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
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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 »Jon Bernie ~ The Unbelievable Happiness of What Is
Jon Bernie, author of Ordinary Freedom and his latest, The Unbelievable Happiness of What Is, is a contemporary spiritual teacher who offers a compassionate, heart-centered approach to awakening. From his early years growing up as an artist and concert violinist, Jon always had a keen, questioning mind. This led him to discover a self-inquiry process that led to a life-changing spiritual awakening at the age of 16. Despite thinking he was on his way to medical school, he ended up becoming a Zen monk. He has four decades of practice and study in the Zen, Theravada Buddhist and Advaita traditions, and was formally asked to teach by Adyashanti in 2002.
Jon’s teaching focuses on returning the attention to the already enlightened state that lies at the core of our human existence. He is also an experienced healer and teacher of somatic embodiment, trained in the Alexander Technique, Zero Balancing, Self Acceptance Training and the Qigong system of Dr. Yu Penxi. Jon works closely with individuals to facilitate awakening and deep emotional healing, and leads classes, intensives and retreats in the San Francisco Bay Area and nationally. He also does intensive, one-on-one work with individuals both in person and by phone or video chat.
“Trying to find happiness is not possible. Why? Because we cannot find what we fundamentally are. So how do we discover and, in a sense, become one with what we fundamentally are? By learning to feel directly “what is” — that is, what’s being experienced in the mind, body and heart — free of judgment, comparison and analysis. Learning to feel directly could also be described as “being one with what is”. This quality of acceptance or compassion is the essence of our shared Heart of Oneness and simultaneously leads to, and already is, the profound vastness of our true and everlasting Happiness.”
Jon Bernie ~ The Unbelievable Happiness of What Is
Jon Bernie, author of Ordinary Freedom and his latest, The Unbelievable Happiness of What Is, is a contemporary spiritual teacher who offers a compassionate, heart-centered approach to awakening.
He has four decades of practice and study in the Zen, Theravada Buddhist and Advaita traditions (with Jean Klein and Robert Adams), and was formally asked to teach by Adyashanti in 2002. Jon’s teaching focuses on returning the attention to the already enlightened state that lies at the core of our human existence. He is also an experienced healer and teacher of somatic embodiment, trained in the Alexander Technique, Zero Balancing, Self Acceptance Training and the Qigong system of Dr. Yu Penxi. Jon works closely with individuals to facilitate awakening and deep emotional healing, and leads classes, intensives and retreats in the San Francisco Bay Area and nationally. He also does intensive, one-on-one work with individuals both in person and by phone or video chat.
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 »Ajaya Sommers ~ Awaken to the Intimate Embrace of the Heart
Please note that this gathering is limited to approximately 15 people, so pre-registration is strongly recommended. Please see below for more information.
Within a field of unconditionally loving presence, Ajaya facilitates a unique discovery process called Core Embodiment®, an integrated system of embodiment practices, principles and perceptual orientations to awaken and align with the power of your human potential. She is a Biodynamic Craniosacral Integration Teacher, Authorized Continuum Teacher, gifted healer, writer and creative catalyst in the field of embodied awakening and trauma resolution for the last 26 years. All of her programs are grounded in science, expanded through devotional practice, and made real through direct experience.
Due to early developmental trauma, ancestral trauma and our cultural context at large, there is a prevailing unconscious nervous system habit of using spirituality, and particularly the non-dual orientations, to hide, bypass or otherwise disassociate from the intelligence of your core human needs and desires. It is as if your needs and desires are problems to be ashamed of; to fix or get rid of, on your way to spiritual realization.
This is not a sustainable, humane or truly integrative path. We long for the tangible felt sense of our wholeness. We long to passionately embody all that is present within our very human, holy and messy majesty of being alive. It is time that we compassionately discover how to allow everything to be lived within the intimate embrace of the Heart.
In this introductory evening, we will melt below our habit patterns of the default nervous system and connect directly with this core intelligence ─ discovering our own intimate, ever fresh, self-healing, oxytocin-replenishing, cell-renewing, inspired embodiment practice.
Utilizing conscious breath, sound vibration, subtle intrinsic movement, embryological anatomy and provocative inquiry, we enter into the inner alchemy that allows a dissolve of any outdated structures that may be obstructing our path. A psycho-spiritual somatic reorganization and higher order of self-regulation arises as our cells surrender into the all-pervasive holding ground of nature that is always present, when we are seated in the Core.
We will re-emerge renewed, resourced and ready to re-engage our senses such that they become thresholds where the divine, the natural world, our culture and the mystery of being human coalesce as the dynamic dance of Life.
“The beauty of any true transformational path is that it will involve pattern interrupting the normal way in which you breathe, and thus your unconscious identity, taking you home to the innocence of your origins and the birthright of your Biological Breath – a systemic breath that unifies your body, mind and heart. You awaken as a whole body, mind, and heart breathing, reclaiming ALL that you are.”
Pre-registration (strongly recommended): $25
At the door (as space allows): $25
Please note that this is one of an ongoing series of special intimate gatherings to be held in the new Open Circle Room at Chochmat HaLev (the first door on the left down the side passageway).
Due to limited space, and in order to facilitate a more intimate container, these gatherings will be limited to about 15 people. Therefore, we strongly recommend pre-registration for these special evenings.
For anyone who has not pre-registered, admission at the door will be as space allows. So, be sure to sign-up early, and please try to arrive at least 5 minutes before the starting time.
Also note that, unlike most Open Circle events, these gatherings are not by donation. We require a specific admission price, whether by pre-registration or at the door. Thank you for your understanding and support.
Find out more »John Astin ~ This Extraordinary Moment: Moving Beyond the Mind to Discover the Miracle of What Is
Through a series of guided inquiries, meditations, music and dialogue, John Astin invites you into a deep exploration of a very simple yet profound question: “What is experience actually made of?” Together, we will peer around the edges of what we think experiences are, and discover the myriad ways that reality transcends our ideas about what it is and who we are.
This experiential investigation reveals that it is not merely those times of great inspiration, beauty or intimacy that lie beyond the reach of our concepts and descriptions, but every experience we have ever encountered. And this discovery—that experiences are ultimately indefinable—turns out to hold the key to our greatest freedom, for every moment—even the ones we conventionally think of as problems—is actually an astounding display of the most miraculous, inconceivable energy, intelligence, lusciousness and depth.
Adyashanti writes in the Foreword to John’s most recent book, This Extraordinary Moment:
“John Astin’s book is an invitation into a profound experience of being that is, quite literally, unimaginable. It offers a way of perceiving that is direct, immediate, and rich with wonder. What John has written here is really a guidebook for breaking the spell of conditioned thinking, and discovering what lies on the other side of our imagination—reality beyond words, and an experience of being that is beyond the known. Read this book, but even more, contemplate it. And perhaps it will evoke within you something greater than can be imagined.”
John Astin is a singer, songwriter and recording artist having produced seven CDs of original spiritual/contemplative music. He is also the author of four books, exploring the nature of human experience—Too Intimate for Words, (2005) This Is Always Enough, (2008) Searching for Rain in a Monsoon, (2012) and This Extraordinary Moment (2018).
Along with his teaching, writing and music, John holds a PhD in health psychology and is an internationally acclaimed scholar in the field of mind-body medicine, his research focusing on the applications of meditative/contemplative practices in psychology and health care. He is presently an adjunct professor of clinical/counseling psychology at Santa Clara and Notre Dame de Namur Universities.
Suggested Donation: $15-25
No one turned away for lack of funds
Find out more »Larry Robinson ~ This Precious Jade Teacup Is Already Broken: Participating Joyfully in the Suffering of the World
Larry Robinson is something of a modern-day Renaissance man. Moving easily from the meditation hall to the halls of power, Larry is a Zen practitioner, a published poet, a potter, a retired eco-psychologist, and a former Green Party city councilman and mayor of Sebastopol, known for starting off city council meetings with poetry. He is also the founder and producer of the critically acclaimed Rumi’s Caravan, a performance troupe dedicated to restoring the soul of the world through reviving the oral tradition of ecstatic poetry. Larry has been practicing meditation for 50 years, primarily in the Zen and vipassana traditions, and is a member of the Occidental Laguna Sangha in Sebastopol, a Zen gathering in the lineage of Suzuki Roshi. He also serves on the boards of the Center for Climate Protection and Meridian University.
“We are living through a time of societal and ecological collapse. Many of us are overwhelmed with feelings of grief and helplessness in the face of such enormous loss and suffering. It requires great courage to keep our hearts open at such a time. The Buddhist practices of Brahmaviharas ─ compassion, loving kindness, sympathetic joy and equanimity ─ offer a pathway to avoiding the twin perils of despair and naive hope while still being fully engaged in the world.”
Larry Robinson ~ This Precious Jade Teacup Is Already Broken: Participating Joyfully in the Suffering of the World
Larry Robinson is something of a modern-day Renaissance man. Moving easily from the meditation hall to the halls of power, Larry is a long-time Zen practitioner, a published poet, a potter, a retired eco-psychologist, and a former Green Party city councilman and mayor of Sebastopol, known for starting off city council meetings with poetry. He is also the founder and producer of the critically acclaimed Rumi’s Caravan, a performance troupe dedicated to restoring the soul of the world through reviving the oral tradition of ecstatic poetry. Larry has been practicing meditation for 50 years, primarily in the Zen and vipassana traditions, and is a member of the Occidental Laguna Sangha in Sebastopol, a Zen gathering in the lineage of Suzuki Roshi.
“We are living through a time of societal and ecological collapse. Many of us are overwhelmed with feelings of grief and helplessness in the face of such enormous loss and suffering. It requires great courage to keep our hearts open at such a time. The Buddhist practices of Brahmaviharas ─ compassion, loving kindness, sympathetic joy and equanimity ─ offer a pathway to avoiding the twin perils of despair and naive hope while still being fully engaged in the world.”
Find out more »