November 2021
Jeannie Zandi ~ Acceptance
Spiritually we are supposed to accept what is, right? What if we can’t? Jeannie offers a perspective and pointers to opening to deeper acceptance.
Jeannie’s gift for inviting people to join her in resting and rooted presence evokes a deep meeting with oneself and reality. Within that, Jeannie’s humor and iconoclasm serve to bring people into an understanding that is beyond the intellectual. Through silent and guided meditation, spontaneous talks and exchange with participants, Jeannie will host a space of clarity and warmth where the richness of relating can be explored safely and your innermost questions met fully. Come join us!
Jeannie Zandi is the director of Living as Love, a nonprofit organization dedicated to seeding a culture of the Heart on the planet, inspiring, teaching and supporting people to live from their essence as Love. A year before the birth of her daughter, Jeannie was plunged into a dark night of the soul that culminated in a radical shift of consciousness. She is known for her fearless clarity, tender mercy toward humanness, and a juicy, poetic and often humorous style that draws from Advaita Vedanta, Sufism, Christian mysticism and the ongoing revelation of fully engaged living.
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Please register early if you can.
The event will be recorded and emailed to participants within a week.
To check your local time, use a tool such as: Time Zone Converter
December 2021
Stephan Bodian ~ Awaken to the Sacred in Everyday Life ~ 2-Part Online Course
Dec. 4 & 11
9:00 am – 12:00 pm, Pacific Time
Time Zone Converter
Event will be recorded and emailed
to participants after each meeting.
You're welcome to join even if you can't attend all the live sessions.
"That which you are seeking is always seeking you." ~ Anonymous
"I’m in love with the mystery—and I don’t know what it is."
~ HWL Poonja
The desire to relieve our personal suffering is often the driving force behind our seeking. But once we begin to discover our natural state of pure wakefulness, we may realize that we have been called to awaken by a deep longing of reality to awaken to itself through us. The limitless heart that originates the search is the very reality that we aspire to discover. What began as our individual journey of spiritual awakening turns into a love affair with Being itself.
The Beloved is calling to us in every moment of existence—in the sounds of the birds or the silence of the forest, but also in the noise of traffic and the angry words of a friend. Only our limited beliefs and expectations prevent us from perceiving it. In the Buddhist tradition this sacred dimension is sometimes called bodhicitta, at once the essential nature of existence and the deep love of Being for its expressions in form.
In this two-part retreat, on successive Saturdays, we will explore meditations and contemplations that peel back the veils and open us to connect with the sacred dimension of Being, which is always available right now in our very own heart. This connection—more accurately, this recognition of our undivided nature—is the ultimate medicine for the loneliness, alienation, and fragmentation so common in our 21st-century lives.
Stephan Bodian is a teacher in the nondual wisdom tradition of Zen, Dzogchen, and Advaita and the founder and director of the annual School for Awakening, an intensive six-month program of exploration and study. Trained as a Buddhist monk for a decade, he studied Advaita for many years with Jean Klein and received Dharma transmission from Adyashanti in 2001. His books include Wake Up Now; Beyond Mindfulness; Meditation for Dummies; and Buddhism for Dummies (with Jon Landaw).
More about Stephan Bodian: www.stephanbodian.org
Sliding Scale: $50 to $90
Some Partial Scholarships Available
Please Register Early if you can.
Georgia Simone ~ Awakened Healing: Become The Space Where Healing Takes Place
Welcome to The Holding Space.
A space where we can gather together and BE exactly as we are
A space where the full spectrum of your human experience is invited
Calm, anxious, open, closed,
ALL is welcome here.
It's in this gentle embrace that everything can start to unravel. It's in this open space that we can begin to unwind the strategies that no longer serve us. This is the space that early mis-attunement failed to foster, the space where love blooms and new life can emerge. This is the space where all that quivers and shakes can come to rest, and where all that contorts can untwist into greater alignment.
Through gentle exploration and somatic awareness you can cultivate a new way of being with your most challenging patterns. No longer a victim of the push and pull of inner disturbance, you can step forward with greater confidence, knowing that whatever comes your way, you embody the resilience and the capacity to meet and integrate it.
You can expect a deeply held space where you’ll be invited to slow down, tune in, and track your present-moment experience. 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.
Bio:
The first leg of Georgia Simone’s path exposed her to the teachings of Advaita Vedanta, which provided her with the foundation she needed to dis-identify from pain and suffering. However, despite a growing freedom, a significant bypass took place, as her orientation towards transcendence reinforced her deep disconnection from Life. Upon seeing this, her focus became addressing the unresolved trauma that had woven its way into every fibre of her being.
After many years of wading through this marshland of conditioning, she now shares her discoveries with others. She 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. How can we die to the absolute, while deeply embracing our relative human experience? This Living inquiry is her Life’s prayer.
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Please register early if you can.
The event will be recorded and emailed to participants within a week.
To check your local time, use a tool such as: Time Zone Converter
Silent Group Meditation (Free, No Guidance)
Mondays: 8:00am – 8:30am Pacific Time
and Wednesdays: 9:00am – 9:30am Pacific Time
Ongoing every week, with rare exceptions.
Check Full Calendar to verify dates.
Join for a group meditation – just us, without a teacher. Do your own practice silently in the company of others. There will be no talk or guidance – only a bell to start and finish. Let’s be present, together.
After half an hour of silent sitting, there will be space for a brief hello in the end, if we like.
Please be seated by the time meditation starts, so that we can begin together. You are welcome to have your camera and microphone on (unless you have a lot of background noise), so that we can feel as if we were in one space.
The zoom link remains the same for all the sessions, so you are welcome to register only once and save the link for future reference.
To check your local time, use a tool such as: Time Zone Converter
iRest Group ~ Yogic Relaxation Practice
Open Circle is pleased to be offering biweekly facilitated iRest sessions. Developed by meditation master Richard Miller, iRest is a modernized form of the ancient practice of Yoga Nidra or “yogic sleep”. It is a restorative practice that promotes deep healing, health, and well-being. This 45-60 minute-long group will be gently led by Kate Foley, an iRest trained facilitator. It will consist of a full 30 minute guided meditation, along with the opportunity to share and connect with community. The meditation is done lying down, and is an invitation for your nervous system to truly rest: nothing to do, nowhere to go, nothing to be; simply a time gifted to yourself to relax and to be supported. Join as often as you like, and keep yourself nourished and balanced during these challenging times. No prior yoga experience necessary.
Suggested donation: $10 to $20
No one turned away for lack of funds. Please register early if you can.
To check your local time, use a tool such as: Time Zone Converter
Lynn Marie Lumiere, MFT ~ SOMATIC AWAKENING: Body-Mind-Spirit Embodiment
Online Monthly Group Meetings
Although our true nature is not affected by all that we experience, our human body and mind are impacted by experiences that result in emotional wounding and trauma. Any experience, especially early in life, that is outside our window of tolerance, can overwhelm our nervous system and create chronic stress patterns in the body/mind. These stuck patterns can affect our spiritual awakening process by making it more difficult to relax, trust, be in the moment, and allow everything to be as it is—all of which are necessary for awakening and embodiment.
This ongoing monthly group will offer deep support for body-mind-spirit embodied awakening and healing so you can rest more deeply in the great peace, love and unity that resides in all of us.
We will do somatic practices for balancing the nervous system and building more capacity for regulating stress and emotions. Being more regulated is very important to both healing our human wounding and our spiritual awakening. We will also use the Flash Technique to release the charge on traumatic memories and loosen the grip of the negative beliefs that they create.
It is encouraged to attend the live session so you can receive the support of the group as well as Lynn Marie’s therapeutic support if needed. You are also welcome to register and attend by listening to the recording.
Lynn Marie Lumiere, MFT is a nondual psychotherapist, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and author. She offers knowledge and wisdom gained from over 30 years of experience both as a therapist and with nondual spiritual teachings. She is the author of Awakened Relating:
A Guide to Embodying Undivided Love in Intimate Relationships and The Awakening West: Evidence of a Spreading Enlightenment.
Suggested donation for each meeting: $15 to $35
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Please register early if you can.
The event will be recorded and emailed to participants within a week.
To check your local time, use a tool such as: Time Zone Converter
Pamela Wilson ~ The Heartfelt Sage: Bold, Brave, Clear and Strong ~ 3 Part Online Retreat
Dec. 16, 17 & 18
10:00 am – 12:00 pm, Pacific Time
Time Zone Converter
Event will be recorded and emailed
to participants after each meeting.
You're welcome to join even if you can't attend all the live sessions.
When we gather and look into the essence of everything we are truly functioning as a Sage. Not being fooled by appearances or forms (except occasionally), we look deeper into the Nature of everything! Inviting it to know itself and return to its balanced naturalness and wisdom. As forest and mountain sages have lived for millennia, honoring nature and all animal and human beings equally, we also honor our inner wild beings, emotions, sensations and the body itself as wondrously wise and equal to the cosmos.
Join with Pamela and your fellow sages in being curious and listening within!
Pamela 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
Sliding Scale: $60 to $90
Some Partial Scholarships Available
Please Register Early if you can.
Jeannie Zandi ~ The Dark Night of the Soul
What is the dark night of the soul? How does one navigate it? What wisdom gleaned in the dark night can assist us with sailing through darkness in general? Join Jeannie and friends for support and clarity about traversing the dark.
Jeannie’s gift for inviting people to join her in resting and rooted presence evokes a deep meeting with oneself and reality. Within that, Jeannie’s humor and iconoclasm serve to bring people into an understanding that is beyond the intellectual. Through silent and guided meditation, spontaneous talks and exchange with participants, Jeannie will host a space of clarity and warmth where the richness of relating can be explored safely and your innermost questions met fully.
Jeannie Zandi is the director of Living as Love, a nonprofit organization dedicated to seeding a culture of the Heart on the planet, inspiring, teaching and supporting people to live from their essence as Love. A year before the birth of her daughter, Jeannie was plunged into a dark night of the soul that culminated in a radical shift of consciousness. She is known for her fearless clarity, tender mercy toward humanness, and a juicy, poetic and often humorous style that draws from Advaita Vedanta, Sufism, Christian mysticism and the ongoing revelation of fully engaged living.
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Please register early if you can.
The event will be recorded and emailed to participants within a week.
To check your local time, use a tool such as: Time Zone Converter
iRest Group ~ Yogic Relaxation Practice
Open Circle is pleased to be offering biweekly facilitated iRest sessions. Developed by meditation master Richard Miller, iRest is a modernized form of the ancient practice of Yoga Nidra or “yogic sleep”. It is a restorative practice that promotes deep healing, health, and well-being. This 45-60 minute-long group will be gently led by Kate Foley, an iRest trained facilitator. It will consist of a full 30 minute guided meditation, along with the opportunity to share and connect with community. The meditation is done lying down, and is an invitation for your nervous system to truly rest: nothing to do, nowhere to go, nothing to be; simply a time gifted to yourself to relax and to be supported. Join as often as you like, and keep yourself nourished and balanced during these challenging times. No prior yoga experience necessary.
Suggested donation: $10 to $20
No one turned away for lack of funds. Please register early if you can.
To check your local time, use a tool such as: Time Zone Converter
Gail Brenner, Ph.D ~ All Is Sacred: Living our Essential Nature in Everyday Life: 2-Part Online Exploration
2-Part Online Exploration
Dec. 30 & 31, 2021
9:00 am – 12:00 noon, Pacific Time, each day
Time Zone Converter
Event will be recorded and emailed
to participants after each meeting.
You're welcome to join even if you can't attend all the live sessions.
By cultural norms and conditioning, this time of transitioning to a new year prompts a reflection of the past and a view into the future. Yet, past and future are created intervals of time that exist only in the mind. When do you experience the past or the future? Right now as you think about them.
No matter what the calendar says, there is only this moment, now, free and uncaused, completely fresh and new, emerging from and infused with love. In any moment, we can turn away from our minds and be right here to experience our full aliveness.
Come and join this two-day retreat as we explore the possibility of consciously living from our true essence.
- How do you discover it?
- How are your relationships affected?
- What do you do with past conditioned patterns that arise?
- What about challenging emotions such as grief, fear, and shame?
You are wholeheartedly welcome just as you are as we share intimate, loving space in community. Together we’ll explore the practical reality of awakened living in your own direct experience. Our time together will include guided meditation, words of ancient masters, self-reflective exercises, small group conversation, and plenty of time for Q&A.
We will investigate the myth of the separate self, the power of the thinking mind, and the possibility of living the moments of your human life with awareness, freedom, acceptance, and love.
Questions about the program? Please email Gail directly at gail@gailbrenner.com.
For technical questions please reach out to web@opencirclecenter.org
“I am now experiencing longer moments of pure awareness and joy. No longer a slave to external circumstances and inner chatter. Loving life the way it is.” ~Susan R.
Gail Brenner, Ph.D. is your guide on this journey. She is a clinical psychologist and lover of truth with a fire that burns brightly. She brings to this work years of experience with individuals and groups and is known for creating the sense of safety and trust needed for this deeper exploration.
Sliding Scale: $50 to $90
Some Partial Scholarships Available
Please Register Early if you can.