March 2019
Tim Freke ~ Individuals Evolving Into Unividuals
An astonishing leap forward in the story of humanity is quietly gaining momentum. It is historically unprecedented that so many of us now feel compassion for people we will never meet who are suffering in distant lands. More and more of us care deeply about other species and the natural world. A smaller but ever increasing number are awakening to a profound sense of oneness with everyone and everything.
Pioneering English philosopher Tim Freke suggests these developments are signs of our evolution from separate individuals into connected ‘unividuals’ who experience a unity that transcends our individuality. During his ‘Evening of Philosophy’ and ‘Experiential Day Seminar’ he will explore this momentous evolutionary jump.
You’ll be introduced to ‘Unividualism’ which unifies science and spirituality to offer a visionary understanding of the evolving cosmos. You’ll experience ‘Unividual Connection Meditations’ to awaken a state of deep communion and all-embracing love. This is your invitation to become part of a new global tribe that can transform our individualistic self-serving society into a unividual culture of kindness.
T!M FREKE is a leading-edge thinker who shares original ideas with clarity and humour. He is the author of 35 books, translated into 15 languages, including a top 10 international bestseller and UK Daily Telegraph ‘Book of the Year’. He presents events internationally, including in the UK, Europe, Japan, South America, Canada and the USA.
Evening of Philosophy ~ March 7th, 2019
Time: 7:00 - 9:00 pm
Sliding Scale: $15 - $25
No pre-registration for the Thur. evening event.
Experiential Day Seminar ~ March 10th, 2019
Time: 10:30 am - 5:00 pm
NOTE: as of SUNDAY March 10TH, 2 am, clocks in the USA are turned forward 1 hour
"Spring Ahead" - Daylight Savings Time begins.
Change your clocks when you go to bed Satrurday night!
Sliding Scale: $65 - $125
There are places close by to go out for lunch.
Note: Per venue policy, only vegetarian food is allowed on premises at Chochmat HaLev
Please contact LocalEvents@opencirclecenter.org with any further questions
PARKING: There is some limited street parking in the neighborhood, free and without time limit on weekday evenings & 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.
Pamela Wilson ~ Being with What Is
Pamela Wilson is a Bay Area treasure who has been sharing satsang for twenty years around the world, honoring the sage within everyone, and the absolute oneness of All That Is. Her own teachers included Lester Levinson (The Sedona Method), Robert Adams and Neelam. 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. And she speaks the truth of non-duality, that the universe is one undivided whole. Featured in the book Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom, and the author of the forthcoming A Golden Retriever’s Guide to Joy, Pamela is at her best in heart-felt dialogue, so please come and bring your questions!
“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.”
Jenny & Greg Donner ~ This Moment Is Your Miracle
Modern day mystics and marriage partners, Jenny and Greg Donner have been touring the world for many years sharing their deep inspiration and love of truth. In collaboration with David Hofmeister, they share a mystical and practical approach to healing. As intuitive open channels, they bring an awareness that is miraculous and uplifting. You are invited this evening to join in a felt experience of divine presence and peace. Come and explore:
- Following your heart’s true calling
- How to effectively face and release fear
- Identifying and dismantling core beliefs
Let’s open our hearts to an experience of love and innocence that’s always here. This moment is your miracle!
Suggested Donation: $15 - $25
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
Find out more »David Hoffmeister & Friends ~ The Beginning of a Great Awakening
The world has not yet undergone a comprehensive awakening. The time has come!
Over a span of more than 30 years, David Hoffmeister, has traveled to 49 states and 44 countries across 6 continents. This talk marks the celebration and release of his new book This Moment Is Your Miracle! For the first time David will speak at the Open Circle, sharing his uniquely deep experience and playful heart. David, together with a few close friends, will illuminate practical spirituality, and what it means to walk your talk even after timeless awakening experiences. Come and share a wonderful discussion in profound Presence and Joy this evening.
Suggested Donation: $15 - $25
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.
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 »Rupert Spira ~ The Essence of Non-Duality
“Meditation is what we are, not what we do; the separate self is what we do, not what we are.”
In the last few years Rupert Spira has become one of the most respected and sought-after teachers of non-dual wisdom, known for his crystal clear use of language, laser-like intellect, skillful guided enquiries, and powerfully direct pointing to aware presence—all delivered with warmth, wit and an unmatched and distinctive eloquence.
In his meetings, Rupert explores the perennial, non-dual understanding that lies at the heart of all the great religious and spiritual traditions, such as Advaita Vedanta, Kashmir Shaivism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Mystical Christianity, Sufism, Zen etc., and which is also the direct, ever-present reality of our own experience. This is a contemporary, experiential approach involving silent meditation, guided meditation and conversation, and requires no affiliation to any particular religious or spiritual tradition. All that is required is an interest in the essential nature of experience, and in the longing for love, peace and happiness around which most of our lives revolve.
After thirty years of intense seeking, Rupert met his primary teacher Francis Lucille, who introduced him to the direct way taught by his own teacher, Jean Klein. Rupert lives in Oxford, England, with his wife Ellen Emmet, a therapist and yoga teacher in the tradition of Kashmir Shaivism. . He is the author of several books, including his latest two, The Nature of Consciousness and Being Aware of Being Aware, and two book/CD box-sets, Transparent Body, Luminous World and The Light of Pure Knowing.
www.non-duality.rupertspira.com
The event will run from 11:00 am to 4:30 pm, with a lunch break in the middle.
There are places close by to go out for lunch, or you may bring your own lunch.
Note: Per venue policy, only vegetarian food is allowed on premises at Chochmat HaLev
Sliding Scale: $50-$100
To recieve notices on upcoming events, sign up for Open Circle's email newsletter at top of this web page.
Please contact LocalEvents@opencirclecenter.org with any further questions
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.
You can find details on our calendar for other event we have with Rupert:
Feb. 24th, 2019, 11:00 am to 4:30 pm in Berkeley, CA
Susanne Marie ~ The Path of Devotion
1:15-2:00 Kirtan music & chanting, with Hannah Caratti & friends
2-4 pm satsang, with refreshments until 5 pm
Without the engagement of our hearts our spiritual and life journey is dry and barren. Devotion is the ability to reach outside of ourselves with trust that something greater exists than what we ourselves know or understand. This something is the mystery of existence itself. It is the divinity inherent within all things. When we lean into trust that there is a greater intelligence guiding our lives, we are able to let go of our limited selves and hand over our need to maintain control and open in surrender.
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.
Susanne Marie's website: www.susannemarie.org
Suggested donation: $10 to $20, no one turned away for lack of funds.
Where: 8476 Sonoma Ave, Sebastopol, CA
Park on Sonoma Ave, walk down short driveway to to house with carport.
Arrive 10-15 minutes early for the best seat.
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 »Aisha Salem ~ Ground of Being
Aisha Salem is a deeply realized woman of Truth. She has been living the unfolding of her Being through 17 years of radical surrender and been teaching for 15 years across the world. Aisha lives in Denmark with a growing community and is the founder of Gateway, which is the name of a container for exploration, investigation and realization of reality in everything from the deepest intimacy to the widest expanse of Truth.
The teaching of Aisha Salem invites to relax into the fire of Truth. It is an invitation into the deepest Intimacy with Reality as the meeting with your Self as every aspect of Reality – from your Empty and pre-existential Core, over your recognition as Love and One Being and all the way into your Humanness and true bowing to the Ground.
It is an invitation to that meeting with yourself, which requires a full face-off with Reality – as the full relaxation into the Ground of Being. The invitation is both Vast, Wide and Deep. The Vast part of it, is for your recognition as Emptiness, which truly brings Freedom and pure Brilliance by the birth of pure and Mind. The Diamond – Clear, Sharp and Bright. The Wider part of the invitation, is for your recognition of yourself as pure and Universal Spirit – able and ready to move across every existential layer as True Action of your Being recognised as Love itself.
The deepest part of the invitation, is what brings all of the pieces together – it is for your enjoyment and fulfilment as a True Human Being and is Your exhale down into the Holding of the body as pure Consciousness. For the Healing and Wholeness of your human state, as you relax into the Core of the body and dissolution of the somebodiness on Ground – being real and present with what is pleasant as well as unpleasant – for a full blossoming to and fulfilment of the sweetness, passion and innocence of your True, Natural and Individual Self.
Every angle of the teaching of Aisha Salem has the single and One-pointed direction of emerging as the True Human – emptied of identification (the twist away from Reality) and Naked to Reality through both mind, heart and belly/ground.
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
Find out more »Adam Chacksfield ~ Falling Open Together
Inviting us to receive the ultimate gift, Adam shares the direct experience of the heart, mind, and life falling open. In this effortless opening, the suffering involved in resisting feelings and believing thoughts spontaneously releases. Our natural abundance of joy, peace, wisdom, and love becomes apparent and available. Heart-centered, gentle, and direct, Adam offers a path straight into the truth of who you are.
"Adam is a great messenger of truth. He has a very unique transmission that does wonderful things for my spirit—spa treatment.” — Pamela Wilson, featured in Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom by Rita Marie Robinson
“Adam delivers the essence of nondual awareness in an uncompromising form. He is whole-heartedly committed to creating new possibilities that are grounded in awareness and practical at the same time. I highly recommend him.” — Peter Fenner, Ph.D., author of Radiant Mind
Adam Chacksfield, Ph.D. is founder of the Center for Nondual Awareness and creator of “Falling Open”, a four-month online course transforming how participants experience their lives.
Suggested donation: $15 to $25
Find out more »