November 2024
POTLUCK DHARMA ~ with Joryu Myosei & Riyaz Motan
You bring the Wisdom. We’ll bring the Food.
A fundraiser, co-sponsored by Open Circle, honoring Rob Schwartz and his vision to maintain his home and land as a retreat space for spiritual gatherings.
Featuring Dan Huebner as our special musical guest.
Registration closes end of day Sunday, Nov. 17th
Space is limited so register early to save your seat at our table.
About
Potluck Dharma
The idea for Potluck Dharma sprouted from the meals and wisdom shared at our own tables with family and friends. It has now grown into a seasonal gathering where participants are invited to bring their own wisdom, reflections, and experiences to the table, much like the assortment of dishes at a potluck meal.
The day is all about sharing – insights, wisdom, and stories – creating a laid-back yet profound forum to explore spiritual truths and life’s deeper questions. After a morning program of meditation, dharma talks, and discussion, we’ll gather in the afternoon with a delicious, farm-to-table, vegetarian meal that is included with registration, and equally important in feeding the soul. We’ll close with an herbal tisane, dessert, and a special musical guest.
Join us to connect and grow together, while supporting a worthy cause.
Please note that this event will be recorded and potentially shared. There will be video recording of the teachers during the morning session and discrete photography of the group throughout the day. No faces or names of participants will be included on video. Your participation in this event implies consent for us to use your image or your voice, so please share accordingly.
Featuring:
Joryu Myosei
Joryu Myosei is a spiritual guide, mindfulness, meditation, and inquiry teacher, licensed marriage and family therapist, and intuitive healer. She took a formal bodhisattva vow in 2011, dedicating her life to awakening for the benefit of all beings and her work to supporting awakening in others and its expression in daily life. Through retreats, spiritual gatherings, and one-to-one inquiry work with students, she invites all to experience their deepest knowing and to live authentic, fully engaged lives with joy and purpose.
joryumyosei.com
Riyaz Motan
Riyaz 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 small intimate groups and 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.
riyazmotan.com
Dan Huebner
Dan Huebner has been playing Jazz for over 50 years, delighting audiences in a variety of settings and the retreat participants of Adyashanti and Rupert Spira in spiritual venues. HIs primary instruments are tenor and soprano saxophones and alto flute, with supporting instruments added into the flow. Dan is drawn to exploring improvised music from a context of the Presence of Being, discovering the nature and how’s of this process as it evolves. It’s never ending, making his performances always new, interesting, spontaneous adventures.
December 2024
Ishtar ~ Flowing Wholeness – Melting into the Heart of Life
When the mind settles into Silence, the heart opens to the great mystery hidden everywhere in plain sight. The formless takes the form of Love, melting the barrier between self and world, reconnecting us to primordial Wholeness. This Wholeness is like a song that is already playing within. Every moment of life- sublime or awful- can be experienced as a flowing wholeness.
We’ll walk into a few powerful ways of melting into wholeness: effortless mantra practice, heart-engaging appreciation, tuning directly into Silence, and opening to the flow of Shakti. These are all different words for the singular practice of letting Presence move through us like a song. This is the way of praying until we become the prayer. Woven into shared practice will be time for questions, answers, and conversation.
Ishtar is a meditation teacher, monk, gardener, and head teacher of the School for Awakened Living. At age 13, he experienced an NDE, and fell into a Samadhi. The desire to return to Samadhi propelled him on a spiritual path. His first teacher was a shaman, who taught primarily through the magic of Presence. A meditation practice known as the Ishayas’ Ascension brought him to an Ashram at age 18 in the early 2000’s. Since then, he has worked as a guide, teaching effortless meditation, and helping people relax into Wholeness.
For those wanting to learn more about Ishtar’s work, his interviews can be found on Buddha at the Gas Pump, Conscious TV, Guru Viking, and Next Level Soul.
His websites are: www.ascension-meditation.com and www.awakenedlightastrology.com
Suggested donation: $15 to $30
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Pre-registration for In-Person attandance closes at Midnight on Nov. 30 (the night before event)
Pre-registration is encouraged, but you can also just show up & pay at door. Come & join us!
OR
If you register for Recording access by event date, link to access it will be sent to you within a week.
If you register for Recording access AFTER event date, please forward your confirmation email to web@opencirclecenter.org to notify us that you registered after event date.
PARKING: There is some street parking in the neighborhood, free and without time limit.
For inquiries contact LocalEvents@opencirclecenter.org
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.
John Prendergast ~ Being No One; Being Your Self ~ Bay Area Daylong Retreat
The freer we are of our self-image and story and all of the emotional reactions and somatic contractions that go with this limited identity, the freer we are to simply be ourself – a living mystery not separate from the whole of life. Self-inquiry facilitates an unveiling, unlearning, spontaneous letting go, and discovery of our true nature. This meeting will include silent and guided meditations, a talk, dyadic self-inquiry, and intimate, powerful, 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 Dec. 6th
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
his property being available for Open Circle retreats and events.
Event donations will go directly to the Schwartz Family Trust, rather than to Open Circle.
If you want to contribute more for this project, you can do so at the event,
or contact us for more information (contributuons, loan, volunteer).
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 respiritory infection, or have had a recent
Covid exposure or positive test, please stay home out of consideration for others.