December 2025
Pamela Wilson ~ Solstice Satsang ~ In-Person
Solstice Satsang, a gathering to warm the Heart. Join Pamela and your fellow sages to celebrate clarity and compassion.
Pamela Wilson evokes through dialogue, inquiry and her very presence the qualities of unconditional love and radical acceptance. She is celebrated for her ability to open the heart and create a space in which long-cherished struggles and notions about one’s identity relax. Featured in the book Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom, Pamela is at her best in heart-felt dialogue, so please bring your questions!
More about Pamela: www.pamelasatsang.com
We'll have a short holiday get together after the satsang, to 6pm. Feel free to bring something to share if you wish.
Suggested donation: $15 to $30
No one turned away for lack of funds.
PARKING: There is some street parking in the neighborhood, free and without time limit.
For inquiries contact LocalEvents@opencirclecenter.org
If you have symptoms of a respiratory infection, or have had a recent
Covid exposure or positive test, please stay home out of consideration for others.
February 2026
Lisa Schumacher ~ Yes to Life – Resting in the Heart of Being (In-Person)
Bay Area Event Series
Join us for any or all in this series of In-Person events in Berkeley....
Feb. 19 & 20 (7:00pm - 8:45pm) & Feb. 21 Daylong (10:30am - 4:30pm)
“Yes to Life” offers a sacred space to pause — to rest, reflect, and rediscover the peace that’s already within you. Guided by Lisa’s compassionate presence, you’ll gently release the need to be more or do more—and begin to see beyond the fears and self-doubt that cloud the mind, awakening to the truth of who we really are.
This retreat is an opening — a return to love, stillness, and the simple joy of saying yes to life as it is... “Satsang” means “in the company of Truth” – it describes a meeting where we gather together to uncover our True Nature...... LEARN MORE HERE
Find out more »Lisa Schumacher ~ Yes to Life – Resting in the Heart of Being (In-Person)
Bay Area Event Series
Join us for any or all in this series of In-Person events in Berkeley....
Feb. 19 & 20 (7:00pm - 8:45pm) & Feb. 21 Daylong (10:30am - 4:30pm)
“Yes to Life” offers a sacred space to pause — to rest, reflect, and rediscover the peace that’s already within you. Guided by Lisa’s compassionate presence, you’ll gently release the need to be more or do more—and begin to see beyond the fears and self-doubt that cloud the mind, awakening to the truth of who we really are.
This retreat is an opening — a return to love, stillness, and the simple joy of saying yes to life as it is... “Satsang” means “in the company of Truth” – it describes a meeting where we gather together to uncover our True Nature...... LEARN MORE HERE
Find out more »Lisa Schumacher ~ Yes to Life – Resting in the Heart of Being (In-Person)
Bay Area Event Series
Join us for any or all in this series of In-Person events in Berkeley....
Feb. 19 & 20 (7:00pm - 8:45pm) & Feb. 21 Daylong (10:30am - 4:30pm)
“Yes to Life” offers a sacred space to pause — to rest, reflect, and rediscover the peace that’s already within you. Guided by Lisa’s compassionate presence, you’ll gently release the need to be more or do more—and begin to see beyond the fears and self-doubt that cloud the mind, awakening to the truth of who we really are.
This retreat is an opening — a return to love, stillness, and the simple joy of saying yes to life as it is... “Satsang” means “in the company of Truth” – it describes a meeting where we gather together to uncover our True Nature...... LEARN MORE HERE
Find out more »March 2026
John J. Prendergast, Ph.D. ~ “Being Absolutely No One and No Thing” (In-Person)
When we know that we are no thing, we are free to be as we are – both as spacious, loving awareness and as unique, individuated being. Through silent and guided meditations, a talk, meditative inquiry, and experiential conversations in community, we will explore seeing and feeling through who we have mis-taken our self to be and discovering what remains.
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...... LEARN MORE HERE
Find out more »John Astin ~ Everything is the Doorway (In-Person)
The largely consensus human view is that our thoughts about reality are essentially the same as reality, what psychologists term, “cognitive fusion.” But is that really true? Do our experiences actually conform to the ideas and beliefs we hold about them?
Through a series of meditative inquiries and dialogue, psychologist and spiritual teacher John Astin invites us into a deep dive into this question, exploring the nature of what’s appearing experientially to discover how it is not just those special, “peak” experiences that lie beyond the reach of our concepts and descriptions, but every experience....... LEARN MORE HERE
Find out more »April 2026
Adam Chacksfield ~ Awareness, Love, Desire: Embodying Aliveness (In-Person)
Let’s immerse ourselves in the potent field of loving awareness and explore our experience in a way that organically heals, enlightens, and enlivens.
We get to put down the burden of trying to be someone or pushing ourselves along to some fabricated destination. We’re already whole, and every part of us deserves love.
We’re invited to live inside the inspiration of our real desire instead of performing “normal.” Desire lights us up, arousing our curiosity, and shaping our life beyond all self-images and imagined ideal states........ LEARN MORE HERE
Find out more »May 2026
Beth Miller ~ VULNERABILITY – A SUPERPOWER (In-Person)
You are invited to a satsang with Beth Miller where we will explore spiritual awakening and vulnerability.
Together, let’s dive into what we know in our essence . . . opening to an ever-deepening realization that what we are in the truest sense is an inside job – an inward surrendering of anything and everything that is in the way of knowing, living, being and expressing our true nature of loving being-ness. A courageous surrendering . . .a trusting vulnerability...... LEARN MORE HERE
Find out more »June 2026
Sarah Taylor ~ The Heart of Awakening (In-Person)
The heart holds a doorway that can help us to embody truth, know the deeper intimacy of non-separation, and open into a clarity that is felt as much as it is seen.
What the traditions call divine love is not merely a feeling that arises in awakening. It is the welcoming aliveness of our very nature.
In this gathering, Sarah Taylor explores the heart as fulcrum: the place where insight can be found, deepened, and lived. Where loving awareness, brought openly to what is here, completes something that clear seeing alone leaves unfinished..... LEARN MORE HERE
Find out more »July 2026
Peter Russell ~ Enjoying Meditation: Having It Be a Delight Rather than a Chore (In-Person)
For many beginners, meditation can feel like an uphill battle — a never-ending struggle to quiet the thinking mind and focus the attention. It’s easy to walk away discouraged, convinced that meditation demands more effort and discipline than you can muster.
In Peter’s approach, we don’t need to control the mind or try to remain present. Instead he offers practices and insights that allow the mind to settle down naturally. Meditation then becomes not only easier and more effective, but also more enjoyable........ LEARN MORE HERE
Find out more »