December 2023
CANCELED – Jeannie Zandi ~ Everyday Mystic ~ In-Person Local Event
Due to illness, Jeannie will be coming out to California later than planned and will not be able to have events until Thursday, December 7th.
Please join her for the public gathering on Thursday, December 7 in Berkeley and the Friday & Saturday (December 8 & 9) intensive in Sausalito if you are able!
Jeannie Zandi ~ Everyday Mystic ~ In-Person Local Event
Spiritual openings allow us to discover the peace and freedom of our true nature, but it is how we take that discovery into the everyday that illuminates and transforms our lives.
Jeannie’s gift for inviting people to join her in resting and rooted presence evokes a deep meeting with oneself and reality. Within that, Jeannie’s humor and iconoclasm serve to bring people into an understanding that is beyond the intellectual. Through silent and guided meditation, spontaneous talks and exchange with participants, Jeannie will host a space of clarity and warmth where the richness of relating can be explored safely and your innermost questions met fully.
Jeannie Zandi is the director of Living as Love, a nonprofit organization dedicated to seeding a culture of the Heart on the planet, inspiring, teaching and supporting people to live from their essence as Love. A year before the birth of her daughter, Jeannie was plunged into a dark night of the soul that culminated in a radical shift of consciousness. She is known for her fearless clarity, tender mercy toward humanness, and a juicy, poetic and often humorous style that draws from Advaita Vedanta, Sufism, Christian mysticism and the ongoing revelation of fully engaged living.
The satsang includes a meditation, comments by the speaker, then Q&A and discussion.
Suggested Donation: $15- $25, no one turned away.
No pre-registration. Pay at door when you arrive.
If you have symptoms of a viral infection, or have had a recent
Covid exposure or positive test, please stay home out of consideration for others.
Pamela Wilson ~ Peace in the Inner and Outer Kingdom ~ Seasonal Celebration ~ Berkeley Event
Peace in the Inner and Outer Kingdom:
Uncontaining the Potent Peace Within
Join Pamela and your fellow sages in liberating that which limits peace inside and outside in the world. As sages we can transmit balance from a distance, helping humanity return to sanity and love.
Pamela Wilson evokes through dialogue, inquiry and her very presence the qualities of unconditional love and radical acceptance. She endears herself to her audiences with her playful and light-hearted humor, combined with compassion and deep understanding of what it is to be human. She is celebrated for her ability to open the heart, call forth our own inner sage, and create a space in which long-held struggles and notions about one’s identity relax. Pamela is featured in the book Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom.
2:00 pm to 3:45
~*~ with light refreshments and social nourishment afterwards. ~*~
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
Find out more »February 2024
Christiane Prendergast ~ Exploration in Stillness ~ In-Person Local Event
With gentle movements, we allow the body to be felt as it presents itself, moment to moment. Whether there is constriction or heaviness, we unconditionally welcome it through space-feeling, sensing, as well as with an occasional simple inquiry. With this approach, we experience that there is nothing to do, to change or to achieve. Open Presence allows these movements to free themselves and to be newly sensed at any moment. In this way, we effortlessly become one with welcoming that is our home ground.
We start with a short meditation. At the end of the session there will be a time for sharing and questions.
Please bring a blanket or a mat.
Bio: Originally from France, Christiane was a student of the late European Advaita master Jean Klein for over 20 years. Although rooted in Advaita, Jean incorporated a form of subtle-body yoga from Kashmir Shaivism. It is this approach that he taught to Christiane.
Suggested Donation: $15- $25, no one turned away.
No pre-registration. Pay at door when you arrive.
If you have symptoms of a viral infection, or have had a recent
Covid exposure or positive test, please stay home out of consideration for others.
July 2024
Lisa Schumacher ~ Open Meeting with Lisa ~ Local IN-PERSON, Berkeley Event
An open meeting with Lisa is an opportunity to step away from your day to day life and devote time for inquiry into the source of who you are. There will be a few moments of silence to start the meeting and then Lisa will speak and invite you to share about your realizations and ask questions about awakening.
Lisa Schumacher: Lisa grew up in Colusa, CA, and attended college at San Luis Obispo in the 1980's. After she moved to Southern Oregon in the early 90s, a friend invited her to a video satsang with Gangaji. Upon hearing Gangaji say "Be your Natural Self", Lisa's heart caught on fire and she fell into a deep bow of surrender. That meeting revealed to her the absolute simplicity of the natural, living truth of Love, inseparable from who one is. Lisa moved to Bolinas in 1999 to be closer to Gangaji and the vibrant community around her. In 2006, Lisa was asked by Gangaji to meet with people and share Satsang. She has held meetings in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and North America. She's also a long-time student of Eli Jaxon-Bear, Gangaji's husband, and a founding teacher of the Eli's "Leela School of Awakening". Lisa is the author of "The Stone I Love", a book of poetry inspired by Gangaji, available on her website and for purchase at the gathering.
In Lisa's meetings, she invites you to sit close and inquire about your awakening, your spiritual questions, and the unfolding truth. The teaching is in the tradition of Gangaji, who is a student of Papaji, who had his awakening at the feet of Ramana Maharshi.
We’ll also have a One Day Retreat with Lisa on July 20 in Fairfax (pre-registration required for the daylong).
Lisa's website: satsangwithlisa.org
Suggested donation: $15 to $30
No pre-registration for this evening event. Just come & join us.
September 2024
John Prendergast, Lisa Ferguson & Jared Michaels ~ Engaged Nonduality ~ InPerson Daylong
Engaged Nonduality: Attending to Our World in Crisis
A Daylong with John Prendergast,
Lisa Ferguson and Jared Michaels
This daylong event is an opportunity to turn toward our world in crisis from an awakened heart. Whatever is touching your heart is welcomed, including climate and ecosystem breakdown, war and conflict, injustice and polarization. How is Being moving through us in response? We will explore through meditation, dyadic inquiry, and group interaction what it means to open to our awakened nature, while also being moved by our deepest knowing to respond to our world in crisis.
Bios
John J. Prendergast, Ph.D. is the author of The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence (2019 ) and In Touch: How to Tune In to the Inner Guidance of Your Body and Trust Yourself (2015) and is working on a new book entitled Your Deepest Ground: A Guide to Embodied Spirituality (March 2025). He is a retired Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies as well as a retired psychotherapist. He studied with the European sage Jean Klein for many years as well as with Adyashanti who gave dharma transmission to John in August, 2023. John and his wife Christiane offer residential retreats in the United States and Europe.
www.listeningfromsilence.com
YouTube channel
Lisa Ferguson, Ph.D. is the founder of Climate Compassion, and has focused on supporting planetary wellbeing as a healing arts practitioner, climate justice activist, organizer and contemplative. She offers psychospiritual support to activists through one-one sessions and small groups, weaving together a focus on awakening, healing and wise action.
www.climatecompassion.org
Jared Michaels is a psychotherapist in private practice in Berkeley, a Zen priest in the San Francisco Zen Center lineage, and a longtime student of John Prendergast. For decades, he asked what he could offer humanity that would make a difference. His answer has been consistent for years: To invite us to walk a path of personal and systemic transformation.
JaredMichaels.com
Suggested Donation: $75 per person
(any amount acceptable, no one turned away for lack of funds)
Pre-registration is recommended, through you can pay at door if not pre-registered.
Lunch Break: There are places close by to go out for lunch, or you may bring your own lunch, though there is no refrigerator access.
NOTE: The venue is a kosher-style facility, so no pork or shellfish, and no meat mixed with dairy on premises.
PARKING: There is some limited street parking in the neighborhood, free and without time limit on weekends. There is also parking a few blocks away at the east parking lot of the Ashby Bart station: www.bart.gov/stations/ashb/map
You may also find paid parking just a few blocks away at Alta Bates Parking Garage: Enter on Colby between Ashby and Webster St.
Nearby parking may fill up quickly. Plan accordingly.
Louise Kay ~ Embodied Awareness (In-Person & Livestream)
Open Circle is hosting a series of events with Louise Kay in various locations ~
In-Person attendance & Livestream available:
Sebastopol, CA satsang: Sept. 22nd (2-4 pm)
Berkeley, CA satsangs Sept. 24th (7-9 pm)
San Rafael, CA satsang: Sept. 26th (7-9 pm)
Berkeley, CA satsangs Sept. 27th (7-9 pm)
DAYLONG...
Sept. 28th, Berkeley, CA (10:30am-4:30pm)
Click here to access more details & registration for ALL events.
Sept. 24th in Berkeley....
You're invited to join Louise Kay for a 2 hour meeting in Truth. During this event Louise will share her Embodied Awareness practice with you; a practice which supports the direct recognition of one's true nature through self-inquiry, as well as the integration of unprocessed energies and emotions held in the body. When employed with consistency this practice allows one to live in presence in an integrated way and to become a vessel through which higher consciousness can flow more freely, bringing joy to every aspect of life.
Alongside like-minded community you will be supported to surrender fully into the now, dis-identify from the conceptual self and open up to your true nature, pure consciousness, to discover an ever-present dimension of peace.
Suggested Donation: $15 - $30
No one turned away for lack of funds.
No pre-registration for In-Person Attendance. Pay at door when you arrive.
In-person attendees can sign up for the recording at the event.
If you have covid-like symptoms, or have had a recent Covid exposure or positive test, please stay home out of consideration for others.
Find out more »Louise Kay ~ Embodied Awareness (In-Person & Livestream)
Open Circle is hosting a series of events with Louise Kay in various locations ~
In-Person attendance & Livestream available:
Sebastopol, CA satsang: Sept. 22nd (2-4 pm)
Berkeley, CA satsangs Sept. 24th (7-9 pm)
San Rafael, CA satsang: Sept. 26th (7-9 pm)
Berkeley, CA satsangs Sept. 27th (7-9 pm)
DAYLONG...
Sept. 28th, Berkeley, CA (10:30am-4:30pm)
Click here to access details & registration for ALL events.
Sept. 27th in Berkeley....
You're invited to join Louise Kay for a 2 hour meeting in Truth. During this event Louise will share her Embodied Awareness practice with you; a practice which supports the direct recognition of one's true nature through self-inquiry, as well as the integration of unprocessed energies and emotions held in the body. When employed with consistency this practice allows one to live in presence in an integrated way and to become a vessel through which higher consciousness can flow more freely, bringing joy to every aspect of life.
Alongside like-minded community you will be supported to surrender fully into the now, dis-identify from the conceptual self and open up to your true nature, pure consciousness, to discover an ever-present dimension of peace.
Suggested Donation: $15 - $30
No one turned away for lack of funds.
No pre-registration for In-Person Attendance. Pay at door when you arrive.
In-person attendees can sign up for the recording at the event.
If you have covid-like symptoms, or have had a recent Covid exposure or positive test, please stay home out of consideration for others.
Find out more »Louise Kay ~ Embodied Awareness (In-Person & Livestream)
Open Circle is hosting a series of events with Louise Kay in various locations ~
In-Person attendance & Livestream available:
Sebastopol, CA satsang: Sept. 22nd (2-4 pm)
Berkeley, CA satsangs Sept. 24th (7-9 pm)
San Rafael, CA satsang: Sept. 26th (7-9 pm)
Berkeley, CA satsangs Sept. 27th (7-9 pm)
DAYLONG...
Sept. 28th, Berkeley, CA (10:30am-4:30pm)
Click here to access details & registration for ALL events.
Sept. 28th Daylong....
You're invited to join Louise Kay for a full day retreat. This event is an invitation to dedicate a whole day to deepening into the stillness of being in a field of pure, unconditional love alongside like-minded community. The day will consist of guided and silent meditations as well as Q&A sessions where you will have the opportunity to explore whatever arises for you in the moment.
Louise will support you to rest your attention as the aware witness while consciously including and feeling the experience of the body as alive sensations. This practice, which Louise calls 'Embodied Awareness,' supports the direct recognition of one's true nature through self-inquiry as well as the integration of unprocessed energies and emotions held in the body. When employed with consistency this practice allows one to live fully in presence in an integrated way and to become a vessel through which higher consciousness can flow more freely, bringing joy to every aspect of life.
You will be supported to surrender fully into the now, dis-identify from the conceptual self and open up to your true nature, pure consciousness, to discover an ever-present dimension of peace.
Whatever emotions or sensations arise in the body will be met with unconditional love under Louise's gentle guidance, allowing for deep healing and transformation to take place on the level of form.
Louise Kay was born in the UK. After graduating from university she worked as an English teacher for 15 years, and during this time began to question the deeper meaning of life. This led her to the path of spirituality, where she found a strong resonance with the teachings of non-duality.
In her early thirties Louise felt a strong call to visit India, where she experienced a profound spiritual awakening. In the years that followed she experienced a deepening and integration of her initial spiritual awakening and as she opened more to this dimension of being a new form of expression revealed itself from deep within her heart.
Louise is passionate about supporting people to live a life of presence and unconditional love. Her greatest joy is to sit together in presence and gently hold space for all emotions, all sensations and all experiences which arise in the moment in order to support the integration of unresolved energies and allow the unfolding of the divine in all who feel the call.
Explorations are usually focused around self-inquiry, the release of limiting beliefs and the integration of unprocessed emotions and energies.
More about Louise: www.louisekay.net
The meeting will be from 10:30am to 4:30pm, with a break for lunch.
Bring your own lunch, or feel free to eat out or pickup prepared food (various places nearby).
Sliding Scale: $60 to $120
No one turned away for lack of funds
Pre-Registration for In-Person attendance is Not necessary,
but encouraged to help us in planning.
Plenty of space at this venue. You can show up and pay at the door.
For those who can register in advance,
pre-registration for In-Person attendance Closes at 11 pm on Sept. 27th
.
For inquiries about IN-PERSON attendance, contact LocalEvents@opencirclecenter.org
For inquiries about LIVESTREAM access, contact web@opencirclecenter.org
The In-person event will be in the Gallery room upstairs.
Parking is unrestricted on Los Angeles Avenue.
Lunch break:
For In-person attendees, there are a variety of places to eat out or pick up prepared food within a few blocks. You can also bring your own food, though there is no kitchen or refrigerator access. People are welcome to eat outside on the lawn. No eating is allowed indoors at the venue. List of Nearby Solano Ave. Food Places
If you have symptoms of a viral infection, or have had a recent
Covid exposure or positive test, please stay home out of consideration for others.
October 2024
Rupert Spira ~ The Essence of Non-Duality ~ In-Person & Livestream ~ Berkeley, CA
“Meditation is what we are, not what we do; the separate self is what we do, not what we are.”
In the last few years Rupert Spira has become one of the most respected and sought-after teachers of non-dual wisdom, known for his crystal clear use of language, laser-like intellect, skillful guided inquiries, and powerfully direct pointing to aware presence—all delivered with warmth, wit and an unmatched and distinctive eloquence.
In his meetings, Rupert explores the perennial, non-dual understanding that lies at the heart of all the great religious and spiritual traditions, such as Advaita Vedanta, Kashmir Shaivism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Mystical Christianity, Sufism, Zen etc., and which is also the direct, ever-present reality of our own experience. This is a contemporary, experiential approach involving silent meditation, guided meditation and conversation, and requires no affiliation to any particular religious or spiritual tradition. All that is required is an interest in the essential nature of experience, and in the longing for love, peace and happiness around which most of our lives revolve.
After thirty years of intense seeking, Rupert met his primary teacher Francis Lucille, who introduced him to the direct way taught by his own teacher, Jean Klein. He is the author of several books, including his latest, You are the Happiness You Seek.
The meeting will start with a contemplation led by Rupert followed by a Question and Answer session.
Open Circle events are typically recorded and made available to others, including, but not limited to use in our Library, YouTube, social media, etc. No participant faces are recorded, only their voices. Your participation implies consent for us to use your shares, so please share accordingly.
Suggested Donation: $25 - $40
No one turned away to lack of funds.
No pre-registration for In-Person Attendance.
Just pay at the door.
Cash Preferred. Check or Venmo OK.
Card payment may be an option.
PARKING: There is some street parking in the neighborhood, free and without time limit.
Nearby parking fills up quickly. Plan accordingly.
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.