October 2024
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
John Prendergast, Lisa Ferguson & Caverly Morgan ~ Engaged Nonduality
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, what it means to act in the world on behalf of this deep knowing.
This gathering will consist of a guided meditation, a teaching, and a group discussion, based on Caverly’s book, The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together.
Caverly Morgan is a spiritual teacher, speaker and writer who blends the original spirit of Zen with a modern non-dual approach. She is the founder of Peace in Schools, a nonprofit that created the nation’s first for-credit mindfulness class in public high schools.
John J. Prendergast is a retired psychotherapist and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies. 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 »Lisa Schumacher ~ Choose Love: Self-Inquiry Meeting
NOTE: As of SUNDAY morning 2 AM on NOV. 3rd, clocks in most of the USA are turned back 1 hour. Daylight Savings Time ends.
Times shown here will be Pacific Standard Time starting early morning Sunday Nov. 3, 2024
~~
A meeting with Lisa is an opportunity to step away from your day to day life and devote time for self-inquiry into the heart of Love. There will be a few moments of silence to start the meeting and then Lisa will speak and invite the community to share reports about their realizations and ask questions.
About Lisa Schumacher
Lisa grew up in Colusa, CA, and attended college at San Luis Obispo in the 1980’s. After she moved to Southern Oregon in the early 90s, a friend invited her to a video satsang with Gangaji. Upon hearing Gangaji say “Be your Natural Self”, Lisa’s heart caught on fire and she fell into a deep bow of surrender. That meeting revealed to her the absolute simplicity of the natural, living truth of Love, inseparable from who one is. Lisa moved to Bolinas in 1999 to be closer to Gangaji and the vibrant community around her.
In 2006, Lisa was asked by Gangaji to meet with people and share her discovery of the Love that is alive in the core of one’s being . She holds meetings in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and North America. She’s also a long-time student of Eli Jaxon-Bear, Gangaji’s husband, and a founding teacher of the “Leela School of Awakening”. Lisa is the author of “The Stone I Love”, a book of poetry inspired by her meeting with Gangaji, available on her website.
In Lisa’s meetings, she invites you to rest in stillness. Your discoveries and questions about awakening, deepening, and the unfolding truth are welcome. The teaching is in the tradition of Gangaji, who is a student of Papaji, who had his awakening at the feet of Ramana Maharshi.
Lisa's website: satsangwithlisa.org
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
Lisa Schumacher ~ Choose Love
NOTE: As of SUNDAY morning 2 AM on NOV. 3rd, Daylight Savings Time ends, and clocks in most of the USA are turned back 1 hour.
A meeting with Lisa is an opportunity to step away from your day to day life and devote time for self-inquiry into the heart of Love. There will be a few moments of silence to start the meeting and then Lisa will speak and invite the community to share reports about their realizations and ask questions.
Upon hearing Gangaji in the early 90s say “Be your Natural Self”, Lisa’s heart caught on fire and she fell into a deep bow of surrender. That meeting revealed to her the absolute simplicity of the natural, living truth of Love, inseparable from who one is. In 2006, Lisa was asked by Gangaji to meet with people and share her discovery of the Love that is alive in the core of one’s being.
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
Adam Chacksfield ~ Awareness, Love, Desire ~ Bay Area Daylong Retreat
We get to put down the burden of trying to be someone, or pushing ourselves along to some imagined destination. We’re already whole, and every part of us deserves love. We’re invited to allow the juicy flow of our authentic desire to enrich, inspire, and create our life. This immersion in the potent field of loving awareness will include explorations that organically deepen our connection to the vitality and energy of our desire.
Adam Chacksfield is devoted to empowering people to thrive inside awareness, love, and desire rather suffering inside shame and fear. He leads retreats and workshops in North America and Europe, and coaches individuals and couples. Adam is the creator of several courses including Falling Open, Erotic Embodiment & Intimacy, and Transforming Conflict into Deeper Intimacy. He started his spiritual teaching and coaching in 2010 with the support and encouragement of nondual teacher, Peter Fenner. Adam also trained with the Somatica Institute, and now offers experiential erotic embodiment and intimacy coaching using the Somatica Method.
More about Adam: www.adamchacksfield.com
The meeting will be from 10:30am to 4:30pm, with a break for lunch.
Bring your own lunch, or drive 5 minutes into town where there are restaurants, as well as the Good Earth Natural Foods Store that has a full hot and salad bar, plus deli.
Pre-registration required, as space is limited.
Registration closes at 5 pm on Nov. 8th
Sliding Scale: $60 to $120
No one turned away for lack of funds.
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 viral infection, or have had a recent
Covid exposure or positive test, please stay home out of consideration for others.