October 2023
Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ Embodied non duality ~ In-Person in Mt. Shasta, CA
Join us for a direct and compassionate immersion into the field of non-duality, an invitation to the conscious embodiment of our true nature. Our daily life itself can then be actively experienced as our most important spiritual practice.
The sharing will be followed by a session of Q&A to integrate the message.
Shakti Caterina Maggi is a spiritual guide who has, since 2003, been sharing a message of non-separation and awakening to our true Self. Her contemporary and heart-centered approach to Advaita and non-dual Tantra has supported thousands of seekers who meet her in retreats and seminars all over the world.
www.shakticaterinamaggi.com
Suggested donation for Oct. 27th: $10 to $30
No pre-registration. Pay at door when you arrive.
Open Circle is hosting a series of events with Shakti in various locations:
See Shakti's California Tour Page for details.
Berkeley, CA satsangs: Oct. 26th & 31st and Nov. 2nd, 7th & 8th (7-9 pm)
Mount Shasta, CA satsangs: Oct. 27th (7-9 pm) & 28th (3-5 pm)
Sebastopol, CA satsang: Oct. 29th (2-4 pm)
Pre-Retreat satsang, San Rafael, CA: Nov. 3rd (7-9 pm)
(Included when you register for the Retreat and can be attended separately, open to all)
Weekend RETREAT in Berkeley, CA: Nov. 4th & 5th
Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ Embodied non duality ~ In-Person in Mt. Shasta, CA
Join us for a direct and compassionate immersion into the field of non-duality, an invitation to the conscious embodiment of our true nature. Our daily life itself can then be actively experienced as our most important spiritual practice.
The sharing will be followed by a session of Q&A to integrate the message.
Shakti Caterina Maggi is a spiritual guide who has, since 2003, been sharing a message of non-separation and awakening to our true Self. Her contemporary and heart-centered approach to Advaita and non-dual Tantra has supported thousands of seekers who meet her in retreats and seminars all over the world.
www.shakticaterinamaggi.com
Suggested donation for Oct. 28th: $10 to $30
No pre-registration. Pay at door when you arrive.
If you have symptoms of a viral infection, or have had a recent
Covid exposure or positive test, please stay home out of consideration for others.
Open Circle is hosting a series of events with Shakti in various locations:
See Shakti's California Tour Page for details.
Berkeley, CA satsangs: Oct. 26th & 31st and Nov. 2nd, 7th & 8th (7-9 pm)
Mount Shasta, CA satsangs: Oct. 27th (7-9 pm) & 28th (3-5 pm)
Sebastopol, CA satsang: Oct. 29th (2-4 pm)
Pre-Retreat satsang, San Rafael, CA: Nov. 3rd (7-9 pm)
(Included when you register for the Retreat and can be attended separately, open to all)
Weekend RETREAT in Berkeley, CA: Nov. 4th & 5th
July 2024
Lisa Schumacher ~ Open Meeting with Lisa ~ Local IN-PERSON, Berkeley Event
An open meeting with Lisa is an opportunity to step away from your day to day life and devote time for inquiry into the source of who you are. There will be a few moments of silence to start the meeting and then Lisa will speak and invite you to share about your realizations and ask questions about awakening.
Lisa Schumacher: Lisa grew up in Colusa, CA, and attended college at San Luis Obispo in the 1980's. After she moved to Southern Oregon in the early 90s, a friend invited her to a video satsang with Gangaji. Upon hearing Gangaji say "Be your Natural Self", Lisa's heart caught on fire and she fell into a deep bow of surrender. That meeting revealed to her the absolute simplicity of the natural, living truth of Love, inseparable from who one is. Lisa moved to Bolinas in 1999 to be closer to Gangaji and the vibrant community around her. In 2006, Lisa was asked by Gangaji to meet with people and share Satsang. She has held meetings in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and North America. She's also a long-time student of Eli Jaxon-Bear, Gangaji's husband, and a founding teacher of the Eli's "Leela School of Awakening". Lisa is the author of "The Stone I Love", a book of poetry inspired by Gangaji, available on her website and for purchase at the gathering.
In Lisa's meetings, she invites you to sit close and inquire about your awakening, your spiritual questions, and the unfolding truth. The teaching is in the tradition of Gangaji, who is a student of Papaji, who had his awakening at the feet of Ramana Maharshi.
We’ll also have a One Day Retreat with Lisa on July 20 in Fairfax (pre-registration required for the daylong).
Lisa's website: satsangwithlisa.org
Suggested donation: $15 to $30
No pre-registration for this evening event. Just come & join us.
Lisa Schumacher ~ Let Love Lead ~ One Day Retreat in Bay Area
Within your heart is the perfect refuge of the pure light of Love. Here is where freedom is; it is your true nature. To give yourself to Love and to live for the Truth requires that your attention is aligned with the song of your heart. We will spend the day together, bowing to what is sacred within and celebrating the simplicity of staying true to what you love.
Lisa Schumacher: Lisa grew up in Colusa, CA, and attended college at San Luis Obispo in the 1980's. After she moved to Southern Oregon in the early 90s, a friend invited her to a video satsang with Gangaji. Upon hearing Gangaji say "Be your Natural Self", Lisa's heart caught on fire and she fell into a deep bow of surrender. That meeting revealed to her the absolute simplicity of the natural, living truth of Love, inseparable from who one is. Lisa moved to Bolinas in 1999 to be closer to Gangaji and the vibrant community around her. In 2006, Lisa was asked by Gangaji to meet with people and share Satsang. She has held meetings in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and North America. She's also a long-time student of Eli Jaxon-Bear, Gangaji's husband, and a founding teacher of the Eli's "Leela School of Awakening". Lisa is the author of "The Stone I Love", a book of poetry inspired by Gangaji, available on her website and for purchase at the gathering.
In Lisa's meetings, she invites you to sit close and inquire about your awakening, your spiritual questions, and the unfolding truth. The teaching is in the tradition of Gangaji, who is a student of Papaji, who had his awakening at the feet of Ramana Maharshi.
Lisa's website: satsangwithlisa.org
The meeting will be from 10:30am 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 July 19th
Sliding Scale: $60 to $120
No one turned away for lack of funds.
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 viral infection, or have had a recent
Covid exposure or positive test, please stay home out of consideration for others.
We also have an Open Meeting with Lisa, July 18th, in Berkeley.
Find out more »August 2024
Gail Brenner ~ Melting into Being (In-Person Event)
Melting into Being - Come and enjoy an afternoon of melting into being with your fellow truth lovers. All are welcome!
In our time together, we’ll relax into effortless being, marinating in the luminescent knowing of our true nature. We’ll leave the limitations of our personal stories and attachments to discover liberation—already here—timeless, boundless, and free. This is you…who you’ve always been despite any beliefs that tell you otherwise.At the same time, we bow to our humanness—meeting our conditioned and fear-based patterns with understanding and compassion. And we know that who we are is unlimited, overflowing with love, and infinitely peaceful. You are welcome just as you are with your fears, doubts, shame, and questions—or simply to share sacred space. With guided meditation, quotes from our beloved masters, and open conversation, we’ll celebrate together, discovering peace and happiness right at the heart of our everyday human lives. I look forward to being with you!
Gail Brenner, Ph.D. is your guide. As a psychologist, author, and teacher, she transmits a love of truth with a fire that burns brightly. Gail is an expert in healing from early trauma and brings to this work years of experience with individuals and groups. She is known for creating the safe space needed for deep inner exploration. Gail is the author of the award-winning The End of Self-Help and Suffering Is Optional.
Gail's website: gailbrenner.com
Satsang: 2-4 pm
Refreshments: until 5
Suggested Donation: $10- $20, no one turned away.
No pre-registration. Pay at door when you arrive.
Location: 8476 Sonoma Ave, Sebastopol, CA. Park on Sonoma Ave.
Note: The address sign says 8474/8476. Park on the street, and walk down the short driveway to the house with the carport.
Please dress mindfully, doors & windows will be open!
If you have covid-like symptoms, or have had a recent Covid exposure or positive test, please stay home out of consideration for others.
September 2024
Prayers for the Future ~ Satsang & Kirtan
Satsang & Kirtan
with Adam Bauer & Christine Marie
Co-sponsored by Open Circle
Join us for an extraordinary gathering of heart, mind, and spirit as we come together for Prayers for the Future, a special satsang and kirtan featuring global chant artist Adam Bauer and yogini Christine Marie. This event is a call to unite in soulful chanting, deep reflection, and visionary summoning of a world we want to live into.
Highlights:
- Kirtan: Be together in the power of the chant led by Adam Bauer, a renowned kirtan artist who weaves together ancient mantras, soulful melodies, and heartfelt devotion to uplift and connect us all.
- Satsang: Dive into a space of inner exploration and wisdom sharing. Through guided meditation and contemplative dialogue, we wil connect with our clearest hearts to envision our highest possible future.
Come prepared to chant, listen, share, and co-create as we set our intentions and pray for a future that honors the highest potential of humanity and our planet.
Open to all who feel called to join in this sacred work of visioning and manifesting a future filled with light, harmony, and grace.
In community, in love, and in action.
Pre-registration required, as space is limited.
Donation Requested. Pay what you can.
RSVP by REGISTRATION HERE & DONATE AT DOOR WHEN YOU ARRIVE.
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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 viral infection, or have had a recent
Covid exposure or positive test, please stay home out of consideration for others.
John Prendergast, Lisa Ferguson & Jared Michaels ~ Engaged Nonduality ~ InPerson Daylong
Engaged Nonduality: Attending to Our World in Crisis
A Daylong with John Prendergast,
Lisa Ferguson and Jared Michaels
This daylong event is an opportunity to turn toward our world in crisis from an awakened heart. Whatever is touching your heart is welcomed, including climate and ecosystem breakdown, war and conflict, injustice and polarization. How is Being moving through us in response? We will explore through meditation, dyadic inquiry, and group interaction what it means to open to our awakened nature, while also being moved by our deepest knowing to respond to our world in crisis.
Bios
John J. Prendergast, Ph.D. is the author of The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence (2019 ) and In Touch: How to Tune In to the Inner Guidance of Your Body and Trust Yourself (2015) and is working on a new book entitled Your Deepest Ground: A Guide to Embodied Spirituality (March 2025). He is a retired Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies as well as a retired psychotherapist. He studied with the European sage Jean Klein for many years as well as with Adyashanti who gave dharma transmission to John in August, 2023. John and his wife Christiane offer residential retreats in the United States and Europe.
www.listeningfromsilence.com
YouTube channel
Lisa Ferguson, Ph.D. is the founder of Climate Compassion, and has focused on supporting planetary wellbeing as a healing arts practitioner, climate justice activist, organizer and contemplative. She offers psychospiritual support to activists through one-one sessions and small groups, weaving together a focus on awakening, healing and wise action.
www.climatecompassion.org
Jared Michaels is a psychotherapist in private practice in Berkeley, a Zen priest in the San Francisco Zen Center lineage, and a longtime student of John Prendergast. For decades, he asked what he could offer humanity that would make a difference. His answer has been consistent for years: To invite us to walk a path of personal and systemic transformation.
JaredMichaels.com
Suggested Donation: $75 per person
(any amount acceptable, no one turned away for lack of funds)
Pre-registration is recommended, through you can pay at door if not pre-registered.
Lunch Break: There are places close by to go out for lunch, or you may bring your own lunch, though there is no refrigerator access.
NOTE: The venue is a kosher-style facility, so no pork or shellfish, and no meat mixed with dairy on premises.
PARKING: There is some limited street parking in the neighborhood, free and without time limit on weekends. There is also parking a few blocks away at the east parking lot of the Ashby Bart station: www.bart.gov/stations/ashb/map
You may also find paid parking just a few blocks away at Alta Bates Parking Garage: Enter on Colby between Ashby and Webster St.
Nearby parking may fill up quickly. Plan accordingly.