Awakening with Kim Kane: A Journey Beyond Spiritual Boundaries

Jim interviews Kim Cain, a Northern California practitioner with clients worldwide, about her spiritual path and work. 

Kim describes growing up in an organized religion whose dogma and outward rules conflicted with her inner sense of love, leading her to reject religion and feel isolated, though later she valued spirituality even more. 

She poured herself into a 30-year career in higher-education financial aid, thriving in its rule-based structure, until attending a drumming circle led by a shaman.  She was so inspired by Shamanism that she began to study it.  That work shifted her workplace relationships and opened her to new perceptions,

Guided by a past-life regression, she trained at the psycho-spiritual HCH Institute, practicing hypnotherapy, EFT, regressions, and spirit releasement.  After hearing Peter Smith speak she then pursued quantum/universal consciousness studies,  focusing on facilitating expanded awareness beyond mind and body.

00:00 Warm Welcome

02:51 Kim’s Background

03:42 Religion vs Spirituality

05:44 Breaking Away

08:47 Work as Refuge

10:24 Drumming Circle Awakening

12:44 Workplace Transformation

15:29 Two Selves Emerging

16:21 Visitation After Death

19:30 Past Life to Hypnotherapy

23:12 Quantum Consciousness Path

25:19 Expanded State Explained

28:16 Clinical vs Expanded Hypnosis

30:08 Next Episode Teaser

Transcript

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 1:56

I'm very excited to be here with Kim Cain. haven't known Kim very long, but I feel so connected with her and so my energy levels just jump off the scales when I get a chance to talk with her. Welcome, Kim

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 2:12

Jim, it's so good to be here, and I have to say I feel exactly the same way. I'm excited. I even feel a little giddy in the moment of being able to spend time with you and to share this journey.

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 2:25

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes Kim was gracious enough to take me on a journey of empa- empath, and in our next episode we will go through that experience, which is just mind-blowing. And but for this first interview, what we're gonna do is talk a little bit about Kim and how did we get here and and and what's all this work that she's doing. And so I just will start then with start at the beginning. Kim, you live in California, I believe

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 2:58

I do. I'm in Northern California. Yeah, we're between Napa and San Francisco

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 3:04

Okay. All right. But your work is done all over the world, right?

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 3:09

All over the world, yes. M- most of my clients are in the United States, but also in, in Italy, Spain Thailand, other places as well. It's wonderful that we have the opportunity to have this kind of outreach and to meet up with people who resonate and that where we can be of assistance. I love that

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 3:31

Ab- absolutely. I'm very proud of the fact that about 15% of the people that are will be listening to this are from outside the United States.

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 3:41

Wonderful

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 3:41

That's really wonderful. This is gonna be a talk about spiritual things, spirituality but not really organized religion. and I believe that you have been, in your past, associated with organized religion. Could you talk about that a little bit?

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 3:57

Sure, very much so. I grew up in a religion that was religious communities, and there were a lot of ideas about what that should look like. And as a little child, I only knew my own internal interpretation, which was loving and kind. But as I, got a little older, by a little older, four or five years old, and started hearing the dogma, it seemed in direct opposition to what I was experiencing when I would engage in that spiritual way. And that dogma had more don'ts than dos. All of the things that one shouldn't do and can't do, and the way to dress and speak and behave, and that said very little about our internal state, but how we're supposed to appear to others on the outside. And That just quickly lost its appeal for me, and I kinda threw the baby out with the bathwater. At a young age, I didn't know the difference between spirituality and religion, so I just said, "I don't want anything to do with any of that." So that was my beginning introduction.

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 5:10

I understand that 100% from my own experience of being raised in a religion that did not believe that my mother, who was from a different religion was gonna go to heaven just simply because she was not of the same religion that I was in. And so I, I felt pretty confident that wasn't true. And so it did. It made it so that I found it hard to believe the dogma of the religion. Then we're left in a spot where I do believe in love and in caring for people and and I believe in a higher power, so what am I due now? And I think it must have been hard for you because when you're in a religion like that e- especially with dress codes and things like that, I think that the people in the religion tend to stick by each other. They don't socialize a lot with other people because they have their distinctive way to dress and act and behave. Did that happen with you?

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 6:05

Absolutely. And the idea that you would veer from that at all was not accepted and that behavior could even affect, the family being shunned. So as I developed into a teenager and rejected those things, it was also very difficult for my family because the church and its environs wanted the family to, contain me and control me. And so that affected them as well. So it was a lot of-- It felt like a lot of responsibility to try to grow in the way you want to grow as a young person, but then those have repercussions on everyone around you. And that that just doesn't feel good on any level for, really for anyone. And just moving away from that and escaping is probably the only thing left if you don't have a spiritual resource, which was unavailable to me at that time. Yeah.

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 7:02

a lonely spot to be in a family where you're supposed to act like A and you really didn't believe that. You wanted to be B, and that's just a hard place to be

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 7:14

It can be, yes, and it felt that way at the time certainly. And also I have to say, and for anyone who may be experiencing it or living with the repercussions, still the feelings of having gone through something like that, that it plants such a, I would say a tremendous seed of strength in a way. Because having gone through that, my idea once I did move into embracing a spirituality was that really nothing and no one would get between me and that spiritual growth ever again. So often, in our human state we need to know there, which in there for me in this case was no spirituality and being lonely and very alone, and moving into a state of being spiritual and feeling that sense of connection like with you and y- just so many people that I meet. And

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 8:15

Yes

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 8:16

you can hold that knowing of how beautiful it is to be connected even more dearly and as a precious state when you've been in the loneliness and aloneness of not being connected. So I really embrace that now and am very grateful

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 8:33

Yeah. The pain that provided a platform to be very appreciative and to cherish what the connection of spirituality. And I think it is something, and that's very nice of you to encourage those who may be in that spot right now. Although you weren't solidly connected up with an organized religion, I think you did get a lot of enjoyment and comfort from being in a workplace. I think work became a spot where you felt good and flourished. Can you tell about, the your love of working?

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 9:05

I pour, I really did pour everything into work. I stumbled into working in in higher education in the student services area, and particularly financial aid, which is very bureaucratic and very rules oriented. But didn't that align quite nicely with my original upbringing? It's very interesting. So that part of me said, "Oh, rules? I know about rules. I know how to adhere to rules and administer rules." So I really flourished and did very well in that environment because I could understand the rules and help people understand them, but I got to work with students and parents and help them navigate that. So it was, to me, the best of both. I got to use my analytical side, but also the counseling side in, in working with others. I just, I loved it and I continued I, I guess growing in that field and being promoted in that field and, the more they gave me to do, the better I said that it was. And I li- I loved what I did, and I happily spent many hours doing it

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 10:17

Isn't that wonderful, really that you got up every day and went to work and enjoyed

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 10:22

And

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 10:23

That's great.

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 10:23

Yeah

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 10:24

I know there was a major change that happened in your life that started off I guess I would say, that you had gone to a friend's party just to be nice to them, with no intentions of anything other than just being a supportive friend. And then something, up. Can you tell us about that a little

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 10:43

Sure. It was my friend was having a a drumming circle, and she had a shaman who came to lead the drumming circle. And I went, as you said, to just to be a supportive friend. And I remember her having us fill out a questionnaire about how we are, and I filled out the questionnaire saying, "I'm fine. I'm great." And, what's drumming gonna do about anything anyway? And as I was participating in that, something opened up inside of me where I had more access to what was really going on with me. And what was really going on with me, I was working all the time. I wasn't working out. I had high blood pressure, pre disposed to diabetes, all of these physical things. And I could not call that to mind when they said, "How are you?" It just wasn't there. But during this drumming, it came, "Oh, I have all of these... Yeah, I have lots of things going on." And before the day session ended which was very unlike me, I would research everything to death before I'd sign up for anything. But I signed up To work with a shaman and start the medicine wheel and go through all four directions. And I was more surprised than anyone that I found myself doing this

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 12:06

I think that is so interesting because that, that just going to that party you were a one direction person. You were going to

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 12:17

I was going to work

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 12:19

and you're gonna take care of everything that had to be done there and let nothing, your health or whether you're, have a social life or anything else, that n- let nothing get in the way. It was going to be work, and you were enjoying it.

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 12:34

Yes

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 12:35

but then you came to realize there made a change right away. I think that is so interesting. You just, it just felt right, I

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 12:43

It just felt right. And one of the things in the work environment at that time was I had a new boss, and Were not getting along at all. It was very difficult. And I went in every day, did my best every day, and there were just exchanges with this individual and others that were really uncomfortable. And when I went to this-- to work with a shaman a group of us that went the first meeting was, I believe, five or six days and something altered in me during that significantly. Again, something I hadn't expected. And I saw so clearly myself. One of the things that in any of us doing any kind of spiritual work is that it kinda cracks us open and we begin to see, the reality of how we're living as opposed to maybe how we want to live. And what I saw was that as difficult as it seemed to me that this man was that I was working for I brought my own difficulties to the table. I wasn't making it any easier. And it was just-- I felt so humbled to, to have that information to know, gosh, I haven't shown up in the best way. And when I went back into the office after this five or six days, initially, I had a meeting with that man and let him know that I now understood that I hadn't been the best employee, the best colleague. And we had-- I just-- it changed so dramatically because usually we don't have those kind of discussions in the workplace. It was

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 14:31

absolutely

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 14:32

open and vulnerable, and I expressed my regret for the way things had gone. And, that relationship turned inside out in an instant, Jim. And that was not my intent. It was just, "Oh my gosh, I have not been the person I wanna be." And in that, he gave me additional responsibility, stepped back, because working with people wasn't his forte. And it also allowed me the opportunity for additional promotions and opportunities. And-- But all that came from a very heart-centered awareness that Could be a different person and show up in a, in another way. So that was amazing

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 15:14

It is so neat that that, that cracked the just opened up a little bit of the real you to come out and look what happened.

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 15:24

what happened. Wow.

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 15:26

Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes. You continued to study with a shaman for some period of time, I

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 15:33

I did, yes. And,

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 15:35

Okay

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 15:35

grew more and began having a lot more interest in other ways of seeing and being in the world than working and making money. And there began to be two versions of me growing out when there had been really one very clear version of, do well, be successful get her done. And then this other version was much softer and open and vulnerable and starting to hear things and see things in a different way, which wasn't necessarily comfortable in the beginning

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 16:15

No, change is often not comfortable. I can tell you that from personal experience. I wanna take just a moment to talk about a particular situation that occurred without any input from you, but it just occurred where a gentleman in your community that you didn't know well, but you thought well of, and as did most everyone in the community, and that, that person passed away. And then tell us what happened after that.

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 16:42

Yes, this was some years later and as I continued along. So this-- as you said, this gentleman passed away, and I was in my kitchen area, and I had a real knowing of his presence. And I would say I, I didn't see it with my eyes per se, but that's how I would describe it, because I could see this man and in a kind of younger, more energetic state than he was in when he had passed. And that's rather shocking if you're not

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 17:14

Absolutely

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 17:15

these things and has these experiences. And he was so happy and free and just so vital. And I have to say it, it shook me up, just in a I can't believe this is happening in a way to me. A-almost in awe of the experience because I'm not that person. That happens to other people. Other people have these experiences, not me. And here I was having this experience nonetheless. And he just gave off such a great energy and awareness. And I kept meeting up with him in the home for about three days. And on the third day I was-- Because of course, I'm thinking about it a lot, how why is this going on? And so I ask him, "Why is it that I'm seeing you?" Who-- He is a lovely fellow, but my my mother had passed away, and I did not have this experience. My ex-husband, who I was very close with, had passed away, and I didn't have that experience. And so I asked him why that was, and he said, "Because your grief was too great." And I thought, "Oh, that makes sense that in-- You know, when we go inside, don't have the capacity to let anything else in with that grief. And, Yeah. Oh, man, that-- Talk about charting a different path. That definitely blew things up, to say the

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 18:44

Okay.

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 18:45

least.

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 18:45

Okay. I can imagine because, I know for me that when I was doing this podcast and I had people talking about that they had lived before and things like that, and I... Before my first past life regression I thought to myself I don't wanna talk about what other people say. I wanna experience it myself." And so there is such a huge difference between Listening to people talk about something and experiencing it yourself. That's obvious to say, but very profound when you're having that experience. And and so I understand exactly what you're saying, is that you- now you've had this. Okay, now you're moving on with life and it's what do I do with this? What do I-- where do I go?" And I guess you decided that you were gonna, do some further studies

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 19:36

I absolutely did. I right after that, I had a past life regression myself, and the main thing that came out of that was to-- it was so clear of embark on, on hypnotherapy training. And Had done a lot of training over the years, but continued in my work and just, it was definitely for personal exploration. So I went after the hypnotherapy training in the same way that it would be for personal exploration. And I researched schools everywhere, and I kept coming up with these more clinical approaches, and I knew that wasn't what I was looking for. So I found a school HCH Institute, that uses a psycho-spiritual approach, and that is very spirit-based. And a-another, I didn't see it coming. When I enrolled by the end of the first level, things had shifted so much. Life began being, again, very uncomfortable because of, I just felt so drawn to this work. And when I embarked on the second level, which was at about, I don't know, five or six months later, I knew I-- this is where my heart was calling me, and that it was really time to step away from this other work. And I think everyone who knew me was rather shocked because I was such a dedicated worker, and I'd been in that industry for over 30 years. That's a long time. Yeah. Now it was gonna change again.

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 21:13

yeah, it's not like you were having a secret life, but you had a private area of interest that you were pursuing that I don't think many of us that are involved in it are comfortable with just talking to the general public about this these kinds of things. So I can understand how they just didn't know that you were involved with it and-- but you felt strongly and so you went forward and went to the HCA, it-- what is

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 21:36

Yeah, HCA

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 21:37

HCH?

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 21:37

Institute

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 21:39

So you went forward and you went to the HCH Institute and I guess it went well

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 21:45

It went well, and I worked in their intern program wh- where you're supervised and meeting with clients in the supervised state. And through that process it, it couldn't have been more clear that this is where I wanted to go. And to be able to see people immediately benefiting from this work it, it just left such a mark on my, in my heart and soul of being able to really be helpful in a way, i- in a broader way than I had been able to be before in my, higher education, let's say, life that I had. It almost feels like kind of two different lives be- then and now.

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 22:31

So did you then work in in hypnosis work?

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 22:35

Yes. And so I was working with hypnotherapy and EFT people call tapping and bilateral stimulation and all kinds of modalities, past life regression spirit releasement, those types of things that clients were coming to looking for answers and a way to navigate this world. During that time in early COVID and post-COVID, people were Really looking for some answers in ways that traditional Western therapies weren't addressing

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 23:11

Yes. And I wanna just move along quickly over... Gonna gloss over a little bit of your experiences in that so we can get to this part of the interview, which is when you went to the seminar from the International Board of Regression Therapists, and there was a particular speaker there who really touched a nerve, I think, in you. Could you talk about that a little bit?

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 23:36

Yeah, sure. It was Peter Smith from the Institute of Quantum Consciousness. And Peter Smith had been the president of the Michael Newton Institute for I, I believe a decade or so. And through that had discovered that the past life work is as wonderful and expansive as it is that there were other things they were discovering experientially, which was that one needn't go through each of these realms in a specific order. The realms being what one might experience when doing a past life regression. And that also you would have the opportunity to engage in whatever way that you were guided by by spirit, by this connected and expanded state, and moving into expanded consciousness, expanded awareness beyond the body, mind, and spirit, which has a lot in common really with the shamanic traditions. And

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 24:39

Okay.

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 24:39

boy, that just touched something in me, and I knew I wanted to know more. So I enrolled in the Institute of Quantum Consciousness and did quantum consciousness studies, universal consciousness studies, and that's been really my sweet spot ever since

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 25:02

I can say from my experience with you that you're very good at it. You're very good at-- You're a natural, put it that way. There's a difference between someone who's trying to do it and someone who just can embody it, and that's you. And I'm so glad that you took those feelings and ran with them. There's quantum and the universal studies, can you tell us a little bit about h-how they are different?

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 25:27

Yeah. So I think the main thing to know about those is that we're in this facilitated state being led to move beyond the body and the mind and the personality. And why that's important is if we think about it, the brain really functions as a large filtration system. We think of it enabling us to do things, but really so much of its functionality is to keep things out. If we were open and aware of everything going on around us every minute of the day, it would be overwhelming in every way. And so through conditioning within our families, society just moving around in the world, the brain starts saying, "That didn't matter. That didn't happen," and it narrows, narrows, narrows the focus. And we don't necessarily have conscious access to what else is available. So it's very important to move beyond that mind that has such a limited field available to it and beyond the body. So in this expanded awareness state, we're connected in a way that is, It's hard to describe other than I would say that feeling of spaciousness, of connectedness, and a deep inner knowing that we aren't alone, that we're always connected. And gosh, that seems to be a cultural pain point in our society, that feeling of aloneness and separation. And it's not true, but that's how we experience it. So this is an opportunity to expand into that connected state so that we know how meaningful our lives are to one another, and that we are connected in every way, and that what we do affects others just as it affects ourselves. And so moving into this expanded state also allows us to have access to those wisdoms. Everything that we perceive as a problem, a solution to that already exists. It's just a matter of accessing it. Yeah

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 27:43

That is such a huge point. that problems that seem insurmountable or that they're not they're solvable because as you said, there is a solution. We just have to find out. We have to hear about it. And I can say from my experience that when you took me into the expanded state, it was a very profound moment in a way I now have used that word a couple of times, but it's a good one for this experience. It... You know it when it happens, and it's big and it's so incredible. And so it's different from clinical hypnosis, I believe. All right?

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 28:22

Yeah

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 28:23

The work. Can you tell about that a little

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 28:25

Sure. In, in clinical hypnosis in particular it can be quite directive because it-- people often are looking for say, pain relief or wanting to quit smoking or not needing to use medication for a dental procedure, w-whatever it might be, which are, wonderful, beneficial things.

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 28:46

Yes.

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 28:47

the approach to it is more directive. You will do this, you will experience that, and what you're really doing is addressing the subconscious state. And

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 28:57

Okay

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 28:58

because the subconscious also has that ability to either derail what we're doing or to go along with it. So what you're really doing is asking the subconscious to go along with this. This is where we're headed. We have a very specific goal, and you need to assist us in getting there. The difference in the expanded state is saying maybe a little more humbly, "I'm not exactly sure how this might work, but I'm really open to the wisdom of what that may look like. And I may not have all of the wisdom necessary in this human state that's available to us elsewhere." And when you think about how ideas and creativity are generated, how all around the planet a, a specific idea might come up at several different places from people who don't know one another, and that creative force just opens. And so we're facilitating that opening and specifically asking for the help, the guidance i-in whatever the issue or challenge of the day may be

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 30:08

I really want to talk more about this and we're basically out of time for this particular episode. But I would state that I really would like to go forward into another episode and talk about my journey of the empath that you took me on, and to talk more about the techniques that you use and the benefits. So would you join me then for another episode after this one?

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 30:32

I would love that

james_1_05-08-2026_121059 30:36

Fantastic. Okay, then let's sign off for now and we'll get started on it

kim-kane_1_05-08-2026_091108 30:40

Thanks, Jim