April 2023
Peter Russell ~ Nonduality and the Science of Consciousness ~ In-Person in Berkeley, CA
The spiritual teaching of nonduality, which stems from the Indian philosophy of advaita, teaches that consciousness is the primary reality, the fundamental essence of the cosmos. On the other hand, the current scientific worldview holds that the physical world is primary, and that consciousness somehow, in ways that we do not yet understand, emerges from it. Both views have their challenges. If consciousness is primary, why do we not see it in all things? Conversely if the physical world is primary, how does consciousness arise from something as insentient matter?
Peter Russell is a leading thinker on consciousness and contemporary spirituality. He coined the term "global brain" with his 1980s’ bestseller of the same name in which he predicted the Internet and the impact it would have on humanity. Other books include Waking Up in Time, From Science to God, and his most recent, Letting Go of Nothing.
Find out more »May 2023
Marlies Myoku Cocheret ~ A Day of Silence, Movement and Connection ~ In-Person Daylong in Berkeley
A wave of awakening is washing over the earth. This is no coincidence. It is the dire nature of our circumstances that guides us to walk the narrow path because truly there is no alternative. The most authentic and deepest revolution is an inside job.
When we take our thought patterns about ourselves and the world to be real, and struggle against this false reality, we create suffering and chaos ensues. It doesn’t work. So what can we do?
We can join the Silent Revolution and go inward, slow down, be still and listen.
Together we can learn to rest as silence and meet our humanity compassionately with all its struggle, resistance and beauty. Through strong bonds of connection and affection we create a powerful field which washes over the entire Earth and helps all to awaken. In this way, we can get through anything.
Marlies Myoku Cocheret brings a potent invitation into the deep Silence that we are. She has been offering satsang and retreat since 2000 when Adyashanti asked her to teach.
Lynn Marie Lumiere, MFT ~ SELF LOVE: From Self Criticism to Self-Acceptance ~ 2-Part Retreat
Lack of self-love is the primary, core issue in most people. It can be our greatest obstacle to health, happiness, healthy relationships, success, personal growth, and awakening. In other words, it affects every aspect of our life! What if unconditional self-acceptance is the key to self-love? But how does that happen? To truly love ourselves, we need to remember who we truly are—a vast being of pure love. Then it is possible, along with therapeutic assistance and support, to meet and resolve the negative programming which creates a negative sense of self. As these falls away, we wake up out of the false, negative identity into our pure loving nature. Lynn Marie Lumiere is a seasoned psychotherapist, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, and author. She offers a rare blend of embodied spiritual wisdom with a skilled therapeutic approach that facilitates healing of psychological trauma and wounding and the embodiment of awakening. She is a trustworthy and competent guide for both healing and freedom on all levels.
Find out more »Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ Riding the tiger: The tantric way from anger to clarity ~ 2-Part Intensive
Anger is a powerful force in our life to transcend our self-imposed or social limitations. When it is not directed towards life, but towards the ego, it becomes a phenomenal drive to dissolve the sense of separation. The result will be clarity and compassion.
This two-part online intensive will offer both theoretical and practical teachings based on an embodied duality approach.
Shakti Caterina Maggi is a spiritual guide, meditation teacher and author widely recognized as one of the most authentic and profound voices of contemporary spirituality. Combining the vision of Advaita and non-dual Tantra with a contemporary approach, Shakti offers with humanity, compassion and great clarity an inner technology to dissolve that contraction of suffering that accompanies our lives, and access a space of peace and unconditional love towards life.
Find out more »June 2023
John Prendergast ~ Emptiness and Fullness ~ In-Person Daylong Gathering
To be filled, we must first be emptied. The spiritual path is initially about subtraction instead of addition. There is a stripping away of illusion, an emptying out of confusion, an unlearning and unveiling. Whatever our self/world view may be, it is not the ultimate truth. We are not who we think we are and the world is not what we think it is. When there is a willingness to not know with the ordinary mind, we are open to the Unknown and available to being filled by an essential Life. This influx of fullness comes of its own – the natural radiance of our true nature.
Through guided and silent meditation, heart-felt inquiry, and experiential conversations we will explore this natural process of emptying out and being filled.
The meeting will be held at a private home in the Fairfax hills, with views of Mount Tam and hiking trails.
John is a retired Adjunct Professor of Psychology at CIIS and the author of several books on the intersection of nondual wisdom and psychology, including The Deep Heart and In Touch. He studied for many years with the European sage, Jean Klein, as well as with Adyashanti, and now teaches in a profoundly experiential manner.
Find out more »Pamela Wilson ~ The Blessing of Balance ~ 4 Part Online Retreat
Join Pamela and your fellow sages for a four part satsang retreat.
We will invite any tension between the opposites within to balance and self-adjust by meeting them respectfully and inviting them to know themselves. When we function as the sage we are, everything self-liberates and balances, allowing us to live as wise love, flow, peace and ease. Even perceived threat, habitual opposition, stress and separation can root and return to natural clarity and relaxation.
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.
Find out more »July 2023
Riyaz Motan ~ The Art of Listening
When we give ourselves to deeply listening -- listening without agenda
and listening with our whole being -- we give our most precious gift, our spacious loving presence.
In this online event, Riyaz Motan will describe and demonstrate the practices and conditions that support us in deep listening. The art of listening is a relational practice; something we can get better at with intention and attention. It is also a profound spiritual practice-- something that invites us to tap into the depth of presence; and into intimate and alive connection with others.
Riyaz has been a practicing psychotherapist in the Bay Area for the past 25 years. From the beginning his passion has been on the integration of Eastern wisdom traditions with Western psychology. His two main teachers, John Prendergast and Adyashanti, have deeply influenced his work and his spiritual life. He now increasingly feels called to support people in embodying their whole selves -- their humanity and their divinity.
Find out more »August 2023
Manilai ~ Sound Bath ~ In-Person in Berkeley, CA
Join us in a space of connection, honoring and healing.
We will relax and re-harmonize to the sounds and vibrations of crystal singing bowls performed by Manilai. Each singing bowl is attuned to one of the 7 main chakras and helps to clear and align the chakras. You will be invited to completely relax during this one-hour full-bodied, immersive experience that invites deep healing and restorative processes.
“Sounds permeate our systems, resonating with our essence, so that inner dissonance seems almost immediately to be transformed into harmony.”- Dr. Mitchell Gaynor --
Bring what you like for your comfort such as a foam or yoga mat, pillows and blankets.......
Find out more »September 2023
Dorothy Hunt ~ Clarity, Conditioning, and Transformation: pre-retreat taster event
Dorothy will preview what you might expect from the upcoming two-day retreat on September 9th and 10th. There will be a guided meditation and an overview of the topic: Clarity, Conditioning and Transformation.
Everyone deals with conditioning, but when we stop judging and become curious about its energies, there is an opportunity to meet conditioning with clear seeing rather than resistance. This inherently open, aware, and compassionate clarity begins to transform our relationship to conditioning, whether or not it continues to arise. And yet, seeing the myriad ways the conditioned mind returns us to an egoic trance state is part of the ongoing-ness of seeing through illusion.
Dorothy Hunt currently serves as Spiritual Director of Moon Mountain Sangha, teaching at the request, and in the spiritual lineage, of Adyashanti. The flavor of her teaching blends Advaita and Zen with a deep welcoming of the human expressions of the Mystery.
Find out more »Pamela Wilson ~ Being Here as Strength, Clarity and Love ~ 4 Part Online Retreat
The great promise is to live the freedom we love, flowing with discernment and benevolent strength. The past has informed us, but does not need to be held in the body to remind us of what we don’t like. Awareness is aware; it does not need nervous back up.
So we invite the body-mind, the past, the emotions and nervous system to know itself and live here, be here as aware presence. Life itself in all its creative power, passion and celebration.
Join Pamela and fellow sages for this 4-part retreat to free the body from the past.
Pamela Wilson 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.
Find out more »