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In honor of the Winter Solstice we will meet in the unmoving stillness, resting with equanimity, holding what we encounter within with kindness and allowance. By entering darkness, we are invited to know ourselves more intimately, surrendering to that which does not push away what we contain. Only by meeting ourselves with allowance, do we evolve beyond resistance. Solstice is an ideal day to rest, heal, and prepare for the longer days ahead.

Susanne Marie offers integrated teachings in support of freedom, and the celebration of our common essence of love and unity with all life. Her teaching style is heart-centered and practical, with a focus on supporting you in your unique awakening journey.

We find ourselves in uniquely challenging and uncertain times: overpopulation, mass extinctions, extreme weather, environmental tipping points, political upheaval, nuclear proliferation, demographic instability and widespread migrations, and the advent of technologies that challenge and distort our understanding of what’s real and true.
Of course, we can always seek refuge in the knowing that our true nature − awakened awareness, consciousness, the absolute − is undisturbed and never dies. But what about all the painful consequences at a very human level of all this difficult and precipitous change? How do we find peace in a deeper ground while acknowledging and welcoming our understandable feelings of fear, outrage, or grief?

Please join me for one or more satsangs in this monthly series (Jan-May) that include resting in our deeper ground while welcoming and working with the feelings that these challenging times evoke.

Stephan Bodian is a teacher in the non-dual wisdom tradition, and a licensed psychotherapist, who brings a deep understanding of the impact of trauma on the process of spiritual realization. Stephan studied for many years with Advaita master Jean Klein and received Dharma transmission from Adyashanti in 2001.

A meeting with Lisa is an opportunity to step away from your day to day life and devote time for self-inquiry into the heart of Love. There will be a few moments of silence to start the meeting and then Lisa will speak and invite the community to share reports about their realizations and ask questions.

Upon hearing Gangaji in the early 90s 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. In 2006, Lisa was asked by Gangaji to meet with people and share her discovery of the Love that is alive in the core of one’s being.

This series of Engaged Nonduality events, hosted by Lisa Ferguson, explores how nondual wisdom may respond to our world in crisis. 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 week's guest speaker is Loch Kelly, an award-winning author, licensed psychotherapist and recognized leader in the field of meditation and awakening. Loch has studied with studied with Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and many of the great nondual masters of our age, as well as collaborated with neuroscientists in the study of how awareness training can enhance compassion and wellbeing. In 2007 Loch was asked to teach by Adyashanti. 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.

Welcome to The Holding Space.

A space where we can gather together and BE exactly as we are, where the full spectrum of your human experience is invited.

It's in this open space that we can begin to unwind the strategies that no longer serve us.

Through gentle exploration and somatic awareness you can cultivate a new way of being with your most challenging patterns

As you awaken and refine a more subtle way of Being and Being With, you can slowly but surely become the space – the container and the field – where healing takes place.

Georgia Simone believes that the spiritual path is as much about arriving here fully – as an embodied human being – as it is about dissolving into the infinite source that makes this life possible.

Open Circle is delighted to welcome Jeannie Zandi back to the Bay Area for a series of events at various locations, running from January 12th through the 16th (see below). Jeannie’s gift for inviting people to join her in resting and rooted presence evokes a deep meeting with oneself and reality. She is known for her fearless clarity, tender mercy toward humanness, and a juicy, poetic and often humorous teaching style.

*** Sunday, January 12th, 8476 Sonoma Ave., Sebastopol ***
*** Monday, January 13th, Northbrae Community Church, Berkeley ***
*** Tuesday, January 14th, Northbrae Community Church, Berkeley ***
*** Wednesday, January 15th, First Presbyterian Church, San Rafael ***
*** Thursday, January 16th, Northbrae Community Church, Berkeley *** ........

Open Circle is delighted to welcome Jeannie Zandi back to the Bay Area for a series of events at various locations, running from January 12th through the 16th (see below). Jeannie’s gift for inviting people to join her in resting and rooted presence evokes a deep meeting with oneself and reality. She is known for her fearless clarity, tender mercy toward humanness, and a juicy, poetic and often humorous teaching style.

*** Sunday, January 12th, 8476 Sonoma Ave., Sebastopol ***
*** Monday, January 13th, Northbrae Community Church, Berkeley ***
*** Tuesday, January 14th, Northbrae Community Church, Berkeley ***
*** Wednesday, January 15th, First Presbyterian Church, San Rafael ***
*** Thursday, January 16th, Northbrae Community Church, Berkeley *** ........