Open Circle
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The Open Circle is a non-sectarian community dedicated to supporting the practices of mindful and op We operate on the generosity of our community.
The Open Circle is part of a new spiritual paradigm grounded in experiential awareness, rather than belief systems. We’re a non-sectarian community dedicated to supporting the practices of mindful and open hearted awareness, drawing inspiration from a variety of traditions & fields of study, which point to direct experience as a source of wisdom and love. Started in Berkeley, California in 2004, the Open Circle now host events on a regular basis in a few locations in the Bay Area and worldwide on the internet. Our mission is to support and make as accessible as possible a contemporary approach to spiritual practice that is grounded in direct and immediate experience, rather than conceptual belief systems. We do this by connecting people with timeless teachings and awakened teachers as guides, within the framework of supportive community.
* Timeless teachings — Our inspiration is drawn from both the world’s ancient spiritual traditions as well as contemporary psychology and science.
* Awakened teachers — Our meetings feature a variety of local and visiting contemporary spiritual teachers, many of whom are respected worldwide. All of them guide people home to the freedom and love that resides as the heart of their own experience.
* Supportive community — The Open Circle supports both an established San Francisco Bay Area community and a growing worldwide community. Locally, we not only host meetings, retreats, and talks, but we also host musical events, hikes and meditations. Our community events are characterized by compassion, mutual support, and dedication to the well-being of each member and all beings. Open Circle is a non profit organization dedicated to making these teachings of wisdom and compassion easily available.
10/02/2026
What if spiritual growth could be not only experienced, but observed and tracked over time?
Saeed Kahn’s approach challenges a common assumption: that spiritual development is subjective, hard to measure, and separate from everyday life. Instead, he offers a path that can be felt, observed, and lived.
In this in-person gathering, Saeed will explore different dimensions of development—from emotional regulation and psychological patterns to physical vitality, energetic capacity, and higher states of consciousness.
The deeper purpose is not simply to reach particular states of consciousness, but to explore what happens when greater awareness becomes woven into ordinary human life—and what it truly means to recognize and live from our essential nature.
Measuring the Unmeasurable: Consciousness, Transmission, and the Science of Awakening
Wednesday, October 7
7:00–8:45 pm PT
Northbrae Community Church
941 The Alameda, Berkeley
No pre-registration — just show up & pay at the door.
09/29/2026
We often think of the mind as the voice that never stops—the inner commentary, planning, judging, defending. And now machines can imitate much of what we once called thinking.
So the question becomes unavoidable: if thinking can be reproduced, what is our mind?
In this 90-minute online gathering, Shakti Caterina Maggi invites us to look beyond thought itself. Thought is not the source of the mind, but one of its movements.
Our true mind is the Heart—not sentiment or emotion, and not the opposite of reason, but the dimension of presence in which Awareness recognizes itself.
In that recognition, thought need not be fought or rejected. What remains is an intelligence already one with everything and everyone.
The Heart Is Our True Mind
Human Intelligence and Connectivity in the Era of AI
Saturday, October 10
10:00–11:30 am PT
Online
Join us with Shakti Caterina Maggi.
Details & registration through the link in bio.
09/25/2026
October at Open Circle 🍂
This month, we come together for a rich offering of online gatherings exploring awakening, embodiment, community, presence, and our relationship with a changing world.
✨ October offerings:
• Ryan Burton — From First Sit to First Shift
• Shakti Caterina Maggi — The Heart Is Our True Mind
• Ish*ta Sharma — The Spiritual Ego and Walking in Joy
• Pamela Wilson — Leaning Back Into Being the Dark Love That Holds Everything
• Jeannie Zandi — It Takes a Village
• Dorothy Hunt — Chasing the Absolute, Returning to Love the Relative
• A***n Mateo — Open Meeting in Presence
All gatherings are online. 💻
We hope you’ll join us. 💙
🔗 Details & registration through the link in bio.
09/25/2026
From First Sit to First Shift ✨
Join us with Ryan Burton for a four-session journey, moving from the first taste of recognition to living from awake awareness in daily life.
Each session builds on the last, tracing a direct path from initial recognition to expressed realization — exploring the nature of mind, the six sense gates, mindfulness of the body, and full release.
From “first sit” to a genuine shift in how life is lived. 🌿
📅 Sept 28, Oct 1, 5 & 8
⏰ 9–11 am PT
💻 Online — recordings available
🔗 Registration through the link in bio.
09/21/2026
Join us with Jeremy Lent and Lisa Ferguson for The Inner and Outer Dimensions of an Ecological Civilization, part of our Engaged Nonduality Series.
If the root of our Metacrisis is separation, then the nondual recognition of non-separation is essential to responding skillfully.
Together, Jeremy and Lisa will explore a vision of Ecocivilization — a world that sets the conditions for all to flourish on a regenerated earth — and the deeper roots of its inner dimensions through nondual understanding.
The gathering will include meditation, a presentation by Jeremy, Q&A, group engagement and practice. 🌿
📅 Sunday, September 27
⏰ 9–11 am PT
💻 Online
🔗 Registration through the link in bio.
09/07/2026
Join us in person with John J. Prendergast for Being Absolutely No One and No Thing. 🌿
When we know that we are no thing, we are free to be as we are — both as spacious, loving awareness and as a unique, individuated being.
Through silent and guided meditations, a talk, meditative inquiry, and experiential conversations in community, we will explore seeing and feeling through who we have mistaken our self to be and discovering what remains.
✨ Saturday, September 19
🕥 10:30 am–5:00 pm PT
📍 First Presbyterian Church of San Rafael
1510 Fifth Ave, San Rafael, CA
Pre-registration required. 💙
09/05/2026
Join us online with Jeannie Zandi for Love Beyond Gender: Liberating the Heart from Gender Conditioning. 💙
From the time we’re young, we absorb messages about who we’re supposed to be and how we’re expected to love, speak, lead, care, and belong.
Together, we’ll explore these patterns with compassion, bringing them into awareness and discovering what it means to love beyond gender and allow the heart to express itself with greater freedom. 🌿
✨ Sunday, September 13
🕙 10:00 am–12:00 noon PT
💻 Online
Join us for inquiry, meditation, and heartfelt exploration.
09/04/2026
Join us online for Satsang: Presence and Direct Inquiry with Stephen D’Amico. 🌿
A gathering dedicated to the shared recognition of our true nature. The session will include a brief meditation and reflection, followed by personalized guidance, deep inquiry, and open questions.
✨ Saturday, September 12
🕙 10:00 am–12:00 noon PT
💻 Online
We hope you can join us. 💙
Registration & details at Open Circle
08/24/2026
September at Open Circle 🌻
A new month of gatherings, inquiry, presence, and connection — online and in person.
This September, join us with Stephen D’Amico, Jeannie Zandi, A***n Mateo, John J. Prendergast, Kristin Kirk, Jeremy Lent & Lisa Ferguson.
✨ Online gatherings throughout the month
🌿 In-person daylong retreat with John J. Prendergast in San Rafael
Explore the full calendar and register for upcoming gatherings at Open Circle.
08/24/2026
Join us for Awake Attachment — Intimacy with Life as a Path of Embodied Awakening, a four-part experiential series with Ajaya Sommers.
What if the path is not away from attachment, but through it—into the embodied realization of being both awake and attached?
This series explores the meeting point where spiritual realization and the living body learn to breathe together. Through somatic practice, guided inquiry, and relational exploration, we’ll work with safety, regulation, emotional presence, intimacy, and our capacity to remain connected to ourselves when intensity arises.
At the heart of this work is a simple but profound reframe:
The opposite of attachment is not detachment.
It is intimacy without self-abandonment.
🗓 August 24, 27, 31 & September 3
⏰ 10:00 AM–12:00 PM PT
💻 4-Part Online Series
Join us as we explore how awakening lives in the body, in intimacy, and in the fullness of a human life.
🔗 More info & registration Open Circle
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