THIS IS THE WAY

Daniel Thorness is a son, a father, and a guide who has walked through the wilderness and come out the other side carrying something rare. A lived revelation of the Father heart of God.

His journey into Sonship was not born in a classroom or a seminary. It was forged through years of personal encounter, deep wilderness seasons, and the kind of transformation that only comes when a man stops performing for God and starts resting in who he already is. Daniel has walked through the fire of religion, the silence of the desert, and the restoration that follows. He carries every step of that journey into his teaching.

His vision for This Is The Way is simple and radical. That every person on earth regardless of background, nation, or season of life would come to know themselves as a beloved son or daughter. Not a sinner trying harder. Not a student earning favor. A son. Daniel teaches not as a celebrity or a platform but as a fellow traveler who has gone ahead and is calling others forward.

Jessica Banis is a certified Kundalini Yoga and Hatha Yoga instructor, an MRT (Mindful Resilience for Trauma Recovery) practitioner through the Veterans Yoga Project, somatic healer, and the woman who holds the body and integration work of this ministry with grace, precision, and a mother's heart.

Jessica brings years of deep experience in yoga, somatic healing, breathwork, and integration to every retreat and ceremony she facilitates. She understands that transformation is not only spiritual. It lives in the body. In the nervous system. In the places we have been too afraid to feel. Her training in Mindful Resilience for Trauma Recovery equips her to hold space for veterans and civilians alike who carry wounds that run deep. Her gift is creating the kind of safe, grounded container where people can finally let go.

As Daniel's partner in life and in ministry, Jessica anchors the Holistic Health pillar of This Is The Way. She teaches students that wholeness is not just spiritual, it is somatic. That the body is not an obstacle to the Way but a doorway into it. She carries a warrior's discipline and a healer's tenderness, and she calls others into the fullness of who they were made to be.

Adam Shepherd has spent twenty years walking the path of healing. As a plant medicine practitioner, a ceremony officiate, and one of the most gifted musicians in this movement, he carries a rare combination of depth, skill, and presence.

Adam's journey through self-healing, plant medicine, and the healing arts spans two decades. He has sat in ceremony, held ceremony, and walked others through the kind of experiences that change a person at the root. His music is not performance. It is ministry. Sound has always been one of the most ancient and powerful tools for opening the human heart, and Adam wields it with mastery and reverence. He has been one of Daniel's most trusted mentors, a man whose wisdom and integrity helped shape the very foundation of This Is The Way.

Adam brings the sacred dimension of sound and ceremony into every retreat and gathering. His role as Co-Founder is to ensure that the ceremonial and musical atmosphere of this ministry carries the weight and the wonder it deserves. When Adam plays, something in the room shifts. That is not an accident. That is twenty years of devotion made audible.