Purpose Guides
Training
Become a certified Purpose Guide™ — trained to help others discover and embody their life purpose, at a moment when humanity needs it most.
Guiding you towards full soul-purpose embodiment — and preparing you to be a professional life-purpose guide for others.
Earn credit towards a Master's or Doctorate at Meridian University while completing your Purpose Guide training.
Be listed as a Purpose Guide™ on the PGI website, join the alumni network, and access Level 2 Advanced Training.
You Feel Called to
Something More
Purpose guiding is for those ready to exchange a comfortable career for one that is rewarding, spiritually fulfilling, and evolutionarily significant.
- A desire to discover and then embody your own life purpose.
- A hunger to support others to live in congruity with their deepest calling.
- A desire to have a fulfilling career that catalyzes human beings to evolve.
- That humanity is at a crossroads, and you are called to do something meaningful about it.
- That work should come from passion, not just pay the bills.
- An uncompromising training program taught by the world's leading experts in purpose guiding.
- A community that is bright, emotionally mature, and on fire with the possibilities of human potential.
- A spiritually oriented career where you set your own hours, work remotely, and feel deeply fulfilled.
- A credential from one of the most comprehensive purpose guide schools available anywhere.
The Passionate Mentor
You have a passion for bringing out the best in people and experience mentoring others — through meditation, yoga, coaching, or similar work. Your current delivery vehicle feels like it's time to evolve.
The Credentialed Professional
You are a coach, counselor, therapist, somatic healer, educator, healthcare practitioner, or clergy person — and sense the value of adding purpose guiding to your existing credential and practice.
The Practicing Purpose Guide
You are already guiding clients toward purpose, but know there is still growth ahead. You want to deepen your mastery and access a world-class community of peers and teachers.
What Makes PGI
Exceptional
What is missing in other programs is ample context and depth. PGI offers a comprehensive framework launching the next evolution in purpose discovery and guiding.
Through the Integral framework and the 3-worlds map, purpose discovery finds a rich tradition to draw upon.
Our guiding is informed by the evolutionary understanding that the purpose of soul and the purpose of evolution are identical.
Through enlightened awareness, we come to know both guide and client as expressions of the same undivided awareness.
The proprietary PGI Purpose Octagon Process — 12 proven approaches to uncovering your client's life purpose.
World-class entrepreneurial training helps you deliver your purpose-based enterprise to the world confidently.
The Three Worlds
of Consciousness
PGI's training draws on one of its most important maps — the three-world model — to situate purpose guiding within the full spectrum of human development.
of Spirit
Experienced as enlightened awareness. The path of meditation supports transcendence of the separate self — leading to the freedom of the enlightened sages.
of Ego
Developing capacity to give and receive love, to be open to well-being and happiness. The path of psychotherapy aids us when we become stuck.
of Soul
Experienced by embodying your specific life purpose — the very reason Spirit has taken shape as you. This descent into soul reveals your mythopoetic identity.
"The evident purpose of evolution is to grow toward ever-widening realizations of Beauty, Goodness and Truth."— Steve McIntosh, Evolution's Purpose
Three Semesters,
One Transformation
The training unfolds over three semesters — each building on the last, with Semester I available as a standalone course in purpose discovery.
Purpose
You go through the 12-module Purpose Octagon process yourself — discovering your own life purpose before learning to guide others through it.
- 12 live 90-minute sessions with PGI faculty
- 12 weekly small group meetings
- 30-minute module overview audios by Jonathan
- 8 guided soul-encounter meditations
- 12 written modules with teachings and practices
- Online community forum
- Can drop out after this semester, no penalty
Certification
Learn to deliver the Purpose Octagon Process to clients. Work with real clients under mentor supervision and earn your Level I Purpose Guide™ certification.
- 12 large group + 12 small group meetings
- Minimum 5 guest teacher sessions
- 6 practice partner calls
- In-depth Guiding Handbook + demo videos
- 12 client-ready guiding modules
- Practice with 2–4 real clients
- Certification process + frameable diploma
Training
Turn your guiding skills into a thriving practice. Build a solid business plan and learn how to attract clients who are in your "sweet spot."
- 4 dedicated entrepreneurial sessions
- Creating a Purpose Guiding Business curriculum
- Business plan development with mentors
- Listing in PGI's "Find a Guide" directory
- Marketing support through pooled advertising
- Pathway to Level 2 Advanced Training
Complete Training Investment
Semesters I + II · Certification as a Level I Purpose Guide™ · Meridian University credit eligible
Add optional Entrepreneurial Semester III for $600 more
Guest Teachers from
the Leading Edge
Past guest teachers have included luminaries from purpose, soul work, ecology, spirituality, and evolutionary thought — giving you direct contact with the world's foremost thinkers in the field.
Guest teachers vary by cohort. Minimum 5 guest sessions in Semester II.
Jonathan Gustin
Jonathan Gustin
Purpose Guide · Meditation Teacher
Psychotherapist · Activist
Jonathan has spent the last two decades practicing as a Purpose Guide, meditation teacher, psychotherapist, activist, and integral mentor. Through 24 years of guiding clients in private practice, he has developed a deep, lived understanding of what is essential to mastering the Purpose Guide craft.
His 13 years working at the Integral Awakening Center brought him into close collaboration with world-renowned teachers including Adyashanti, Bill Plotkin, Joanna Macy, Tim Kelley, Sherri Mitchell, George Leonard, Orland Bishop, Joseph Goldstein, Bayo Akomolafe, and many others.
From these powerful experiences and teachings, Jonathan and his colleagues created a path to becoming a Master Purpose Guide. PGI's promise: to distill in 1–2 years what took 30 years to learn.
"The Purpose Guide Institute empowers Purpose Guides to create careers of purpose, abundance and impact."
Frequently Asked
Questions
What is purpose guiding?
How is the class structured?
What is the time commitment?
Do client sessions have to be in-person?
Can I drop out after Semester I without penalty?
Can I earn a living as a purpose guide?
What do purpose guides charge?
Does PGI support students in getting clients?
Can I earn university credit?
Are payment plans available?
Ready to Live Your
Purpose Every Day?
The 2025–2026 cohort is now accepting applications. Start with a free discovery call to explore whether Purpose Guide Training is right for you.
Questions? Email us at jonathan@purposeguides.org
Accepting Applications for Sept 4, 2025 · Class Size Limited to 35