March 2020
* CANCELLED * – Jeannie Zandi ~ Embodying the Divine
Due to an abundance of caution over the increasing spread of the corona virus (COVID-19), Jeannie Zandi has CANCELLED her Berkeley event this Friday (March 13th). You can read Jeannie's statement in full below.
You can join her online this Sunday morning (March 15th).
FROM JEANNIE:
"I love teaching and being with you all, and generally nothing but hell or high water will prevent me from showing up for an event. However, after reviewing the available recommendations related to COVID-19, I am cancelling my event in Berkeley. The insistence by health officials for us to practice “social distancing” to slow the spread of the virus to vulnerable populations looks like a fine (and necessary) way to express our love of the collective. I am interested in doing my part to prevent the spread of this virus to vulnerable people and the resulting potential overwhelm of our health systems, and I urge you to do the same where possible.
I ask us all to meet these current challenges with as much care as we can, for ourselves and for each other, and to use whatever anxiety rises to deepen our practice of digesting it, resourcing our bodies and living as love rather than fear. Take good care of yourselves!"
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 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.
Find out more »Jeannie Zandi ~ Embodying the Divine
We will be resting in the field of being, maintaining sovereignty in the midst of the pulls of conditioning, living from the beauty and clarity of being, expressing essence in the world, the ins and outs of relating, the healthy flow of yin and yang, and basically everything that relates to the full embodiment of our essential nature.
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.
Find out more »Jeannie Zandi ~ From Selfish to Selfless
The journey of embodiment includes a transformation from the self-focused fixations of the child to the offering of the full, mature, realized heart. Jeannie will lead an inquiry, talk and exchange into the realms of selfishness and self-fulness, exploring the gifts of awakening, the practice of cultivation, how we meet needs for healing and self nurture, and the fruit of the spiritual path: offering one’s whole heart to the world.
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 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 »* CANCELLED * – Ellen Emmet ~ The Awakening Body
Due to an abundance of caution over the increasing spread of the corona virus (COV-19), we have CANCELLED this event and all other in-person events for the month of March.
We'll continue our Online Events (Live interacttive gatherings) on Sunday mornings, as well as longer online courses and retreats. These are found on the ONLINE EVENTS page on our website. And if Sunday morning is not a convenient time to participate, you will be sent a recording after the event if you register, allowing you to watch at any time that is convenient to you. However, to get the recording, you would need to register before the event.
Thank you for your patience and understanding. We do feel a responsibility to our teachers and our community (both the Open Circle community and the broader community) to do our part to keep everyone safe.
Love always,
The Open Circle Team
Stephan Bodian ~ Freedom from Fear in Challenging Times
Pacific Time - San Francisco, CA, USA Time Zone Converter
Global pandemic. Climate emergency. Financial meltdown. Wherever we turn these days, we’re faced with circumstances that seem to threaten our very survival, couched in terms designed to strike fear into our hearts. How do we find peace in the midst of what seems like impending catastrophe? The short answer is, we take refuge from the mind’s preoccupation with a future that hasn’t arrived, and a past that no longer exists, in the timeless shelter of the Now.
As I often ask in satsangs and retreats: On present evidence only, without consulting the mind, is there a problem with this moment right now? And now? And now? As we drop out of the spinning mind into the heart, past the layers of fear and self-protection into the deepest inner knowing, what do we find? If we delve far enough, we inevitably encounter the peace and equanimity of our essential nature, the ground of being, which is not disturbed by the unavoidable ups and downs, gains and losses, blessings and catastrophes of life.
In this satsang, we’ll rest together in this deeper ground and explore the frightening stories and beliefs the mind keeps churning out. We’ll also practice welcoming the fear that does arise with understanding and compassion as we allow awareness to dissolve back into the Now. Abiding in this deeper, nondual ground frees us to do what needs to be done with clarity and equanimity, rather than the habitual confusion and fear.
Watch a compilation of online events with Stephan here.
Stephan Bodian has been sharing the direct approach to spiritual awakening for more than 40 years. A former Buddhist monk, a licensed psychotherapist, and a longtime student of Advaita master Jean Klein, Stephan received Dharma transmission from Adyashanti in 2001. Since 2007 he has taught the annual months-long School for Awakening, which will begin again, in online form, in January 2020. His books include Wake Up Now and Beyond Mindfulness.
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
PLEASE REGISTER EARLY if you can.
Stephan Bodian ~ Freedom from Fear in Challenging Times
Global pandemic. Climate emergency. Financial meltdown. Wherever we turn these days, we’re faced with circumstances that seem to threaten our very survival, couched in terms designed to strike fear into our hearts. How do we find peace in the midst of what seems like impending catastrophe? The short answer is, we take refuge from the mind’s preoccupation with a future that hasn’t arrived, and a past that no longer exists, in the timeless shelter of the Now.
In this satsang, we’ll rest together in this deeper ground and explore the frightening stories and beliefs the mind keeps churning out. We’ll also practice welcoming the fear that does arise with understanding and compassion as we allow awareness to dissolve back into the Now. Abiding in this deeper, nondual ground frees us to do what needs to be done with clarity and equanimity, rather than the habitual confusion and fear.
Find out more »CANCELLED!!! Gail Brenner ~ Surrender, Devotion, and Trust in the Spiritual Life
Due to an abundance of caution over the increasing spread of the corona virus (COV-19), we have cancelled this event and all other in-person events for the month of March.
We do want to remind you that we do have Online Events on Sunday mornings as well as longer online courses and retreats. These are found on the ONLINE EVENTS page on our website.. And if Sunday morning is not a convenient time to participate, you will be sent a recording after the event if you register, allowing you to watch at any time that is convenient to you. However, to get the recording, you would need to register before the event.
Thank you for your patience and understanding. We do feel a responsibility to our teachers and our community (both the Open Circle community and the broader community) to do our part to keep everyone safe.
Love always,
The Open Circle Team
Lynn Marie Lumiere, MFT ~ Brain, Being and Immunity
Pacific Time - San Francisco, CA, USA Time Zone Converter
We are all being inundated with information on how to strengthen our immune system due to the coronavirus. There is a lot of information available about vitamins, herbs and supplements to take, which is important. We are also being advised to do things such as yoga and meditation and to stay out of fear and anxiety. This webinar will focus on aspects of building strong immunity that are often not mentioned.
First of all, building immunity begins in the brain by learning to regulate the stress response in the autonomic nervous system. Many of us are already “stress sensitive” because of chronic stress arousal, and this has a direct effect on the functioning of the immune system. We now know that chronic stress arousal, as a result of trauma and prolonged stress, is what underlies most chronic illness. This webinar will focus on understanding the brain/immunity connection and will offer practical ways to build stress regulation.
Secondly, this lack of regulation keeps the body in a hyper-aroused state, which is not conducive to being present and accessing our shared Being in order to stay awake in these challenging times. This can also make it harder to differentiate ourselves from the collective field of fear that is present in our world at this time. Conscious connection to Being soothes, relaxes and balances our nervous system. So, the more we can both regulate and connect with Being, the stronger our immune function will be, and the more clarity we will have to take care of ourselves and others.
Lynn Marie Lumiere, MFT is a nondual psychotherapist, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, and author. She is the co-author of The Awakening West and is a contributing author to The Sacred Mirror, as well as the author of Awakened Relating: A Guide to Embodying Undivided Love in Intimate Relationships. Lynn Marie has been a student of Adyashanti for over 20 years.
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Please register early if you can.
Gail Brenner, Ph.D ~ Coming Together in Love and Kindness
Pacific Time - San Francisco, CA, USA Time Zone Converter
Let’s come together to support each other in the field of love and presence at this challenging—and sacred—time.
We'll start with a guided meditation, then reflect on the opportunities being given to slow down, turn inward, and be with our experience. We’ll practice welcoming whatever arises—the fears, frustrations, and gifts of this unique time.
We’ll expand into the infinite field of loving consciousness that’s inclusive of everything and explore how our surrender to that moves us to meet our current situation.
You are most welcome with your fears, doubts, questions, and insights—and simply to share sacred space together.
Gail Brenner, Ph.D. is an eternal student of happiness who blends her experience as a psychologist with a loving presence that invites people into harmony with all of life. She is gifted at meeting our humanness with nondual understanding in ways that are practical and loving. Gail has worked with clients and groups for over 20 years, bringing laser-like clarity to the confusion of common problems, such as reactive emotions, compulsive behaviors, feelings of personal inadequacy, and relationship struggles. She is the author of several books, including The End of Self-Help and her latest, Suffering is Optional.
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
PLEASE REGISTER EARLY if you can.
April 2020
Lynn Marie Lumiere, MFT ~ Support for Deeper Healing and Awakening in Stressful Times ~ Ongoing Group (3 hours)
We meet on Saturdays, twice a month, 9am-12pm PT.
You are welcome to join any time.
This is an ongoing group for people in a spiritual awakening and embodiment process who are “stress sensitive” need skilled support and information to help them:
∙ Develop stress-regulation and build resilience in the nervous system
∙ Understand what it means to be “stress sensitive”
∙ Learn coping skills for being present with stress and trauma triggers
∙ Not get stuck in negative emotions such as fear
∙ Question limiting beliefs and negative narratives
∙ Have a direct experience of nondual awareness and cultivate the ability to rely on that
The group will have open registration for each meeting, so you can choose which meetings you’d like to attend. For the highest benefit we suggest attending the group regularly. If you cannot join live, you are still welcome to register and benefit from the information and skills provided through 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 as a therapist as well as with nondual 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: $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 48 hours.
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