Open Circle Center
Open Circle Center
Open Circle Events:

Engaged Nonduality: Awake Awareness, Wise Action ~ with Itzel Hayward, hosted by Lisa Ferguson

Awake Awareness, Wise Action Ñ A Nondual Approach to Anti-Racism

Part of the Engaged Nonduality Series

with Itzel Hayward, hosted by Lisa Ferguson

Recording will be emailed to participants within a week.

YouÕre welcome to join even if you canÕt attend the live session.

Engaged Nonduality recognizes that awareness and response are not separate. The same ground of being that reveals our shared nature also moves as a compassionate, embodied response. In this view, the crises of our timeÑincluding racism and systemic injusticeÑare not distractions from awakening but invitations to live it.

Awakening unfolds as our meeting with reality in all its forms: personal and collective, beautiful and painful, life-giving and unjust. When we allow ourselves to face what is, with clarity, equanimity, and courage, we discover that awareness itself is not overwhelmed. From this ground, wise and compassionate action can arise naturally.

In this session, Itzel Hayward invites participants to explore how awake awareness can support a steady, honest engagement with racism and systemic harm. When we turn toward these realities with awareness, we begin to recognize our participation in them and our capacity to respond differently. This is the meeting point between contemplative practice and social change.

During our time together, weÕll practice in supportive communityÑturning toward discomfort, reflecting on our own participation in systems of harm, and exploring what non-cooperation can look like in real life. Through guided inquiry, dialogue, and contemplative practice, weÕll invite both clarity and compassionate action.

Recommended Reading/Viewing Before the Session from Itzel:

ÒThis video is offered to support and deepen your experience of my upcoming event. If you have a chance, I invite you to watch itÊdownload and read the transcript linked here Ñ before we meet.”

Itzel Hayward is a mindfulness and meditation teacher whose work bridges contemplative practice, equity, and collective healing. After nearly 15 years as an attorney and public-policy advocate serving marginalized communities, she left the law and entered the Integral Yoga ashram, where she lived for three years. Under the mentorship of Swami Ramananda and other senior teachers, she immersed herself in the study and practice of the nondual teachings of yoga in the lineage of Swami Sivananda and Sri Swami Satchidananda. There, she received the name Kamala, meaning lotus Ñ the symbol of awakening, transformation, and compassion.

She creates spaces that support honest inquiry, embodied practice, and collective healing. In 2021, she founded CaliforniaÕs first scholarship-based 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training for BIPOC. She also serves as an Adjunct Professor at UC Law San Francisco, where she teaches Facilitation for Attorneys.

ItzelÕs Website: https://www.attunedliving.com

ItzelÕs Guided Meditations: https://www.insighttimer.com/attunedliving

Lisa Ferguson, Ph.D. is the founder of the Engaged Nonduality series and sangha, which connects the recognition of our non-separateness with our engaged response to suffering, injustice and separation. She also founded Climate Compassion, which supports the inner and outer work of attending to our world in crisis. Based on decades of practice, she weaves the threads of awakening, healing and service, offering meditative inquiry groups, 1:1 sessions, workshops and trainings that integrate spiritual inquiry, psychological healing, and leadership development as expression of our unique offering.

About The Engaged Nonduality series

This Engaged Nonduality series, hosted by Lisa Ferguson, explores how nondual wisdom may respond to our world in crisis. We live in a time of multiple intersecting crises that threaten the wellbeing of all life, including climate breakdown, unaligned tech and AI, injustice, war and authoritarianism. The recognition of nonduality has much to offer in these times, including a deep knowing of our wholeness and shared Being, as well as opening to the wellspring of our wise and creative response. This series invites guest presenters to explore how nondual teaching may respond to planetary crises through talks, practices and group participation.

Sliding Scale: $15 to $40

However, no one turned away for lack of funds.

If you canÕt pay within the sliding scale, contact us to let us know what you can contribute.

Address inquiries to web@opencircle.net

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Frequently Asked Questions

Our online events are always recorded and the recording is sent to all registrants via email within a week, usually sooner. The recordings remain available for at least 1 year. We also occasionally record and/or livestream our in-person events. If that’s the case, you’ll find it noted on the given in-person event page.
It’s part of our core values to make our events as accessible as possible. If you are not able to pay within the sliding scale, we’d still like to make it possible for you to join by offering a partial scholarship. Please contact us on web@opencirclecenter.org to request a scholarship.
We offer our events by donation or sliding scale with scholarships available to make them as accessible as possible. We still however have many expenses to pay and therefore we ask that you contribute as much as you can comfortably afford for an event. Most of the funds are paid directly to the teacher. The remainder goes towards Open Circle’s expenses so that we can keep our platform in operation. Your generosity also helps cover any scholarships we offer to those unable to pay within the sliding scale.
For inquiries about
You’ll find an overview of the nature of our events, including the common types and formats, in our About Events page.
Most events consist of a guided or silent meditation, a talk by the teacher, and time for questions and sharing. There may be other practices such as somatic exercises, movement practice, dyads, etc. Each teacher chooses the format freely according to what they feel supports their message best, so formats may vary.
The recording email may have landed in the spam or promotional folder in your inbox. After confirming it’s not there, please contact our support team at web@opencirclecenter.org.
Most of our in-person events require advance booking. However we do offer some events where you can just show up. Please check the event page relating to your event. We will clearly state there if advanced booking is required. If in doubt, you can always email localevent@opencirclecenter.org to double check.
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