The I AM Project

✨ Why Modern Therapy Isn’t Always Enough — And What Spiritual Practice Can Do That Talk Therapy Can’t

Uncategorized Apr 08, 2025

Modern therapy has helped millions—and it has its place. But for many, it reaches a plateau. Sessions begin to feel like a revolving door of past pain, managing symptoms, and identifying problems…without ever transcending them.

Here’s the hard truth:
You can’t solve a spiritual problem with psychological tools alone.

Anxiety, addiction, and emotional dysregulation often stem not just from trauma, but from a disconnection from self, purpose, and something greater. Talk therapy helps you understand what happened. But spiritual practice helps you become who you were meant to be.

Why Spiritual Practice Works (Backed by Neuroscience):

🧠 It strengthens the prefrontal cortex, improving emotional regulation and impulse control.
🙏 It activates alpha and theta brain waves, supporting inner peace and creativity.
🧘🏽‍♂️ It shifts you out of the stress-driven default mode network and into present-moment awareness.

Try This Today:

Morning Centering Practice: Before reaching for your phone,
...

When the soul forgets its practices, the world forgets its peace.

Uncategorized Apr 01, 2025

There’s a quiet ache running through the world right now.

Maybe you’ve felt it too—the feeling that something essential has gone missing. That we’re moving faster than ever, but somehow going nowhere meaningful. As if the collective is a great ship at sea, unmoored and directionless.

It’s in these times that spiritual practice becomes not just important, but urgent.

In my own life and work—including what I share in From Knowing Better to Doing Better—I’ve come to see that practices like meditation, prayer, breathwork, and inner inquiry are not “extras”. They are essential tools for navigating both the noise of the world and the complexities of our own minds.

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
— Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Modern science is catching up to what sages have known for millennia. Neuroscience and epigenetics are now showing that contemplative practice not only soothes the nervous system—it can a...

🔬 The Neuroscience of SAM: Why Stability is the Missing Link to Strength, Clarity, and Resilient Movement

Uncategorized Mar 25, 2025

If you’ve been following my work — or have read my book — you already know that SAM (Stability – Action – Mobility) is more than a movement model. It’s a neurological framework for unlocking the full potential of your body and mind.

But what’s happening under the hood? What makes SAM so effective — and why does the brain require this specific sequence to create strength, clarity, and momentum?

Let’s dive into the neuroscience behind SAM — and how you can use it to optimize both your physical performance and your emotional resilience.

🧠 Why Your Brain Doesn’t Trust You to Be Strong (Until You’re Stable)

At the core of SAM is safety. The nervous system’s primary directive is to keep you alive — not make you stronger, faster, or more flexible.

In both movement and mindset, the brain constantly asks:

“Is this safe?”

If the answer is no, your body will downregulate. It might:

Decrease muscle recruitment (even if you’re trying harder)
Limit range of motion
Increas
...

Reclaiming Ancestral Wisdom for a Balanced Life

wellness Feb 14, 2025

In today’s fast-paced, tech-driven world, we are constantly bombarded with new solutions for health, happiness, and success. Yet, despite these advancements, many people feel more disconnected, exhausted, and unfulfilled than ever before. Could the answers we seek lie not in what’s new, but in what we have forgotten?

The Lost Art of Living in Alignment

Our ancestors lived in tune with the rhythms of nature, their bodies, and their communities. They didn’t separate mind from body, nor did they see themselves as isolated individuals. Instead, they lived by principles that modern science is only now beginning to validate.

🌿 Natural Cycles & Well-being – Research on circadian rhythms shows that exposure to natural light regulates sleep, metabolism, and mood. Ancient cultures followed the sun’s rhythms, rising with daylight and winding down as night fell.
🔥 The Power of Gathering – Studies reveal that loneliness is as harmful as smoking when it comes to l

Affected Realism and Intimacy

#personal development Oct 08, 2024

My interest in neuroscience began many years ago when I was helping people reclaim their health. I noticed a connection between how we interpret physical and emotional pain, which led me to some fascinating insights. The most important thing I realized is that we all have a choice when it comes to pain—whether it’s physical or emotional. We can either let it overwhelm us or seek ways to stabilize ourselves, both physically and emotionally. These seem to be the two paths available to us.

Recently, I’ve been exploring how this idea applies to intimacy, and I’ve found that traditional approaches might not be enough in today’s complex world. Understanding how our mind and body respond to what’s happening around us, both neurologically and philosophically, offers a new way to look at intimacy.

Take "Affected Realism," for example. It refers to how our current emotional state shapes what we believe to be true. This can lead to misunderstandings in relationships, like when one partner ...

The Foundations to Vibrant Health

Uncategorized Oct 03, 2024

Despite how complex the world may seem, if you stay with the complexity long enough, you will see the patterns emerge. There are, I believe, foundational tenants or philosophies (rules even) that sit underneath everything in our world, waiting for us to open our eyes to see them.

I believe where we go wrong is when we grab onto one small idea or possibility and hope that it will fix the many things we are choosing to ignore. One area that I find this tendency to be especially prevalent is the world of human health.

Bio-hacking is a new word for an old practice of using various nutritional or physical practices to improve health. I certainly fall into that category, as it has been an interest of mine for the past 30 years. I had made the same error as many as I purchased various pills, powders, and herbs to support my health. Though not totally ineffective, I eventually found a foundational pattern that helped me pull it all together.

That pattern consists of a few key elements, thre...

Be Impeccable with your word

Uncategorized Sep 23, 2024

I was on a call with someone this morning, and the conversation was about integrity. It reminded me of a post I shared a few days ago about being impeccable with your word and how vital it is to live in alignment with this principle.

When I reflect on all the things I wish to do in life—the experiences I long to have, the relationships I want to nurture or create—I realize how much time we can lose by not living in integrity with our heart and soul’s desires.

Being in integrity is not just about keeping promises you’ve made to others. It’s equally about honoring the commitments you’ve made to yourself. Whether it’s a personal goal, a boundary you set, or a path you know in your heart you need to follow, staying true to that inner voice is crucial. It’s what allows us to move forward with clarity and purpose.

Ask yourself today: Where can you live more in alignment with your truth? What promise have you made to yourself that you need to honor?

#beimpecciblewithyourword

...

But I didn't Know...

#personal development Sep 11, 2024

In a world of complexity, it is easy to say, "I didn't know how." Last night, I sat with a group of clients, discussing how the mind will push us away from exerting effort or changing our behavior if the cost of change seems too high. Our brains constantly weigh the cost of implementing a new behavior against our current lifestyle and way of thinking, and if the costs seem too high, then it will be difficult for us to change.

This seems counterproductive, seeing that change can often be not only very good for us but necessary for our health and happiness.

This happens typically because the potential pain we may experience from changing limiting behaviors and relationships will cloud our judgment and inhibit our capacity to make necessary changes in our lives. So it is inaccurate to say, "I didn't know," but more truthful to say, "I don't want to know."

The vision for a new and brighter future must be clear and meditated on daily to overcome the limitations of our natural fear of

...

Tired of not "feeling like yourself"?

Uncategorized May 19, 2023

Have you ever wondered where the phrases such as "that is so unlike her" "this is totally out of character for her" or even "I am not myself today", come from?

These are very precise and accurate statements pointing to the occurrence of when we are drifting into a past way of feeling or being. When something in the outer world happens we instantaneously match it to a previous experience to give us the meaning (feeling representation) of what we are currently experiencing.
This is wonderful when we are getting ready to eat our favorite food and the familiar wonderful feelings from past experiences flood the body around similar experiences (your grandmother's amazing cookies for example) making your mouth water and you smile at the fond memory.

Where this becomes a problem for many of us is when we find ourselves in circumstances where our brain is comparing the more challenging parts of our history with what is currently going on. Perhaps it's trying to date again after a divorce but you...

Client Testimonial

Uncategorized May 02, 2023

Hi. My name is Rob. David asked if I would like to share some parts of my journey through the I AM Project. It won't be easy to keep this short simply because of the timing of when I was introduced to the project, and much will be left out for the sake of length.

In the five years before going through the I AM Project, I was separated, divorced, let go from a long-time job, found out about a terminal diagnosis in my second wife, and eventually lost her during the pandemic lockdowns. That was a lot, to say the least. Shortly after that, I reached out to David, who thought that the I Am Project might be a good fit, which, it turns out, was the beginning of some of the most significant changes in my life.

David challenged me to establish some 'core values.' The way he went about helping me to discover what these could be and then helped me embody them, it was like having a door flung open, and I suddenly had access to a stable foundation from which my life could be viewed, much needed c...

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Author

David Gilks

Mindset Expert

David Gilks is a well-respected mindset coach, poet, successful entrepreneur, awarded competitive natural bodybuilder, chartered herbalist and MEDP (medical exercise program director). He holds advanced training in Neurolinguistics and is the founder of the I AM Project. For more than two decades, he has taught clients from numerous backgrounds all over the world how to gain true mastery in all aspects of their life.

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