Truly Natural Compassionate Engagement ~ An Engaged Nonduality Event with Rick Hanson, John Prendergast and Lisa Ferguson
Sunday, January 4, 2026 @ 9:00am-11:00am (Pacific Time)
Event Navigation
Truly Natural Compassionate Engagement
An Engaged Nonduality Event with Rick Hanson,
with John Prendergast and Lisa Ferguson
Recording will be emailed to participants within a week.
You’re welcome to join even if you can’t attend the live session.
With guest Rick Hanson, we’ll explore recognizing our true nature not just as awareness, but as compassionate humans who are deeply collaborative and cooperative. Founder of the Global Compassion Coalition, Rick will guide us in carrying our wounds with love and exploring collective action in response to suffering.
Just as nondual teachings point to our already awake nature, we don’t have to make an effort to be compassionate, but can unleash our natural compassionate engagement. Just as nondual practice is surrendering to our true nature, we can also surrender to our innate goodness: our impulse to connect with others and engage in an effective response to suffering.
Founder of the Global Compassion Coalition, renowned author on contemplative practices and neuroscience, Rick brings a depth of spiritual understanding and wealth of insight about using the power of compassion to accelerate effective collective action while also maintaining our resilience. We’ll explore how we can come together and open to our creative, empowered response to our troubled world.
This session will include guided meditation, practice, talks, conversation exploring compassionate engagement, and plenty of time for questions and group participation.
About The Engaged Nonduality series
This Engaged Nonduality series, hosted by Lisa Ferguson, explores how nondual wisdom may respond to our world in crisis. We live in a time of multiple intersecting crises that threaten the wellbeing of all life, including climate breakdown, unaligned tech and AI, injustice, war and authoritarianism. The recognition of nonduality has much to offer in these times, including a deep knowing of our wholeness and shared Being, as well as opening to the wellspring of our wise and creative response. This series invites guest presenters to explore how nondual teaching may respond to planetary crises through talks, practices and group participation.
Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a psychologist, Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, and New York Times best-selling author. His seven books have been published in 33 languages and include Making Great Relationships, Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Just One Thing, Buddha’s Brain, and Mother Nurture – with over a million copies in English alone. He’s the founder of the Global Compassion Coalition and the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, as well as the co-host of the Being Well podcast – which has been downloaded over 25 million times. He offers free newsletters, and his online programs have scholarships available for those with financial needs. He’s lectured at NASA, Google, Oxford, and Harvard. An expert on positive neuroplasticity, his work has been featured on CBS, NPR, the BBC, and other major media. He began meditating in 1974 and has taught in meditation centers worldwide. He and his wife live in northern California and have two adult children. He loves the wilderness and taking a break from emails.
John Prendergast, Ph.D is a spiritual teacher, retired psychotherapist, and retired Adjunct Professor of Psychology at CIIS, well known for his pioneering work in integrating non-dual wisdom and psychotherapy. He studied with the European sage Jean Klein for many years, as well as with Adyashanti, who gave him dharma transmission in 2023. He is the author of The Deep Heart (2019), In Touch (2015), and a new book, Your Deepest Ground: A Guide to Embodied Spirituality (March, 2025) from Sounds True.
Lisa Ferguson, Ph.D. is the founder of the Engaged Nonduality series and sangha, which connects the recognition of our non-separateness with our engaged response to suffering, injustice and separation. She also founded Climate Compassion, which supports the inner and outer work of attending to our world in crisis. Based on decades of practice, she weaves the threads of awakening, healing and service, offering meditative inquiry groups, 1:1 sessions, workshops and trainings that integrate spiritual inquiry, psychological healing, and leadership development as expression of our unique offering.
Sliding Scale: $15 to $40
However, no one turned away for lack of funds.
If you can’t pay within the sliding scale, contact us to let us know what you can contribute.
Address inquiries to web@opencirclecenter.org
To check your local time, use a tool such as: Time Zone Converter