He Went Looking for Answers. Then He Spent 10 Years Helping Others Find Theirs.

John as a Buddhist Monk
John as a Hypnotherapist

There’s a version of John Wakefield’s life that looks, on paper, like a series of unusual choices. Leaving ordinary life behind to live as a forest-dwelling hermit monk was a genuine inquiry into the nature of consciousness.

Bringing Hermetic Wisdom Into Everyday Life

Before founding What Was I, John Wakefield spent years living as a forest monk in Burma, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Australia, immersed in meditation, discipline, and the experiential study of the mind. That contemplative foundation now informs a therapeutic approach that is both deeply reflective and professionally grounded, one that respects the spiritual dimension of experience without abandoning structure, safety, or clarity.

This combination is central to the work. Clients and students are not asked to choose between faith or clinical approach, or between mystery and professionalism. They are invited to develop a pathway where all of the above can exist together.