November 2024
Ishita Sharma ~ Embodiment Lab – Experiments in Embodying Presence
We are not thinking beings who sense; we are sensing beings who think. And re-setting that balance is key to joy, to vibrance, and true liberation!
Join us for Embodiment Lab, an experiential exploration of the body as a doorway to presence and aliveness, returning to the ground of being through our own direct experience.
We will use the fullness of our experience to tune and attune to our bodies, illuminating our deepest healing and freedom. Engaging and transcending our senses, awareness, breath, movement and sound and more, we will use our body's signals to return to sensate presence.
TOGETHER ON OUR CALL WE WILL:
- Explore states of inner coherence in our own experience.
- Engage simple yet profound somatic and energetic practices.
- Experience the healing power of inner and group coherence.
- Have space to share, ask questions and learn from within and together.
- Learn about ways to deepen our access to embodied presence.
All levels of experience are welcom.
BIO
Ishita Sharma serves as a spiritual teacher, healing mirror, embodiment guide, and Core Energetics Practitioner of body-based psychotherapy. Teaching Universal principles of healing and mysticism, she is devoted to supporting healing and awakening in all those committed to living a bright and connected life, sharing their gifts for the good of the Whole.
Growing up in India, asking big questions, Ishita's curiosities about the nature of All Things fueled a series of profound openings. Having her relationship to Self, Life and others re-calibrated, while learning to honor her own body's signals as the ultimate path to God, led her to study various spiritual, neurological, relational, somatic and shamanic modalities, through the Grace of her teachers and the Book of her Life.
Ishita has coached visionaries and leaders from Google, Harvard, MIT, Silicon Valley, Broadway artists, and renowned scientists, coaches, teachers, artists and activists. Clients come to her to grow through their deepest longings and challenges, held and mirrored in their perfect wholeness. She points every one of them back to center.
Ishita’s teachings, like her learnings, support self-study through direct realization. They marry western mind and eastern spirit through the human body and heart to facilitate embodied awakening and authentic connection, the balm for our tumultuous times.
Care for our sacred shared world informs all her endeavors. Ishita now uses her skills to help clients connect with their inner signals so they can find rest in minds, ease in their bodies, joy in their hearts, and embody their True Nature in right relation with Life. She brings 15 years of advanced facilitation, a refined meditation practice, and a fierce devotion to her own healing to serve. She looks forward to meeting and supporting you!
Suggested donation: $15 to $40
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Please register early if you can.
The event will be recorded and emailed to participants within a week.
To check your local time, use a tool such as: Time Zone Converter
Ishita Sharma ~ Embodiment Lab – Experiments in Embodying Presence
We are not thinking beings who sense; we are sensing beings who think. And re-setting that balance is key to joy, to vibrance, and true liberation!
Join us for Embodiment Lab, an experiential exploration of the body as a doorway to presence and aliveness, returning to the ground of being through our own direct experience.
Ishita Sharma serves as a spiritual teacher, healing mirror, embodiment partner, and Core Energetics Practitioner. Teaching Universal principles of healing and mysticism, she is devoted to supporting healing and awakening in all those committed to living a bright and connected life, sharing their gifts for the good of the Whole.
Find out more »Silent Group Meditation (Free, No Guidance)
Join us for a silent group meditation. Do your own practice quietly in the company of others. Let’s be present, together. .... more details
Mon.: 8:00am – 8:30am (PT) and Wed.: 9:00am – 9:30am (PT)
Ongoing drop-in group – attend as often as you like.
Weekly, with rare exceptions. Verify dates on Full Calendar.
Silent Group Meditation (Free, No Guidance)
Mondays: 8:00am – 8:30am Pacific Time
Wednesdays : 9:00am – 9:30am Pacific Time
Ongoing every week, with rare exceptions. Check Full Calendar to verify dates.
Join for a group meditation – just us, without a teacher. Do your own practice silently in the company of others. There will be no talk or guidance – only a bell to start and finish. Let’s be present, together.
After half an hour of silent sitting, there will be space for a brief hello in the end, if we like.
Please be seated by the time meditation starts, so that we can begin together. You are welcome to have your camera and microphone on (unless you have a lot of background noise), so that we can feel as if we were in one space.
The zoom link remains the same for all the sessions, so you are welcome to register only once and save the link for future reference.
To check your local time, use a tool such as: Time Zone Converter
December 2024
Ishtar ~ Flowing Wholeness – Melting into the Heart of Life
When the mind settles into Silence, the heart opens to the great mystery hidden everywhere in plain sight. The formless takes the form of Love, melting the barrier between self and world, reconnecting us to primordial Wholeness. This Wholeness is like a song that is already playing within. Every moment of life- sublime or awful- can be experienced as a flowing wholeness.
We’ll walk into a few powerful ways of melting into wholeness: effortless mantra practice, heart-engaging appreciation, tuning directly into Silence, and opening to the flow of Shakti. These are all different words for the singular practice of letting Presence move through us like a song. This is the way of praying until we become the prayer. Woven into shared practice will be time for questions, answers, and conversation.
Ishtar is a meditation teacher, monk, gardener, and head teacher of the School for Awakened Living. At age 13, he experienced an NDE, and fell into a Samadhi. The desire to return to Samadhi propelled him on a spiritual path. His first teacher was a shaman, who taught primarily through the magic of Presence. A meditation practice known as the Ishayas’ Ascension brought him to an Ashram at age 18 in the early 2000’s. Since then, he has worked as a guide, teaching effortless meditation, and helping people relax into Wholeness.
For those wanting to learn more about Ishtar’s work, his interviews can be found on Buddha at the Gas Pump, Conscious TV, Guru Viking, and Next Level Soul.
His websites are: www.ascension-meditation.com and www.awakenedlightastrology.com
Suggested donation: $15 to $30
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Pre-registration for In-Person attandance closes at Midnight on Nov. 30 (the night before event)
Pre-registration is encouraged, but you can also just show up & pay at door. Come & join us!
OR
If you register for Recording access by event date, link to access it will be sent to you within a week.
If you register for Recording access AFTER event date, please forward your confirmation email to web@opencirclecenter.org to notify us that you registered after event date.
PARKING: There is some street parking in the neighborhood, free and without time limit.
For inquiries contact LocalEvents@opencirclecenter.org
If you have symptoms of a respiratory infection, or have had a recent
Covid exposure or positive test, please stay home out of consideration for others.
Ishtar ~ Flowing Wholeness – Melting into the Heart of Life (In Person: Berkeley, CA & Livestream)
When the mind settles into Silence, the heart opens to the great mystery hidden everywhere in plain sight. The formless takes the form of Love, melting the barrier between self and world, reconnecting us to primordial Wholeness. Every moment of life − sublime or awful − can be experienced as a flowing wholeness.
We’ll walk into a few powerful ways of melting into wholeness: effortless mantra practice, heart-engaging appreciation, tuning directly into Silence, and opening to the flow of Shakti. This is the way of praying until we become the prayer.
Ishtar is a meditation teacher, mystic, monk, gardener, and head teacher of the School for Awakened Living. At age 13, he experienced a near death experience (NDE ), and fell into Samadhi. The desire to return to Samadhi propelled him on a spiritual path. A meditation practice known as the Ishayas’ Ascension brought him to an Ashram at age 18. Since then, he has been teaching effortless meditation, and helping people relax into Wholeness.
Find out more »Silent Group Meditation (Free, No Guidance)
Join us for a silent group meditation. Do your own practice quietly in the company of others. Let’s be present, together. .... more details
Mon.: 8:00am – 8:30am (PT) and Wed.: 9:00am – 9:30am (PT)
Ongoing drop-in group – attend as often as you like.
Weekly, with rare exceptions. Verify dates on Full Calendar.
Silent Group Meditation (Free, No Guidance)
Mondays: 8:00am – 8:30am Pacific Time
Wednesdays : 9:00am – 9:30am Pacific Time
Ongoing every week, with rare exceptions. Check Full Calendar to verify dates.
Join for a group meditation – just us, without a teacher. Do your own practice silently in the company of others. There will be no talk or guidance – only a bell to start and finish. Let’s be present, together.
After half an hour of silent sitting, there will be space for a brief hello in the end, if we like.
Please be seated by the time meditation starts, so that we can begin together. You are welcome to have your camera and microphone on (unless you have a lot of background noise), so that we can feel as if we were in one space.
The zoom link remains the same for all the sessions, so you are welcome to register only once and save the link for future reference.
To check your local time, use a tool such as: Time Zone Converter
John Prendergast ~ Being No One; Being Your Self ~ Bay Area Daylong Retreat
The freer we are of our self-image and story and all of the emotional reactions and somatic contractions that go with this limited identity, the freer we are to simply be ourself – a living mystery not separate from the whole of life. Self-inquiry facilitates an unveiling, unlearning, spontaneous letting go, and discovery of our true nature. This meeting will include silent and guided meditations, a talk, dyadic self-inquiry, and intimate, powerful, experiential conversations.
John Prendergast, Ph.D is a spiritual teacher, retired psychotherapist, and retired Adjunct Professor of Psychology at CIIS, well known for his pioneering work in integrating non-dual wisdom and psychotherapy. He studied with the European sage Jean Klein for many years, as well as with Adyashanti, who gave him dharma transmission in 2023. He is the author of The Deep Heart (2019), In Touch (2015), and a new book, Your Deepest Ground: A Guide to Embodied Spirituality (March, 2025) from Sounds True.
www.listeningfromsilence.com
YouTube channel
The meeting will be from 10:00am to Noon and 2:00pm to 4:30pm, with a break for lunch.
Please bring your own lunch, or feel free to go into town to one of the restaurants or to Good Earth Natural Foods.
Pre-registration required, as space is limited.
Registration closes at 5 pm on Dec. 6th
Suggested donation: $75
(Any amount acceptable. No one turned away for lack of funds.)
PRE-REGISTER HERE & PAY AT DOOR WHEN YOU ARRIVE.
(Cash or Check only)
This event is Co-sponsored by Open Circle & the Schwartz Family Trust.
All proceeds, above covering event costs, will go to the
Schwartz Family Trust to support Rob Schwartz’s vision of
his property being available for Open Circle retreats and events.
Event donations will go directly to the Schwartz Family Trust, rather than to Open Circle.
If you want to contribute more for this project, you can do so at the event,
or contact us for more information (contributuons, loan, volunteer).
For inquiries contact LocalEvents@opencirclecenter.org
Location:
The meeting will be held at a private home in the Fairfax hills, with views of Mount Tam and hiking trails.
Address and directions will be provided upon registration.
If you have symptoms of a respiritory infection, or have had a recent
Covid exposure or positive test, please stay home out of consideration for others.
John Prendergast ~ Being No One; Being Your Self (Bay Area Daylong Retreat)
The freer we are of our self-image and story, and all of the emotional reactions and somatic contractions that go with this limited identity, the freer we are to simply be ourself − a living mystery not separate from the whole of life. Self-inquiry facilitates an unveiling, unlearning, spontaneous letting go, and discovery of our true nature. This meeting will include silent and guided meditations, a talk, dyadic self-inquiry, and intimate, powerful, experiential conversations.
John Prendergast is a spiritual teacher, retired psychotherapist, and retired Adjunct Professor of Psychology at CIIS, well known for his pioneering work in integrating non-dual wisdom and psychotherapy. He studied with the European sage Jean Klein for many years, as well as with Adyashanti, who gave him dharma transmission in 2023.
Find out more »