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Chochmat HaLev

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2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

March 2019

Rupert Spira ~ The Essence of Non-Duality

Sunday, March 17, 2019 @ 11:00am-4:30pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
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“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

Find out more »

Ajaya Sommers ~ Awaken to the Intimate Embrace of the Heart

Monday, March 18, 2019 @ 7:00pm-9:00pm ~ Pre-registration Encouraged
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

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.”

www.ajayasommers.com

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 »

April 2019

Brian and Alexandra Theard ~ Listening to Love

Friday, April 19, 2019 @ 7:00pm-8:45pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

Everyone wants to be heard, but can you really listen? True listening is a gift greatly undervalued. It far transcends how the world typically regards it. In a dysfunctional relationship, listening is severely compromised because we hear the past and relate from the past. We aren’t really listening. The errors of one seem to justify the reactions of the other. And conflict remains unresolved, being unconsciously maintained.

But in a holy relationship, the experience of listening is a collaboration of hearts, to see together beyond all patterns of mind, to the divine spark which shines within us now. Joining in truth removes the frame of reference by which to judge one another, and replaces it with the power of presence beyond the limited capacity of your personal self. In listening without a past, true empathy is refreshed, calling forth the strength which is always shared, always here, and always healing.

In this talk we’ll explore the qualities of a true listener and the dimensions of consciousness that open the heart of listening. We’ll hone the ability to listen, not only without judgement, but in the peace of shared presence.

Brian and Alexandra draw on A Course in Miracles and the tradition of Ramana Maharshi in their exploration of relationships as a path of wakening. What they have discovered is that the structure of any relationship can be a vehicle to go beyond that structure itself. Relationship, if given to truth, is a path of awakening to what lies beyond all concepts and definitions.

www.fieldofchange.com

Suggested donation: $10 to $20

Find out more »

May 2019

Mary Reed ~ Wise Power: BEing the Mechanism of Creation

Saturday, May 18, 2019 @ 11:00 am - 5:00 pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

After calling the Himalayas her home for seven years, today “accidental mystic” Mary Reed travels the world startling audiences awake with the Divine love conveyed through her profound mystical experiences.

In the summer of 2000, she was a busy executive at an NGO in Washington, DC, directing global healthcare programs, when, out of the blue, she started having powerful mystical visions that totally upended her life. After years of self-examination, many of them spent living in a Tibetan Buddhist nunnery in northern India, she returned to the west to inspire joyful collective resurrection with her unique view of our awakening world.

Her work is rooted in eighteen years of direct engagement with Divine Masters, whom she does not channel but temporarily becomes, experiencing from within their unique forms — an ability she neither sought nor easily accepted. Mary guides others using only the wisdom gleaned directly from Divine sources, without doctrinal bias or filters. Her unfathomable experiences are both an invitation and road map to visceral remembrance of the healing wisdom that is already within us.

Mary is the author of the award-winning book, Unwitting Mystic and the subject of a feature film currently in development called Love, Mary Reed.

“As humanity maneuvers through this magnificent time of “fracturing” in our collective awareness, most of us have become disoriented as the old foundations of normalcy have broken apart. Depending on the day and where our awareness is focused, we’re either elated or alarmed, empowered or enraged, equanimous or trying to remember how to get there. Even the most awakened leaders, teachers, healers, students and everyday folks must navigate the ever-shifting ground upon which we now stand, at times uncomfortably, together.

“From within — and as — Unitive Consciousness, there are powerful perspectives and tools that can help us use what’s happening to create what comes next (or allow to be created). It brings me great joy to share these perspectives and tools with the Open Circle community.”

www.unwittingmystic.com

Suggested donation: $45-100

No one turned away for lack of funds

Find out more »

June 2019

Ajaya Sommers ~ Awaken to the Intimate Embrace of the Heart

Tuesday, June 18, 2019 @ 7:00pm-9:00pm ~ Pre-registration Encouraged
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

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.”

www.ajayasommers.com

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 »

John Astin ~ This Extraordinary Moment: Moving Beyond the Mind to Discover the Miracle of What Is

Sunday, June 23, 2019 @ 7:00pm-9:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

Through a series of guided inquiries, meditations, music and dialogue, John Astin invites you into a deep exploration of a very simple yet profound question: “What is experience actually made of?” Together, we will peer around the edges of what we think experiences are, and discover the myriad ways that reality transcends our ideas about what it is and who we are.

This experiential investigation reveals that it is not merely those times of great inspiration, beauty or intimacy that lie beyond the reach of our concepts and descriptions, but every experience we have ever encountered. And this discovery—that experiences are ultimately indefinable—turns out to hold the key to our greatest freedom, for every moment—even the ones we conventionally think of as problems—is actually an astounding display of the most miraculous, inconceivable energy, intelligence, lusciousness and depth.

Adyashanti writes in the Foreword to John’s most recent book, This Extraordinary Moment:

“John Astin’s book is an invitation into a profound experience of being that is, quite literally, unimaginable. It offers a way of perceiving that is direct, immediate, and rich with wonder. What John has written here is really a guidebook for breaking the spell of conditioned thinking, and discovering what lies on the other side of our imagination—reality beyond words, and an experience of being that is beyond the known. Read this book, but even more, contemplate it. And perhaps it will evoke within you something greater than can be imagined.”

John Astin is a singer, songwriter and recording artist having produced seven CDs of original spiritual/contemplative music. He is also the author of four books, exploring the nature of human experience—Too Intimate for Words, (2005) This Is Always Enough, (2008) Searching for Rain in a Monsoon, (2012) and This Extraordinary Moment (2018).

Along with his teaching, writing and music, John holds a PhD in health psychology and is an internationally acclaimed scholar in the field of mind-body medicine, his research focusing on the applications of meditative/contemplative practices in psychology and health care. He is presently an adjunct professor of clinical/counseling psychology at Santa Clara and Notre Dame de Namur Universities.

www.johnastin.com

Suggested Donation: $15-25

No one turned away for lack of funds

Find out more »

July 2019

Ajaya Sommers ~ Awaken to the Intimate Embrace of the Heart

Sunday, July 7, 2019 @ 7:00pm-9:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

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.” 

www.ajayasommers.com

Please arrive at least a few minutes early
Suggested Donation: $15-$25 per person

Find out more »

Gail Brenner ~ Suffering is Optional

Sunday, July 21, 2019 @ 7:00pm-9:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

You’ve had a taste of your true nature as nondual awareness, yet you still find yourself recycling conditioned thought patterns, and getting stuck in the emotions that underlie them. You get triggered and feel scared, sad, angry, or resentful. You’re sometimes overcome by behaviors that seem beyond your control.

This evening will be a safe and supportive intimate group gathering where we untangle the ways we feel separate and discover over and over the infinite peace of our true nature. Gail Brenner, Ph.D. is an eternal student of happiness who blends her experience as a psychologist with a loving presence that invites people into harmony with all of life. She is gifted at meeting our humanness with nondual understanding in ways that are practical and loving. Gail has worked with clients and groups for over 20 years, bringing laser-like clarity to the confusion of common problems, such as reactive emotions, compulsive behaviors, feelings of personal inadequacy, and relationship struggles. She is the author of three books, including The End of Self-Help and her latest, Suffering is Optional.

 “When you know you are aware presence—the simplicity of being aware, rather than the complexity and confusion of what you're aware of—problems lose their impact. You're happy and at peace, taking nothing personally. Here, nothing needs to be changed or improved. Without doing anything, you are alert, awake, completely at peace, and problem-free.”

“The invitation is to turn in toward yourself, to remember who you are, to reveal what has always been true, which is that you are not a limited, separate self. You are awareness—undivided, excluding nothing, the source of life that animates everything. This is what you discover when the fascination with conditioned habits wanes, and you consciously know reality as it already is. This shift isn't about improving yourself or fixing what you think is broken about you. Instead, you realize that there's no entity that is you who needs to be improved and that you have never not been whole and fully alive.”

“Here's some very good news: freedom from unhappiness is possible, and nothing needs to change. You don't need to change your thoughts, process your feelings, learn to relax, or become a better person. The invitation is simply to see things clearly. See clearly through to the essence of what makes you unhappy, and you'll realize that, at the core of your being, there's no conflict, resistance, or separation. You now know peace deeper than you could ever imagine. Shine a laser on every experience that makes you suffer, and you'll always find your true nature, pure being that just is."
gailbrenner.com

Please arrive at least a few minutes early
Suggested Donation: $15-$25 per person

Find out more »

Gail Brenner ~ Suffering is Optional

Sunday, July 21, 2019 @ 7:00pm-9:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

You’ve had a taste of your true nature as nondual awareness, yet you still find yourself recycling conditioned thought patterns, and getting stuck in the emotions that underlie them. You get triggered and feel scared, sad, angry, or resentful. You’re sometimes overcome by behaviors that seem beyond your control.

This evening will be a safe and supportive intimate group gathering where we untangle the ways we feel separate and discover over and over the infinite peace of our true nature. Gail Brenner, Ph.D. is an eternal student of happiness who blends her experience as a psychologist with a loving presence that invites people into harmony with all of life. She is gifted at meeting our humanness with nondual understanding in ways that are practical and loving. Gail has worked with clients and groups for over 20 years, bringing laser-like clarity to the confusion of common problems, such as reactive emotions, compulsive behaviors, feelings of personal inadequacy, and relationship struggles. She is the author of three books, including The End of Self-Help and her latest, Suffering is Optional.

Find out more »

August 2019

Brian and Alexandra Theard ~ The Summer of Healed Relationships

Sunday, August 18, 2019 @ 7:00pm-8:45pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

To have a quiet mind, an open heart, and not take anything personally is the basis of a healed and holy relationship. But what happens when we hit a wall, and a painful disturbance seems to be insurmountable? The limits of our human heart can seem to be stretched beyond what we believe ourselves to be capable of feeling. And yet we are each carried beyond our personal limits as we bring our dark thoughts and negative feelings to Light, placing everything on the altar of Truth. No difficulty can withstand the quiet light of loving awareness.

Within the core of every difficult situation and emotion, is an intrinsic miracle moment. In choosing the growth opportunity within that situation, instead of defending a point of view, we are miraculously assisted by all the love of the universe. If we choose to accept it, moments of disharmony offer us a priceless gift, which carry us far beyond our perceived disturbances, to inner peace. Our persistent willingness catapults our relationships into a brighter and lighter timeline, removing doubts and insecurities, replacing them with the certainty of a loving purpose more valuable than anything in the world.

In our upcoming events at Open Circle, we’ll explore the qualities of honesty and higher willingness, in a practical and easy way. We’ll open up to the loving dimensions of consciousness that foster true safety, vulnerability, and a quiet tenderness of heart. You needn’t be in crisis to reap the essential benefits offered here. Come as you are.

Brian and Alexandra intuitively draw from direct experience, and 27yrs of partnership in the context of awakening. They share teachings from A Course in Miracles and Sri Ramana Maharshi in their exploration of loving relationships. What they've discovered, is any relationship given to truth, is a path of awakening to what lies beyond all concepts and definitions. And all relationships offer the chance to walk our talk with great integrity.

www.fieldofchange.com

Suggested donation: $10 to $20

Find out more »

September 2019

Atma Nambi ~ Live Life

Friday, September 6, 2019 @ Sept. 6th Evening Satsang & Sept. 7th Daylong
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

Please join us for these special events with South Indian spiritual teacher, Atma Nambi.

Atma Nambi is a spiritual teacher from Tamil Nadu, south India. His spiritual journey started at age 10, and later, while following a career in the business world, he underwent years of spiritual practice with several prominent teachers, including the famous Yogi Ramsurat Kumar and Mohan Bharathi. His various practices included bhakti, karma yoga, mantra, and kundalini, culminating in his Self-Realization in 1994.

Since then, he has been sharing what he lives – total Presence 24 hours a day – with an approach that is casual, immediately applicable, and down-to-earth. He inspires people to live a conscious life in line with each one’s individual potential, which brings pure joy and contentment, health and prosperity in all relations, as well as materially. Atma Nambi shares easy, practical and powerful techniques and approaches that can be applied in everyday life for people of all ages in all levels of society. These will enable you to live a life of celebration, while cultivating the recognition of the true Self.

Both the Friday evening and Saturday programs will culminate with optional chakra initiations by Atma Nambi. The initiations are individual but are done in a group context. The whole group enhances the energy in the initiated. During this process, practical tips will be given on how to keep the chakras activated and maintained, as well as keeping in good physical health.

Note that there is an additional sliding-scale charge for these initiations.

Friday, September 6th
An Evening of Wellbeing: 7 – 9:00 pm
Experience the Truth, discuss life-related situations, and enjoy being in inner silence. This is an instant experience of wellbeing and peace.

Suggested donation: $15-25

No one turned away for lack of funds.

Anahata Heart Chakra Initiation: 9 – 9:30 pm
The activation of the heart energy center, the fourth chakra, is a way to open up the heart and to heal heart-related issues; it enables better relationships, abundance of love and compassion, inner peace, and empowers the immune system.

Sliding Scale: $35-50
Please bring a candle to hold.

Saturday: September 7th

Live Life Workshop: 10 – 5:00 pm (Lunch 1 – 2:30 pm)
The Live Life Workshop addresses how to create an atmosphere of ever-rising consciousness, energy and creativity. Atma Nambi will give techniques for raising the internal and external awareness and atmosphere. There will be moment-to-moment techniques, easy to implement in everyday life, as well as powerful techniques for clearing negative energy (karma), and for inner transformation.

When there is an energy coordination brought in to the spot we are in flow. This is a state of consciousness that takes away the blocks from different parts of the body, enhances creativity and the ability to perceive the situation as it is. Flow makes every action joyous and healthy for oneself and others. An atmosphere of flow increases the amount and the quality your work, while addressing the internal atmosphere within one’s Self enhances relationships with family, friends and co-workers, as well as the atmosphere at home, school or at work.

Sliding Scale: $60-120

Kundalini Initiation, 5 – 6 pm
This initiation activates and awakens the mega-energy of kundalini, which dwells at the base of the spine. The rising of kundalini energy acts powerfully, dissolving fear, anxiety and depression. It generates more and more energy through the chakras, and since it is a life-force energy, its awakening enables both mental and physical wellbeing. It can dissolve many karmas and impressions from the past, and a new way of living in joy, peace and harmony can be established. Since this is a powerful initiation, Atma Nambi will select the individuals who he feels are ready.

Sliding Scale: $35-50
Please bring a fragrant flower.

******************************************************************************************

Additional Services:

While Atma Nambi is in the Bay Area, he is also offering other services to the general community.

Personal Sessions
Atma Nambi provides personalized guidance, spiritual healing, personal techniques and mantras to remove blockages and open up for your inner qualities and powers; he provides individual guidance, with the tools you need to move forward in life, to heal and to open up to the potential in all areas of life, both spiritual and material. He also guides couples and families in how to live a content and joyous family life, and gives guidance to those running centers or doing service for the wellbeing of humanity.
$50

Personal Atma Darshan Sessions: Being in Light
During this private darshan session, Atma Nambi bestows his grace in abundance. He opens up the door of the mind, and the eight spiritual powers that one carries within, enabling the purity of the Self to be experienced.
$50

Kubera TapasKubera Tapas is a fire ceremony performed for cleansing and spiritual and material abundance in private homes, the workplace, and in organizations. Throughout the ages, countless people and places have received great benefit in every aspect of life through Kubera Tapas. The ceremony lasts for approximately 1.5 hours.
$250

To book any of the above services, please email Aradhana at: LIVELIFE.Atma@gmail.com.


http://atmanambi.org/

www.facebook.com/AtmaNambi.LiveLife/

http://upanisha.org/

There are also several videos of Atma Nambi on YouTube.

 

Find out more »

Atma Nambi ~ Live Life

Saturday, September 7, 2019 @ Sept. 7th Evening Satsang & Sept. 8th Daylong
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

Please join us for these special events during a rare visit by by South Indian spiritual teacher, Atma Nambi.

Atma Nambi's spiritual journey started at age 10, and later, while following a career in the business world, he underwent years of spiritual practice with several prominent teachers, including the famous Yogi Ramsurat Kumar and Mohan Bharathi. His various practices included bhakti, karma yoga, mantra, and kundalini yoga, culminating in his Self-Realization in 1994.

Since then, he has been sharing what he lives – total Presence 24 hours a day – with an approach that is casual, immediately applicable, and down-to-earth. He inspires people to live a conscious life in line with each one’s individual potential, which brings pure joy and contentment, health and prosperity in all relations, as well as materially. Atma Nambi shares easy, practical and powerful techniques and approaches that can be applied in everyday life for people of all ages in all levels of society. These will enable you to live a life of celebration, while cultivating the recognition of the true Self.

Both the Friday evening satsang and the Saturday daylong event will culminate with optional chakra initiations by Atma Nambi.

Find out more »

Isaac Shapiro ~ Meetings in Truth

Wednesday, September 11, 2019 @ begins a series of evenings Sept. 11th, 12th & 15th to 20th AND Daylongs Sept. 21st & 22nd
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

Join us for this special series of evening meetings and daylong gatherings with Isaac Shapiro in Berkeley.

Date & Time info is detailed below.

Isaac helps us inquire into how we live our lives moment by moment, and how to better align ourselves with the deepest spiritual truths. He works through pointed but good-humored questioning, reflecting back to us, and helping to unravel, the conditioning of the mind and the nervous system, allowing a deeper participation in the moment.

Isaac is an internationally known facilitator and non-dual teacher, fascinated with life lived in alignment with the world’s wisdom traditions. He enjoys exploring and assisting those who share this interest. A student of H.W.L. Poonja (Papaji), Isaac draws on a broad spectrum of understanding, from neurophysiology to some of the latest discoveries in quantum physics, which he applies in a light-hearted but direct way.

Through years of working with people, Isaac has cultivated and refined an ability to track what is happening in the nervous system of participants. Bringing this awareness to people’s attention, allows our natural, innate self-regulating mechanism to be re-established.

“My approach is to invite you to look for yourself at what is true in your own being. This points to what you already know, but which is obscured in the ways of the nervous system. The beauty of this invitation is that nothing needs to be changed, fixed or eliminated. It is a non-dualistic, non-judgmental enquiry into our present being.

“Everything happens through the agency of awareness. As we bring awareness to our unconscious habits, there is a shift that occurs. In the course of the investigation, people spontaneously recognize the true nature of themselves, which many report as the experience of peace, unconditional love, compassion, or simply of being home.”

www.isaacshapiro.org

Evening Meetings
Wed. & Thur. Sept 11th & 12th
and Sun.- Fri. Sept 15th to 20th
in Berkeley

7:00 - 8:45 pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince Street, Berkeley

Suggested Donation for evenings: $15-$25
No one turned away for lack of funds.

Daylong Intensives
Sat. and Sun., Sept 21st & 22nd
, in Berkeley

11:00 am to 5:00 pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince Street, Berkeley
No pre-registration required

Sliding Scale: $50 to $100

Lunch Break:
Welcome to bring your lunch, and there are also various places near the Berkeley venue, to go out to eat.

Note: Per venue policy, only vegetarian food is allowed on premises at Chochmat HaLev.

Find out more »

Isaac Shapiro ~ Meetings in Truth

Wednesday, September 11, 2019 @ begins a series of evenings Sept. 11th, 12th & 15th to 20th AND Daylongs Sept. 21st & 22nd
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

Join us for this special series of evening meetings and daylong gatherings with Isaac Shapiro in Berkeley.

Isaac helps us inquire into how we live our lives moment by moment, and how to better align ourselves with the deepest spiritual truths. He works through pointed but good-humored questioning, reflecting back to us, and helping to unravel, the conditioning of the mind and the nervous system, allowing a deeper participation in the moment.

Isaac is an internationally known facilitator and non-dual teacher, fascinated with life lived in alignment with the world’s wisdom traditions. He enjoys exploring and assisting those who share this interest. A student of H.W.L. Poonja (Papaji), Isaac draws on a broad spectrum of understanding, from neurophysiology to some of the latest discoveries in quantum physics, which he applies in a light-hearted but direct way.

Through years of working with people, Isaac has cultivated and refined an ability to track what is happening in the nervous system of participants. Bringing this awareness to people’s attention, allows our natural, innate self-regulating mechanism to be re-established.

Find out more »

Isaac Shapiro ~ Meetings in Truth

Sunday, September 15, 2019 @ To Sept. 20th Evenings and Daylongs Sept. 21 & 22
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

Join us for this special series of evening meetings and daylong gatherings with Isaac Shapiro in Berkeley

Isaac helps us inquire into how we live our lives moment by moment, and how to better align ourselves with the deepest spiritual truths. He works through direct but good-humored questioning, reflecting back to us, and helping to unravel, the conditioning of the mind and the nervous system, allowing a deeper participation in the moment.

Isaac is an internationally known facilitator and non-dual teacher, fascinated with life lived in alignment with the world's wisdom traditions. He enjoys exploring and assisting those who share this interest. A student of H.W.L. Poonja (Papaji), Isaac draws on a broad spectrum of understanding, from neurophysiology to some of the latest discoveries in quantum physics, which he applies in a light-hearted but direct way.

His approach is to ask questions and make statements, and he asks participants in his meetings to question and see if what he says is true in their own being. This approach points to what is already known, but obscured in the ways our nervous system and our thinking function. Through years of working with people, Isaac has cultivated and refined an ability to track what is happening in the nervous system of participants. Bringing this awareness to people’s attention, allows our natural, innate self-regulating mechanism to be re-established.

The beauty of this invitation is that nothing needs to be changed, fixed, or eliminated. It is a non-dualistic, non-judgmental enquiry into our present being. Everything happens through the agency of awareness. As we bring awareness to our unconscious habits, there is a shift that occurs. In the course of investigation, people spontaneously recognize the true nature of themselves, which many report as the experience of peace, unconditional love, compassion, or simply of being home.

"All we have is the sensory experience of this moment, NOW. This moment is only an experience to us. That’s all we have. The world, time, space, our own bodies and each other are all an experience to us. Through noticing how our cells respond in the experience of now, there is a noticing of the production of not only the sense of reality but also the sense of self that we believe we have."

www.isaacshapiro.org

Evening Meetings
Wed. & Thur. Sept 11th & 12th
and Sun.- Fri. Sept 15th to 20th
in Berkeley

7:00 - 8:45 pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince Street, Berkeley

Suggested Donation for evenings: $15-$25
No one turned away for lack of funds.

Daylong Intensives
Sat. and Sun., Sept 21st & 22nd
, in Berkeley

11:00 am to 5:00 pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince Street, Berkeley
No pre-registration required

Sliding Scale: $50 to $100

Lunch Break:
Welcome to bring your lunch, and there are also various places near the Berkeley venue, to go out to eat.
Note: Per venue policy, only vegetarian food is allowed on premises at Chochmat HaLev

Find out more »

Ajaya Sommers & Dustin DiPerna ~ Of Earth and Stars: Blending Radical Awakening with Embodied Intimacy

Sunday, September 29, 2019 @ 7:00pm-9:30pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

Co-Sponsored by BAI and Open Circle Center

Awakening to the ever-present and expansive nature of awareness is only half of the journey. For many of us, the real work is to learn how to more fully embrace our relative human experience with greater levels of authenticity, intimacy, and connection.

In this evening immersion, Ajaya and Dustin will lead a series of practices designed to help you come to a fuller understanding of how your humanity is an expression of your divinity:

Learn the majesty and freedom of opening to a boundless body of awareness.

Reclaim your native innocence as you better understand your needs for both safety and exploration in relation to others.

Explore how to blend an expanded open awareness with practices designed to increase intimacy and connection with others in a grounded way.

Throughout the evening, Ajaya and Dustin will hold a container of safety and trust allowing you to explore the contours of your own direct experience. Through an intelligent weaving of both individual and collective practices, you’ll have the chance to discover the original innocence of your humanity (Earth) as well as the freedom and joy that comes from touching your own divinity (Stars).

When we come to know that we are of both Earth and Stars, we establish a way of life in the sacred middle: we live in a field of coherence that is uniquely ours to inhabit.

Join us for an evening of sacred exploration.

Dustin DiPerna is a Harvard-trained scholar of world religions. He studies and teaches in the Tibetan meditation lineages of Mahamudra and Dzogchen with Daniel P. Brown and is a long-term student of American philosopher Ken Wilber. His books include Streams of Wisdom, Evolution's Ally, Purpose Rising, and Earth is Eden. He currently teaches at Stanford University.

Ajaya Sommers is a gifted healer, teacher and creative catalyst in the field of embodied awakening. For the last 25 years, she has been instrumental in facilitating conscious evolution in hundreds of people's lives. All of her programs are grounded in science, expanded through devotional practice and made real through direct experience. Within a field of unconditionally loving presence, Ajaya facilitates and transmits 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 our human potential. She is a certified Biodynamic Craniosacral Integration Teacher as well as an Authorized Continuum Teacher.

www.ajayasommers.com
www.dustindiperna.com

$20 single; $35 couple; $25 at-the-door – Preregistration Strongly Recommended
Get Tickets Here

Find out more »

Ajaya Sommers & Dustin DiPerna ~ Of Earth and Stars: Blending Radical Awakening with Embodied Intimacy

Sunday, September 29, 2019 @ 7:00pm-9:30pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

Awakening to the ever-present and expansive nature of awareness is only half of the journey. For many of us, the real work is to learn how to more fully embrace our relative human experience with greater levels of authenticity, intimacy, and connection.

In this evening immersion, Ajaya and Dustin will lead a series of practices designed to help you come to a fuller understanding of how your humanity is an expression of your divinity:

Through an intelligent weaving of both individual and collective practices, you’ll have the chance to discover the original innocence of your humanity (Earth) as well as the freedom and joy that comes from touching your own divinity (Stars).

Dustin DiPerna is a Harvard-trained scholar of world religions. He studies and teaches in the Tibetan meditation lineages of Mahamudra and Dzogchen with Daniel P. Brown and is a long-term student of American philosopher Ken Wilber. He currently teaches at Stanford University.

Ajaya Sommers is a gifted healer, teacher and creative catalyst in the field of embodied awakening, and facilitates and transmits 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 our human potential.

Find out more »

October 2019

Pamela Wilson ~ Relaxed, Rooted, Flow

Sunday, October 6, 2019 @ 4:00pm-5:45pm (Pacific Time)
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

"I am Rooted and I Flow” - a marvelous quote by Virginia Wolff confirming what is already here for all of us as embodied presence. Let’s explore this relaxed rootedness and honor together the intelligence of Life’s flow, within and without.

Pamela invites us to uncontain the field of presence, clarity and strength within by noticing the ongoing inner satsang that appears in the heart, body and mind. Bringing warmth and compassion to what is tight or troubled liberates the past from the body, allowing a rooted, clear and free flowing expansion. Life then can live itself, no role play required!

Pamela evokes through dialogue, inquiry and her very presence the qualities of unconditional love and radical acceptance. She is celebrated for her ability to open the heart and create a space in which long-cherished struggles and notions about one's identity relax. Featured in the book Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom, Pamela is at her best in heart-felt dialogue, so please come and bring your questions!

www.pamelasatsang.com

Suggested donation: $15 to $25

Find out more »

Pamela Wilson ~ Relaxed, Rooted, Flow

Sunday, October 6, 2019 @ 4:00pm-5:45pm (Pacific Time)
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

"I am Rooted and I Flow” - a marvelous quote by Virginia Wolff confirming what is already here for all of us as embodied presence. Let’s explore this relaxed rootedness and honor together the intelligence of Life’s flow, within and without.

Pamela invites us to uncontain the field of presence, clarity and strength within by noticing the ongoing inner satsang that appears in the heart, body and mind. Bringing warmth and compassion to what is tight or troubled liberates the past from the body, allowing a rooted, clear and free flowing expansion. Life then can live itself, no role play required!

Pamela evokes through dialogue, inquiry and her very presence the qualities of unconditional love and radical acceptance. She is celebrated for her ability to open the heart and create a space in which long-cherished struggles and notions about one's identity relax. Featured in the book Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom, Pamela is at her best in heart-felt dialogue, so please come and bring your questions!

Find out more »

Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ Living Awakening / Embodied Consciousness

Thursday, October 17, 2019 @ 7pm & October 20th daylong
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

Shakti Caterina Maggi has been sharing a message of awakening to our true nature as One Consciousness since 2003. Her approach to Self-Realization is very contemporary and accessible, and is profoundly in tune with Advaita and the non-dual Tantric traditions. She reveals the real possibility of seeing what we truly are, and embodying it in our everyday lives with clarity, wisdom, and humor.

She was recently asked to contribute to the anthology On the Mystery of Being: Contemporary Insights into the Convergence of Science and Spirituality edited by Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo, the founders of the Science and Non-Duality (SAND) Conference. She teaches in Europe, Canada and the USA, offering satsang, seminars and retreats.

“The true Heart is the space in which we can deeply meet ourselves and the entire world. The way to the Heart is an embodied Consciousness, in which we are divinely human.”

Thursday Evening (Oct. 17th) ~ Living Awakening

From understanding to being, the passage of embodying awakening requires a deep integration into our everyday life of what has been revealed in our spiritual journey. Perception is the way through which we will directly connect to our non-dual nature, as all illusion of separation is purely conceptual.

Where: Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St., Berkeley, CA
When: 7:00pm - 8:45pm
Suggested donation: $15 - $25
No one turned away for lack of funds

Sunday Daylong (Oct. 20th ) ~ Embodied Consciousness

This experiential intensive will lead to profound access to our true Consciousness, and will guide participants in the transformation of the way in which we see ourselves and the world, as well as the way in which we can deal with suffering in ourselves and others. The intensive will include meditations, open discussion, and special perception exercises to help us see and dissolve the patterns of holding and resistance that reinforce the sense of separation.

Where: Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St., Berkeley, CA
When: 11:00am - 5:00 pm
Sliding scale: $60 - $120
No pre-registration required.
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Note: Per venue policy, only vegetarian food is allowed on premises at Chochmat HaLev

Find out more »

Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ Embodied Consciousness

Sunday, October 20, 2019 @ 11:00am-5:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

From understanding to being, the passage of embodying awakening requires a deep integration into our everyday life of what has been revealed in our spiritual journey. Perception is the way through which we will directly connect to our non-dual nature, as all illusion of separation is purely conceptual.

This experiential intensive will lead to profound access to our true Consciousness, and will guide participants in the transformation of the way in which we see ourselves and the world, as well as the way in which we can deal with suffering in ourselves and others. The intensive will include meditations, open discussion, and special perception exercises to help us see and dissolve the patterns of holding and resistance that reinforce the sense of separation.

Shakti Caterina Maggi has been sharing a message of awakening to our true nature as One Consciousness since 2003. Her approach to Self-Realization is very contemporary and accessible, and is profoundly in tune with Advaita and the non-dual Tantric traditions. She reveals the real possibility of seeing what we truly are, and embodying it in our everyday lives with clarity, wisdom, and humor.

She was recently asked to contribute to the anthology <em>On the Mystery of Being: Contemporary Insights into the Convergence of Science and Spirituality</em> edited by Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo, the founders of the Science and Non-Duality (SAND) Conference. She teaches in Europe, Canada and the USA, offering satsang, seminars and retreats.

“The true Heart is the space in which we can deeply meet ourselves and the entire world. The way to the Heart is an embodied Consciousness, in which we are divinely human.”

Where: Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St., Berkeley, CA
When: 11:00am - 5:00 pm
Sliding scale: $60 - $120
No pre-registration required.
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Note: Per venue policy, only vegetarian food is allowed on premises at Chochmat HaLev

Find out more »

Gangaji ~ What Will Enlightenment Really Give You?

Tuesday, October 22, 2019 @ 7:00pm-8:30pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

Gangaji needs little introduction to Bay Area audiences, as she was one of the first, and the best known, of the satsang teachers to return from India in the early 1990s after a life-changing encounter with her teacher Papaji (H.W.L. Poonja). In this meeting, Gangaji’s personal story of suffering ended, and the promise of a true life began to flower and unfold. Since then she has gone on to become an internationally known teacher and author, who travels the world speaking to seekers from all walks of life. She shares her direct experience of the essential message she received from Papaji, and offers it to all who want to discover true and lasting fulfillment, and the recognition of the peace and freedom inherent in the core of all beings.

In her meetings she offers support in discovering how the mind can end its outward flow, through the force of recognition of the truth of being, and fall back into its source. When your allegiance shifts from the activities of the mind to the nameless presence that is alive at the core of our being, then the effortless intelligence of our true nature is set free, and true fulfillment is natural and effortless.

When we let go of our worldly desires, we often replace them with spiritual desires. When we want enlightenment, what is it we imagine enlightenment will give us? Really? In this public meeting hosted by East Bay Open Circle, Gangaji will speak to the age-old myths of enlightenment and challenge us to set aside all desires, for just one moment, and discover what is already here, completely fulfilled, and awake.

To receive the ultimate truth of your being, finally you must stop trying to get anything. The idea of personal enlightenment must end.”

Gangaji’s books include The Diamond in Your Pocket: Discovering Your True Radiance, Hidden Treasure: Uncovering the Truth in Your Life Story and Freedom & Resolve: Finding Your True Home in the Universe.

Please plan to arrive at least 20 minutes before the meeting begins to allow time to get settled.

www.gangaji.org

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Fee at door: $20 - No registration required
No one turned away for lack of funds

PARKING: There is free but limited street parking in the neighborhood, and without time limits on weekday evenings. 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 »

Gangaji ~ What Will Enlightenment Really Give You?

Tuesday, October 22, 2019 @ 7:00pm-8:30pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

Gangaji needs little introduction to Bay Area audiences, as she was one of the first, and the best known, of the satsang teachers to return from India in the early 1990s after a life-changing encounter with her teacher Papaji (H.W.L. Poonja). In this meeting, Gangaji’s personal story of suffering ended, and the promise of a true life began to flower and unfold. Since then she has gone on to become an internationally known teacher and author, who travels the world speaking to seekers from all walks of life. She shares her direct experience of the essential message she received from Papaji, and offers it to all who want to discover true and lasting fulfillment, and the recognition of the peace and freedom inherent in the core of all beings.

Find out more »

Rupert Spira ~ The Essence of Non-Duality

Wednesday, October 23, 2019 @ 7:00pm-9:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

“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

Suggested Donation: $15-$25
No registration required. Just show up & join us. Make your donation at the door.

PARKING: There is some limited street parking in the neighborhood, free and without time limit weekday evenings. 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 »

Rupert Spira ~ The Essence of Non-Duality

Wednesday, October 23, 2019 @ 7:00pm-9:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

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, and which is also the direct, ever-present reality of our own experience. 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 is the author of several books and two book/CD box-sets.

Find out more »

Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ Living Awakening: CANCELLED!!!

Monday, October 28, 2019 @ 7pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

We regret that this event has been CANCELLED due to poor air conditions. Our apologies for any inconvenience or disappointment.

Find out more »

Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ Living Awakening: CANCELLED!!!

Monday, October 28, 2019 @ 7pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

We regret that this event has been CANCELLED due to poor air conditions. Our apologies for any inconvenience or disappointment.

Find out more »

November 2019

Gail Brenner ~ Early Trauma and Awakened Consciousness

Monday, November 11, 2019 @ 7:00pm-8:45pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

We’ve all had difficult experiences early in our lives that continue to affect us. When these experiences remain unprocessed, they lie at the root of the conditioned patterns that cause us to suffer: the need to feel in control; people pleasing; persistent relationship struggles; proving yourself through accomplishments; and addictions. These signs of early trauma are profound invitations into liberation from the sense of separation.

In this meeting, we will learn how early trauma develops and lives in us as adults. We’ll discuss the art of navigating our painful experiences with warmth and intelligence, including helpful tools and practices. And we’ll discover that consciousness is already holding our present moment experience in love.

Gail Brenner, Ph.D. is an eternal student of happiness who blends her experience as a psychologist with a loving presence that invites people into harmony with all of life. She is gifted at meeting our humanness with nondual understanding in ways that are practical and loving. Gail has worked with clients and groups for over 20 years, bringing laser-like clarity to the confusion of common problems, such as reactive emotions, compulsive behaviors, feelings of personal inadequacy, and relationship struggles. She is the author of several books, including The End of Self-Help and her latest, Suffering is Optional.

“Here's some very good news: freedom from unhappiness is possible, and nothing needs to change. You don't need to change your thoughts, process your feelings, learn to relax, or become a better person. The invitation is simply to see things clearly. See clearly through to the essence of what makes you unhappy, and you'll realize that, at the core of your being, there's no conflict, resistance, or separation. You now know peace deeper than you could ever imagine. Shine a laser on every experience that makes you suffer, and you'll always find your true nature, pure being that just is."

gailbrenner.com

Suggested Donation: $15-$25 per person

Find out more »

Gail Brenner ~ Early Trauma and Awakened Consciousness

Monday, November 11, 2019 @ 7:00pm-8:45pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

We’ve all had difficult experiences early in our lives that continue to affect us. When these experiences remain unprocessed, they lie at the root of the conditioned patterns that cause us to suffer: the need to feel in control; people pleasing; persistent relationship struggles; proving yourself through accomplishments; and addictions. These signs of early trauma are profound invitations into liberation from the sense of separation.

In this meeting, we will learn how early trauma develops and lives in us as adults. We’ll discuss the art of navigating our painful experiences with warmth and intelligence, including helpful tools and practices. And we’ll discover that consciousness is already holding our present moment experience in love.

Gail Brenner, Ph.D. is an eternal student of happiness who blends her experience as a psychologist with a loving presence that invites people into harmony with all of life. She is gifted at meeting our humanness with nondual understanding in ways that are practical and loving.

Find out more »

Jeannie Zandi ~ The Dance of Yin and Yang

Thursday, November 14, 2019 @ 7:00pm-8:45pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

Evening event for All

When the divine energies of yin and yang are balanced, harmony and beauty result. When these energies are imbalanced, disharmony and ugliness ensue. In our current imbalanced climate of devalued yin and “toxic” yang, it is easy to overlook the divine nature of both of these principles. Join Jeannie for an inquiry into the holy energies of yin and yang, how they dance together, and how we can support the call back to balance that is needed for harmony in ourselves and the world.

Jeannie’s gift for inviting people to join her in resting and rooted presence evokes a deep meeting with oneself and reality. Within that, Jeannie’s humor and iconoclasm serve to bring people into an understanding that is beyond the intellectual. Through silent and guided meditation, spontaneous talks and exchange with participants, Jeannie will host a space of clarity and warmth where the richness of relating can be explored safely and your innermost questions met fully. Come join us!

Jeannie is the director of Living as Love, a nonprofit organization dedicated to seeding a culture of the Heart on the planet, inspiring, teaching and supporting people to live from their essence as Love. A year before the birth of her daughter, Jeannie was plunged into a dark night of the soul that culminated in a radical shift of consciousness. She is known for her fearless clarity, tender mercy toward humanness, and a juicy, poetic and often humorous style that draws from Advaita Vedanta, Sufism, Christian mysticism and the ongoing revelation of fully engaged living. Residing in Colorado, she travels widely in the US, bringing a down-to-earth embodied teaching of living as love.

jeanniezandi.com

Thur. Evening Suggested donation: $15-$25

There will also be daylong events, 11am to 5pm...
Saturday Nov. 16th for Women
Sunday Nov. 17th for Men

See our schedule for details of daylongs.

Find out more »

Jeannie Zandi ~ The Dance of Yin and Yang

Thursday, November 14, 2019 @ 7:00-8:45 & Saturday & Sunday 11:00-5:00
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

When the divine energies of yin and yang are balanced, harmony and beauty result. When these energies are imbalanced, disharmony and ugliness ensue. In our current imbalanced climate of devalued yin and “toxic” yang, it is easy to overlook the divine nature of both of these principles. Join Jeannie for an inquiry into the holy energies of yin and yang, how they dance together, and how we can support the call back to balance that is needed for harmony in ourselves and the world.

In addition to Thursday night's introductory evening, there will also be daylong events specifically for women (Yin Strength & Power) on Saturday Nov. 16th and men (Connected) on Sunday Nov. 17th, 11am to 5pm.

Find out more »

Jeannie Zandi ~ Yin, Strength & Power – Daylong for Women

Saturday, November 16, 2019 @ 11:00am-5:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

Is it possible to be at once soft and open, and grounded in knowing, strength and power? Yes. In this daylong, Jeannie and friends will explore the power of disowned yin and its embodiment, the integration of yin with yang, and the key role that divine yin plays in women’s confidence, self love, relating, fulfilment and power.

Jeannie’s gift for inviting people to join her in resting and rooted presence evokes a deep meeting with oneself and reality. Within that, Jeannie’s humor and iconoclasm serve to bring people into an understanding that is beyond the intellectual. Through silent and guided meditation, spontaneous talks and exchange with participants, Jeannie will host a space of clarity and warmth where the richness of relating can be explored safely and your innermost questions met fully. Come join us!

Jeannie is the director of Living as Love, a nonprofit organization dedicated to seeding a culture of the Heart on the planet, inspiring, teaching and supporting people to live from their essence as Love. A year before the birth of her daughter, Jeannie was plunged into a dark night of the soul that culminated in a radical shift of consciousness. She is known for her fearless clarity, tender mercy toward humanness, and a juicy, poetic and often humorous style that draws from Advaita Vedanta, Sufism, Christian mysticism and the ongoing revelation of fully engaged living. Residing in Colorado, she travels widely in the US, bringing a down-to-earth embodied teaching of living as love.

jeanniezandi.com

Saturday Daylong for Women will apply most to anyone who grew up with women’s conditioning

Sliding Scale: $65-$125
No pre-registration. Pay at door.

Daylong for Men will be on Sunday Nov. 17th, 11am to 5pm

Find out more »

Jeannie Zandi ~ Connected – Daylong for Men

Sunday, November 17, 2019 @ 11:00am-5:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

Join Jeannie and friends for a gathering of men to explore connectedness with self, with the Divine, with other. Explore the role of softening and of sturdiness, self-caring boundaries and open heartfulness. Be held in a tender, safe, spacious and transformational container by a capable, strong and respectful man-loving woman to speak what’s in your heart and explore new territory and expression.

Jeannie’s gift for inviting people to join her in resting and rooted presence evokes a deep meeting with oneself and reality. Within that, Jeannie’s humor and iconoclasm serve to bring people into an understanding that is beyond the intellectual. Through silent and guided meditation, spontaneous talks and exchange with participants, Jeannie will host a space of clarity and warmth where the richness of relating can be explored safely and your innermost questions met fully.

Jeannie is the director of Living as Love, a nonprofit organization dedicated to seeding a culture of the Heart on the planet, inspiring, teaching and supporting people to live from their essence as Love. A year before the birth of her daughter, Jeannie was plunged into a dark night of the soul that culminated in a radical shift of consciousness. She is known for her fearless clarity, tender mercy toward humanness, and a juicy, poetic and often humorous style that draws from Advaita Vedanta, Sufism, Christian mysticism and the ongoing revelation of fully engaged living. Residing in Colorado, she travels widely in the US, bringing a down-to-earth embodied teaching of living as love.

jeanniezandi.com

Sunday Daylong for Men will apply most to anyone who grew up with men’s conditioning

Sliding Scale: $65-$125
No pre-registration. Pay at door.

Find out more »

Caverly Morgan ~ Liberation Now: From the Progressive Path to Direct Experience

Sunday, November 24, 2019 @ 7:00pm-8:45pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

In a progressive path approach to practice, we sometimes fall for the idea that liberation is in the future. We are conditioned to believe that we must end thinking, master practices, meditate for years, and purify our minds. Without realizing it, our beliefs can maintain the conditioning that stands in the way of our direct realization.

Turning our attention outward to various objects in practice can be deeply helpful. And, what changes when we cultivate our effortless capacity to rest the attention in awareness itself? What changes as we practice inquiry into the nature of consciousness? And what tends to get in the way?

Caverly Morgan is a meditation teacher, nonprofit leader, and visionary. She is the founder and guiding teacher of Presence Collective, dedicated to igniting personal transformation and collective awakening. She is also the founder and guiding teacher of Peace in Schools — a nonprofit which created the nation’s first for-credit mindfulness class in public high schools. Peace in Schools is pioneering new depths in mindfulness education, through teaching youth as well as training educators.

Caverly blends the original spirit of Zen with a modern nondual approach. 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.
Prior to her pioneering efforts with Peace in Schools, Caverly formerly worked for nonprofits serving people with special needs. An artist and educator, she brings insight, passion, warmth and humor to her transformative work with students of all ages and experience levels.

www.caverlymorgan.org
facebook.com/caverlymorgan

Suggested Donation: $15 - $25

Find out more »

Ajaya Sommers ~ Beyond the trap of Spiritual Bypassing ~ Core Embodiment Practices® For resting as Awareness while Honoring your Fully Human Life

Monday, November 25, 2019 @ 7:00pm-9:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

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 feelings. As if your needs and feelings 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 in our immediate experience to be lived and loved 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 out dated 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.

www.ajayasommers.com

Please arrive at least a few minutes early
Suggested Donation: $15-$25 per person

Find out more »

December 2019

Loch Kelly ~ Effortless Mindfulness: Awakening Embodied

Friday, December 6, 2019 @ 10:00am~4:30pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

“Loch Kelly is one of the clearest expressions of authentic awakened freedom and love that I know. He offers wise, loving medicine and direct, practical guidance which evolved from Loch’s vast experience and deep commitment to help others awaken to spiritual freedom.” ~ Adyashanti

Join Loch Kelly to learn effortless mindfulness as a way to shift out of your chattering thoughts and live from your awake heart-mind. We will explore ways of supporting living an awakened life. It is not enough to simply wake up out of everyday ego mind to pure awareness. In order to live with your eyes open, in relationships and work, we need to familiarize ourselves with new ways of "doing from Being."

Effortless Mindfulness is done through small glimpses of your True Nature, with eyes open in the midst of everyday life. Effortless mindfulness is ideal for our contemporary times in that it makes embodied awakening possible for all of us, without having to join a monastery or be an Olympic athlete of meditation. Awakening can become the next, natural stage of our human development.

Loch will draw from the ancient wisdom traditions, psychology, and current neuroscientific research to point us beyond our small, separate sense of self to help us live from our already awake heart-mind.

It is recommended to read Loch Kelly’s new book The Way of Effortless Mindfulness: A Revolutionary Guide for Living an Awakened Life before the daylong, available HERE.

Loch Kelly, M.Div., LCSW is an author of the award winning book The Way of Effortless Mindfulness. He is a licensed psychotherapist and recognized leader in the field of non-dual meditation and awakening. Loch is the founder of the non-profit, Open-Hearted Awareness Institute and has worked in community mental health, established homeless shelters and counseled family members of 9/11. Loch graduated from Columbia University where he received a traveling fellowship to study in Sri Lanka, India and Nepal. Loch collaborates with neuroscientists at Yale, UPenn and NYU in the study of how awareness training can enhance compassion and wellbeing.

www.effortlessmindfulness.org

Sliding Scale: $65 - $125
Pre-registration suggested, but not required.
Note that registration closes at 7:00 pm on Wednesday, December 4th.
However, there will be plenty of spaces available at the door on Friday.
Please bring cash or a check if you plan on paying at the door.

Find out more »

Loch Kelly ~ Effortless Mindfulness: Awakening Embodied

Friday, December 6, 2019 @ 10:00am~4:30pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

Join Loch Kelly to learn effortless mindfulness as a way to shift out of your chattering thoughts and live from your awake heart-mind. We will explore ways of supporting living an awakened life. It is not enough to simply wake up out of everyday ego mind to pure awareness. In order to live with your eyes open, in relationships and work, we need to familiarize ourselves with new ways of "doing from Being."

Loch will draw from the ancient wisdom traditions, psychology, and current neuroscientific research to point us beyond our small, separate sense of self to help us live from our already awake heart-mind.

Loch Kelly is a recognized leader in the field of non-dual meditation and awakening, the founder of the non-profit, Open-Hearted Awareness Institute., and the author of the award winning book The Way of Effortless Mindfulnes.
“Loch Kelly is one of the clearest expressions of authentic awakened freedom and love that I know. He offers wise, loving medicine and direct, practical guidance which evolved from Loch’s vast experience and deep commitment to help others awaken to spiritual freedom.” ~ Adyashanti

Find out more »

Jeannie Zandi ~ The Dance of Yin and Yang

Sunday, December 8, 2019 @ 2:00pm-4:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

When the divine energies of yin and yang are balanced, harmony and beauty result. When these energies are imbalanced, disharmony and ugliness ensue. In our current imbalanced climate of devalued yin and “toxic” yang, it is easy to overlook the divine nature of both of these principles. Join Jeannie for an inquiry into the holy energies of yin and yang, how they dance together, and how we can support the call back to balance that is needed for harmony in ourselves and the world.

Jeannie’s gift for inviting people to join her in resting and rooted presence evokes a deep meeting with oneself and reality. Within that, Jeannie’s humor and iconoclasm serve to bring people into an understanding that is beyond the intellectual. Through silent and guided meditation, spontaneous talks and exchange with participants, Jeannie will host a space of clarity and warmth where the richness of relating can be explored safely and your innermost questions met fully. Come join us!

Jeannie is the director of Living as Love, a nonprofit organization dedicated to seeding a culture of the Heart on the planet, inspiring, teaching and supporting people to live from their essence as Love. A year before the birth of her daughter, Jeannie was plunged into a dark night of the soul that culminated in a radical shift of consciousness. She is known for her fearless clarity, tender mercy toward humanness, and a juicy, poetic and often humorous style that draws from Advaita Vedanta, Sufism, Christian mysticism and the ongoing revelation of fully engaged living. Residing in Colorado, she travels widely in the US, bringing a down-to-earth embodied teaching of living as love.

jeanniezandi.com

Suggested donation: $15-$25

 

Find out more »

John Prendergast ~ The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence

Sunday, December 15, 2019 @ 7:00-8:45pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

The great human quest is to discover who we really are—a discovery that changes our lives and the lives of those around us. With The Deep Heart, John Prendergast invites you on a pilgrimage within, using the heart as a portal to your deepest psychological and spiritual nature. The Deep Heart is John’s term for the subtle center of emotional and energetic sensitivity, relational intimacy, profound inner knowing, and wholeness found within our hearts.

In this experiential guide, John offers precise and potent meditative inquiries to help you open your heart, see through your core limiting beliefs, and discover the true nature of your being. He brings a depth of experience, insight, warmth, and compassion to his teaching work, and is especially skillful in guided meditative inquiries and one-on-one dialogues.

John J. Prendergast is a spiritual teacher, psychotherapist and retired adjunct professor of psychology at CIIS, known for his pioneering work in integrating nondual wisdom and psychotherapy. A long-time student of both Jean Klein and Adyashanti, he was asked to share the dharma by Dorothy Hunt. He is the author of the forthcoming The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence, as well as In Touch: How to Tune in to the Inner Guidance of Your Body and Trust Yourself.

www.listeningfromsilence.com

Suggested Donation: $15-25
No one turned away for lack of funds.

Find out more »

John Prendergast ~ The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence

Sunday, December 15, 2019 @ 7:00-8:45pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

The great human quest is to discover who we really are—a discovery that changes our lives and the lives of those around us. With The Deep Heart, John Prendergast invites you on a pilgrimage within, using the heart as a portal to your deepest psychological and spiritual nature. The Deep Heart is John’s term for the subtle center of emotional and energetic sensitivity, relational intimacy, profound inner knowing, and wholeness found within our hearts.

In this experiential guide, John offers precise and potent meditative inquiries to help you open your heart, see through your core limiting beliefs, and discover the true nature of your being. He brings a depth of experience, insight, warmth, and compassion to his teaching work, and is especially skillful in guided meditative inquiries and one-on-one dialogues.

John J. Prendergast is a spiritual teacher, psychotherapist and retired adjunct professor of psychology at CIIS, known for his pioneering work in integrating nondual wisdom and psychotherapy. A long-time student of both Jean Klein and Adyashanti, he was asked to share the dharma by Dorothy Hunt. He is the author of the newly released The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence, as well as In Touch: How to Tune in to the Inner Guidance of Your Body and Trust Yourself.

Find out more »

January 2020

Adam Chacksfield ~ Falling Open Together

Sunday, January 12, 2020 @ 2:00-3:45pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

Described by Pamela Wilson as “a great messenger of truth a unique transmission that does wonderful things for my spirit,” Adam invites us to share the direct experience of the heart, mind, and life falling open. In this effortless opening, the suffering involved in resisting feelings and believing our thoughts spontaneously releases. This allows our natural abundance of joy, peace, wisdom and love to become apparent and available. Heart-centered but direct, Adam offers a path straight into the truth of who you are. Adam Chacksfield offers retreats worldwide exploring the depths that reveal themselves as we become intimate with our embodied experience and vibrantly alive field of relating. He also offers private sessions online and in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“We are invited to receive the ultimate gift, for which there is no substitute , worth infinitely more than all our dreams and fantasies. We accept this gift by simply falling open. When the heart and mind fall open, we find ourselves intimately present and completely available to what is here. Our struggle with reality dissolves into harmony.”

www.adamchacksfield.com

Suggested donation: $15 to $25

Find out more »

Marlies Myoku Cocheret ~ Settling In and Shining as Silence

Saturday, January 18, 2020 @ 11:00am-5:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

We are so lucky to know of this most precious place inside of us. Do you visit frequently to connect, taste, steep in, and be taken? When we rest as the bliss of Being, we allow ourselves to shine as That. Naturally, any form of mind will disarm and soften into Being.

Please know we cannot bring anything with us into this most precious place that we are. It’s like melting into the arms of the Great Mother. We can only open ourselves to be touched, and taken more deeply into Her. She holds all of us. We are so helped and supported beyond what we can imagine. Be nourished by Her!

Come and join this day of abiding and deepening in and as the True Nature that we are, and be completely nourished. There will be periods of meditation, talk, sharing, dialog and movement.

Marlies Myoku Cocheret 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.

www.marliescocheret.com

Sliding Scale: $65-125

Find out more »

Marlies Myoku Cocheret ~ Settling In and Shining as Silence

Saturday, January 18, 2020 @ 11:00am-5:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

We are so lucky to know of this most precious place inside of us. Do you visit frequently to connect, taste, steep in, and be taken? When we rest as the bliss of Being, we allow ourselves to shine as That. Naturally, any form of mind will disarm and soften into Being.

Please know we cannot bring anything with us into this most precious place that we are. It’s like melting into the arms of the Great Mother. We can only open ourselves to be touched, and taken more deeply into Her. She holds all of us. We are so helped and supported beyond what we can imagine. Be nourished by Her!

Come and join this day of abiding and deepening in and as the True Nature that we are, and be completely nourished. There will be periods of meditation, talk, sharing, dialog and movement.

Marlies Myoku Cocheret 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.

Find out more »

February 2020

Jeannie Zandi ~ The Sacrament of Love

Wednesday, February 19, 2020 @ 7:00pm-9:00pm (Pacific Time)
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

Realization allows us to know ourselves as a force of love and the embodiment of that realization results in living love in our daily lives. Join Jeannie for an exploration of realization, love and the joys and challenges of living that knowing.

Jeannie’s gift for inviting people to join her in resting and rooted presence evokes a deep meeting with oneself and reality. Within that, Jeannie’s humor and iconoclasm serve to bring people into an understanding that is beyond the intellectual. Through silent and guided meditation, spontaneous talks and exchange with participants, Jeannie will host a space of clarity and warmth where the richness of relating can be explored safely and your innermost questions met fully. Come join us!

Jeannie is the director of Living as Love, a nonprofit organization dedicated to seeding a culture of the Heart on the planet, inspiring, teaching and supporting people to live from their essence as Love. A year before the birth of her daughter, Jeannie was plunged into a dark night of the soul that culminated in a radical shift of consciousness. She is known for her fearless clarity, tender mercy toward humanness, and a juicy, poetic and often humorous style that draws from Advaita Vedanta, Sufism, Christian mysticism and the ongoing revelation of fully engaged living. Residing in Colorado, she travels widely in the US, bringing a down-to-earth embodied teaching of living as love.

www.jeanniezandi.com

Suggested donation: $15 to $25

Find out more »

Jeannie Zandi ~ The Sacrament of Love

Wednesday, February 19, 2020 @ 7:00pm-9:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

Realization allows us to know ourselves as a force of love and the embodiment of that realization results in living love in our daily lives. Join Jeannie for an exploration of realization, love and the joys and challenges of living that knowing.

Jeannie’s gift for inviting people to join her in resting and rooted presence evokes a deep meeting with oneself and reality. Within that, Jeannie’s humor and iconoclasm serve to bring people into an understanding that is beyond the intellectual. Through silent and guided meditation, spontaneous talks and exchange with participants, Jeannie will host a space of clarity and warmth where the richness of relating can be explored safely and your innermost questions met fully.

Find out more »

Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ Oneness, Living from Non-Separation

Friday, February 21, 2020 @ 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

Our everyday life calls us to integrate in daily living the message of non-separation. Embodying our understanding becomes the way to blossom into our unique individuality. Living the human experience is at that point the playground for living oneness in the dual game.

Shakti Caterina Maggi has been sharing a message of awakening to our true nature as One Consciousness since 2003. Her approach to Self-Realization is very contemporary and accessible, and is profoundly in tune with Advaita and the non-dual Tantric traditions. She reveals the real possibility of seeing what we truly are, and embodying it in our everyday lives with clarity, wisdom, and humor.

She was recently asked to contribute to the anthology On the Mystery of Being: Contemporary Insights into the Convergence of Science and Spirituality edited by Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo, the founders of the Science and Non-Duality (SAND) Conference. She teaches in Europe, Canada and the USA, offering satsang, seminars and retreats.

“The true Heart is the space in which we can deeply meet ourselves and the entire world. The way to the Heart is an embodied Consciousness, in which we are divinely human.”

www.shakticaterinamaggi.com

Firday, Feb. 21st, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Suggested Donation: $15-$25 (cash or check)

Also see our East Bay events listings for details on other events in this series with Shakti...
Sat. Feb. 22nd evening & Sun. Feb. 23rd Daylong,

Find out more »

Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ Oneness, Living from Non-Separation

Friday, February 21, 2020 @ 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

Our everyday life calls us to integrate in daily living the message of non-separation. Embodying our understanding becomes the way to blossom into our unique individuality. Living the human experience is at that point the playground for living oneness in the dual game.

Shakti Caterina Maggi has been sharing a message of awakening to our true nature as One Consciousness since 2003. Her approach to Self-Realization is very contemporary and accessible, and is profoundly in tune with Advaita and the non-dual Tantric traditions. She reveals the real possibility of seeing what we truly are, and embodying it in our everyday lives with clarity, wisdom, and humor.

Also see our East Bay events listings for details on other events in this series with Shakti...
Sat. Feb. 22nd evening & Sun. Feb. 23rd Daylong,

Find out more »

Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ Non Dual Love

Saturday, February 22, 2020 @ 6:30pm - 9:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

Love is not an emotion but the space in which you and I are one.
Love is the impersonal background that compassionately includes all living beings, and in which all the polarities of duality fade off and reveal their unique source.
In this sense, we could say that love is our true essence, despite the various layers of conditioning that, often, cover it up.

The Satsang will start at 7 PM, ending at 9 PM, but we invite you to join us at 6:30 for chanting Bajans together with Krishna Kent Welsh and Shakti Caterina Maggi.
Anybody can join us up until 7, but please do not enter after that time as the meditation will get started punctually.

Shakti Caterina Maggi has been sharing a message of awakening to our true nature as One Consciousness since 2003. Her approach to Self-Realization is very contemporary and accessible, and is profoundly in tune with Advaita and the non-dual Tantric traditions. She reveals the real possibility of seeing what we truly are, and embodying it in our everyday lives with clarity, wisdom, and humor.

She was recently asked to contribute to the anthology On the Mystery of Being: Contemporary Insights into the Convergence of Science and Spirituality edited by Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo, the founders of the Science and Non-Duality (SAND) Conference. She teaches in Europe, Canada and the USA, offering satsang, seminars and retreats.

“The true Heart is the space in which we can deeply meet ourselves and the entire world. The way to the Heart is an embodied Consciousness, in which we are divinely human.”

www.shakticaterinamaggi.com

Saturday, Feb. 21st, 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm
Suggested Donation: $15-$25 (cash or check)

Also see our East Bay events listings for details on other events in this series with Shakti...
Fri. Feb. 21st evening & Sun. Feb. 23rd Daylong

Find out more »

Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ Non Dual Love

Saturday, February 22, 2020 @ 6:30pm - 9:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

Love is not an emotion but the space in which you and I are one.
Love is the impersonal background that compassionately includes all living beings, and in which all the polarities of duality fade off and reveal their unique source.
In this sense, we could say that love is our true essence, despite the various layers of conditioning that, often, cover it up.

The Satsang will start at 7 PM, ending at 9 PM, but we invite you to join us at 6:30 for chanting Bajans together with Kent Welsh and Shakti Caterina Maggi.
Anybody can join us up until 7, but please do not enter after that time as the meditation will get started punctually.

Shakti Caterina Maggi has been sharing a message of awakening to our true nature as One Consciousness since 2003. Her approach to Self-Realization is very contemporary and accessible, and is profoundly in tune with Advaita and the non-dual Tantric traditions. She reveals the real possibility of seeing what we truly are, and embodying it in our everyday lives with clarity, wisdom, and humor.

Find out more »

Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ You and I, Identity and Relationship from Silence

Sunday, February 23, 2020 @ 10:00am-5:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

We invite you to participate in this intensive seminar where we will explore the authentic nature of our identity as unitary consciousness and the modalities of relating to others from this perspective. We will use perception as a means of inquiry, and Satsang with dialogues and Q&As to deepen and comprehend fully what we will have discovered through experience.

Shakti Caterina Maggi has been sharing a message of awakening to our true nature as One Consciousness since 2003. Her approach to Self-Realization is very contemporary and accessible, and is profoundly in tune with Advaita and the non-dual Tantric traditions. She reveals the real possibility of seeing what we truly are, and embodying it in our everyday lives with clarity, wisdom, and humor.

She was recently asked to contribute to the anthology On the Mystery of Being: Contemporary Insights into the Convergence of Science and Spirituality edited by Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo, the founders of the Science and Non-Duality (SAND) Conference. She teaches in Europe, Canada and the USA, offering satsang, seminars and retreats.

“The true Heart is the space in which we can deeply meet ourselves and the entire world. The way to the Heart is an embodied Consciousness, in which we are divinely human.”

www.shakticaterinamaggi.com

Sunday, Feb. 23rd, 10:00am – 5:00 pm
Sliding Scale: $60 – $120 (cash or check)
No pre-registration.
No one turned away for lack of funds.

Lunch Break:
Welcome to bring your lunch, and there are also various places near the Berkeley venue, to go out to eat.
Note: Per venue policy, only vegetarian food is allowed on premises at Chochmat HaLev

Find out more »

Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ You and I, Identity and Relationship from Silence

Sunday, February 23, 2020 @ 10:00am-5:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

We invite you to participate in this intensive seminar where we will explore the authentic nature of our identity as unitary consciousness and the modalities of relating to others from this perspective. We will use perception as a means of inquiry, and Satsang with dialogues and Q&As to deepen and comprehend fully what we will have discovered through experience.

Shakti Caterina Maggi has been sharing a message of awakening to our true nature as One Consciousness since 2003. Her approach to Self-Realization is very contemporary and accessible, and is profoundly in tune with Advaita and the non-dual Tantric traditions. She reveals the real possibility of seeing what we truly are, and embodying it in our everyday lives with clarity, wisdom, and humor.

Find out more »

Ellen Emmet ~ The Awakening Body

Friday, February 28, 2020 @ 7:00pm~8:45pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

In our daily lives, the body is seldom tasted as it truly is. We rarely listen to its language or allow it to simply blossom with its natural, organic intelligence. In fact we have deeply disconnected from this level of experience and even when we turn back towards the body, we come with agendas and ideas that we project upon it, only to perpetuate a network of tension and density that we identify with as 'myself'.

Ellen’s approach to the body is a form of ‘somatic inquiry’ that invites us to open to the totality of our felt, tactile and sensorial experience moment by moment, free of any agenda. With the help of guided meditation, visualizations and dialog, we will discover our place in and as this open, available, listening presence which is our essential identity. Simultaneously the body will uncover its organic and natural resonance and identity with this presence which is its source and substance. Gently and effortlessly, it will flow with more and more ease, intensity and transparency.

Ellen’s deepest intuition was confirmed when she met her teacher, Francis Lucille. In his presence, she recognized the eternal, limitless and universal nature of our shared reality. As a child, Ellen loved to move and dance. She knew, without words, the joy and limitless transparency that the body dissolved into when it was free and alive. Thus, the experience we call the body has always been central to all of Ellen’s experiences, both in ignoring and in recognizing our true nature.

Ellen offers meetings and retreats, sharing a direct exploration of reality sourced in the traditions of Kashmir Shivaism and Advaitic self-inquiry. In addition, she has a private practice as a psychotherapist, and facilitator of Authentic Movement. She has Master Degrees in Dance Movement Therapy from NYU, and Transpersonal Psychology from JFK, and has a certificate in Laban Movement. She lives in Oxford, England with her husband, Rupert Spira.

www.ellenemmet.com

Suggested Donation: $15- $25, no one turned away.

Find out more »

Ellen Emmet ~ The Awakening Body

Friday, February 28, 2020 @ 7:00pm~8:45pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

In our daily lives, the body is seldom tasted as it truly is. We rarely listen to its language or allow it to simply blossom with its natural, organic intelligence. In fact we have deeply disconnected from this level of experience.

Ellen’s approach to the body is a form of ‘somatic inquiry’ that invites us to open to the totality of our felt, tactile and sensorial experience moment by moment, free of any agenda. With the help of guided meditation, visualizations and dialog, we will discover our place in and as this open, available, listening presence which is our essential identity. Simultaneously the body will uncover its organic and natural resonance and identity with this presence which is its source and substance. Gently and effortlessly, it will flow with more and more ease, intensity and transparency.

Ellen offers meetings and retreats, sharing a direct exploration of reality sourced in the traditions of Kashmir Shivaism and Advaitic self-inquiry. She lives in Oxford, England with her husband, Rupert Spira.

Find out more »

March 2020

Rupert Spira ~ The Essence of Non-Duality

Wednesday, March 4, 2020 @ 7:00pm-9:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

“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 inquiries, 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

Suggested Donation: $15-$25 (cash or check)
No registration required. Just show up & join us. Make your donation at the door.

PARKING: There is some limited street parking in the neighborhood, free and without time limit weekday evenings. 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 »

Rupert Spira ~ The Essence of Non-Duality

Wednesday, March 4, 2020 @ 7:00pm-9:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

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 inquiries, 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.

Find out more »

Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ The Way of Compassion: How Non-Duality Leads us to be in Peace

Thursday, March 5, 2020 @ 7:00pm - 8:45pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

True compassion leads to a profound peace with the conflict that we still have with ourselves and the world. It is the blossoming of our non-dual nature into the human form. The satsang will unfold though questions and answers to explore this topic.

Shakti Caterina Maggi has been sharing a message of awakening to our true nature as One Consciousness since 2003. Her approach to Self-Realization is very contemporary and accessible, and is profoundly in tune with Advaita and the non-dual Tantric traditions. She reveals the real possibility of seeing what we truly are, and embodying it in our everyday lives with clarity, wisdom, and humor.

She was recently asked to contribute to the anthology On the Mystery of Being: Contemporary Insights into the Convergence of Science and Spirituality edited by Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo, the founders of the Science and Non-Duality (SAND) Conference. She teaches in Europe, Canada and the USA, offering satsang, seminars and retreats.

“The true Heart is the space in which we can deeply meet ourselves and the entire world. The way to the Heart is an embodied Consciousness, in which we are divinely human.”

www.shakticaterinamaggi.com

Thursday, March 5th, 7:00 pm to 8:45 pm
Suggested Donation: $15-$25 (cash or check)

Also see calendar for details on upcoming Daylong with Shakti
Saturday, March 7th, 11 am to 5 pm
Sliding Scale: $60-$120 (cash or check)
No pre-registration required.
No one turned away for lack of funds.

Find out more »

Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ The Alchemy of True Heart – How to meet duality from our non-dual essence

Saturday, March 7, 2020 @ 11:00am-5:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

“The Heart is where consciousness abide” Ramana Maharshi

Meeting life and its polarities compels us to challenge our usual defense mechanisms and to access a deeper space in ourselves where manifestation is not separate from us. This space is the true Heart which is where our non-dual essence as consciousness is relating from.

The Heart is the great alchemist that can transform the fear of the false personality into the natural radiance of our being, sat- cit- ānanda (truth- consciousness-bliss). The transformation of the lead of fear into the gold of joy implies dying to images that we had built up about ourself and meeting life from something that is perceived as vulnerable, but is actually openness.
The workshop will be accompanied by perceptual experiences and satsang.

Shakti Caterina Maggi has been sharing a message of awakening to our true nature as One Consciousness since 2003. Her approach to Self-Realization is very contemporary and accessible, and is profoundly in tune with Advaita and the non-dual Tantric traditions. She reveals the real possibility of seeing what we truly are, and embodying it in our everyday lives with clarity, wisdom, and humor.

She was recently asked to contribute to the anthology On the Mystery of Being: Contemporary Insights into the Convergence of Science and Spirituality edited by Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo, the founders of the Science and Non-Duality (SAND) Conference. She teaches in Europe, Canada and the USA, offering satsang, seminars and retreats.

“The true Heart is the space in which we can deeply meet ourselves and the entire world. The way to the Heart is an embodied Consciousness, in which we are divinely human.”

www.shakticaterinamaggi.com

Where: Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St., Berkeley, CA
When: 11:00am – 5:00 pm
Sliding Scale: $60 – $120 (cash or check)
No pre-registration.
No one turned away for lack of funds.

Lunch Break:
Welcome to bring your lunch, and there are also various places near the Berkeley venue, to go out to eat.
Note: Per venue policy, only vegetarian food is allowed on premises at Chochmat HaLev

Find out more »

Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ The Alchemy of True Heart – How to meet duality from our non-dual essence

Saturday, March 7, 2020 @ 11:00am-5:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

“The Heart is where consciousness abide” Ramana Maharshi

Meeting life and its polarities compels us to challenge our usual defense mechanisms and to access a deeper space in ourselves where manifestation is not separate from us. This space is the true Heart which is where our non-dual essence as consciousness is relating from.

The Heart is the great alchemist that can transform the fear of the false personality into the natural radiance of our being, sat- cit- ānanda (truth- consciousness-bliss). The transformation of the lead of fear into the gold of joy implies dying to images that we had built up about ourself and meeting life from something that is perceived as vulnerable, but is actually openness.
The workshop will be accompanied by perceptual experiences and satsang.

Shakti Caterina Maggi has been sharing a message of awakening to our true nature as One Consciousness since 2003. Her approach to Self-Realization is very contemporary and accessible, and is profoundly in tune with Advaita and the non-dual Tantric traditions. She reveals the real possibility of seeing what we truly are, and embodying it in our everyday lives with clarity, wisdom, and humor.

Find out more »

* CANCELLED * – Jeannie Zandi ~ Embodying the Divine

Friday, March 13, 2020 @ 7:00pm-9:00pm (Pacific Time)
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

Due to an abundance of caution over the increasing spread of the corona virus (COVID-19), Jeannie Zandi has CANCELLED her Berkeley event this Friday (March 13th). You can read Jeannie's statement in full below.

You can join her online this Sunday morning (March 15th).

FROM JEANNIE:
"I love teaching and being with you all, and generally nothing but hell or high water will prevent me from showing up for an event. However, after reviewing the available recommendations related to COVID-19, I am cancelling my event in Berkeley. The insistence by health officials for us to practice “social distancing” to slow the spread of the virus to vulnerable populations looks like a fine (and necessary) way to express our love of the collective. I am interested in doing my part to prevent the spread of this virus to vulnerable people and the resulting potential overwhelm of our health systems, and I urge you to do the same where possible.

I ask us all to meet these current challenges with as much care as we can, for ourselves and for each other, and to use whatever anxiety rises to deepen our practice of digesting it, resourcing our bodies and living as love rather than fear. Take good care of yourselves!"

www.jeanniezandi.com

Jeannie’s gift for inviting people to join her in resting and rooted presence evokes a deep meeting with oneself and reality. Within that, Jeannie’s humor and iconoclasm serve to bring people into an understanding that is beyond the intellectual. Through silent and guided meditation, spontaneous talks and exchange with participants, Jeannie will host a space of clarity and warmth where the richness of relating can be explored safely and your innermost questions met fully. Come join us!

Jeannie is the director of Living as Love, a nonprofit organization dedicated to seeding a culture of the Heart on the planet, inspiring, teaching and supporting people to live from their essence as Love. A year before the birth of her daughter, Jeannie was plunged into a dark night of the soul that culminated in a radical shift of consciousness. She is known for her fearless clarity, tender mercy toward humanness, and a juicy, poetic and often humorous style that draws from Advaita Vedanta, Sufism, Christian mysticism and the ongoing revelation of fully engaged living. Residing in Colorado, she travels widely in the US, bringing a down-to-earth embodied teaching of living as love.

Find out more »

Jeannie Zandi ~ Embodying the Divine

Friday, March 13, 2020 @ 7:00pm-9:00pm (Pacific Time)
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

We will be resting in the field of being, maintaining sovereignty in the midst of the pulls of conditioning, living from the beauty and clarity of being, expressing essence in the world, the ins and outs of relating, the healthy flow of yin and yang, and basically everything that relates to the full embodiment of our essential nature.

Jeannie’s gift for inviting people to join her in resting and rooted presence evokes a deep meeting with oneself and reality. Within that, Jeannie’s humor and iconoclasm serve to bring people into an understanding that is beyond the intellectual. Through silent and guided meditation, spontaneous talks and exchange with participants, Jeannie will host a space of clarity and warmth where the richness of relating can be explored safely and your innermost questions met fully.

Find out more »

* CANCELLED * – Ellen Emmet ~ The Awakening Body

Saturday, March 21, 2020 @ 7:00pm~8:45pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

Due to an abundance of caution over the increasing spread of the corona virus (COV-19), we have CANCELLED this event and all other in-person events for the month of March.

We'll continue our Online Events (Live interacttive gatherings) on Sunday mornings, as well as longer online courses and retreats. These are found on the ONLINE EVENTS page on our website. And if Sunday morning is not a convenient time to participate, you will be sent a recording after the event if you register, allowing you to watch at any time that is convenient to you. However, to get the recording, you would need to register before the event.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. We do feel a responsibility to our teachers and our community (both the Open Circle community and the broader community) to do our part to keep everyone safe.

Love always,
The Open Circle Team

Find out more »

July 2021

Adam Chacksfield ~ Falling Open Together

Saturday, July 31, 2021 @ 4:00pm-5:45pm (Pacific Time), LIVE IN-PERSON
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

You are invited to receive the ultimate gift as Adam shares the direct experience of the heart, mind, and body falling open. In this effortless opening, the suffering involved in resisting feelings and believing thoughts finally releases. Your 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 we are.

Adam Chacksfield, PhD leads retreats worldwide exploring the depths that reveal themselves as we become intimate with our embodied experience and vibrantly alive field of relating. He is the creator of the “Falling Open” course and the "Erotic Embodiment & Intimacy" course. He also offers private sessions online and in person.

www.adamchacksfield.com

Suggested donation: $15 to $25

Find out more »

August 2021

Pamela Wilson ~ At Rest As Life

Sunday, August 8, 2021 @ 11:00am-12:45pm (Pacific Time), LIVE IN-PERSON
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

This 11:00 am event will be held in a shaded garden.
Bring layers for the variable Berkeley weather.

(Note that this event was originally scheduled for 7:00 pm.)

Join Pamela and your fellow sages to explore beingness and rest from doingness!

Pamela invites us to uncontain the field of presence, clarity and strength within by noticing the ongoing inner satsang that appears in the heart, body and mind. Bringing warmth and compassion to what is tight or troubled liberates the past from the body, allowing a rooted, clear and free flowing expansion. Life then can live itself, no role play required!

Pamela evokes through dialogue, inquiry and her very presence the qualities of unconditional love and radical acceptance. She is celebrated for her ability to open the heart and create a space in which long-cherished struggles and notions about one's identity relax. Featured in the book Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom, Pamela is at her best in heart-felt dialogue, so please come and bring your questions!

www.pamelasatsang.com

Suggested donation: $15 to $25

Find out more »

Pamela Wilson ~ At Rest As Life

Sunday, August 8, 2021 @ 11:00am-12:45pm (Pacific Time), LIVE IN-PERSON, Berkeley, CA, USA
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

This 11:00 am event will be held in a shaded garden.
Bring layers for the variable Berkeley weather

(Note that this event was originally scheduled for 7:00 pm.)

*** Join Pamela and your fellow sages to explore beingness and rest from doingness!

Pamela invites us to uncontain the field of presence, clarity and strength within by noticing the ongoing inner satsang that appears in the heart, body and mind. Bringing warmth and compassion to what is tight or troubled liberates the past from the body, allowing a rooted, clear and free flowing expansion. Life then can live itself, no role play required!

Pamela evokes through dialogue, inquiry and her very presence the qualities of unconditional love and radical acceptance. She is celebrated for her ability to open the heart and create a space in which long-cherished struggles and notions about one's identity relax. Featured in the book Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom, Pamela is at her best in heart-felt dialogue, so please come and bring your questions!

www.pamelasatsang.com

Suggested donation: $15 to $25

Find out more »

October 2021

Peter Russell ~ Letting Go of Nothing

Saturday, October 9, 2021 @ 2:00pm-3:45pm (Pacific Time), LIVE IN-PERSON
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

This event will be held in a shaded garden courtyard.
Bring layers for the variable Berkeley weather.

Peter Russell will be leading a session based on his new book, Letting Go of Nothing: Relax Your Mind and Discover the Wonder of Your True Nature.

The call to let go lies at the heart of the world’s spiritual traditions. Non-attachment to outcomes, surrendering desires, accepting the present, opening to a higher power, relinquishing the ego, forgiveness—they all entail letting go. But letting go is not always easy. That’s because we often think of it as getting rid of some disturbing thought or feeling. Peter Russell reframes letting go, not as another task we need to do, but as letting in and letting be, and applies this principle to letting go of judgments and grievances, unhealthy emotions and fixed beliefs, and our assumptions as to what will make us happy.

He shows how letting go is key to meditation—allowing the thinking mind to quieten so that we can experience the intrinsic peace of our natural mind, unperturbed by worry and concern. When we do, we discover the true nature of the self—the “I” at the heart of our being. Here, free from the machinations of the ego-mind, we can be more in touch with our hearts and our innate wisdom, and taste the awakening that all the great mystics and spiritual teachers have spoken of.

Peter Russell is a leading thinker on consciousness and contemporary spirituality. He is the author of a dozen books, including The Global Brain, Waking Up in Time and From Science to God. His new book, Letting Go of Nothing, was published this August.

Peter studied theoretical physics, experimental psychology, and computer science at the University of Cambridge, and meditation and Eastern Philosophy in India. And pioneered the introduction of personal growth programs to corporations in the 1980s.

His mission is to distill the essential wisdom on human consciousness found in the world’s various spiritual traditions, and to disseminate their teachings on self-liberation in contemporary and compelling ways.

www.peterrussell.com

Suggested donation: $15 to $25

Find out more »

Peter Russell ~ Letting Go of Nothing: An In-Person Event in Berkeley

Saturday, October 9, 2021 @ 2:00pm-3:45pm (Pacific Time), LIVE IN-PERSON
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

The call to let go lies at the heart of the world’s spiritual traditions. But letting go is not always easy. That’s because we often think of it as getting rid of some disturbing thought or feeling. Peter Russell reframes letting go, not as another task we need to do, but as letting in and letting be, and applies this principle to letting go of judgments and grievances, unhealthy emotions and fixed beliefs, and our assumptions as to what will make us happy.

He shows how letting go is key to meditation—allowing the thinking mind to quieten so that we can experience the intrinsic peace of our natural mind, unperturbed by worry and concern. When we do, we discover the true nature of the self—the “I” at the heart of our being.

Peter Russell is a leading thinker on consciousness and contemporary spirituality. His mission is to distill the essential wisdom on human consciousness found in the world’s various spiritual traditions, and to disseminate their teachings on self-liberation in contemporary and compelling ways. He is the author of a dozen books, including his latest, Letting Go of Nothing, published this August.

Find out more »

October 2022

Rupert Spira ~ The Essence of Non-Duality

Saturday, October 22, 2022 @ 11:00am-5:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

“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 inquiries, 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. He is the author of several books, including his latest, You are the Happiness You Seek.

www.non-duality.rupertspira.com

Sliding Scale:
$60 - Supported:
for those who would like to attend but are unable to do so for financial reasons
$90 - Standard: for those with sufficient financial resources to attend at a fair price
$120 - Sponsor: for those with adequate financial resources and a desire to support attendance for others.
If you are not able to contribute the "Supported" amount contact us at localevents@opencirclecenter.org.

Pre-registration is strongly suggested as seating is limited and this event may sell out. Please print your receipt from Rupert's website and bring it to registration at check in.

Covid Protocols & Cancellation Policy for In-Person Attendance

Lunch Break: There are places close by to go out for lunch, or you may bring your own lunch, though there is no refrigerator access. There's a nice small yard with lawn, and limited indoor space for eating at the premises.
NOTE: The venue is a kosher-style facility, so no pork or shellfish, and no meat mixed with dairy on premises.

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.

Find out more »

January 2023

Caverly Morgan ~ The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together

Friday, January 6, 2023 @ 7:00pm-8:45pm (Pacific Time), LIVE IN-PERSON
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

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 new book:
The Heart of Who We Are.

Caverly Morgan is a meditation teacher, non-profit founder, speaker, and author. She is the founder of Peace in Schools, a nonprofit that created the nation’s first for-credit mindfulness class in public high schools. Caverly is also the founder of Presence Collective, a community of cross-cultural contemplatives committed to personal and collective transformation. She is the author of A Kids Book About Mindfulness as well as The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together.

Caverly blends the original spirit of Zen with a modern nondual approach. 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 and leads meditation retreats, workshops and online classes internationally. More at caverlymorgan.org.

Suggested donation: $15 to $25
Enter through gate on Prince St.

Find out more »

Caverly Morgan ~ The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together

Friday, January 6, 2023 @ 7:00pm-8:45pm (Pacific Time), LIVE IN-PERSON
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

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.

Caverly Morganis a meditation teacher who blends the original spirit of Zen with a modern nondual approach. She is the founder of Peace in Schools, that created the nation’s first for-credit mindfulness class in public high schools, and also of Presence Collective, a community of cross-cultural contemplatives committed to personal and collective transformation. Her latest book is The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together.

Find out more »

Adam Chacksfield ~ Living In Your Desire ~ In-Person in Berkeley, CA

Sunday, January 29, 2023 @ 7:00pm-8:45pm (Pacific Time), LIVE IN-PERSON
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

How do you act and make choices when you realize there’s nothing you need to be or become? How do you claim the gift of your unique embodied life when you see that all stories of life purpose are fictions?

When we are spacious enough we can zoom out and realize the absolute freedom of nonduality, and the open space of vast possibility in which our particular lives are unfolding.

From here, we can also zoom in and explore the inspiration of our deepest desires. Let’s tune in to what lights us up and what shuts us down. Let’s embrace the sensual juiciness of our journey, and honor the movement our hearts and the truth of our experience. Inspiration effortlessly brings us all the way here, move us, and creates our lives.

You don’t need to believe the fear and shame conditioning that has you ignore your desire and instead do what you’ve been taught is “normal” or what “you should do.” You get to live inside your desire, enjoy it’s erotic vitality, and unfold freely without believing in any destination.

Adam’s teaching is an expression of nondual wisdom that also passionately embraces the whole of our embodied aliveness. Adam’s reliable open-hearted presence makes him adept at supporting people in moving through the fear and shame conditioning that so often shuts us down.

Adam facilitates retreats and workshops in North America and Europe. He coaches individuals and couples. Adam also created and teaches a four-month online course called “Erotic Embodiment & Intimacy.”

www.adamchacksfield.com

Suggested donation: $15 to $25

Find out more »

February 2023

Pamela Wilson ~ Letting Stillness Live and Guide the Life ~ Local IN-PERSON Berkeley Event

Sunday, February 26, 2023 @ 6:00pm - 7:45pm (Pacific Time), IN-PERSON Event
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

This event will be held in the large cozy Sanctuary space.

Pamela invites us to uncontain the field of presence, clarity and strength within by noticing the ongoing inner satsang that appears in the heart, body and mind. Bringing warmth and compassion to what is tight or troubled liberates the past from the body, allowing a rooted, clear and free flowing expansion. Life then can live itself, no role play required!

Pamela Wilson 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. She 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. Pamela is featured in the book Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom.

www.pamelasatsang.com

Suggested donation: $15 to $25

Find out more »

Pamela Wilson ~ Letting Stillness Live and Guide the Life ~ Local IN-PERSON Berkeley Event

Sunday, February 26, 2023 @ 6:00pm - 7:45pm (Pacific Time), LIVE IN-PERSON Berkley Event
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

Pamela invites us to uncontain the field of presence, clarity and strength within by noticing the ongoing inner satsang that appears in the heart, body and mind. Bringing warmth and compassion to what is tight or troubled liberates the past from the body, allowing a rooted, clear and free flowing expansion. Life then can live itself, no role play required!......Pamela Wilson 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. She 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.......
Event will be in the large Sanctuary room at Chochmat HaLev.

Find out more »

April 2023

Pamela Wilson ~ Letting Stillness Live and Guide the Life ~ Local IN-PERSON Berkeley Event

Sunday, April 2, 2023 @ 6:00pm - 7:45pm (Pacific Time), IN-PERSON Event
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

This event will be held in the large cozy Sanctuary space.

Pamela invites us to uncontain the field of presence, clarity and strength within by noticing the ongoing inner satsang that appears in the heart, body and mind. Bringing warmth and compassion to what is tight or troubled liberates the past from the body, allowing a rooted, clear and free flowing expansion. Life then can live itself, no role play required!

Pamela Wilson 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. She 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. Pamela is featured in the book Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom.

www.pamelasatsang.com

Suggested donation: $15 to $25

Find out more »

Pamela Wilson ~ Letting Stillness Live and Guide the Life ~ Local IN-PERSON Berkeley Event

Sunday, April 2, 2023 @ 6:00pm - 7:45pm (Pacific Time), IN-PERSON Event
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

Pamela invites us to uncontain the field of presence, clarity and strength within by noticing the ongoing inner satsang that appears in the heart, body and mind. Bringing warmth and compassion to what is tight or troubled liberates the past from the body, allowing a rooted, clear and free flowing expansion. Life then can live itself, no role play required!

Pamela Wilson 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. She 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.

Find out more »

Manilai ~ Sound Bath ~ In-Person in Berkeley, CA

Sunday, April 9, 2023 @ 6:00pm-7:45pm (Pacific Time), IN-PERSON Event
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

This event will be held in the large cozy Sanctuary space.

Join us in a space of connection, honoring and healing.

We will relax and re-harmonize to the sounds and vibrations of crystal singing bowls performed by Manilai. Each singing bowl is attuned to one of the 7 main chakras and helps to clear and align the chakras. You will be invited to completely relax during this one-hour full-bodied, immersive experience that invites deep healing and restorative processes.

“Sounds permeate our systems, resonating with our essence, so that inner dissonance seems almost immediately to be transformed into harmony.”- Dr. Mitchell Gaynor

Bring what you like for your comfort such as a foam or yoga mat, pillows and blankets.

Write up about me:
I went through a period of deep emotional release and healing. Profound shifts happened in my experience of life when I moved from living from my head to my heart. Now I connect to Heart's Truth to guide my way, letting go of the mind's attachment to the illusions of control, security and life story. So much freed when I brought my attention to inner joy and loosened the seeking of happiness outside of myself. I am grateful for this beautiful journey of heart opening and experiencing the unfolding of love all around and through me.

My joy of singing bowl sound baths started several years ago and I felt an immediate affinity for their beautiful vibration and sound. Sound baths have been very healing and restorative for me and I love sharing this with others.

Suggested donation: $15 to $25

Find out more »

Manilai ~ Sound Bath ~ In-Person in Berkeley, CA

Sunday, April 9, 2023 @ 6:00pm-7:45pm (Pacific Time), LIVE IN-PERSON
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

Join us in a space of connection, honoring and healing.

We will relax and re-harmonize to the sounds and vibrations of crystal singing bowls performed by Manilai. Each singing bowl is attuned to one of the 7 main chakras and helps to clear and align them. You will be invited to completely relax during this one-hour full-bodied, immersive experience that invites deep healing and restorative processes. Bring what you like for your comfort such as a foam or yoga mat, pillows and blankets.

Find out more »

Amoda Maa ~ Knowing Our Essential Nature as Open Awareness ~ In-Person in Berkeley, CA

Friday, April 21, 2023 @ 7:00pm-8:45pm (Pacific Time), IN-PERSON Event
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

Amoda Maa offers a profound invitation to all those who wish to embody the truth of awakened consciousness in the midst of everyday life. Her meetings include silent or guided meditation, discourse, and an opportunity to ask questions from the innermost. Speaking with clarity and grace, she invites an open-hearted honesty to the exploration of what it means to recognize and live from our essential nature as open awareness. 

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 of many spiritual traditions. Arising from her own direct experience and expressed in a contemporary language, these teachings are relevant and accessible to all people from all backgrounds and cultures. She is known for her authenticity, depth, and unique expression of “masculine” clear-pointed insight and “feminine” unconditional acceptance.  

Since 2016, she has been living in the US, and today her teachings are followed by a growing global community. She has been a speaker and guest teacher at a variety of conferences, featured in several magazines, interviewed for numerous broadcasts and podcasts, and is the author of several books including Embodied Enlightenment and Falling Open in a World Falling Apart. Her life and work are dedicated to supporting an "inner transformation of consciousness” and envisioning a new world of peace and enlightened living.

More info on Amoda, her teachings, and events, including Bay Area daylong gathering on April 22nd at www.amodamaa.com/events

Suggested donation: $15 to $25
No pre-registration.
No one turned away for lack of funds.

Find out more »

Amoda Maa ~ Knowing Our Essential Nature as Open Awareness ~ In-Person in Berkeley, CA

Friday, April 21, 2023 @ 7:00pm-8:45pm (Pacific Time), LIVE IN-PERSON
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

Amoda Maa offers a profound invitation to all those who wish to embody the truth of awakened consciousness in the midst of everyday life. Her meetings include silent or guided meditation, discourse, and an opportunity to ask questions from the innermost. Speaking with clarity and grace, she invites an open-hearted honesty to the exploration of what it means to recognize and live from our essential nature as open awareness. 

Amoda’s teachings are free from any ideology, and yet the luminous truth is the same nondual understanding at the core of of many spiritual traditions. Arising from her own direct experience and expressed in a contemporary language, these teachings are relevant and accessible to all people from all backgrounds and cultures. She is known for her authenticity, depth, and unique expression of “masculine” clear-pointed insight and “feminine” unconditional acceptance.  

Find out more »

Peter Russell ~ Nonduality and the Science of Consciousness ~ In-Person in Berkeley, CA

Sunday, April 30, 2023 @ 7:00pm - 8:45pm (Pacific Time), IN-PERSON Event
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

This event will be held in the large cozy Sanctuary space.

The spiritual teaching of nonduality, which stems from the Indian philosophy of advaita, teaches that consciousness is the primary reality, the fundamental essence of the cosmos. On the other hand, the current scientific worldview holds that the physical world is primary, and that consciousness somehow, in ways that we do not yet understand, emerges from it. Both views have their challenges. If consciousness is primary, why do we not see it in all things? Conversely if the physical world is primary, how does consciousness arise from something as insentient matter?

Peter Russell, M.A., D.C.S.
Peter Russell is a leading thinker on consciousness and contemporary spirituality, he coined the term "global brain" with his 1980s’ bestseller of the same name in which he predicted the Internet and the impact it would have on humanity. Other books include Waking Up in TimeFrom Science to God, and his most recent, Letting Go of Nothing.

www.peterrussell.com

Suggested Donation: $15 to $25
No pre-registration.
No one turned away for lack of funds.

Find out more »

Peter Russell ~ Nonduality and the Science of Consciousness ~ In-Person in Berkeley, CA

Sunday, April 30, 2023 @ 7:00pm - 8:45pm (Pacific Time), IN-PERSON Event
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

The spiritual teaching of nonduality, which stems from the Indian philosophy of advaita, teaches that consciousness is the primary reality, the fundamental essence of the cosmos. On the other hand, the current scientific worldview holds that the physical world is primary, and that consciousness somehow, in ways that we do not yet understand, emerges from it. Both views have their challenges. If consciousness is primary, why do we not see it in all things? Conversely if the physical world is primary, how does consciousness arise from something as insentient matter?

Peter Russell is a leading thinker on consciousness and contemporary spirituality. He coined the term "global brain" with his 1980s’ bestseller of the same name in which he predicted the Internet and the impact it would have on humanity. Other books include Waking Up in TimeFrom Science to God, and his most recent, Letting Go of Nothing.

Find out more »

May 2023

Marlies Myoku Cocheret ~ A Day of Silence, Movement and Connection ~ In-Person Daylong in Berkeley

Sunday, May 14, 2023 @ 10:30am - 5:15pm (Pacific Time), IN-PERSON Daylong Retreat
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

Join the Silent Revolution!

A wave of awakening is washing over the earth. This is no coincidence. It is the dire nature of our circumstances that guides us to walk the narrow path because truly there is no alternative. The most authentic and deepest revolution is an inside job.
Yes, Mother-Lover-Earth is hurting. Humanity and the animal kingdom are hurting. In the face of this bleak picture, it is natural to want to do something. But what?

First we must ask, what is the root of this human chaos that is destroying not only Mother Earth but also our connection with our True Nature?

When we take our thought patterns about ourselves and the world to be real, and struggle against this false reality, we create suffering and chaos ensues. It doesn’t work. So what can we do?

We can join the Silent Revolution and go inward, slow down, be still and listen.

It is in this way that we can hear our body’s language and find our way back through our precious form as a portal to wholeness, radiance and YOU!

Together we can learn to rest as silence and meet our humanity compassionately with all its struggle, resistance and beauty. Then True Reality, spacious Silent Being, appears which is You! Live as that. Through strong bonds of connection and affection we create a powerful field which washes over the entire Earth and helps all to awaken. In this way, we can get through anything.

This is what is needed, and the time is NOW!

Come and join the wave of silence waking up to Herself everywhere.
Come and join the Silent Revolution!

Marlies Myoku Cocheret 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. Marlies has been offering satsang and retreat since 2000 when Adyashanti asked her to teach.
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.”

www.marliescocheret.com

Sliding Scale: $60 to $120

Pre-Register here or...
Pay at Door when you arrive.

Pre-registration online closed at 12 noon, Saturday May 13th (the day before event)

No one turned away for lack of funds.

Lunch Break: There are places close by to go out for lunch, or you may bring your own lunch, though there is no refrigerator access. There's a nice small yard with lawn, as well as some indoor space for eating at the premises.
NOTE: The venue is a kosher-style facility, so no pork or shellfish, and no meat mixed with dairy on premises.

Find out more »

Marlies Myoku Cocheret ~ A Day of Silence, Movement and Connection ~ In-Person Daylong in Berkeley

Sunday, May 14, 2023 @ 10:30am - 5:15pm (Pacific Time), IN-PERSON Daylong Retreat
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

A wave of awakening is washing over the earth. This is no coincidence. It is the dire nature of our circumstances that guides us to walk the narrow path because truly there is no alternative. The most authentic and deepest revolution is an inside job.
When we take our thought patterns about ourselves and the world to be real, and struggle against this false reality, we create suffering and chaos ensues. It doesn’t work. So what can we do?

We can join the Silent Revolution and go inward, slow down, be still and listen.

Together we can learn to rest as silence and meet our humanity compassionately with all its struggle, resistance and beauty. Through strong bonds of connection and affection we create a powerful field which washes over the entire Earth and helps all to awaken. In this way, we can get through anything.
Marlies Myoku Cocheret brings a potent invitation into the deep Silence that we are. She has been offering satsang and retreat since 2000 when Adyashanti asked her to teach.

Find out more »

August 2023

Manilai ~ Sound Bath ~ In-Person in Berkeley, CA

Saturday, August 5, 2023 @ 7:00pm-8:45pm (Pacific Time), IN-PERSON Event
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

Join us in a space of connection, honoring and healing.

We will relax and re-harmonize to the sounds and vibrations of crystal singing bowls performed by Manilai. Each singing bowl is attuned to one of the 7 main chakras and helps to clear and align the chakras. You will be invited to completely relax during this one-hour full-bodied, immersive experience that invites deep healing and restorative processes.

“Sounds permeate our systems, resonating with our essence, so that inner dissonance seems almost immediately to be transformed into harmony.”- Dr. Mitchell Gaynor

Bring what you like for your comfort such as a foam or yoga mat, pillows and blankets.

Write up about me:
I went through a period of deep emotional release and healing. Profound shifts happened in my experience of life when I moved from living from my head to my heart. Now I connect to Heart's Truth to guide my way, letting go of the mind's attachment to the illusions of control, security and life story. So much freed when I brought my attention to inner joy and loosened the seeking of happiness outside of myself. I am grateful for this beautiful journey of heart opening and experiencing the unfolding of love all around and through me.

My joy of singing bowl sound baths started several years ago and I felt an immediate affinity for their beautiful vibration and sound. Sound baths have been very healing and restorative for me and I love sharing this with others.

Suggested donation: $15 to $25

Find out more »

Manilai ~ Sound Bath ~ In-Person in Berkeley, CA

Saturday, August 5, 2023 @ 7:00pm-8:45pm (Pacific Time), IN-PERSON Event
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

Join us in a space of connection, honoring and healing.

We will relax and re-harmonize to the sounds and vibrations of crystal singing bowls performed by Manilai. Each singing bowl is attuned to one of the 7 main chakras and helps to clear and align the chakras. You will be invited to completely relax during this one-hour full-bodied, immersive experience that invites deep healing and restorative processes.

“Sounds permeate our systems, resonating with our essence, so that inner dissonance seems almost immediately to be transformed into harmony.”- Dr. Mitchell Gaynor --

Bring what you like for your comfort such as a foam or yoga mat, pillows and blankets.......

Find out more »

October 2023

Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ Embodied non duality ~ In-Person in Berkeley, CA & LIVESTREAM

Thursday, October 26, 2023 @ 7:00pm-9:00pm (Pacific Time), IN-PERSON & LIVESTREAM
|Recurring Event (See all)

An event every week that begins at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, repeating until Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

A direct and compassionate immersion into the field of non duality, an invitation to the conscious embodiment of our true nature. Our daily life itself can then be actively experienced as our most important spiritual practice.

The sharing will be followed by a session of Q&A to integrate the message.

Shakti Caterina Maggi is a spiritual guide who has, since 2003, been sharing a message of non-separation and awakening to our true Self. Her contemporary and heart-centered approach to Advaita and non-dual Tantra has supported thousands of seekers who meet her in retreats and seminars all over the world.
www.shakticaterinamaggi.com

Open Circle is hosting a series of events with Shakti in various locations:
See Shakti's California Tour Page for details.
Berkeley, CA satsangs: Oct. 26th & 31st and Nov. 2nd, 7th & 8th (7-9 pm)
Mount Shasta, CA satsangs: Oct. 27th (7-9 pm) & 28th (3-5 pm)
Sebastopol, CA satsang: Oct. 29th (2-4 pm)
Pre-Retreat satsang, San Rafael, CA: Nov. 3rd (7-9 pm)
(Included when you register for the Retreat and can be attended separately, open to all)
Weekend RETREAT in Berkeley, CA: Nov. 4th & 5th

Suggested donation for this evening In-Person: $10 to $30
No pre-registration. Pay at door when you arrive.
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.

For Nov. 2nd, 7th & 8th, Join us IN-PERSON in Berkeley or by LIVESTREAM...



Link to access recording will be emailed within a week after event,
to those registered for Livestream & Recording Access

Find out more »

Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ Embodied non duality ~ In-Person in Berkeley, CA & LIVESTREAM

Tuesday, October 31, 2023 @ 7:00pm-9:00pm (Pacific Time), IN-PERSON & LIVESTREAM
|Recurring Event (See all)

An event every week that begins at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, repeating until Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

A direct and compassionate immersion into the field of non duality, an invitation to the conscious embodiment of our true nature. Our daily life itself can then be actively experienced as our most important spiritual practice.

The sharing will be followed by a session of Q&A to integrate the message.

Shakti Caterina Maggi is a spiritual guide who has, since 2003, been sharing a message of non-separation and awakening to our true Self. Her contemporary and heart-centered approach to Advaita and non-dual Tantra has supported thousands of seekers who meet her in retreats and seminars all over the world.
www.shakticaterinamaggi.com

Open Circle is hosting a series of events with Shakti in various locations:
See Shakti's California Tour Page for details.
Berkeley, CA satsangs: Oct. 26th & 31st and Nov. 2nd, 7th & 8th (7-9 pm)
Mount Shasta, CA satsangs: Oct. 27th (7-9 pm) & 28th (3-5 pm)
Sebastopol, CA satsang: Oct. 29th (2-4 pm)
Pre-Retreat satsang, San Rafael, CA: Nov. 3rd (7-9 pm)
(Included when you register for the Retreat and can be attended separately, open to all)
Weekend RETREAT in Berkeley, CA: Nov. 4th & 5th

Suggested donation for this evening In-Person: $10 to $30
No pre-registration. Pay at door when you arrive.
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.

For Nov. 2nd, 7th & 8th, Join us IN-PERSON in Berkeley or by LIVESTREAM...



Link to access recording will be emailed within a week after event,
to those registered for Livestream & Recording Access

Find out more »

November 2023

Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ Embodied non duality ~ In-Person in Berkeley, CA & LIVESTREAM

Thursday, November 2, 2023 @ 7:00pm-9:00pm (Pacific Time), IN-PERSON & LIVESTREAM
|Recurring Event (See all)

An event every week that begins at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, repeating until Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

A direct and compassionate immersion into the field of non duality, an invitation to the conscious embodiment of our true nature. Our daily life itself can then be actively experienced as our most important spiritual practice.

The sharing will be followed by a session of Q&A to integrate the message.

Shakti Caterina Maggi is a spiritual guide who has, since 2003, been sharing a message of non-separation and awakening to our true Self. Her contemporary and heart-centered approach to Advaita and non-dual Tantra has supported thousands of seekers who meet her in retreats and seminars all over the world.
www.shakticaterinamaggi.com

Open Circle is hosting a series of events with Shakti in various locations:
See Shakti's California Tour Page for details.
Berkeley, CA satsangs: Oct. 26th & 31st and Nov. 2nd, 7th & 8th (7-9 pm)
Mount Shasta, CA satsangs: Oct. 27th (7-9 pm) & 28th (3-5 pm)
Sebastopol, CA satsang: Oct. 29th (2-4 pm)
Pre-Retreat satsang, San Rafael, CA: Nov. 3rd (7-9 pm)
(Included when you register for the Retreat and can be attended separately, open to all)
Weekend RETREAT in Berkeley, CA: Nov. 4th & 5th

Suggested donation for this evening In-Person: $10 to $30
No pre-registration. Pay at door when you arrive.
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.

For Nov. 2nd, 7th & 8th, Join us IN-PERSON in Berkeley or by LIVESTREAM...



Link to access recording will be emailed within a week after event,
to those registered for Livestream & Recording Access

Find out more »

Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ Embodied non duality ~ In-Person in Berkeley, CA & LIVESTREAM

Tuesday, November 7, 2023 @ 7:00pm-9:00pm (Pacific Time), IN-PERSON & LIVESTREAM
|Recurring Event (See all)

An event every week that begins at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, repeating until Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

A direct and compassionate immersion into the field of non duality, an invitation to the conscious embodiment of our true nature. Our daily life itself can then be actively experienced as our most important spiritual practice.

The sharing will be followed by a session of Q&A to integrate the message.

Shakti Caterina Maggi is a spiritual guide who has, since 2003, been sharing a message of non-separation and awakening to our true Self. Her contemporary and heart-centered approach to Advaita and non-dual Tantra has supported thousands of seekers who meet her in retreats and seminars all over the world.
www.shakticaterinamaggi.com

Open Circle is hosting a series of events with Shakti in various locations:
See Shakti's California Tour Page for details.
Berkeley, CA satsangs: Oct. 26th & 31st and Nov. 2nd, 7th & 8th (7-9 pm)
Mount Shasta, CA satsangs: Oct. 27th (7-9 pm) & 28th (3-5 pm)
Sebastopol, CA satsang: Oct. 29th (2-4 pm)
Pre-Retreat satsang, San Rafael, CA: Nov. 3rd (7-9 pm)
(Included when you register for the Retreat and can be attended separately, open to all)
Weekend RETREAT in Berkeley, CA: Nov. 4th & 5th

Suggested donation for this evening In-Person: $10 to $30
No pre-registration. Pay at door when you arrive.
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.

For Nov. 2nd, 7th & 8th, Join us IN-PERSON in Berkeley or by LIVESTREAM...



Link to access recording will be emailed within a week after event,
to those registered for Livestream & Recording Access

Find out more »

Shakti Caterina Maggi ~ Embodied non duality ~ In-Person in Berkeley, CA & LIVESTREAM

Wednesday, November 8, 2023 @ 7:00pm-9:00pm (Pacific Time), IN-PERSON & LIVESTREAM
|Recurring Event (See all)

An event every week that begins at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, repeating until Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

A direct and compassionate immersion into the field of non duality, an invitation to the conscious embodiment of our true nature. Our daily life itself can then be actively experienced as our most important spiritual practice.

The sharing will be followed by a session of Q&A to integrate the message.

Shakti Caterina Maggi is a spiritual guide who has, since 2003, been sharing a message of non-separation and awakening to our true Self. Her contemporary and heart-centered approach to Advaita and non-dual Tantra has supported thousands of seekers who meet her in retreats and seminars all over the world.
www.shakticaterinamaggi.com

Open Circle is hosting a series of events with Shakti in various locations:
See Shakti's California Tour Page for details.
Berkeley, CA satsangs: Oct. 26th & 31st and Nov. 2nd, 7th & 8th (7-9 pm)
Mount Shasta, CA satsangs: Oct. 27th (7-9 pm) & 28th (3-5 pm)
Sebastopol, CA satsang: Oct. 29th (2-4 pm)
Pre-Retreat satsang, San Rafael, CA: Nov. 3rd (7-9 pm)
(Included when you register for the Retreat and can be attended separately, open to all)
Weekend RETREAT in Berkeley, CA: Nov. 4th & 5th

Suggested donation for this evening In-Person: $10 to $30
No pre-registration. Pay at door when you arrive.
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.

For Nov. 2nd, 7th & 8th, Join us IN-PERSON in Berkeley or by LIVESTREAM...



Link to access recording will be emailed within a week after event,
to those registered for Livestream & Recording Access

Find out more »

Lisa Schumacher ~ Your True Nature ~ In-Person Local Event

Saturday, November 18, 2023 @ 9:30am~11:30am
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

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 the truth. 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 lives and questions.

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 Satsang. She has held 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 Eli's "Leela School of Awakening". Lisa is the author of "The Stone I Love", a book of poetry inspired by Gangaji, available on her website and for purchase at the gathering.

In Lisa's meetings, she invites you to sit close and inquire about your awakening, your spiritual questions, and the unfolding truth. 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- $25, no one turned away.
No pre-registration. Pay at door when you arrive.
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 »

Lisa Schumacher ~ Your True Nature ~ In-Person Local Event

Saturday, November 18, 2023 @ 9:30am~11:30am
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

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 the truth. 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 lives and questions.

In the early 90s, a friend invited Lisa 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. In 2006, Lisa was asked by Gangaji to meet with people and share Satsang. She has held meetings in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and North America. Note that Lisa will also be holding a meeting in Sebastopol on Sunday, November 19th (see Sonoma Events).

Find out more »

December 2023

Jeannie Zandi ~ Everyday Mystic ~ In-Person Local Event

Thursday, December 7, 2023 @ 7:00pm~9:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

Spiritual openings allow us to discover the peace and freedom of our true nature, but it is how we take that discovery into the everyday that illuminates and transforms our lives.

Jeannie’s gift for inviting people to join her in resting and rooted presence evokes a deep meeting with oneself and reality. Within that, Jeannie’s humor and iconoclasm serve to bring people into an understanding that is beyond the intellectual. Through silent and guided meditation, spontaneous talks and exchange with participants, Jeannie will host a space of clarity and warmth where the richness of relating can be explored safely and your innermost questions met fully.

Jeannie Zandi is the director of Living as Love, a nonprofit organization dedicated to seeding a culture of the Heart on the planet, inspiring, teaching and supporting people to live from their essence as Love. A year before the birth of her daughter, Jeannie was plunged into a dark night of the soul that culminated in a radical shift of consciousness. She is known for her fearless clarity, tender mercy toward humanness, and a juicy, poetic and often humorous style that draws from Advaita Vedanta, Sufism, Christian mysticism and the ongoing revelation of fully engaged living.

The satsang includes a meditation, comments by the speaker, then Q&A and discussion.

www.jeanniezandi.com

Suggested Donation: $15- $25, no one turned away.
No pre-registration. Pay at door when you arrive.
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 »

Pamela Wilson ~ Peace in the Inner and Outer Kingdom ~ Seasonal Celebration ~ Berkeley Event

Sunday, December 17, 2023 @ 2:00pm - 3:45pm (PT), with refreshments after
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

Peace in the Inner and Outer Kingdom:
Uncontaining the Potent Peace Within

Join Pamela and your fellow sages in liberating that which limits peace inside and outside in the world. As sages we can transmit balance from a distance, helping humanity return to sanity and love.

Pamela Wilson 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. She 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. Pamela is featured in the book Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom.

www.pamelasatsang.com

2:00 pm to 3:45
~*~ with light refreshments and social nourishment afterwards. ~*~

Suggested donation: $15 to $25

Find out more »

Pamela Wilson ~ Peace in the Inner and Outer Kingdom ~ Seasonal Celebration, Berkeley Event

Sunday, December 17, 2023 @ 2:00pm - 3:45pm (PT), with refreshments after
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

Join Pamela and your fellow sages in liberating that which limits peace inside and outside in the world. As sages we can transmit balance from a distance, helping humanity return to sanity and love.

Pamela Wilson 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.

Please stay afterwards for light refreshments and social nourishment .

Find out more »

February 2024

Christiane Prendergast ~ Exploration in Stillness ~ In-Person Local Event

Saturday, February 17, 2024 @ 10:00am~12:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

With gentle movements, we allow the body to be felt as it presents itself, moment to moment. Whether there is constriction or heaviness, we unconditionally welcome it through space-feeling, sensing, as well as with an occasional simple inquiry. With this approach, we experience that there is nothing to do, to change or to achieve. Open Presence allows these movements to free themselves and to be newly sensed at any moment. In this way, we effortlessly become one with welcoming that is our home ground.

We start with a short meditation. At the end of the session there will be a time for sharing and questions.
Please bring a blanket or a mat.

Bio: Originally from France, Christiane was a student of the late European Advaita master Jean Klein for over 20 years. Although rooted in Advaita, Jean incorporated a form of subtle-body yoga from Kashmir Shaivism. It is this approach that he taught to Christiane.

Suggested Donation: $15- $25, no one turned away.
No pre-registration. Pay at door when you arrive.
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.

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Christiane Prendergast ~ Exploration in Stillness ~ In-Person Local Event

Saturday, February 17, 2024 @ 10:00am~12:00pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
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With gentle movements, we allow the body to be felt as it presents itself, moment to moment. Whether there is constriction or heaviness, we unconditionally welcome it through space-feeling, sensing, as well as with an occasional simple inquiry. With this approach, we experience that there is nothing to do, to change or to achieve. Open Presence allows these movements to free themselves and to be newly sensed at any moment. In this way, we effortlessly become one with welcoming that is our home ground.

We start with a short meditation. At the end of the session there will be a time for sharing and questions.
Please bring a blanket or a mat.

Originally from France, Christiane was a student of the late European Advaita master Jean Klein for over 20 years. Although rooted in Advaita, Jean incorporated a form of subtle-body yoga from Kashmir Shaivism. It is this approach that he taught to Christiane.

Find out more »

July 2024

Lisa Schumacher ~ Open Meeting with Lisa ~ Local IN-PERSON, Berkeley Event

Thursday, July 18, 2024 @ 7:00pm - 9:00pm (Pacific Time), LIVE IN-PERSON Berkley Event
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

An open meeting with Lisa is an opportunity to step away from your day to day life and devote time for inquiry into the source of who you are. There will be a few moments of silence to start the meeting and then Lisa will speak and invite you to share about your realizations and ask questions about awakening.

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 Satsang. She has held 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 Eli's "Leela School of Awakening". Lisa is the author of "The Stone I Love", a book of poetry inspired by Gangaji, available on her website and for purchase at the gathering.

In Lisa's meetings, she invites you to sit close and inquire about your awakening, your spiritual questions, and the unfolding truth. The teaching is in the tradition of Gangaji, who is a student of Papaji, who had his awakening at the feet of Ramana Maharshi.

We’ll also have a One Day Retreat with Lisa on July 20 in Fairfax (pre-registration required for the daylong).

Lisa's website: satsangwithlisa.org
Suggested donation: $15 to $30
No pre-registration for this evening event. Just come & join us.

Find out more »

Lisa Schumacher ~ Open Meeting with Lisa ~ Local IN-PERSON, Berkeley Event

Thursday, July 18, 2024 @ 7:00pm - 9:00pm (Pacific Time), LIVE IN-PERSON Berkley Event
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States

An open meeting with Lisa is an opportunity to step away from your day to day life and devote time for inquiry into the source of who you are. There will be a few moments of silence to start the meeting and then Lisa will speak and invite you to share about your realizations and ask questions about awakening.
In the early 90s, a friend invited Lisa Schumacher 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. In 2006, Lisa was asked by Gangaji to meet with people and share Satsang.
We’ll also have a One Day Retreat with Lisa on July 20 in Fairfax (pre-registration required for the daylong).

Find out more »

September 2024

John Prendergast, Lisa Ferguson & Jared Michaels ~ Engaged Nonduality ~ InPerson Daylong

Sunday, September 15, 2024 @ 10:00am-4:30pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
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Engaged Nonduality: Attending to Our World in Crisis
A Daylong with John Prendergast,
Lisa Ferguson and Jared Michaels

This daylong event is an opportunity to turn toward our world in crisis from an awakened heart. Whatever is touching your heart is welcomed, including climate and ecosystem breakdown, war and conflict, injustice and polarization. How is Being moving through us in response? We will explore through meditation, dyadic inquiry, and group interaction what it means to open to our awakened nature, while also being moved by our deepest knowing to respond to our world in crisis.

Bios

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.
www.climatecompassion.org

Jared Michaels is a psychotherapist in private practice in Berkeley, a Zen priest in the San Francisco Zen Center lineage, and a longtime student of John Prendergast. For decades, he asked what he could offer humanity that would make a difference. His answer has been consistent for years: To invite us to walk a path of personal and systemic transformation.
JaredMichaels.com

Suggested Donation: $75 per person
(any amount acceptable, no one turned away for lack of funds)


Pre-registration is recommended, through you can pay at door if not pre-registered.

Lunch Break: There are places close by to go out for lunch, or you may bring your own lunch, though there is no refrigerator access.
NOTE: The venue is a kosher-style facility, so no pork or shellfish, and no meat mixed with dairy on premises.

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.
Nearby parking may fill up quickly. Plan accordingly.

Find out more »

John Prendergast, Lisa Ferguson & Jared Michaels ~ Engaged Nonduality ~ InPerson Daylong

Sunday, September 15, 2024 @ 10:00am-4:30pm
Chochmat HaLev, 2215 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA United States
+ Google Map

This daylong event is an opportunity to turn toward our world in crisis from an awakened heart. Whatever is touching your heart is welcomed, including climate and ecosystem breakdown, war and conflict, injustice and polarization. How is Being moving through us in response? We will explore through meditation, dyadic inquiry, and group interaction what it means to open to our awakened nature, while also being moved by our deepest knowing to respond to our world in crisis.

John Prendergast studied with the European sage Jean Klein for many years as well as with Adyashanti who gave dharma transmission to John in August, 2023. Lisa Ferguson is the founder of Climate Compassion, and has focused on supporting planetary well-being as a healing arts practitioner, climate justice activist, organizer and contemplative.  Jared Michaels is a psychotherapist, a Zen priest, and a longtime student of John Prendergast. For decades, he asked what he could offer humanity that would make a difference. His answer: To invite us to walk a path of personal and systemic transformation.

Find out more »
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