March 2019
John Prendergast ~ The Current of Life
John 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. John 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.. He is the author of In Touch (Sounds True, 2015) and a forthcoming new book called The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence (Sounds True, Nov. 2019). He offers quarterly daylong intensives in the Bay Area, and residential retreats and seminars around the U.S.
“As the process of awakening deepens, it typically drops down from the head and begins to penetrate into the depths of the conditioned body-mind. As this happens, the inner felt-sense of the body opens up, lines up, and lights up. The body and by extension the so-called world come alive in a new way. We feel ourselves tapped into a profound current of life that animates everything – people, animals, trees and even rocks. This brings a natural sense of aliveness, wonder, and intimacy. We experience this naturally as small children, taking delight in the smallest discoveries. We can return to this way of experiencing life as adults, this time knowingly, with profound gratitude for the whole of life and for the simplicity of Being.“
Suggested Donation: $15-25
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Find out more »
CANCELLED!!!!! Susanne Marie ~ What is Realization?
Beyond descriptions of enlightenment or realization lies the lived experience of what we are in truth, right now. And right Now there is the immediate accessibility to be present, open, and aware. Together we will explore what is the direct experience of being awake: Here and Now.
Bio:
Featured in conversation with Adyashanti on Buddha at the Gas Pump as well as recently on Conscious TV, Susanne Marie offers teachings in support of freedom, sacred mutuality, and the celebration of our common essence of love and unity with all life. Her work is transformational and empowering, as she points to the remembering of That which we have always been, allowing truth to become ever more conscious of itself through a human life.
In a relaxed, empathetic and personable manner, and with deep personal insight, humor, and grace, she helps others deconstruct their beliefs of what living a life of freedom looks like. Susanne, the parent of two young adults, divides her time between Taos, New Mexico, and Northern California, and offers spiritual mentoring as well as Grace Healing Sessions to individuals and groups.
Pamela Wilson ~ Back to True Nature
A Rustic Weekend Retreat with Pamela Wilson
Saturday March 30th and Sunday March 31st
10:00am to 5:00pm, Fairfax, CA
This weekend retreat with Pamela Wilson will take place on private property in Fairfax, on 50 acres of ridgetop land, with beautiful views of Mount Tam and the surrounding area, with many trails for walking and savoring the beautiful spring wildflowers.
Pamela Wilson has been sharing satsang for twenty years around the world, honoring the sage within everyone, and the absolute oneness of All That Is. She evokes through dialogue, inquiry and her very presence the qualities of unconditional love and radical acceptance. She endears herself to her audiences with her playful and light-hearted humor, combined with compassion and deep understanding of what it is to be human. Pamela is celebrated for her ability to open the heart, call forth our own inner sage, and create a space in which long-held struggles and notions about one’s identity relax. She is featured in the book Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom, and is the author of the forthcoming A Golden Retriever’s Guide to Joy,
“Here we are, benevolent rooted space wearing a remarkably sensitive instrument called the body. Most sages report the body-mind insists on being included and permeated by presence, so it too, can know and live its naturalness. The body is the five elements, already free with no history, though it has born witness to all. As compassion we will be instantly aware of any suffering and answer its call; as stillness we will be aware of remaining restlessness. To be with what is in the moment, this is our function and is at the heart of all longing. Join with your fellow sages in satsang, sharing what you are noticing is an act of love.”
We will savor the stillness, inquire, share and walk together. A light organic vegetarian lunch, and tea and cookies at tea time will be provided free of charge, or you may bring your own food, or head out for lunch to Good Earth Natural Foods or a number of local restaurants.
Satsang meetings will be held outdoors, in the shade, weather permitting. If it rains, we will meet inside.
It is expected that most attendees will commute; however, shared dormitory-style overnight accommodation is available for those who want to spend the whole weekend at the property, though space is very limited.
Pre-registration is required, as the retreat will be limited to 30 people. Priority will be given to those who can attend both days.
For more information or to register, email robmschwartz@yahoo.com
Directions and logistical details will be provided upon registration.
Suggested donation:
$75 for a single day
$130 for the weekend
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Tom Kurzka ~ Rest in Being: The Love of Your Life
You are invited to join Tom as we explore this experience called me and my world. We’ll begin with an introduction followed by a brief guided meditation, then open dialogue. There is no question or concern that is too unworthy to be addressed. Often the most deep rooted problems are our gateway to the Love that we all are. Through this process Tom holds a sweet tender kindness that makes many who work with him feel held and safe. Within this supportive framework our full humanness is embraced and touched. As we radically accept and meet the worst of the worst, a gentle piercing happens as the entirety of our human experience melts in Being’s all-embracing arms, this ever present Love. We see that we are that Love, this sweetness that unconditionally holds our humanness.
In 2000, after a lifelong battle trying to hold onto his false sense of a separate self, Tom’s fight against Reality spontaneously ended, resulting in a shift into unitive consciousness or Being. Shortly thereafter, Tom was asked to share and has since been holding small group meetings at his home in Oregon and also with a group in Virginia. Tom is known for his humility and a profound acceptance of what is. The guidance moving through him has flavors of Advaita Vedanta, Sufism, Buddhism and, most importantly, an ongoing revelation of living in the moment.
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
Find out more »April 2019
Jeannie Zandi ~ Roadblocks are Holy Invitations
Holding tight to the idea of forward movement as progress toward a goal when applied to spirituality can limit our sight when life throws roadblocks and challenges in our path. Join Jeannie and friends to explore the role of yin, surrender and softening in awakening to the truth of who you are.
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 »Amoda Maa ~ Unbroken Presence
Amoda Maa offers an intimate conversation that includes the totality of the human experience within the unbounded space of unconditioned awareness. The conversation is always spontaneous, allowing jewels of wisdom to arise naturally in support of the journey of awakening and the deepening into living an awakened life.
“What really matters is your willingness to turn towards tenderness in the midst of that which offends you, to stand as openness in the face of brokenness, and to bear the unbearable. This is the path of surrender, and the only way I know to enter the slip-stream of unspeakable grace inside this human experience.”
In 2002, an experience of the dark night of the soul led to Amoda’s profound inner awakening. After a long period of integration, she started speaking from silence. Today, she offers meetings and retreats all around the US, as well as speaking at conferences and on radio shows. She brings to her teachings a depth and breadth of understanding of the human journey, born out of her own immersion in the furnace of personal transformation.
She is the author of several books. Her most recent Embodied Enlightenment (published in 2017) — written 15 years after her awakening — is based on the many conversations at the cutting edge of spiritual inquiry in her meetings with people from all around the world, and addresses many of the questions relevant to today’s seeker. It has been acclaimed as “a beautiful and precious gift to an emerging new humanity” as well as “the best spiritual book since Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth.”
Amoda currently lives with her husband and beloved, Kavi, in California.
To learn more, visit www.amodamaa.com
Suggested donation: $15-25
No one turned away for lack of funds
Marlies Myoku Cocheret ~ The Deepest Love Affair : Being Human
When the awareness of the perfection of all that is taken away & all that is given penetrates to the bone, we find ourselves on the narrow path. The narrow path means there is no room for anything but resting as the silence of our being and the total receiving of our humanity. That is the practice. Sounds really simple, yet not that easy.
It takes courage and curiosity to open ourselves completely to the practice resting as silence. It becomes easier to receive wholeheartedly our humanity in all its forms, sounds, feelings, and sensations. This is the deepest love affair - the coming together of our humanity and our divinity as one. Our stories start melting away. Step by step we are identifying with the one ground of being. From there we move in the world as human-beings. Is there anything else you wish for?
Most of the events Marlies offers are around this topic. Daring to dive in with clear intention, living as the fullness of your being. Life will show you every step of the way. Which She has done all along for all of us? Can you trust that now?!
Marlies Myoku has devoted her life to the Beloved. She brings a potent invitation into the deep Silence that we are. The kindness of her gentle and direct teaching guides us home like a lighthouse. She helps people to see that freedom and peace lie not in escaping from difficulties, but rather in completely welcoming and receiving all that the Mystery presents.
She has been offering satsang and retreat since 2000 when Adyashanti asked her to teach. Marlies is trained as a psychologist in The Netherlands, a Hakomi therapist, and a Tantric educator. For over 25 years she has been ushering seekers into living the Divine in the body. She has a passion and a gift for bringing together the Sensual Body and the Silence of our Being.
She lives in Santa Cruz; California, but works internationally. Marlies is interviewed in the book Awakened Relating. A Guide To Embodying Undivided love in Intimate Relationships by Lynn Marie Lumiere, and in the book Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom by R.M. Robinson
“With Adya, the bottom fell out. I deeply knew I am not this body, mind, thought, psyche, and I am also all these things as well. There was no in and/or out. All is One.”
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
Find out more »Brian and Alexandra Theard ~ Listening to Love
Everyone wants to be heard, but can you really listen? True listening is a gift greatly undervalued. It far transcends how the world typically regards it. In a dysfunctional relationship, listening is severely compromised because we hear the past and relate from the past. We aren’t really listening. The errors of one seem to justify the reactions of the other. And conflict remains unresolved, being unconsciously maintained.
But in a holy relationship, the experience of listening is a collaboration of hearts, to see together beyond all patterns of mind, to the divine spark which shines within us now. Joining in truth removes the frame of reference by which to judge one another, and replaces it with the power of presence beyond the limited capacity of your personal self. In listening without a past, true empathy is refreshed, calling forth the strength which is always shared, always here, and always healing.
In this talk we’ll explore the qualities of a true listener and the dimensions of consciousness that open the heart of listening. We’ll hone the ability to listen, not only without judgement, but in the peace of shared presence.
Brian and Alexandra draw on A Course in Miracles and the tradition of Ramana Maharshi in their exploration of relationships as a path of wakening. What they have discovered is that the structure of any relationship can be a vehicle to go beyond that structure itself. Relationship, if given to truth, is a path of awakening to what lies beyond all concepts and definitions.
Suggested donation: $10 to $20
Find out more »Paul Hedderman ~ Beyond “Selfing”
Paul’s unpretentious, humorous and energetic style of street-level non-duality is honed by his years of involvement with 12-step programs and the recovery community, as well as his background in Zen, Advaita and A Course in Miracles. In colorful and direct language, he points to the many ways we reinforce what he calls “selfing”, urging his listeners to honestly consider the facts of their daily experience, and look beyond the pull of the past and future, and the self-reinforcing self-importance of ego-identity. His direct, uncompromising pointing doesn’t provide a refuge for entrenched conditioning and the sense of separateness, no matter how convincing that experience may be. Paul is the author of The Escape to Everywhere and the subject of the DVD Traveling Lighter.
"We are saddled with the proscribed way of looking called self-centeredness. Everything is perceived as to how it pertains to me. The thing to do is to turn the light on it to see that all there is, is subject; there is no object called me as a subject. There's just subjectivity. That's the truth. Then enlightenment and all these goals become non-goals, because you realize there is nothing to seek.”
Suggested Donation $15-25
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Find out more »John Prendergast ~ Taking Refuge in Not Knowing
A Rustic Weekend Retreat with John Prendergast
Saturday April 27th and Sunday April 28th
10:00am to 5:00pm, Fairfax, Marin County
Join us for a weekend retreat on beautiful private property in Fairfax for a two-day deep dive into true nature. Through dialogues, meditation, and dyadic inquiry we will explore what it means to experientially take refuge in not knowing, and to allow attention to fall into the heart and the ground.
We will also enjoy the 50 acres of ridgetop land, with glorious views of Mount Tam and the surrounding area, with many trails for walking and savoring the spring wildflowers. Weather permitting, meetings will be held outdoors in a shaded oak grove. Otherwise, we will meet inside.
John 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. John 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. He is the author of In Touch (Sounds True, 2015) and a forthcoming new book called The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence (Sounds True, Nov. 2019). He offers quarterly daylong intensives in the Bay Area, and residential retreats and seminars around the U.S.
"Once we get over the initial shock, it is a huge relief to see and feel that we are not who, where, or when we have taken our self to be. The truth is that we don’t know and can’t know any of this – at least not with our ordinary strategic, goal-oriented mind. We discover that we can rest in not knowing. This is not the same as being ignorant. We are not ignoring anything. In fact, we are facing an important truth – the limits of the conditioned mind. There is a great deal in life that we don’t know, can’t know, and perhaps most importantly, don’t need to know. This insight frees attention to move from its temporary residence in the forehead to the depths of the heart area. Acknowledging that we don’t know, opens us to a different type of knowing."
Meals
A light organic vegetarian lunch, and tea and cookies at tea time, will be provided free of charge, or you may bring your own food, or head out for lunch at Good Earth Natural Foods or a number of local restaurants.
Accommodation
It is expected that most attendees will commute; however, limited shared dormitory-style accommodation is available if you want to spend the night.
Registration
Pre-registration is required, as attendance is limited to 30 people.
For more information or to register, email robmschwartz@yahoo.com.
Directions and logistical details will be provided upon registration.
Suggested donation: $150
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Find out more »