Breakthrough Research on the I AM Retreat:
This follow-up study aligns with the broader Kensho-Samadhi Research Project, which examined life experiences, self-inquiry practices, and retreat outcomes across participants. The big picture that emerges from both studies is clear and liberating: kensho (awakening to your true nature) arises not from adding external tools or intensified conditions, but from an inward turn… surrendering the seeker, dissolving the illusion of a separate “me,” and allowing the conditioned patterns (including unresolved emotions, external seeking, and the ego’s grip on control) to release.
In Part 1 of the study, the findings were that prior awakenings, childhood spiritual glimpses, and periods of deep existential struggle (the “dark night”) build receptivity over time, while structured self-inquiry like the I AM practice creates the space for that receptivity to bear fruit. Plant medicines and intensive schedules can be helpful allies for integration or clearing surface layers, but the determining factor for awakening has always been the willingness to stop looking outside ourselves and rest continuously in direct recognition of true nature (awareness/consciousness).
This combined evidence shifts the paradigm away from “more intense experiences” toward gentle, relentless inward inquiry. The path is already here right in the midst of our present awareness.
If you’ve ever sat in self-inquiry, felt so close to that shift… and then watched it slip away, this one’s for you.
This new peer-reviewed study goes straight to the heart of what actually stops most people from experiencing kensho (that sudden, direct seeing of your true nature).
And the data comes from participants in the I AM retreats. The paper is called “The Blockages to Kensho Spiritual Awakenings: A Mixed Methods Study” by Dr. Jeffrey Overall (published in the Integral Transpersonal Journal, March 2026).
What the Study Actually Did
Dr. Overall interviewed 13 participants who completed full “I AM” style retreats… using the same intensive schedule (6 a.m. to 11 p.m.), plus micro-dosing Iboga and 5-MeO-DMT for some participants. These were optimal conditions. Everything the modern spiritual path says should “work.”
Yet none of them reported a full kensho. Part 1 of the study focused on participants who did experience kensho. Part 2 of the study focused on more deeply understanding the participants who did not experience kensho.
The study used rigorous mixed-methods research: deep qualitative interviews + Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to pinpoint exactly which factors were blocking awakening.
The Six Core Blockages That Emerged
Here’s what actually showed up in the data:
- Delusion & Confusion – Grasping at terminology, mislabeling psychedelic states as kensho, or thinking “I already got it” and checking out.
- Strong Emotions – Unresolved anger, rage, grief, shame, trauma – the heavy stuff that keeps surfacing but isn’t fully released.
- Control – The ego’s desperate need to stay in control, fear of surrender, mind spinning, self-sabotage, and the classic “I’m so close… now I’m ten steps back.”
- Seeking Externally – Looking for the perfect teacher, guru, or external validation instead of turning fully inward.
- Searching for Something Greater – The constant hunt for a bigger experience or higher power out there.
- Belief in Something Greater – Rigid attachment to concepts of God, ultimate truth, or a separate divine reality.
The Two Biggest Blockages (According to the Science)
When they ran the QCA, two factors stood out as the most decisive:
- Seeking externally
- The ego’s need for control
Everything else, even the psychedelics, became secondary once these two were present.
The study’s big revelation? Awakening doesn’t happen by adding more external conditions. It happens when we finally stop looking outside ourselves and surrender the illusion of a separate “me” who is doing the seeking.
This lines up so beautifully with the direct pointing in the Samadhi films and the I AM practice: the answer has never been “out there.” The path is always the turning inward, the relaxing of the seeker, the simple return to what is already here (primordial awareness).
Why This Study Feels Like a Gift
For years we’ve heard anecdotal stories from retreats: “Some people awaken, others don’t – who knows why?” Now we have actual research that maps the terrain.
This isn’t discouraging… it’s liberating. It gives every serious practitioner a clear mirror: “Where am I still seeking outside myself?” “Where am I still trying to control this process?”
Plant Medicines
The study also found that psychedelics didn’t tip the scales toward kensho in the group. This consistent with what I have come to understand as a facilitator. While attendees worked with plant medicines (Iboga and 5-MeO-DMT), these substances provided meaningful support in other areas such as emotional processing, spiritual discovery, peak experiences/states, insights into personal patterns, relief from certain blockages. However, they were not a determining factor for kensho itself. The determining factor was (and always has been) the willingness to let go of the seeking of experiences (seeking externally in the objective world), and to inquire directly into who/what you are.
Ready to Go Deeper?
If this research resonates, the I AM retreat is designed precisely for this work – gentle, relentless self-inquiry that keeps bringing you back to the direct inquiry that dissolves every blockage:
“Who am I?” – Not a question, but a dissolving/ disidentifying with the questioner.
You don’t need to wait for the next perfect teacher, more information, the next ceremony, or the next “breakthrough” experience. You only need to put attention on the consciousness that is here now, inquiring continuously and single-pointedly into who you are.
I’m truly excited at these findings because they confirm what the greatest teachers like Ramana Maharshi and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj have taught all along.
~ Read the full paper here. ~
🙏
~ Daniel Schmidt
P.S. If you’ve been on an I AM retreat and this study sparks something in you, I’d love to hear about your own experience with these blockages. Drop us a comment.
