November 2019
Pamela Wilson ~ Life Living Itself
Pamela Wilson is a Bay Area treasure who has been sharing satsang for twenty years around the world, honoring the sage within everyone, and the absolute oneness of All That Is. Her own teachers included Lester Levinson (The Sedona Method), Robert Adams and Neelam. She 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.
Pamela 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. And she speaks the truth of non-duality, that the universe is one undivided whole. Featured in the book Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom, Pamela is at her best in heart-felt dialogue, so please come and bring your questions!
“Here we are, benevolent rooted space wearing a remarkably sensitive instrument called the body. Most sages report the body-mind insists on being included and permeated by presence, so it too, can know and live its naturalness. The body is the five elements, already free with no history, though it has born witness to all. As compassion we will be instantly aware of any suffering and answer its call; as stillness we will be aware of remaining restlessness. To be with what is in the moment, this is our function and is at the heart of all longing.”
Paul Hedderman ~ Beyond “Selfing”
Paul’s unpretentious, humorous and energetic style of street-level non-duality is honed by his years of involvement with 12-step programs and the recovery community, as well as his background in Zen, Advaita and A Course in Miracles. In colorful and direct language, he points to the many ways we reinforce what he calls “selfing”, urging his listeners to honestly consider the facts of their daily experience, and look beyond the pull of the past and future, and the self-reinforcing self-importance of ego-identity. His direct, uncompromising pointing doesn’t provide a refuge for entrenched conditioning and the sense of separateness, no matter how convincing that experience may be. Paul is the author of The Escape to Everywhere and his latest, On Having Never Left, and the subject of the DVD Traveling Lighter.
"We are saddled with the proscribed way of looking called self-centeredness. Everything is perceived as to how it pertains to me. The thing to do is to turn the light on it to see that all there is, is subject; there is no object called me as a subject. There's just subjectivity. That's the truth. Then enlightenment and all these goals become non-goals, because you realize there is nothing to seek.”
Suggested Donation $15-25
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Find out more »December 2019
Richard Miller ~ Resting as Inherent Joy
Why is it that some people flourish through seemingly insurmountable challenges while others struggle with even the smallest of life's difficulties? Is it possible to experience resilient joy and well-being during even our most challenging of times?
Come experience the healing and revitalizing effects of a special iRest Yoga Nidra meditation that is designed to help you recognize, reconnect with, nourish and embody your capacity to experience indestructible joy and well-being as innately present, no matter your circumstances, so that you can ease your way through this holiday season and beyond!
Richard’s teachings are based upon a lifetime of inquiry into the nature of freedom. Following a series of awakenings, all sense of separation fell away while working with his spiritual mentor, Jean Klein. Richard experiences this awakening as always fresh and alive, yet forever opening to itself.
Richard Miller, spiritual teacher, yogic scholar, clinical psychologist, author, and researcher, is the founder and chairman of the iRest Institute, co-founder of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, and a founding president of the Institute for Spirituality and Psychology.
Author of iRest Meditation: Restorative Practices for Health, Healing and Well Being and The iRest Program for Healing PTSD, Richard serves as a consultant researching the meditation protocol he’s developed—iRest Yoga Nidra— studying its efficacy on health, healing and well-being with diverse populations including active-duty soldiers, veterans, survivors of human trafficking, youth, seniors, the homeless and the incarcerated, with issues including sleep disorders, PTSD, traumatic brain injury, pain, and chemical dependency. Richard leads trainings and retreats internationally.
Suggested Donation $15-$25
Find out more »February 2020
John Prendergast ~ The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence
The great human quest is to discover who we really are—a discovery that changes our lives and the lives of those around us. With The Deep Heart, John Prendergast invites you on a pilgrimage within, using the heart as a portal to your deepest psychological and spiritual nature. The Deep Heart is John’s term for the subtle center of emotional and energetic sensitivity, relational intimacy, profound inner knowing, and wholeness found within our hearts.
In this experiential guide, John offers precise and potent meditative inquiries to help you open your heart, see through your core limiting beliefs, and discover the true nature of your being. He brings a depth of experience, insight, warmth, and compassion to his teaching work, and is especially skillful in guided meditative inquiries and one-on-one dialogues.
John J. Prendergast is a spiritual teacher, psychotherapist and retired adjunct professor of psychology at CIIS, known for his pioneering work in integrating nondual wisdom and psychotherapy. A long-time student of both Jean Klein and Adyashanti, he was asked to share the dharma by Dorothy Hunt. He is the author of the forthcoming The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence, as well as In Touch: How to Tune in to the Inner Guidance of Your Body and Trust Yourself.
Suggested Donation: $15-25
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Pamela Wilson ~ The Intelligence of the Heart
Pamela Wilson is a Bay Area treasure who has been sharing satsang for twenty years around the world, honoring the sage within everyone, and the absolute oneness of All That Is. Her own teachers included Lester Levinson (The Sedona Method), Robert Adams and Neelam. She 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.
Pamela 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. And she speaks the truth of non-duality, that the universe is one undivided whole. Featured in the book Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom, Pamela is at her best in heart-felt dialogue, so please come and bring your questions!
“Here we are, benevolent rooted space wearing a remarkably sensitive instrument called the body. Most sages report the body-mind insists on being included and permeated by presence, so it too, can know and live its naturalness. The body is the five elements, already free with no history, though it has born witness to all. As compassion we will be instantly aware of any suffering and answer its call; as stillness we will be aware of remaining restlessness. To be with what is in the moment, this is our function and is at the heart of all longing.”
Suggested Donation: $15-25
No one turned away for lack of funds.
March 2020
Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ The Way of Compassion: How Non-Duality Leads us to be in Peace
True compassion leads to a profound peace with the conflict that we still have with ourselves and the world. It is the blossoming of our non-dual nature into the human form. The satsang will unfold though questions and answers to explore this topic.
Shakti Caterina Maggi has been sharing a message of awakening to our true nature as One Consciousness since 2003. Her approach to Self-Realization is very contemporary and accessible, and is profoundly in tune with Advaita and the non-dual Tantric traditions. She reveals the real possibility of seeing what we truly are, and embodying it in our everyday lives with clarity, wisdom, and humor.
She was recently asked to contribute to the anthology On the Mystery of Being: Contemporary Insights into the Convergence of Science and Spirituality edited by Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo, the founders of the Science and Non-Duality (SAND) Conference. She teaches in Europe, Canada and the USA, offering satsang, seminars and retreats.
“The true Heart is the space in which we can deeply meet ourselves and the entire world. The way to the Heart is an embodied Consciousness, in which we are divinely human.”
Suggested Donation: $15-25
No one turned away for lack of funds.
CANCELLED!!! Gail Brenner ~ Surrender, Devotion, and Trust in the Spiritual Life
Due to an abundance of caution over the increasing spread of the corona virus (COV-19), we have cancelled this event and all other in-person events for the month of March.
We do want to remind you that we do have Online Events on Sunday mornings as well as longer online courses and retreats. These are found on the ONLINE EVENTS page on our website.. And if Sunday morning is not a convenient time to participate, you will be sent a recording after the event if you register, allowing you to watch at any time that is convenient to you. However, to get the recording, you would need to register before the event.
Thank you for your patience and understanding. We do feel a responsibility to our teachers and our community (both the Open Circle community and the broader community) to do our part to keep everyone safe.
Love always,
The Open Circle Team
October 2022
John Prendergast ~ The Love of Truth
The love of truth ─ a blend of love and wisdom ─ is at the core of our impulse to deeply investigate and discover who we really are. This unveiled truth is neither a personal belief nor a collective dogma. Rather, it is the light of Awareness, our very Being.
This daylong meeting will include a talk, experiential conversations, guided and silent meditations, and dyadic inquiries.
John J. Prendergast, Ph.D., studied for many years with the European sage Jean Klein and with Adyashanti. He is a retired psychotherapist and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychology at CIIS, and the author of The Deep Heart and In Touch,
Suggested Donation: $75
No one turned away for lack of funds.
To register:
Email Rob at robmschwartz@yahoo.com
Location:
The meeting will be held indoors in an almost-completed new private home in the Fairfax hills, intended for eventual use for retreats, with views of Mount Tam and hiking trails.
Address and directions will be provided upon registration.
Please bring your own lunch, or feel free to go into town to one of the restaurants or to Good Earth Natural Foods.
Find out more »January 2023
Pamela Wilson ~ New Year’s Day Retreat ~ In-Person Gathering
"May all beings return to natural balance, heartfelt clear seeing, listening within and living as this courageous and unshakeable Oneness"
Join us on New Year's Day for in-person daylong meeting with Pamela Wilson at a private residence in the hills of Fairfax.
In addition to enjoying the warmth of community in the midst of winter, and on this traditional day of renewal, we will explore and enjoy the themes of naturalness, resting in timelessness, and unconditional receptivity.
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.
More about Pamela: www.pamelasatsang.com
The meeting will be from 10:30am to 4:30pm, and is completely by donation.
We hope you will join us!
For more information and to REGISTER:
Email Rob at robmschwartz@yahoo.com
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.
Please bring your own lunch, or feel free to go into town to one of the restaurants or to Good Earth Natural Foods.
Find out more »February 2023
John Prendergast ~ Simply Being Here ~ an In-Person Local Event
What is the experience of simply being HERE – deeply grounded, open hearted/minded, and available for this timeless moment? How can we recognize the Sacred within the ordinary routines and familiar relationships of our daily life? How do we embody our deepest knowing? We begin by welcoming our experience just as it is and by questioning who we mis-take ourself to be. This takes integrity, vulnerability, and a love for the inconceivable truth of who we really are. Our retreat will include silent and guided meditations, a talk, experiential conversations, and dyadic inquiry.
John is a former adjunct professor of psychology at CIIS, the author of numerous books on the intersection of nondual wisdom, somatic experience and psychotherapy, and a student of Jean Klein, Byron Katie, and Adyanshanti. He now teaches in the lineage of Adyashanti in a profoundly experiential manner.
Suggested Donation: $75
No one turned away for lack of funds.
To register:
Email Rob at robmschwartz@yahoo.com
Location:
The meeting will be held indoors in an almost-completed new private home in the Fairfax hills, intended for eventual use for retreats, with views of Mount Tam and hiking trails.
Address and directions will be provided upon registration.
Please bring your own lunch, or feel free to go into town to one of the restaurants or to Good Earth Natural Foods.
Find out more »