Breakthrough Research Just Dropped on the I AM Retreat:
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.
A powerful new peer-reviewed study has just been published that 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… many of them using the same intensive schedule (6 a.m. to 11 p.m.), plus micro-dosing ibogaine 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.
Instead of vague theories, 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.
- The Blockages Category – 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 + the absolute necessity of surrender
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.
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?”
The study also found that psychedelics didn’t tip the scales toward kensho in this group. The real medicine was (and always has been) the willingness to let go.
Ready to Go Deeper?
If this research resonates, the I AM retreat and the I AM app are designed precisely for this work – gentle, relentless self-inquiry that keeps bringing you back to the question that dissolves every blockage:
“Who am I?”
The study is a beautiful confirmation that the path you’re already on is real, that the blockages are identifiable, and that surrender + inward turning is the way through.
You don’t need to wait for the next perfect teacher, 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 for what’s possible.
Daniel Schmidt Creator, Samadhi Films & I AM
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.
