March 2024
Susanne Marie ~ Your Spiritual Map ~ Bay Area Daylong Retreat
Where are you within your spiritual journey? Are you aware of the leading edge of your understanding? Do you recognize what you are currently working on evolutionarily?
Everybody who is called home and takes it seriously is guided to accomplish the goal of living in an undivided manner. Life is hard at work to help bring us into inner alignment. Along the way we are given tools, teachers & teachings, as well as the life experiences we need to help us grow. This includes challenges that can lead one to become primed and committed to seek what is true.
Whether we know it or not, we are always a scientific experiment, experimenting on ourselves. This ongoing experiment teaches us the power of attention and where to place it. Opening to trust the wisdom contained in that attention, we become attuned to spiritual practices we need, depending on which area of growth is necessary at the time. It could be a time of undoing, of stripping away of the belief in a separate self. It could be a time of abiding peacefully in the unknown, realizing that this too is a teaching. It can also be a time of healing old wounds, where one’s pain is asking to be met. There can be a calling to honestly enter the world while embodying awakening. It completely depends on which facet must be polished at the time. Rather than being told by an authority beyond yourself how (and in what order) further steps in the process of realization are to be addressed based on an external model, we can learn to listen deeply and to trust the guidance that is intended specifically for you. Everyone is unique in their journey back to remembrance, and this is to be honored. We are multifaceted beings, and at any given time a particular facet is offered up to be polished and liberated.
During our time together, we will explore ways to listen to ourselves more sensitively, and we will be guided to attune ourselves to the medicine we need to continue gracefully on our journey. We will share with the group and in dyads, exploring our innate ability to feel into or sense our inner pulse of knowing, and finally how to gain confidence in it and to trust it. Sometimes it takes support to affirm the current trail one is taking.
Bio:
Featured in conversation with Adyashanti on Buddha at the Gas Pump as well as on Conscious TV, Susanne Marie offers teachings in support of freedom and the celebration of our common essence of love and unity with all life. Susanne, the parent of two young adults, offers spiritual mentoring, online and in-person group facilitation, as well as retreats.
Adyashanti and Susanne Marie on the Falling Away of Self - Buddha at the Gas Pump Interview
Susanne Marie “Living Beyond Unity” Interview by Renate McNay
The meeting will be from 11:00am to 5:00pm, with a break for lunch.
Please bring your own lunch, or feel free to go into town to one of the restaurants or to Good Earth Natural Foods.
We hope you will join us!
Pre-registration required, as space is limited.
Registration closes at 5 pm on March 22nd
Suggested Donation: $60 to $120
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Pay when you arrive.
For inquiries contact LocalEvents@opencirclecenter.org
Location: The meeting will be held at a private home in the Fairfax hills, with views of Mount Tam and hiking trails.
Address and directions will be provided upon registration.
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.
April 2024
Pamela Wilson ~ Love’s Own Strength and Wisdom is Who We Are ~ Bay Area Daylong Retreat
Join with Pamela and your fellow sages to liberate any containment or reluctance to shine and live what we love.
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
The meeting will be from 10:30am to 4:30pm, with a break for lunch.
Feel free to bring your own lunch and a sun hat and walking shoes for enjoying a walk during our lunch break.
See you there!
You also have option to go into town to one of the restaurants or to Good Earth Natural Foods.
Pre-registration required, as space is limited.
Registration closes at 5 pm on April 19th
Sliding Scale: $60 to $120
No one turned away for lack of funds.
For inquiries contact LocalEvents@opencirclecenter.org
Location:
The meeting will be held at a private home in the Fairfax hills, with views of Mount Tam and hiking trails. Address and directions will be provided upon registration.
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.
Amoda Maa ~ LIVING THE TRUTH OF FREEDOM IN THE MIDST OF EVERYDAY LIFE ~ In-Person in Corte Madera
Amoda Maa offers a profound invitation to all those who wish to embody the truth of awakened consciousness in the midst of everyday life. Her meetings include silent or guided meditation, discourse, and an opportunity to ask questions from the innermost. Speaking with clarity and grace, she invites an open-hearted honesty to the exploration of what it means to recognize and live from our essential nature as open awareness.
Amoda’s teachings are free from any ideology and are not affiliated with any lineage or tradition, and yet the luminous truth is the same nondual understanding at the core of of many spiritual traditions. Arising from her own direct experience and expressed in a contemporary language, these teachings are relevant and accessible to all people from all backgrounds and cultures. She is known for her authenticity, depth, and unique expression of “masculine” clear-pointed insight and “feminine” unconditional acceptance.
Since 2016, she has been living in the US and today her teachings are followed by a growing global community. She has been a speaker and guest teacher at a variety of conferences, featured in several magazines, interviewed for numerous broadcasts and podcasts, and is the author of several books including Embodied Enlightenment and Falling Open in a World Falling Apart. Her life and work are dedicated to supporting an “inner transformation of consciousness” and envisioning a new world of peace and enlightened living. Amoda and her husband, Kavi Jezzie Hockaday, are Spiritual Directors of the Amoda Maa Foundation.
More info on Amoda, her teachings, and events, including Bay Area Weekend Retreat on April 27/28 at www.amodamaa.com
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.
June 2024
John Prendergast ~ The Art of Self-Inquiry ~ Bay Area Daylong Retreat
Awakening to our true nature is greatly facilitated by the art of self-inquiry – a deep, honest, and intuitive investigation into the direct experience of who we really are. This investigation is based upon our love of the non-dogmatic truth and our desire to live in conscious accord with it. Rigorous self-inquiry often requires that we recognize and welcome our deepest doubts and fears and then question and see through them. The effect is profoundly liberating.
Our time together will include guided and open meditations, a talk, group and dyadic inquiries, and experiential conversations.
John J. Prendergast, Ph.D. is a spiritual teacher and retired psychotherapist and 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 August, 2023. He is the author of The Deep Heart (2019) and In Touch (2015) and is working on a new book for Sounds True about the Ground.
www.listeningfromsilence.com
YouTube channel
The meeting will be from 10:00am to Noon and 2:00pm to 4:30pm, with a break for lunch.
Please bring your own lunch, or feel free to go into town to one of the restaurants or to Good Earth Natural Foods.
Pre-registration required, as space is limited.
Registration closes at 5 pm on May 31st
Suggested donation: $75
(Any amount acceptable. No one turned away for lack of funds.)
For inquiries contact LocalEvents@opencirclecenter.org
Location:
The meeting will be held at a private home in the Fairfax hills, with views of Mount Tam and hiking trails.
Address and directions will be provided upon registration.
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.
Where Awakened Heart Meets Broken Heart: Attending to A World in Crisis with John Prendergast, Riyaz Motan and Lisa Ferguson ~ Bay Area Daylong Retreat
Where Awakened Heart Meets Broken Heart:
Attending to A World in Crisis
This daylong is an opportunity to turn toward our world in crisis and explore how our awakened hearts and deep knowing are called to respond. 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 the deepest knowing of our awakened nature, while also being touched by our collective heartbreak.
Bios
John J. Prendergast, Ph.D. is the author of The Deep Heart (2019 ) and In Touch (2015) and is working on a new book for Sounds True about the Ground. 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
Riyaz Motan is a spiritual guide, teacher, and former marriage and family psychotherapist. His work interweaves Western psychology & Eastern wisdom traditions to help others find freedom from suffering to awaken to their essential wholeness. Through one-on-one spiritual mentoring, small intimate groups, day-long or multi-day retreats, he supports others in the journey of discovering who they truly are: to uncover who and what they are at essence, and to fully embody and express this in their lives and relationships.
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.
The meeting will be from 10:00am to 4:00pm, with a break for lunch.
Please bring your own lunch, or feel free to go into town to one of the restaurants or to Good Earth Natural Foods.
Pre-registration required, as space is limited.
Registration closes at 5 pm on June 21st
Suggested donation: $75
(any amount acceptable, no one turned away for lack of funds)
For inquiries contact LocalEvents@opencirclecenter.org
Location:
The meeting will be held at a private home in the Fairfax hills, with views of Mount Tam and hiking trails. Address and directions will be provided upon registration.
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
Pamela Wilson ~ Transmitting Peace Worldwide From Within ~ Bay Area Daylong Retreat
Join with your fellow sages and Pamela to uncontain the heart , so it can transmit clarity, balance and blessings.
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
The meeting will be from 10:30am to 4:30pm, with a break for lunch.
Feel free to bring your own lunch and a sun hat and walking shoes for enjoying a walk during our lunch break.
See you there!
You also have option to go into town to one of the restaurants or to Good Earth Natural Foods.
Pre-registration required, as space is limited.
Registration closes at 5 pm on July 5th
Sliding Scale: $60 to $120
No one turned away for lack of funds.
For inquiries contact LocalEvents@opencirclecenter.org
Location:
The meeting will be held at a private home in the Fairfax hills, with views of Mount Tam and hiking trails.
Address and directions will be provided upon registration.
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.
Lisa Schumacher ~ Let Love Lead ~ One Day Retreat in Bay Area
Within your heart is the perfect refuge of the pure light of Love. Here is where freedom is; it is your true nature. To give yourself to Love and to live for the Truth requires that your attention is aligned with the song of your heart. We will spend the day together, bowing to what is sacred within and celebrating the simplicity of staying true to what you love.
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.
Lisa's website: satsangwithlisa.org
The meeting will be from 10:30am to 4:30pm, with a break for lunch.
Please bring your own lunch, or feel free to go into town to one of the restaurants or to Good Earth Natural Foods.
Pre-registration required, as space is limited.
Registration closes at 5 pm on July 19th
Sliding Scale: $60 to $120
No one turned away for lack of funds.
For inquiries contact LocalEvents@opencirclecenter.org
Location:
The meeting will be held at a private home in the Fairfax hills, with views of Mount Tam and hiking trails.
Address and directions will be provided upon registration.
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.
We also have an Open Meeting with Lisa, July 18th, in Berkeley.
Find out more »September 2024
Prayers for the Future ~ Satsang & Kirtan
Satsang & Kirtan
with Adam Bauer & Christine Marie
Co-sponsored by Open Circle
Join us for an extraordinary gathering of heart, mind, and spirit as we come together for Prayers for the Future, a special satsang and kirtan featuring global chant artist Adam Bauer and yogini Christine Marie. This event is a call to unite in soulful chanting, deep reflection, and visionary summoning of a world we want to live into.
Highlights:
- Kirtan: Be together in the power of the chant led by Adam Bauer, a renowned kirtan artist who weaves together ancient mantras, soulful melodies, and heartfelt devotion to uplift and connect us all.
- Satsang: Dive into a space of inner exploration and wisdom sharing. Through guided meditation and contemplative dialogue, we wil connect with our clearest hearts to envision our highest possible future.
Come prepared to chant, listen, share, and co-create as we set our intentions and pray for a future that honors the highest potential of humanity and our planet.
Open to all who feel called to join in this sacred work of visioning and manifesting a future filled with light, harmony, and grace.
In community, in love, and in action.
Pre-registration required, as space is limited.
Donation Requested. Pay what you can.
RSVP by REGISTRATION HERE & DONATE AT DOOR WHEN YOU ARRIVE.
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For inquiries contact LocalEvents@opencirclecenter.org
Location:
The meeting will be held at a private home in the Fairfax hills, with views of Mount Tam and hiking trails.
Address and directions will be provided upon registration.
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.
John Prendergast ~ “How Do You Unenlighten Yourself?” ~ Bay Area Daylong Retreat
Our true nature is inherently open, wakeful, and loving; however, it is veiled by our conscious and subconscious identification with conditioning. In this daylong gathering, we will pointedly explore how our core limiting beliefs and their corresponding subtle somatic contractions sustain the sense of being a separate self. The day will include guided and silent meditation, meditative inquiry, a talk, and experiential conversations.
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.
www.listeningfromsilence.com
YouTube channel
The meeting will be from 10:00am to Noon and 2:00pm to 4:30pm, with a break for lunch.
Please bring your own lunch, or feel free to go into town to one of the restaurants or to Good Earth Natural Foods.
Pre-registration required, as space is limited.
Registration closes at 5 pm on Sept. 20th
Suggested donation: $75
(Any amount acceptable. No one turned away for lack of funds.)
PRE-REGISTER HERE & PAY AT DOOR WHEN YOU ARRIVE.
(Cash or Check only)
This event is Co-sponsored by Open Circle & the Schwartz Family Trust.
All proceeds, above covering event costs, will go to the
Schwartz Family Trust to support Rob Schwartz’s vision of retaining
his house and property to be available as an Open Circle retreat facility.
Event donations will go directly to the Schwartz Family Trust, rather than to Open Circle.
If you want to make larger donations for this project, you can do so at the event, or contact us
for more information on how to make larger donations (or loans, or otherwise support this project).
For inquiries contact LocalEvents@opencirclecenter.org
Location:
The meeting will be held at a private home in the Fairfax hills, with views of Mount Tam and hiking trails.
Address and directions will be provided upon registration.
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.
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. 26th in San Rafael....
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 »