About Zvi

ZVI (pen name for Zvi Ish-Shalom) is a teacher, author, and guide whose work bridges contemplative depth with embodied human life. He has worked with thousands of people worldwide, facilitating direct experiences of awakening, healing, and the activation of dormant capacities within human consciousness. 

In addition to guiding ongoing groups, he leads specialized programs for international business leaders and people in positions of influence, bringing spiritual depth into the rooms where decisions shape the world. He is the author of three published books on consciousness and awakening, with eleven additional completed manuscripts that are being prepared for publication.

ZVI's path is unusually broad: he is a former Hasidic rabbi, Diamond Approach teacher, certified Rolfer, and a lifelong practitioner of somatic disciplines including yoga and Tai Chi — a rare convergence of spiritual, psychological, and somatic lineages in a single person. 

He is the founder of Kedumah, a universal path of awakening that draws from ancient Hebrew mysticism, the teachings of which are outlined in his books The Kedumah Experience: The Primordial Torah and The Path of Primordial Light: Ancient Wisdom for the Here and Now. These books have been endorsed by Father Thomas Keating, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Richard Schwartz, Jack Kornfield, and others.

He is also the originator of the Light Codes — a series of energetic transmissions first shared in 2020, through which distinct frequencies of living light have been reaching people worldwide. You can experience the Light Codes at lightcodes.org.

ZVI's work is grounded in rigorous scholarship. He studied Classics at McGill University and holds a PhD in Jewish Mysticism from Brandeis University. His peer-reviewed academic book, Sleep, Death, and Rebirth: Mystical Practices of Lurianic Kabbalah, hailed as a “tour de force” by AJL News and Reviews, is widely regarded as the seminal scholarly study of reincarnation and contemplative practice in Kabbalah. 

For the past two decades, ZVI has been a core faculty member at Naropa University, where he teaches courses on mystical experience, world religion, Kabbalah, and consciousness.