Editor and Narrator
Artist, Resident Skeptic and Woo Woo Translator
I was born on a military base in Twenty-nine Palms, California. I was named after satellite JASON-1 which was monitoring global ocean circulation to study the ties between the ocean and the atmosphere and gathering data to improve global climate forecasts and predictions.
Since the birth of my daughter, I have connected to Mother Earth through travel, plant medicines and shamanic studies.
Jason Conrad Nivens
My young childhood was spent on military bases in Osaka, Japan and Whidbey Island, Washington. After my parents divorced, I was primarily raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin. At 19, I wanted out of Green Bay. My best childhood memories were from my time in Washington State. I remembered idyllic and magical forests. But with limited financial resources, I felt trapped in the Midwest.
I decided to join the US Navy and was stationed on Whidbey Island at the same Naval Base that my dad was stationed at as a Marine. During my service, I was deployed to Afghanistan twice.
At 23, I had finished my service and decided to go to art school. I studied Fine Art at Cornish College in Seattle. A few years later, my military college stipend was running out and although I was working full time, the tuition of the private college overwhelmed my life and I had to take a break from school.
In 2011, I was working as a Cook on Alki Beach in Seattle, contemplating leaving Seattle to live in Florida, near my sister. That was when I met Krystal Kelley. Krystal was embarking on an adventure to the Altai region of Siberia. That chance meeting encouraged me to stay in Seattle. I supported Krystal while she was in Altai and when she returned, we opened Mind Unwind together.
Mind Unwind brought me back to my roots as an artist and made it possible to have art return to a central part of my life, which was very important to me. I went back to school and completed a degree in Accounting, thinking it could help us with our business. Mind Unwind connected me to many new artists and ideas and introduced me to Karah Pino and Peter Hetzel.
In 2015, my daughter was born and changed my life. Since her birth, I have connected to Mother Earth through travel, plant medicines and shamanic studies. We closed Mind Unwind, but I continue to cultivate my art in many different forms including construction.
In 2020, when we couldn’t travel, I taught myself how to edit video. Video editing is an art form that I had been interested in for a long time, but the Pandemic allowed me the time to learn the skills I needed. In 2021, with my newly honed skills and after hearing about Shifting Circles for the past ten years from Peter and Krystal, I jumped on board the team as editor.