October 2024
Stephan Bodian ~ Welcoming What Is
By its very nature, consciousness delights in its expressions in form, and awareness welcomes whatever arises. When we wake up to who we really are, we discover the innate perfection of this moment right now. Nothing is inherently missing or problematic in the sacred mystery of Being. But the ego has its own ideas about how things should be and is constantly resisting what is and trying to impose its agenda on life.
In this satsang, we’ll sit together in the silent mystery of Being and explore how to relate with our resistance to what is, using the Rumi poem The Guest House as our guide. Includes guided meditation, pointers, and plenty of time for Q&A and discussion.
Stephan Bodian is a teacher in the nondual wisdom tradition of Zen, Dzogchen, and Advaita Vedanta. He's been offering the School for Awakening, an annual multi-month intensive program in spiritual unfolding and awakened living, since 2007. As a licensed psychotherapist, he brings a deep understanding of the impact of trauma and early conditioning on the process of spiritual realization and offers individual counseling and mentoring in psychospiritual integration. Stephan studied for many years with Advaita master Jean Klein and received Dharma transmission from Adyashanti in 2001. His books include Wake Up Now and Beyond Mindfulness. For more information, visit : www.stephanbodian.org
Suggested donation: $15 to $40
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Stephan Bodian has offered that all donations for this event will go
to support Open Circle in continuing this work of offering teachings.
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
Stephan Bodian ~ Welcoming What Is
When we wake up to who we really are, we discover the innate perfection of this moment right now. Nothing is inherently missing or problematic in the sacred mystery of Being. But the ego has its own ideas about how things should be and is constantly resisting what is and trying to impose its agenda on life.
In this satsang, we’ll sit together in the silent mystery of Being and explore how to relate with our resistance to what is, using the Rumi poem The Guest House as our guide.
Stephan Bodian is a teacher in the non-dual wisdom tradition. As a licensed psychotherapist, he brings a deep understanding of the impact of trauma and early conditioning on the process of spiritual realization. Stephan studied for many years with Advaita master Jean Klein and received Dharma transmission from Adyashanti in 2001.
Find out more »John Prendergast, Lisa Ferguson & Jonathan Gustin ~ Engaged Nonduality
Engaged Nonduality
Non-dual Responsibility -
Exploring Non-duality & the Metacrisis
with John Prendergast, Lisa Ferguson
and Jonathan Gustin ~ Oct. 27th
Recording will be emailed to participants within a week.
You’re welcome to join even if you can’t attend the live session.
For a short 3 minute video preview, watch "Non-dual Responsibility" and read the corresponding paper here.
Many spiritual journeys adjourn with a peaceful detachment. A different finale is possible—a love of the unmanifest infinite with a passionate engagement with material existence.
In this gathering we will explore moksha-dharma (liberation and responsibility). A splitting between Moksha (Liberation/Enlightenment) and Dharma (purpose/duty) is not only false...it may be inadvertently contributing to metacrisis. Non-duality can (and should) evolve, to include dharmic responsibility and 'engaged liberation' where "love leaves nothing out."
We will explore: two varieties of Non-duality and the Metacrisis, Non-dual dharma, Non-Dual Kinship and how this relates to soul-level purpose.
Jonathan Gustin, M.A, MFT, Jonathan is the founder of Purpose Guides Institute. He helps people to find and embody their life’s purpose, and offers training for those who want to become Purpose Guides themselves. He is also a meditation teacher, facilitating meditation gatherings remotely as well as in-person in his hometown of Victoria, BC, Canada.
Engaged Nonduality Series
This series weaves nondual awakening and an embodied response to our world in crisis. We are facing intersecting crises of climate breakdown, the potential of ecological and systems collapse, severe injustice and inequality, rising authoritarianism, unaligned tech and AI, and more. The path of nonduality has much to offer in these times, including a deep recognition of our wholeness and shared Being, and opening to the wellspring of our wise response.
While awakening is often engaged in a more personal context, we are expanding the context to include structural harm and systemic crisis, where the rubber hits the road in our world today. This series invites guest presenters to explore how the wisdom of these nondual teachings may be deeply embodied through a response to our world in crisis. These sessions may include guided meditations, group and dyadic inquiry and group interaction.
Register for one or more dates, or the full series together.
October 13th: John Prendergast and Lisa Ferguson ~
Awakening and Action: Toward an Engaged Nondual Approach
The following events in the series will be hosted by John Prendergast and Lisa Ferguson.
October 20th: Jeremy Lent ~ From Awakened Heart to a Flourishing Earth
October 27th: Jonathan Gustin ~ Non-dual Responsibility - Exploring Non-duality & the Metacrisis
November 2nd: Caverly Morgan ~ Acting on Behalf of The Heart of Who We Are
John J. Prendergast, Ph.D. is the author of The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence (2019 ) and In Touch: How to Tune In to the Inner Guidance of Your Body and Trust Yourself (2015) and is working on a new book entitled Your Deepest Ground: A Guide to Embodied Spirituality (March 2025). He is a retired Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies as well as a retired psychotherapist. He studied with the European sage Jean Klein for many years as well as with Adyashanti who gave dharma transmission to John in August, 2023. John and his wife Christiane offer residential retreats in the United States and Europe.
www.listeningfromsilence.com
YouTube channel
Lisa Ferguson, Ph.D. is the founder of Climate Compassion, and has focused on supporting planetary wellbeing as a healing arts practitioner, climate justice activist, organizer and contemplative. She offers psychospiritual support to activists through one-one sessions and small groups, weaving together a focus on awakening, healing and wise action.
Suggested Donation: $15 to $40
(any amount acceptable, no one turned away for lack of funds)
Please register early if you can.
Full Series: Sundays October 13, 20, 27, and Saturday Nov 2
Suggested Donation: $60 to $120
(no one turned away for lack of funds)
The event leaders are donating their entire share of the event donations, after expenses, to support Rob Schwartz’s vision of maintaining his property to be available as a spiritual retreat space, where Open Circle may hold some of its events.
The events will be recorded and emailed to participants within a week.
To check your local time, use a tool such as: Time Zone Converter
John Prendergast, Lisa Ferguson & Jonathan Gustin ~ Engaged Nonduality
Many spiritual journeys adjourn with a peaceful detachment. A different finale is possible—a love of the unmanifest infinite with a passionate engagement with material existence.
In this gathering we will explore moksha-dharma (liberation and responsibility). A splitting between Moksha (Liberation/Enlightenment) and Dharma (purpose/duty) is not only false...it may be inadvertently contributing to the metacrisis. Non-duality can (and should) evolve, to include dharmic responsibility and 'engaged liberation' where "love leaves nothing out."
Jonathan Gustin is the founder of Purpose Guides Institute and a meditation teacher. He helps people to find and embody their life’s purpose, and offers training for those who want to become Purpose Guides themselves.
John J. Prendergast is a retired psychotherapist and Adjunct Professor of Psychology. He studied with the European sage Jean Klein for many years as well as with Adyashanti.
Lisa Ferguson is the founder of Climate Compassion, and has focused on supporting planetary wellbeing as a healing arts practitioner, climate justice activist, organizer and contemplative.
Find out more »Richard Miller ~ This Which We are Above All Else (In-Person Event)
This Which We are Above All Else
The belief that we are a separate “me-I-self” who is in control is simply that, an illusory captivating narrative where we're the main character in a movie constructed by our thoughts, feelings, actions, and experiences. A first step toward awakening entails recognizing that the separate self has never existed and that its dissolutions isn't a death or a loss. It's a freeing of an illusion that we had to constantly defend and maintain. An important step in releasing this illusion entails realigning with and embodying our intrinsic Essential Essence.
Join Richard as he introduces you to five simple inquiries designed to offer you a glimpse of your Essential Essence, and practical approaches for helping your mind break free of its preoccupation with the illusion of separation and control.
Richard C. Miller, PhD After decades of searching Richard met his spiritual mentor, Jean Klein in 1983, who guided him through the non-path, non-method, and nondual realization of Essential Nature. Founder of iRest Institute, and a co-founder of the International Association of Yoga Therapists and the Institute for Spirituality and Psychology, Richard teaches nondual inquiry and the realization of Essential Nature internationally, as well as serves as a consultant researching and teaching the meditation protocol he’s developed, Integrative Restoration ~ iRest, a modern-day secular adaptation of an ancient nondual practice of self-inquiry and awakening.
Richard's website: shop.irest.org
Satsang: 2-4 pm
Refreshments: until 5
Suggested Donation: $10- $20, no one turned away.
No pre-registration. Pay at door when you arrive.
Location: 8476 Sonoma Ave, Sebastopol, CA. Park on Sonoma Ave.
Note: The address sign says 8474/8476. Park on the street, and walk down the short driveway to the house with the carport.
Please dress mindfully, doors & windows will be open!
If you have covid-like symptoms, or have had a recent Covid exposure or positive test, please stay home out of consideration for others.
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
Grace & Gratitude: an Evening of Sacred Chant ~ Adam Bauer & Christine Mason
In strange and turbulent times, we remember to breathe and seek connection and healing in the sacred vessel of community. Join Christine and Adam in this heartfelt celebration of the natural devotional practice of gathering and singing mantra together.
Open to all, no experience necessary.
Adam
A kirtan and satsang with sacred chant artist Adam Bauer is a deep immersion in bhakti—the yoga of devotion, a blissful union of hearts and voices carried on a current of music and love. With his warm baritone voice and sonorous harmonium accompaniment, Adam leads his chanting sessions with a gentle, grounded energy, guiding participants to profound levels of conscious awareness.
Adam Bauer travels the globe sharing the heart-expanding beauty of kirtan, healing touch, the I Ching, and transformational conversation. Adam spent years playing bass with kirtan pioneer Krishna Das, and later with Bhakti Yoga legend Shyamdas, both of whom nourished his love of sacred sound and the yoga of devotion. He has released three critically-acclaimed records.
iamadambauer.com
Christine
Christine is a 20+ year yogi and practitioner of bhakti tantra, among other things which all point in the direction of love and liberation. She’s a mother, an author, the host of the rose woman podcast, the founder of Rosebud Woman, Radiant Farms and Sundari Gardens, and her essays can be found at
christinemariemason.com
@christinemariemason on IG
Suggested donation: $15 to $30
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Pre-registration for In-Person attandance closes at 12 noon on Oct. 30
Pre-registration is encouraged, but you can also just show up & pay at door. Come & join us!
OR
Find out more »Grace & Gratitude: An Evening of Sacred Chant ~ Adam Bauer & Christine Mason (In-Person and Livestream)
In strange and turbulent times, we remember to breathe and seek connection and healing in the sacred vessel of community. Join Christine and Adam in this heartfelt celebration of the natural devotional practice of gathering and singing mantra together.
A kirtan and satsang with sacred chant artist Adam Bauer is a deep immersion in bhakti—the yoga of devotion, a blissful union of hearts and voices carried on a current of music and love. Adam spent years playing bass with kirtan pioneer Krishna Das, and later with Bhakti Yoga legend Shyamdas, both of whom nourished his love of sacred sound and the yoga of devotion. He has released three critically-acclaimed records.
Christine is a 20+ year yogi and practitioner of bhakti tantra, an author, the founder of Rosebud Woman, Radiant Farms and Sundari Gardens.
Find out more »November 2024
John Prendergast, Lisa Ferguson & Caverly Morgan ~ Engaged Nonduality
Engaged Nonduality
Acting on Behalf of The Heart of Who We Are
with John Prendergast, Lisa Ferguson
and Caverly Morgan ~ Nov. 2nd
Recording will be emailed to participants within a week.
You’re welcome to join even if you can’t attend the live session.
This gathering is about the act of being. It’s about knowing a happiness you can’t explain because you have no reason to point to. The joy of pure being. Together we’ll explore knowing who you are, resting in presence, and what it means to act in the world on behalf of this deep knowing.
We’ll give our attention to the pleasure of being aware of being aware, and seeing what gets in the way of this—personally and collectively—while exploring how to let it go, to undo, to realize freedom together.
This gathering will consist of a guided meditation, a teaching, and a group discussion. It is based on Caverly’s book: The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together.
Caverly Morgan is a spiritual teacher, non-profit founder, speaker and writer who blends the original spirit of Zen with a modern nondual approach. She is the author of The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together as well as A Kids Book About Mindfulness. Caverly is the founder of Peace in Schools, a nonprofit that created the nation’s first for-credit mindfulness class in public high schools. Her practice began in 1995 and has included eight years of training in a silent Zen monastery. She has been teaching contemplative practice since 2001. Caverly leads meditation retreats, workshops and online classes internationally. Learn more at caverlymorgan.org.
Engaged Nonduality Series
This series weaves nondual awakening and an embodied response to our world in crisis. We are facing intersecting crises of climate breakdown, the potential of ecological and systems collapse, severe injustice and inequality, rising authoritarianism, unaligned tech and AI, and more. The path of nonduality has much to offer in these times, including a deep recognition of our wholeness and shared Being, and opening to the wellspring of our wise response.
While awakening is often engaged in a more personal context, we are expanding the context to include structural harm and systemic crisis, where the rubber hits the road in our world today. This series invites guest presenters to explore how the wisdom of these nondual teachings may be deeply embodied through a response to our world in crisis. These sessions may include guided meditations, group and dyadic inquiry and group interaction.
Register for one or more dates, or the full series together.
October 13th: John Prendergast and Lisa Ferguson ~
Awakening and Action: Toward an Engaged Nondual Approach
The following events in the series will be hosted by John Prendergast and Lisa Ferguson.
October 20th: Jeremy Lent ~ From Awakened Heart to a Flourishing Earth
October 27th: Jonathan Gustin ~ Non-dual Responsibility - Exploring Non-duality & the Metacrisis
November 2nd: Caverly Morgan ~ Acting on Behalf of The Heart of Who We Are
John J. Prendergast, Ph.D. is the author of The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence (2019 ) and In Touch: How to Tune In to the Inner Guidance of Your Body and Trust Yourself (2015) and is working on a new book entitled Your Deepest Ground: A Guide to Embodied Spirituality (March 2025). He is a retired Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies as well as a retired psychotherapist. He studied with the European sage Jean Klein for many years as well as with Adyashanti who gave dharma transmission to John in August, 2023. John and his wife Christiane offer residential retreats in the United States and Europe.
www.listeningfromsilence.com
YouTube channel
Lisa Ferguson, Ph.D. is the founder of Climate Compassion, and has focused on supporting planetary wellbeing as a healing arts practitioner, climate justice activist, organizer and contemplative. She offers psychospiritual support to activists through one-one sessions and small groups, weaving together a focus on awakening, healing and wise action.
Suggested Donation: $15 to $40
(any amount acceptable, no one turned away for lack of funds)
Please register early if you can.
Full Series: Sundays October 13, 20, 27, and Saturday Nov 2
Suggested Donation: $60 to $120
(no one turned away for lack of funds)
The event leaders are donating their entire share of the event donations, after expenses, to support Rob Schwartz’s vision of maintaining his property to be available as a spiritual retreat space, where Open Circle may hold some of its events.
The events will be recorded and emailed to participants within a week.
To check your local time, use a tool such as: Time Zone Converter