pursue deep passions in my heart.

There still was a yearning in my heart for soul work that real estate does not touch. I sensed their was more ahead for me but what is it. I pursued some chaplaincy work working with dual diagnosed folks battling with an addiction as well as mental challenges. I considered a career in Chaplaincy and had a couple interviews but never felt a deep calling. What was it? What is next for me?

Years ago I went to a sound bath. This was simply a woman who had 7 crysal bowls and she played each bowl for about 7 minutes then moved to the next bowl. She played for about an hour. There were about 10 of us laid out on our yoga mat. After the hour I came back into my body feeling as if I had just had a soul massage. It was if I had been taken on a journey. There was a deep sense of well being in my Spirit. I was seeing colors more brightly. I wondered what just happened to me. I went right out and bought one crystal bowl for myself playing it during meditation and offering it to friends and family. I did not know at the time that this would be something I would be offering to the world. I just knew what traspired in my body and so wanted to continue the practice. I began adding a few more instruments over time- a steel tongue drum, more cystal bowls, frame drum, ocean drum, koshi chimes, gongs, etc.

My wife works in a hospital and there was an opportunity at her hospital to join the Arts for Healing Team as a volunteer to bring sound and vibrations to patients and staff. So every week I take my rolling cart with some instruments into patients rooms to bring soothing sounds and vibrations to bring them peace, relaxation and healing. There was one patient who I was playing for each week for about 7 months. She was waiting for a heart transpired. One day when I went to see her I asked her how she was doing. She said she has been anxious all day and her heart rate and blood pressure had been high. Her mom was in the room with us. After playing crystal bowls for about 5 minutes I saw out of the corner of my eye a waving arm. Her Mom was trying to get my attention. As I looked at the Mom she was pointing at the monitor where the patient was hooked up showing heart rate and blood pressure. As I looked up I saw on the monitor heart rate and blood pressure coming down. After I was finished playing I asked the patient how she was feeling and she told me that she had no anxiety. And her Mom said your heart rate and blood pressure is normal. How beautiful! I had a wonderful opportunity to play for her after she received her new heart!

Opportunities are beginning to open up for my wife and I to play events. We are embarking on this new journey still on the front end but trusting that Divine Spirit will bring us to just the right people that are longing to bring sound and vibration into their life for healing and peace and well being. We are beginning to delve into the science behind sound and the research that is showing remarkeable benefits. Is this a new career for me? I don’t know. I guess that I don’t look so much any more at what my career is but rather pay attention to what is pulsing through my veins, what are my passions, where is my purpose and where does the Spirit of Divinity want to take me

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

I am moving in the world of sound healing and have been learning much from trainings and studying the subject. However one simple thing beyond my own study that has been powerful for me is to surround myself with other sound healers, to meet with them, to go to their events, to offer to take them out to lunch. to feel their passion. There is something about being in the physical presence of other sound healers. There are transmissions that can happen just through their own passionate frequencies that come through

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to let go of limiting beliefs and toxic beliefs that held me back. I shared the back story earlier. There were beliefs that I held about God and about myself that I saw as foundational to my life but after waking up I began to see and experience in fact that many of these beliefs were narrow and toxic and limiting. A while back I had someone ask me what I have been learning lately and I had to share that what I’m learning is that to move forward, the best thing for me is to do a kind of spiritual inquiry.

Contact Info:

• Other: Sorry I don’t have any social media. Got to work on this – maybe a website for my sound healing. But you can use my e-mail if anyone wants to contact me [email protected]