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March 2025

Amoda Maa ~ Discovering Freedom as the Natural State of Open Awareness ~ Daylong (In-Person & Livestream)

Saturday, March 1, 2025 @ 11:00am-5:00pm (Pacific Time)
Private country home & LIVESTREAM Fairfax, CA United States

An opportunity to meet and dialogue with Amoda Maa in an intimate setting. In this sacred meeting space, there is an amplification of the field of presence and the possibility to open to the innermost discovery of what is already here as the natural state of open awareness.

Amoda Maa offers profound pointers to how this freedom reveals itself if we are willing to surrender all resistance to “what is” and how the light of our essential nature shines through all experience when the “veil of self" comes undone. Through dialogue, inquiry, and guided meditation she supports the recognition of that which is beyond the duality of perception, thought and feeling, and takes us to the experience of the ever-present and unchanging reality of awareness. This unbounded awareness is the eternal ground of Being … and this is the source of true peace and freedom.

You will have the opportunity to ask your essential questions and share your realizations.

There are two meetings in the day, each of two hours in duration. Each meeting includes time for guided meditation/silence, discourse, and Q&As.

Amoda Maa offers an invitation to all those who wish to embody the truth of awakened consciousness in the midst of everyday life. Amoda’s teachings are free from any ideology and are not affiliated with any lineage or tradition, and yet the luminous truth is the same nondual understanding at the core of many spiritual traditions.

She offers meetings and retreats in the USA and Europe, is the author of several books, and is founder and spiritual director of the Amoda Maa Foundation.
www.amodamaa.com

Pre-registration is Required for In-Person Attendance to this Daylong, as space is limited.
Registration for In-Person attendance closes at Midnight on Feb. 28 (the night before event)
Sliding Scale: $60 to $120
No one turned away for lack of funds.

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.

 
For inquiries contact LocalEvents@opencirclecenter.org

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.

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.

Find out more »

Amoda Maa ~ An Inquiry into the Living Truth of Freedom (In-Person Event)

Sunday, March 2, 2025 @ 2:00pm~4:00pm
Sebastopol, 8476 Sonoma Ave.
Sebastopol, CA,
+ Google Map

Amoda Maa invites an open-hearted honesty to the exploration of what it means to live as freedom in all circumstances. She offers profound pointers to how this freedom reveals itself if we are willing to surrender all resistance to “what is” and how the light of our essential nature shines through all experience when the “veil of self" comes undone. Through dialogue, inquiry, and guided meditation she supports the recognition of that which is beyond the duality of perception, thought and feeling, and takes us to the experience of the ever-present and unchanging reality of awareness. This unbounded awareness is the eternal ground of Being … and this is the source of true peace and freedom.

This is a two-hour meeting, including guided meditation/silence, discourse and Q&As.

Amoda Maa offers a profound invitation to all those who wish to embody the truth of awakened consciousness in the midst of everyday life. Amoda’s teachings are free from any ideology and are not affiliated with any lineage or tradition, and yet the luminous truth is the same nondual understanding at the core of many spiritual traditions.

She offers meetings and retreats in the USA and Europe, is the author of several books, and is founder and spiritual director of the Amoda Maa Foundation.
www.amodamaa.com

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 may 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.

Find out more »

Stephan Bodian ~ Waking Up Through the Metacrisis: Finding Deeper Ground in Challenging Times

Saturday, March 8, 2025 @ 9:00am-10:30am (Pacific Time)

The Buddha said it succinctly 2500 years ago: human existence is, and always has been, marked by constant change and uncertainty. Yet we find ourselves in uniquely challenging and uncertain times: overpopulation, mass extinctions, extreme weather, environmental tipping points, political upheaval, nuclear proliferation, demographic instability and widespread migrations, and the advent of technologies that challenge and distort our understanding of what’s real and true.

Perhaps our civilization is just on the verge of collapse, like so many before it. But since it covers the globe, this raises the unprecedented prospect that the future of human life on Earth may be threatened as well.

Of course, we can always seek refuge in the simplicity and innate perfection of right now and in the knowing that our true nature--awakened awareness, consciousness, the absolute--is undisturbed and never dies, and life is always unfolding in its own sacred and mysterious way.

But, as one of my Zen teachers used to say, what about the blood? That is, what about all the painful consequences at a very human level of all this difficult and precipitous change? How do we find peace in a deeper ground while acknowledging and welcoming our understandable feelings of fear, outrage, or grief and doing what we can to make a difference if we choose?.

Please join me for one or more satsangs in this monthly series (Jan-May) that include meditations for returning to and resting in our deeper ground while welcoming and working with the feelings that these challenging times evoke. There will also be a brief talk and plenty of time for sharing and discussion. This will not be a space for intellectual analysis or political 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. Any amount welcome.
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

Find out more »

April 2025

Stephan Bodian ~ Waking Up Through the Metacrisis: Finding Deeper Ground in Challenging Times

Saturday, April 5, 2025 @ 9:00am-10:30am (Pacific Time)

The Buddha said it succinctly 2500 years ago: human existence is, and always has been, marked by constant change and uncertainty. Yet we find ourselves in uniquely challenging and uncertain times: overpopulation, mass extinctions, extreme weather, environmental tipping points, political upheaval, nuclear proliferation, demographic instability and widespread migrations, and the advent of technologies that challenge and distort our understanding of what’s real and true.

Perhaps our civilization is just on the verge of collapse, like so many before it. But since it covers the globe, this raises the unprecedented prospect that the future of human life on Earth may be threatened as well.

Of course, we can always seek refuge in the simplicity and innate perfection of right now and in the knowing that our true nature--awakened awareness, consciousness, the absolute--is undisturbed and never dies, and life is always unfolding in its own sacred and mysterious way.

But, as one of my Zen teachers used to say, what about the blood? That is, what about all the painful consequences at a very human level of all this difficult and precipitous change? How do we find peace in a deeper ground while acknowledging and welcoming our understandable feelings of fear, outrage, or grief and doing what we can to make a difference if we choose?.

Please join me for one or more satsangs in this monthly series (Jan-May) that include meditations for returning to and resting in our deeper ground while welcoming and working with the feelings that these challenging times evoke. There will also be a brief talk and plenty of time for sharing and discussion. This will not be a space for intellectual analysis or political 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. Any amount welcome.
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

Find out more »

May 2025

Stephan Bodian ~ Waking Up Through the Metacrisis: Finding Deeper Ground in Challenging Times

Saturday, May 3, 2025 @ 9:00am-10:30am (Pacific Time)

The Buddha said it succinctly 2500 years ago: human existence is, and always has been, marked by constant change and uncertainty. Yet we find ourselves in uniquely challenging and uncertain times: overpopulation, mass extinctions, extreme weather, environmental tipping points, political upheaval, nuclear proliferation, demographic instability and widespread migrations, and the advent of technologies that challenge and distort our understanding of what’s real and true.

Perhaps our civilization is just on the verge of collapse, like so many before it. But since it covers the globe, this raises the unprecedented prospect that the future of human life on Earth may be threatened as well.

Of course, we can always seek refuge in the simplicity and innate perfection of right now and in the knowing that our true nature--awakened awareness, consciousness, the absolute--is undisturbed and never dies, and life is always unfolding in its own sacred and mysterious way.

But, as one of my Zen teachers used to say, what about the blood? That is, what about all the painful consequences at a very human level of all this difficult and precipitous change? How do we find peace in a deeper ground while acknowledging and welcoming our understandable feelings of fear, outrage, or grief and doing what we can to make a difference if we choose?.

Please join me for one or more satsangs in this monthly series (Jan-May) that include meditations for returning to and resting in our deeper ground while welcoming and working with the feelings that these challenging times evoke. There will also be a brief talk and plenty of time for sharing and discussion. This will not be a space for intellectual analysis or political 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. Any amount welcome.
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

Find out more »
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