April 2019
Jeannie Zandi ~ Roadblocks are Holy Invitations
Holding tight to the idea of forward movement as progress toward a goal when applied to spirituality can limit our sight when life throws roadblocks and challenges in our path. Join Jeannie and friends to explore the role of yin, surrender and softening in awakening to the truth of who you are.
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, a spontaneous talk and exchange with participants, Jeannie will host a space of clarity and warmth where the true richness of life can be experienced, and your innermost spiritual questions can be met fully. Come join us!
Jeannie 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. Residing in Colorado, she travels widely in the US, bringing a down-to-earth embodied teaching of living as love.
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
Find out more »Marlies Myoku Cocheret ~ The Deepest Love Affair : Being Human
When the awareness of the perfection of all that is taken away & all that is given penetrates to the bone, we find ourselves on the narrow path. The narrow path means there is no room for anything but resting as the silence of our being and the total receiving of our humanity. That is the practice. Sounds really simple, yet not that easy.
It takes courage and curiosity to open ourselves completely to the practice resting as silence. It becomes easier to receive wholeheartedly our humanity in all its forms, sounds, feelings, and sensations. This is the deepest love affair - the coming together of our humanity and our divinity as one. Our stories start melting away. Step by step we are identifying with the one ground of being. From there we move in the world as human-beings. Is there anything else you wish for?
Most of the events Marlies offers are around this topic. Daring to dive in with clear intention, living as the fullness of your being. Life will show you every step of the way. Which She has done all along for all of us? Can you trust that now?!
Marlies Myoku has devoted her life to the Beloved. She brings a potent invitation into the deep Silence that we are. The kindness of her gentle and direct teaching guides us home like a lighthouse. She helps people to see that freedom and peace lie not in escaping from difficulties, but rather in completely welcoming and receiving all that the Mystery presents.
She has been offering satsang and retreat since 2000 when Adyashanti asked her to teach. Marlies is trained as a psychologist in The Netherlands, a Hakomi therapist, and a Tantric educator. For over 25 years she has been ushering seekers into living the Divine in the body. She has a passion and a gift for bringing together the Sensual Body and the Silence of our Being.
She lives in Santa Cruz; California, but works internationally. Marlies is interviewed in the book Awakened Relating. A Guide To Embodying Undivided love in Intimate Relationships by Lynn Marie Lumiere, and in the book Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom by R.M. Robinson
“With Adya, the bottom fell out. I deeply knew I am not this body, mind, thought, psyche, and I am also all these things as well. There was no in and/or out. All is One.”
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
Find out more »May 2019
Susanne Marie ~ The Wisdom of No Escape
Sometimes the only way to be free of something is to allow yourself to be fully trapped. Our desire to escape suffering creates it's own bondage. Most of us are initially drawn to spirituality with the understandable desire to feel better and in general to be released from suffering.
But this desire in itself plays into the belief that something needs to be done about how we are feeling. That we need to somehow disappear a feeling by replacing it with bliss or peace, or whatever we imagine freedom to be.
But the truth of reality is that all is One. Which means that what you are feeling and trying to escape is part of totality. By wishing something away, we are setting ourselves up to be at odds with an aspect of ourselves. Truth is inclusive, meaning that what you are feeling and experiencing is included in what you are.
Bio:
Featured in conversation with Adyashanti on Buddha at the Gas Pump as well as recently on Conscious TV, Susanne Marie offers teachings in support of freedom, sacred mutuality, and the celebration of our common essence of love and unity with all life. Her work is transformational and empowering, as she points to the remembering of That which we have always been, allowing truth to become ever more conscious of itself through a human life.
Susanne, the parent of two young adults, divides her time between Taos, New Mexico, and Northern California, and offers spiritual mentoring as well as Grace Healing Sessions to individuals and groups.
Susanne Marie's website: www.susannemarie.org
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
Find out more »Jeannie Zandi ~ True Work
What is a calling versus a career? How do you find your true work? What are the possibilities of and obstacles to the full expression of your gift? Join Jeannie and friends to explore this rich topic of living your heart out loud.
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, a spontaneous talk and exchange with participants, Jeannie will host a space of clarity and warmth where the true richness of life can be experienced, and your innermost spiritual questions can be met fully. Come join us!
Jeannie 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. Residing in Colorado, she travels widely in the US, bringing a down-to-earth embodied teaching of living as love.
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
Find out more »Neelam ~ Freedom in Every Moment – Growing the Capacity of the Nervous System for Awakening, Embodiment, & Freedom
10 am (Pacific Time - San Francisco, CA, USA) Time Zone Converter
The capacity of the nervous system to Be Here is an essential element for Awakening, Embodiment, and for Freedom.
In our search for Truth the workings of the nervous system often remain hidden and we don’t always fully understand or know experientially what capacity is and what Being Here really means or is.
When unmet, un-experienced tendencies of the Past arise – and we so often believe it or identify ourselves with that – that shows up as thoughts and as feelings, emotions and sensations and it affects and manifests in our physiology.
If there is no awareness of that and no capacity to Be Here our nervous system reacts and moves into fight | flight | freeze or overwhelm and we end up re-enacting or suppressing and so perpetuating the Past.
The capacity of our nervous system to Be Here and experience the arising past is often the missing link between our desire for Truth and Freedom and our ability to independently experience Presence and Self-Inquiry, which is what takes us directly into Awakening, Embodiment and Freedom.
This call is an invitation to Presence and Awakening and to Neelam’s teaching and a practical exploration of the role of the nervous system in Awakening and Freedom
Testimonials from Program Participants
"The depth of Neelam’s tenderness and compassion crosses over all boundaries. Meeting Neelam over the phone has and continues to feel like coming home... She is deeply generous with her Presence and time. The practical exercises she guides us through during the courses have enabled me to experience Presence more, whether I’m sitting formally in meditation or moving through my daily activities. Things that used to trigger me are dropping away and there is more peace and easy in my life. Finding Neelam is a great treasure… so grateful for Neelam and this Sangha."
“What's different about Neelam is that she demystifies the actual practice of being present - she's helped me see what's actually happening when feelings and emotions come up, and how, in a very practical way, to deal with them. Her strong point is "how to actually do this being the present thing." It really helps to take it out of the mind and into the body”
Neelam is a direct disciple of HWL Poonja (affectionately known as Papaji), whose own teacher was Ramana Maharshi. Neelam’s unequivocal commitment to Truth helps us turn inward and release underlying patterns of conditioning which block the recognition of our True Nature. With the utmost tenderness, she invites us into the same recognition of Truth that her teacher, Papaji, transmitted to her, while helping us to address all aspects of daily living, including past conditioning and trauma.
"Awakening is a shift from identifying yourself as this body to knowing yourself as Presence. Freedom means a true independence from the past, where our ability to Be Here and the action in the moment are not guided by our attachment to the arising past. To truly be Free we need to embody our recognition of Presence, and that requires growing of the capacity of our nervous system to Be Here. It is in the meeting of what arises that we find true and lasting freedom."
~Neelam
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
Find out more »Pamela Wilson ~ Constancy, Strength and Kindness
Pamela invites us to uncontain the field of presence, clarity and strength within by noticing the ongoing inner satsang that appears in the heart, body and mind. Bringing warmth and compassion to what is tight or troubled liberates the past from the body, allowing a rooted, clear and free flowing expansion. Life then can live itself, no role play required! All the final teachings in every tradition are the pointings about the transformative power of kindness and love. When given within our own embodiment, it resolves the old, the stuck, the habitual. The defenses cannot defend against kindness and respect. They bow back and relax into strength, support and creativity. All they were waiting for, is for you to function as the sage you are.
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 come and bring your questions!
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
Find out more »June 2019
Lynn Marie Lumiere ~ The Challenge of Staying Awake in Relationship
As we awaken to the Presence of our true nature and come to rest as that more and more, we are naturally moved to relate from Presence rather than from our conditioned, ego identity. Yet, this can be challenging in many ways. Our conditioning and relational wounding gets triggered the most in close relationship. This can happen in all meaningful relationships—friends, lovers, bosses, and family. Being awake in relationship is not about being in peace and harmony without ever having conflict. We don’t need to get rid of conflict or our triggers; we need to learn how to meet them from Presence. Then the fierce grace of what relationship brings up is a profound gift that brings healing and more awakened relating rather than the suffering we are so familiar with.
In this webinar, Lynn Marie will share her presence and clarity, as well as wisdom derived from many years of experience as a nondual psychotherapist, through offering teaching, guided meditation and dialogue. Her work is dedicated to awakening consciousness and meeting life’s challenges as doorways to greater freedom and is informed by over 40 years of dedicated spiritual and psychological exploration as well as almost 30 years of both committed partnership and practicing psychotherapy. Lynn Marie is a contributing author of The Sacred Mirror: Nondual Wisdom and Psychotherapy, and the author of Awakened Relating: A Guide to Embodying Undivided Love in Intimate Relationships. She lives in Grass Valley, CA and offers people from all over the world online spiritual mentoring and nondual therapy. For more information, please see www.lynnmarielumiere.com
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
Find out more »Maja Apolonia Rodé ~ The Dance of Perspectives
Pacific Time (San Francisco, CA, USA) Time Zone Converter
Truth is a shimmering jewel. Simultaneously undivided and multi-faceted, it reflects the light of consciousness in unique ways depending on our perspective. We each encounter a vast array of perspectives — in our direct experience and as expressed by the people we meet along the way, including teachers and fellow travelers. Understanding the interplay of perspectives within ourselves and among each other is deeply helpful both in the quest for truth and the living of it.
In this online session, Maja will share playful and profound reflections on the dance of perspectives including:
• new and ancient teaching stories that offer a lighthearted look at our blind spots and overcoming them
• two 10-year lessons learned — one catalyzed by an unexpected exchange with the late nondual teacher H.W.L. Poonja in India, and the other by a disagreement with Adyashanti
• the two perspectives that are vital for any quest for truth
• the simple shift of perspective that helps in most any situation
The session will include quiet time for reflection and contemplative dialogues to share your fresh insights and support your unfolding expression.
About Maja
Maja Apolonia Rodé cultivates a world where consciousness, creativity, and community flower for the benefit of all. In all her expressions — from playing her magical zithers to teaching sacred arts, from contemplative conversations to crowd-pleasing raps, from playful party games to professional presentations — Maja is constantly inspired to find and harvest the sweet fruits of presence, beauty, and truth in herself and the people she is with. She is inspired by the possibility of living our most noble and joyful potentials — individually and collectively.
In 1995, while earning her PhD in Transpersonal Psychology, a nondual shift in perspective focused Maja on a course in life that is slowly but surely devoted in service to All. A lifelong student of human potential, she began actively cultivating potential in others in the early 1990s through hypnotherapy, sport psychology, facilitating creative processes for self exploration, and eventually a 17-year “dharma gardening” adventure: supporting Adyashanti and his students as the first employee and Creative Director of Open Gate Sangha. Now, another life-changing shift has her dancing the first steps of a new as-yet-undefined creative adventure.
The daughter of a technology pioneer, Maja grew up immersed in the true heart of Silicon Valley, which holds a field of creative innovation and world-changing impact. She currently lives in the foothills of the valley with a glorious view of Black Mountain, her first and most deeply rooted teacher of consciousness. In-person one-on-one sessions, classes, and gatherings (when she begins to offer them again) will take place at this inspiring location.
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
Find out more »Pamela Wilson ~ The Ancient Heart: Living as Elemental Being ~ 4 Day Online Solstice Retreat
Please join Pamela Wilson and Open Circle host Sara Kasprowicz for: Online Solstice Retreat "The Ancient Heart: Living as Elemental Being" June 12, 14, 19, 21 (Wednesdays & Fridays) 10 am to 12 noon (Pacific Time - San Francisco, CA, USA).
We will dive into our deepest being, which is neither human or divine. Exploring and stabilizing presence, clarity, confidence and strength through respect and listening to the ancientness that lives in the heart of consciousness. Each one of us is cherished by the heart of Vastness, yet our primary relationship is with the louder Mind rather than the relaxed Stillness within. Intimacy with this Intelligent Unmoving Heart fulfills most longings, and roots us as Listening and Space.
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
This Retreat consists of 4 live and interactive 2-hour Satsangs with Pamela in Zoom (a total of 8 hours).
Registration sliding scale: $70 to $100
Find out more »Jeannie Zandi ~ Relational Sanity: Awakening, Relating and Sovereignty
Join Jeannie and friends to explore relating in the context of awakening and learn about the vital role of embodied sovereignty (being reliant solely on the truth rather than on conditioning) in relational sanity.
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, a spontaneous talk and exchange with participants, Jeannie will host a space of clarity and warmth where the true richness of life can be experienced, and your innermost spiritual questions can be met fully. Come join us!
Jeannie 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. Residing in Colorado, she travels widely in the US, bringing a down-to-earth embodied teaching of living as love.
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
Find out more »