Ali (formerly Levine) Alison Jacaruso is a Christ-centered teacher, speaker, and faith-based healing mentor, and the founder of HIS Breath. Once a top-rated celebrity stylist in Los Angeles, Ali lived in relentless striving, performance, and outward success—until a traumatic birth and severe postpartum depression brought her to a breaking point that achievement, self-effort, and spirituality could not heal.

Raised in religion but disconnected from authentic relationship, Ali later became deeply entangled in New Age spirituality while searching for peace and restoration. In a moment of complete surrender, she cried out to God and experienced a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ that transformed her faith, identity, and purpose.

Today, Ali teaches Christ-centered nervous system restoration, identity in Christ, and inner healing through The HIS Breath Method—Holy Spirit, Identity, and Surrender. Rooted in biblical truth, prayer, and the leading of the Holy Spirit, her work helps women move from striving and counterfeit peace into abiding rest, emotional healing, and true spiritual authority in Christ.

Links:

1. Instagram
2. Tiktok
3. Threads
4. Youtube
5. Facebook
6. Divine Reset.alilevine.com
7. To book a free Holy Spirit call

Welcome to 12-Minute Convos with Jesus Believers.

God chose first to have a conversation with us, His creation.

His truth spoken in one moment became an evergreen seed for our generation today.

The power of a conversation is eternal.

Our prayer is that this listening space brings growth and transforms your life forever.

Good morning, Athena Dean-Holtz.

How are you doing this morning?

I am doing great.

Thank you so much for having me on the show.

Yeah, it's a great pleasure to connect with you.

Now, tell us what part of the world are you in today?

I am in Washington State, where it's normally rainy, but it's supposed to be sunny today.

Wonderful.

You're an early bird.

It's early in your part of the woods, isn't it?

Yes, it is.

Well, thank you for being here.

I am fascinated by the journey you've taken across your life.

I'd love to start with a scripture verse that I saw mentioned in one of the awards you accepted, Matthew 5 and 16.

It talks about, in the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

You speak about 13 years of living in spiritual abuse, but then it seems as though you turn a page and then begin helping other people amplify their stories.

If that is accurate, please share with me what happened during those years before and after, and today, what's happening presently.

I was helping authors amplify their voices, but really more me focused.

My depth of caring for others was not what I would want it to be.

What I have seen after that 13 years of basically losing everything, almost losing my faith, that's the one thing I didn't lose.

Coming out on the other side of that, learning, seeing how God used that and taught me things that I would never expect would come from such devastation.

But to be able to actually see and own my part of that spiritual abuse, coming out the other end of that about 12 years ago, God just used that trauma and that loss and that devastation in my life to rework my foundation and to start from scratch and really make sure I understood who He is and who I am in His sight.

And it was just such an incredible redemption in my life that did then leave me with compassion for others and the zeal to help them tell their stories and amplify their voices and bring good out of struggles.

What is the reason for you coming out of this and still not being bitter though?

Well, that's a great question.

Two things.

Coming out of that 13 years of spiritual abuse, I said to the Lord, what just happened?

How did I, a Christian had been for 13 years, I was well known in Christianity, I was published in all big magazines, all the things.

How did I think something was true when it was actually a total lie?

And He showed me three things.

Number one was that I didn't know the difference between scripture in context and out of context.

And so I was easily manipulated.

And that was on me.

We're supposed to be Bereans.

We're supposed to learn how to handle the Word of God in truth.

There was just another thing that He showed me on how I just didn't trust Him that I took on this quote unquote pastor who was really not a legitimate, I mean, he was a wolf and I didn't want to see the red flags that he was waving and saying, don't do this, don't publish him.

And I didn't listen because I already had a bunch of bills paid from that project.

And so those things helped me to own my part in, did it make what they, him and his wife did to me?

Okay, absolutely not.

Did it mean that if I forgave them that I needed to go back in ministry with them or work with them?

Absolutely not.

But what it did show me was, okay, I had to own my part of the deception that I was under so that I could then help others when they come and find they're in a place where everything is not as they thought it would be.

So bring us up to speed.

What does life look like presently, years after?

Well, we have gone through this shift with my husband, you know, ending his 50-year pastoring career, so to speak, ministry, and he is now helping with doing a lot of coaching and editing and things like that with some of our authors.

And I have also just taken a little bit, I've been teaching in the publishing space for the last 35 years and speaking at Christian Writers Conference and Speakers Conferences.

And so now God is taking me into more, just some leadership development, speaking for corporations, associations, nonprofits, ministries on these very topics of how to be a redemptive leader, how to shepherd people who are broken and bring their brokenness with them to work, and how, you know, how can you lead them from a place of wholeness.

So it's really taking all the hard lessons I've learned over the last 40 years and helping others in the workplace.

That's wonderful.

I appreciate you passing by to have a conversation with us.

Amazing audience, again, if you're listening and Athena's voice has resonated with you the way it has for me, being someone who's actually lived the experience and speaking from that, then you can definitely check out the show notes.

We have links that connect you to her.

Athena, if you had to sum this conversation up with one word, what would you say?

The Bible.

In context, in context, that couldn't just be one word.

Yeah, no, it's good.

It's good.

I love that as well.

When you talked about the manipulation that occurred because of not using scripture in context and how important that was.

Again, Athena, this was a great pleasure.

Thank you for being on What Is Inspired by 12 Minute Convos.