December 2019
Isaac Shapiro ~ Authentic Autonomy: Maturing of the Heart ~ Online Retreat
3-day Online Retreat with Isaac Shapiro:
Authentic Autonomy: Maturing of the Heart
December 13, 14, 15, 2019
11:00 am - 1:00 pm Pacific Time
Time Zone Converter
As life lives us, a recognition of our true nature makes it possible for the automatic unconscious patterns that produce a sense of disease and separateness, to come home. This allows living as love - the nectar which benefits all beings.
Join Isaac Shapiro for a three-day immersion into simplicity of being with what is. From the comfort of your home, you will have the opportunity to explore yourself with like-minded community from around the world. Through direct yet playful inquiry into what is, we will be unraveling conditioning of the mind and the nervous system. The format of the meetings is interactive and spontaneous, deeply in tune with what wants to emerge in the moment.
Isaac Shapiro is an internationally known facilitator and non-dual teacher, fascinated with life lived in alignment with the world’s wisdom traditions. A former student of H.W.L. Poonja (Papaji), Isaac draws on a broad spectrum of understanding, from Advaita to neurophysiology to some of the latest discoveries in quantum physics, which he applies in a light-hearted but direct way.
Through years of working with people, Isaac has cultivated and refined an ability to track what is happening in the nervous system of participants. Bringing this awareness to people’s attention, allows our natural, innate self-regulating mechanism to be re-established.
More about Isaac Shapiro: www.isaacshapiro.org
This Three-Day Online Retreat will consist of:
- Three 2-hour Meetings in Truth with Isaac Shapiro (total of 6 hours)
- Video and Audio Recordings of Meetings with Isaac
We meet via Zoom, an online platform allowing for live video conversations. You will have the opportunity to see/hear and be seen/heard by Isaac and other participants. You will also have the option to switch your camera off and remain invisible. You may also join by phone.
To proceed to Registration, please affirm that you have read and agree to these terms:
click here to READ TERMS.
Registration: $60 - $100
Please register early if you can.
For practical questions please contact Sara at sara@opencirclecenter.org.
Isaac Shapiro ~ Authentic Autonomy: Maturing of the Heart: 3-Day Online Retreat
Join Isaac Shapiro for a three-day immersion into simplicity of being with what is. From the comfort of your home, you will have the opportunity to explore yourself with like-minded community from around the world. Through direct yet playful inquiry into what is, we will be unraveling conditioning of the mind and the nervous system. The format of the meetings is interactive and spontaneous, deeply in tune with what wants to emerge in the moment.
As life lives us, a recognition of our true nature makes it possible for the automatic unconscious patterns that produce a sense of disease and separateness, to come home. This allows living as love - the nectar which benefits all beings.
Isaac Shapiro is an internationally known facilitator and non-dual teacher, fascinated with life lived in alignment with the world’s wisdom traditions. A former student of H.W.L. Poonja (Papaji), Isaac draws on a broad spectrum of understanding, from Advaita to neurophysiology to some of the latest discoveries in quantum physics, which he applies in a light-hearted but direct way.
Find out more »John Prendergast ~ The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence
The great human quest is to discover who we really are—a discovery that changes our lives and the lives of those around us. With The Deep Heart, John Prendergast invites you on a pilgrimage within, using the heart as a portal to your deepest psychological and spiritual nature. The Deep Heart is John’s term for the subtle center of emotional and energetic sensitivity, relational intimacy, profound inner knowing, and wholeness found within our hearts.
In this experiential guide, John offers precise and potent meditative inquiries to help you open your heart, see through your core limiting beliefs, and discover the true nature of your being. He brings a depth of experience, insight, warmth, and compassion to his teaching work, and is especially skillful in guided meditative inquiries and one-on-one dialogues.
John J. Prendergast is a spiritual teacher, psychotherapist and retired adjunct professor of psychology at CIIS, known for his pioneering work in integrating nondual wisdom and psychotherapy. A long-time student of both Jean Klein and Adyashanti, he was asked to share the dharma by Dorothy Hunt. He is the author of the forthcoming The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence, as well as In Touch: How to Tune in to the Inner Guidance of Your Body and Trust Yourself.
Suggested Donation: $15-25
No one turned away for lack of funds.
John Prendergast ~ The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence
The great human quest is to discover who we really are—a discovery that changes our lives and the lives of those around us. With The Deep Heart, John Prendergast invites you on a pilgrimage within, using the heart as a portal to your deepest psychological and spiritual nature. The Deep Heart is John’s term for the subtle center of emotional and energetic sensitivity, relational intimacy, profound inner knowing, and wholeness found within our hearts.
In this experiential guide, John offers precise and potent meditative inquiries to help you open your heart, see through your core limiting beliefs, and discover the true nature of your being. He brings a depth of experience, insight, warmth, and compassion to his teaching work, and is especially skillful in guided meditative inquiries and one-on-one dialogues.
John J. Prendergast is a spiritual teacher, psychotherapist and retired adjunct professor of psychology at CIIS, known for his pioneering work in integrating nondual wisdom and psychotherapy. A long-time student of both Jean Klein and Adyashanti, he was asked to share the dharma by Dorothy Hunt. He is the author of the newly released The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence, as well as In Touch: How to Tune in to the Inner Guidance of Your Body and Trust Yourself.
Find out more »Richard Miller ~ Resting as Inherent Joy
Why is it that some people flourish through seemingly insurmountable challenges while others struggle with even the smallest of life's difficulties? Is it possible to experience resilient joy and well-being during even our most challenging of times?
Come experience the healing and revitalizing effects of a special iRest Yoga Nidra meditation that is designed to help you recognize, reconnect with, nourish and embody your capacity to experience indestructible joy and well-being as innately present, no matter your circumstances, so that you can ease your way through this holiday season and beyond!
Richard’s teachings are based upon a lifetime of inquiry into the nature of freedom. Following a series of awakenings, all sense of separation fell away while working with his spiritual mentor, Jean Klein. Richard experiences this awakening as always fresh and alive, yet forever opening to itself.
Richard Miller, spiritual teacher, yogic scholar, clinical psychologist, author, and researcher, is the founder and chairman of the iRest Institute, co-founder of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, and a founding president of the Institute for Spirituality and Psychology.
Author of iRest Meditation: Restorative Practices for Health, Healing and Well Being and The iRest Program for Healing PTSD, Richard serves as a consultant researching the meditation protocol he’s developed—iRest Yoga Nidra— studying its efficacy on health, healing and well-being with diverse populations including active-duty soldiers, veterans, survivors of human trafficking, youth, seniors, the homeless and the incarcerated, with issues including sleep disorders, PTSD, traumatic brain injury, pain, and chemical dependency. Richard leads trainings and retreats internationally.
Suggested Donation $15-$25
Find out more »Richard Miller ~ Resting as Inherent Joy
Come experience the healing and revitalizing effects of a special iRest Yoga Nidra meditation that is designed to help you recognize, reconnect with, nourish and embody your capacity to experience indestructible joy and well-being as innately present, no matter your circumstances, so that you can ease your way through this holiday season and beyond!
Richard’s teachings are based upon a lifetime of inquiry into the nature of freedom. Following a series of awakenings, all sense of separation fell away while working with his spiritual mentor, Jean Klein. Richard experiences this awakening as always fresh and alive, yet forever opening to itself.
Richard Miller, spiritual teacher, yogic scholar, clinical psychologist, author, and researcher, is the founder and chairman of the iRest Institute, co-founder of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, and a founding president of the Institute for Spirituality and Psychology.
Find out more »January 2020
Neelam ~ The Power of Self Inquiry, and the Role of Nervous Systems in Awakening, Embodiment and Freedom ~ 3-hour TeleSatsang
This call is an invitation to Presence and to Neelam’s teaching, and a practical exploration of the role of the nervous system in Awakening and Freedom. The nervous system and its capacity to Be Here are essential elements for Awakening, Embodiment and for Freedom.
When unmet, un-experienced tendencies from the past arise, and we so often believe them and identify ourselves with them, so that they affect and manifest in our physiology and show up as thoughts, feelings, emotions and sensations.
When Ramana Maharshi was first asked by a devotee, deeply attracted by His Presence, to impart some direction on how to reach that state, he has written the simple instructions of who am I? Inquiry. This very direct approach - when done in the right way 🙂- immediately appraises us of the fact that Who we really are is Emptiness or Presence.
My personal path to Awakening was more through Devotion, Silence and "meeting of what is" rather than formal Inquiry; however, since I started teaching in 1996, I realized the value of Inquiry in my own Embodiment process, and for Awakening, Embodiment and Freedom. And in addition to Ramana’s Inquiry, I have developed several Inquiry processes with very practical and effective steps.
Inquiry, especially when combined with a practical knowledge of the Nervous System and the Brain, and of the role of the Nervous System's capacity to Be Here, in Awakening Embodiment and Freedom, is a very powerful way to identify, address, and end suffering in the moment.
I want to invite you all to join me in this very direct and practical exploration.
Topics that may be covered during this program:
- Elements necessary for Awakening Embodiment and Freedom
- Everything arises in Presence And Everything is Ok just the way it is
- Embodied Okayness and what does it mean to Be Here
- The Cause of Suffering
- Introducing the Inquiry process and the Role of the Nervous Systems capacity in Being Here
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.”
3-Hour Experiential Intensive
Sliding Scale: $20 to $45
Tilicho ~ Setting the Foundations: Weekend Online Retreat
2-day Online Retreat with Tilicho:
Setting the Foundations
January 11th & 12th, 2020
10:00 am - 1:00 pm Pacific Time
To be yourself is both very simple and complicated. Simple, as you already are what you're looking for: CONSCIOUSNESS (the light at the core of all beings and all things). Complicated, because to REALIZE who you are, you need to BE CONSCIOUS not only of your inner light, but also of your ego, as it often prevents us from putting the light on here and now, and embracing the present moment as it is.
This workshop sets the foundation for deeper exploration of consciousness and meeting with 'here and now'.
Saturday:
10.00 -11.30: Self-inquiry
11.30-11.45 tea-break
11.45-13.00: “Leaving the past behind” - session on forgiveness.
Sunday:
10.00 -11.30: ”Living in Trust" - session on fears
11.30-11.45 tea-break
11.45-13.00: "How to BE in daily life?"
About Tilicho
Tilicho spontaneously realized the Self in 1998 without following any teaching or practice. The absence of spiritual conditioning allowed her to see through the veils of spiritual idealism and illusions. She ended up spending thirteen years in Tiruvannamalai in south India, the seat of Ramana Maharshi and the sacred mountain, Arunachala. While recognizing the beauty of the Advaita teachings, she also observed that they can easily be misunderstood and distorted. Although the Self is eternally free from the world, it is not separate from it. Clarity does not exclude openness. Her teaching stresses the need to combine Masculine and Feminine qualities and approaches. It is an invitation to find unity within and without.
“May all beings realize who they truly are! Om Sat Chit Ananda.”
This Two-Day Online Retreat will consist of:
- Two 3-hour Meetings with Tilicho (total of 6 hours)
- Video and Audio Recordings of the Meetings
We meet via Zoom, an online platform allowing for live video conversations. You will have the opportunity to see/hear and be seen/heard by Tilicho and other participants. You will also have the option to switch your camera off and remain invisible. You may also join by phone.
To proceed to Registration, please affirm that you have read and agree to these terms:
click here to READ TERMS.
Registration: $40 - $80
Please register early if you can.
For practical questions please contact Sara at sara@opencirclecenter.org.
Tilicho ~ Setting the Foundations: Weekend Online Retreat
To be yourself is both very simple and complicated. Simple, as you already are what you're looking for: CONSCIOUSNESS (the light at the core of all beings and all things). Complicated, because to REALIZE who you are, you need to BE CONSCIOUS not only of your inner light, but also of your ego, as it often prevents us from putting the light on here and now, and embracing the present moment as it is.
This workshop sets the foundation for deeper exploration of consciousness and meeting with 'here and now'.
Tilicho spontaneously realized the Self in 1998 without following any teaching or practice. The absence of spiritual conditioning allowed her to see through the veils of spiritual idealism and illusions. She ended up spending thirteen years in Tiruvannamalai in south India, the seat of Ramana Maharshi and the sacred mountain, Arunachala. While recognizing the beauty of the Advaita teachings, she also observed that they can easily be misunderstood and distorted. Although the Self is eternally free from the world, it is not separate from it. Clarity does not exclude openness. Her teaching stresses the need to combine Masculine and Feminine qualities and approaches. It is an invitation to find unity within and without.
Find out more »Adam Chacksfield ~ Falling Open Together
Described by Pamela Wilson as “a great messenger of truth a unique transmission that does wonderful things for my spirit,” Adam invites us to share the direct experience of the heart, mind, and life falling open. In this effortless opening, the suffering involved in resisting feelings and believing our thoughts spontaneously releases. This allows our natural abundance of joy, peace, wisdom and love to become apparent and available. Heart-centered but direct, Adam offers a path straight into the truth of who you are. Adam Chacksfield offers retreats worldwide exploring the depths that reveal themselves as we become intimate with our embodied experience and vibrantly alive field of relating. He also offers private sessions online and in the San Francisco Bay Area.
“We are invited to receive the ultimate gift, for which there is no substitute , worth infinitely more than all our dreams and fantasies. We accept this gift by simply falling open. When the heart and mind fall open, we find ourselves intimately present and completely available to what is here. Our struggle with reality dissolves into harmony.”
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
Find out more »