March 2019
Pamela Wilson ~ Back to True Nature
A Rustic Weekend Retreat with Pamela Wilson
Saturday March 30th and Sunday March 31st
10:00am to 5:00pm, Fairfax, CA
This weekend retreat with Pamela Wilson will take place on private property in Fairfax, on 50 acres of ridgetop land, with beautiful views of Mount Tam and the surrounding area, with many trails for walking and savoring the beautiful spring wildflowers.
Pamela Wilson has been sharing satsang for twenty years around the world, honoring the sage within everyone, and the absolute oneness of All That Is. 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. She is featured in the book Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom, and is the author of the forthcoming A Golden Retriever’s Guide to Joy,
“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. Join with your fellow sages in satsang, sharing what you are noticing is an act of love.”
We will savor the stillness, inquire, share and walk together. A light organic vegetarian lunch, and tea and cookies at tea time will be provided free of charge, or you may bring your own food, or head out for lunch to Good Earth Natural Foods or a number of local restaurants.
Satsang meetings will be held outdoors, in the shade, weather permitting. If it rains, we will meet inside.
It is expected that most attendees will commute; however, shared dormitory-style overnight accommodation is available for those who want to spend the whole weekend at the property, though space is very limited.
Pre-registration is required, as the retreat will be limited to 30 people. Priority will be given to those who can attend both days.
For more information or to register, email robmschwartz@yahoo.com
Directions and logistical details will be provided upon registration.
Suggested donation:
$75 for a single day
$130 for the weekend
No one turned away for lack of funds.
April 2019
Amoda Maa ~ Unbroken Presence
Amoda Maa offers an intimate conversation that includes the totality of the human experience within the unbounded space of unconditioned awareness. The conversation is always spontaneous, allowing jewels of wisdom to arise naturally in support of the journey of awakening and the deepening into living an awakened life.
“What really matters is your willingness to turn towards tenderness in the midst of that which offends you, to stand as openness in the face of brokenness, and to bear the unbearable. This is the path of surrender, and the only way I know to enter the slip-stream of unspeakable grace inside this human experience.”
In 2002, an experience of the dark night of the soul led to Amoda’s profound inner awakening. After a long period of integration, she started speaking from silence. Today, she offers meetings and retreats all around the US, as well as speaking at conferences and on radio shows. She brings to her teachings a depth and breadth of understanding of the human journey, born out of her own immersion in the furnace of personal transformation.
She is the author of several books. Her most recent Embodied Enlightenment (published in 2017) — written 15 years after her awakening — is based on the many conversations at the cutting edge of spiritual inquiry in her meetings with people from all around the world, and addresses many of the questions relevant to today’s seeker. It has been acclaimed as “a beautiful and precious gift to an emerging new humanity” as well as “the best spiritual book since Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth.”
Amoda currently lives with her husband and beloved, Kavi, in California.
To learn more, visit www.amodamaa.com
Suggested donation: $15-25
No one turned away for lack of funds
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 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 »John Prendergast ~ Taking Refuge in Not Knowing
A Rustic Weekend Retreat with John Prendergast
Saturday April 27th and Sunday April 28th
10:00am to 5:00pm, Fairfax, Marin County
Join us for a weekend retreat on beautiful private property in Fairfax for a two-day deep dive into true nature. Through dialogues, meditation, and dyadic inquiry we will explore what it means to experientially take refuge in not knowing, and to allow attention to fall into the heart and the ground.
We will also enjoy the 50 acres of ridgetop land, with glorious views of Mount Tam and the surrounding area, with many trails for walking and savoring the spring wildflowers. Weather permitting, meetings will be held outdoors in a shaded oak grove. Otherwise, we will meet inside.
John 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. John 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. He is the author of In Touch (Sounds True, 2015) and a forthcoming new book called The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence (Sounds True, Nov. 2019). He offers quarterly daylong intensives in the Bay Area, and residential retreats and seminars around the U.S.
"Once we get over the initial shock, it is a huge relief to see and feel that we are not who, where, or when we have taken our self to be. The truth is that we don’t know and can’t know any of this – at least not with our ordinary strategic, goal-oriented mind. We discover that we can rest in not knowing. This is not the same as being ignorant. We are not ignoring anything. In fact, we are facing an important truth – the limits of the conditioned mind. There is a great deal in life that we don’t know, can’t know, and perhaps most importantly, don’t need to know. This insight frees attention to move from its temporary residence in the forehead to the depths of the heart area. Acknowledging that we don’t know, opens us to a different type of knowing."
Meals
A light organic vegetarian lunch, and tea and cookies at tea time, will be provided free of charge, or you may bring your own food, or head out for lunch at Good Earth Natural Foods or a number of local restaurants.
Accommodation
It is expected that most attendees will commute; however, limited shared dormitory-style accommodation is available if you want to spend the night.
Registration
Pre-registration is required, as attendance is limited to 30 people.
For more information or to register, email robmschwartz@yahoo.com.
Directions and logistical details will be provided upon registration.
Suggested donation: $150
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Find out more »
May 2019
Mary Reed ~ Wise Power: BEing the Mechanism of Creation
After calling the Himalayas her home for seven years, today “accidental mystic” Mary Reed travels the world startling audiences awake with the Divine love conveyed through her profound mystical experiences.
In the summer of 2000, she was a busy executive at an NGO in Washington, DC, directing global healthcare programs, when, out of the blue, she started having powerful mystical visions that totally upended her life. After years of self-examination, many of them spent living in a Tibetan Buddhist nunnery in northern India, she returned to the west to inspire joyful collective resurrection with her unique view of our awakening world.
Her work is rooted in eighteen years of direct engagement with Divine Masters, whom she does not channel but temporarily becomes, experiencing from within their unique forms — an ability she neither sought nor easily accepted. Mary guides others using only the wisdom gleaned directly from Divine sources, without doctrinal bias or filters. Her unfathomable experiences are both an invitation and road map to visceral remembrance of the healing wisdom that is already within us.
Mary is the author of the award-winning book, Unwitting Mystic and the subject of a feature film currently in development called Love, Mary Reed.
“As humanity maneuvers through this magnificent time of “fracturing” in our collective awareness, most of us have become disoriented as the old foundations of normalcy have broken apart. Depending on the day and where our awareness is focused, we’re either elated or alarmed, empowered or enraged, equanimous or trying to remember how to get there. Even the most awakened leaders, teachers, healers, students and everyday folks must navigate the ever-shifting ground upon which we now stand, at times uncomfortably, together.
“From within — and as — Unitive Consciousness, there are powerful perspectives and tools that can help us use what’s happening to create what comes next (or allow to be created). It brings me great joy to share these perspectives and tools with the Open Circle community.”
Suggested donation: $15-25
No one turned away for lack of funds
Find out more »Pamela Wilson ~ Warm Heart, Mountain Stillness
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.”
June 2019
Jon Bernie ~ The Unbelievable Happiness of What Is
Jon Bernie, author of Ordinary Freedom and his latest, The Unbelievable Happiness of What Is, is a contemporary spiritual teacher who offers a compassionate, heart-centered approach to awakening. From his early years growing up as an artist and concert violinist, Jon always had a keen, questioning mind. This led him to discover a self-inquiry process that led to a life-changing spiritual awakening at the age of 16. Despite thinking he was on his way to medical school, he ended up becoming a Zen monk. He has four decades of practice and study in the Zen, Theravada Buddhist and Advaita traditions, and was formally asked to teach by Adyashanti in 2002.
Jon’s teaching focuses on returning the attention to the already enlightened state that lies at the core of our human existence. He is also an experienced healer and teacher of somatic embodiment, trained in the Alexander Technique, Zero Balancing, Self Acceptance Training and the Qigong system of Dr. Yu Penxi. Jon works closely with individuals to facilitate awakening and deep emotional healing, and leads classes, intensives and retreats in the San Francisco Bay Area and nationally. He also does intensive, one-on-one work with individuals both in person and by phone or video chat.
“Trying to find happiness is not possible. Why? Because we cannot find what we fundamentally are. So how do we discover and, in a sense, become one with what we fundamentally are? By learning to feel directly “what is” — that is, what’s being experienced in the mind, body and heart — free of judgment, comparison and analysis. Learning to feel directly could also be described as “being one with what is”. This quality of acceptance or compassion is the essence of our shared Heart of Oneness and simultaneously leads to, and already is, the profound vastness of our true and everlasting Happiness.”
Larry Robinson ~ This Precious Jade Teacup Is Already Broken: Participating Joyfully in the Suffering of the World
Larry Robinson is something of a modern-day Renaissance man. Moving easily from the meditation hall to the halls of power, Larry is a Zen practitioner, a published poet, a potter, a retired eco-psychologist, and a former Green Party city councilman and mayor of Sebastopol, known for starting off city council meetings with poetry. He is also the founder and producer of the critically acclaimed Rumi’s Caravan, a performance troupe dedicated to restoring the soul of the world through reviving the oral tradition of ecstatic poetry. Larry has been practicing meditation for 50 years, primarily in the Zen and vipassana traditions, and is a member of the Occidental Laguna Sangha in Sebastopol, a Zen gathering in the lineage of Suzuki Roshi. He also serves on the boards of the Center for Climate Protection and Meridian University.
“We are living through a time of societal and ecological collapse. Many of us are overwhelmed with feelings of grief and helplessness in the face of such enormous loss and suffering. It requires great courage to keep our hearts open at such a time. The Buddhist practices of Brahmaviharas ─ compassion, loving kindness, sympathetic joy and equanimity ─ offer a pathway to avoiding the twin perils of despair and naive hope while still being fully engaged in the world.”
July 2019
Dorothy Hunt ~ Meditation in Action
“Meditation is not simply the art of sitting quietly on a cushion; it is the art of seeing deeply, being fully present and alive. It is the practice of stopping and noticing who or what is here Now: breathing, looking, eating, drinking, talking, touching, thinking, feeling, sensing. What is the single dimension of our being that is intimate, ever-present, and timelessly awake? Meditation in action is about unifying body and mind in the present moment, and living more and more consciously from the deepest truths we may have realized. If we are living our spirituality and not simply thinking about it, we are invited to BE the light of compassionate presence, authenticity, and love in our ordinary daily lives.”
Invited to teach by Adyashanti in 2004, Dorothy Hunt is the spiritual director of Moon Mountain Sangha, and the founder of the San Francisco Center for Meditation and Psychotherapy. She has been a licensed psychotherapist since 1967. Dorothy is the author of Ending the Search: From Spiritual Ambition to the Heart of Awareness, Leaves from Moon Mountain, Only This! She is a contributing author to several books on nondual awareness and psychotherapy as well as a featured spiritual teacher in Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom.
For more information, please visit www.dorothyhunt.org
No one turned away for lack of funds
Find out more »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.”