About Events
What kind of events does Open Circle offer?
Most events are group meetings with awake spiritual teachers who have realized deeper dimensions of reality, and are speaking from this realization, rather than only sharing their intellectual understanding of it. Speaking from and as love, as truth, thus offering a transmission beyond words, facilitating a recognition of non-duality, of our formless nature, beyond identification with any form. Integration and healing work are often present as well — addressing emotional, mental, and energetical patterns, including the body and nervous system — all in the context of awakening to non-duality.
Some call this type of gathering a satsang – a meeting in truth.
Other types of events
Occasionally we offer events that are not satsangs (not guided by an awake teacher), though are still in the spirit of shared devotion to love and truth. These can be community gatherings such as potlucks, music events, webinars or meetings with other speakers, small group practices, workshops, etc.
What makes our sessions different from traditional therapy?
The most important difference is that we’re not solving challenges of the identified mind from within the identified mind. The solutions and healing come from beyond it, from the light of awakening rather than from habitual patterns of identification, which allows for a deeper transformation.
What can I expect to take place during an event?
Most events consist of a guided or silent meditation, a talk by the teacher, and time for questions and sharing. There may be other guided practices such as somatic exercises, movement practice, etc. Each teacher chooses the format freely according to what they feel supports their message best, so formats may vary.
What are the common event formats?
We offer one-off meetings lasting between 90 minutes and 3 hours, as well as opportunities to dive deeper with the given teacher during half-day and daylong retreats, or multi-session series. An example of a multi-session series would be a 2-part weekend retreat, or a 4-part weekly series.
We host both online (Zoom), and in-person events, mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area, some of which are livestreamed.