Groups: online groups are currently forming

Being Human and Waking Up: Mastering the human experience and moving towards liberation

This new group is a 13-week opportunity to learn to master your own humanness: how to deal with thoughts, emotions, and your physical life. The purpose of learning these skills is to clear enough ‘space’ to move towards spiritual Liberation, which eventually produces the freedom from suffering and the equanimity that humans desire. We first cover the basic human skills and then move on towards initial spiritual awakening!

The cost is $600 for the course ($50 per week plus a free week, like a “baker’s dozen.”).  The venue is online on Zoom. The maximum number of participants per group is 20. You will be sent the Zoom link when you’ve paid for the course. There are no refunds, so please commit to doing this for 3+ months.

I will be offering these courses in 1-hour bite-sized pieces, at Noon Eastern U.S. Time (5PM in Europe), and a separate course at 7PM Eastern U.S. Time. With enough interest, groups will be available Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The first classes will start on Wednesday January 8th, 2025.  You can register here: https://www.simplyawake.com/product/experiments-in-being-human-and-waking-up-7pm-eastern/ 

Topics will be based on my book Being Human and Waking Up and include the following chapter headings which will be grouped together two chapters per week.  Please purchase a paperback copy of the book the day you register, so that you can begin reading. Book Link:  https://a.co/d/01EQLJdU.  You’ll use the paperback version so you can do the exercises right in context, in the book, and so you have space for notes while reading and when taking the course.  There is a lot of information packed into each chapter and each week of the course.

• Introduction.
• Chapter 1: The Big Picture.
• Chapter 2: Both Being an Effective Human Being and Proceeding to Spiritual Awakening are Possible.
• Chapter 3: Thoughts and Thinking I.
• Chapter 4: Thoughts and Thinking II.
• Chapter 5 Thoughts and Thinking III.
• Chapter 6: Thoughts and Thinking IV.
• Chapter 7: An Essential Practice Called “Thought-Busting,” a Practice to Break the Fixation on Thought.
• Chapter 8: Emotional Tracking I — Lie-Based Emotions.
• Chapter 9: Emotional Tracking II: Truth-Based Emotions.
• Chapter 10: Emotional Tracking III: Complex Emotional Responses.
• Chapter 11: Emotional Tracking IV. Journaling Practice – Explore to the Core to Empower Emotion..
• Chapter 12: Sensations and Perceptions– Simple Gateways to Living in Each Moment.
• Chapter 13:  An Important Practice — Caring for Yourself and Caring for Others.
• Chapter 14: Meditation and Its Many Benefits.
• Chapter 15:  Essential Practice #2 – Meditation Basics.
• Chapter 16: Some Essentials about Awareness and Attention that come from Meditation.
• Chapter 17: Essential Practice #3 – Living in the Moment, sometimes called Being Present or Mindfulness.
• Supplemental Practice–The Body is a ‘Truth Meter.’
• Chapter 18: Ego and the Dreamstate.
• Chapter 19: The Mystery: A Different Model of “You.”
• Chapter 20: The Nature of Awareness, the Realization at the Heart of Spiritual Awakening.
• Chapter 21: The World is Unreal, Brahman Alone is Real, The World is Brahman.
• Chapter 22: Spiritual Purification or Transformation.
• Chapter 23: Awareness and Living in a Reality of Stillness AND Movement also known as Shiva and Shakti.
• Chapter 24: Avoiding the Traps of Awakening.
• Chapter 25: The Myths of Enlightenment.
• Chapter 26: Spiritual Distractions and Spiritual Materialism.
• Chapter 27: Here You Are, Now What? Returning from the Mountain to the Marketplace.

Monthly Meditation and Liberation Group: First Tuesdays of the Month from 7:00pm to 8:30pm.

Beginning the first Tuesday of October, which is October 1st, 2024, the Monthly Meditation Group will return in my office in Holicong, Pennsylvania. To spell it out: we will meet the first Tuesday of each month from 7:00pm to 8:30pm. The fee for this class is $20 to $40 depending on your income and financial means. We’ll meet for a half-hour of meditation and then Question and Answer time for an hour afterwards. After meditation, we’ll have a 5-minute break to heat the kettle for self-serve tea (provided for your refreshment).

Transforming the Shadow.  Groups form when enough people are interested in doing deep Shadow Work in service to ultimate Liberation:

We take a deep look at each group member’s stated goals for spiritual and psychological transformation.

• We look carefully at the stories and patterns that obstruct those goals.
• We support each other’s transformation with a period of meditation, and by offering our collective learning on overcoming such problems.
• As the guide, I take an active role in keeping the group safe and offering suggestions from my own awakening pathway and psychological studies, while attempting to help members see how much valuable experience they already have and can offer to each other.
• We meet once per month on an evening chosen by the group, from 7 to 8:30pm (more often if the group decides they want more frequency).
• The fee is $60 for each meeting, limited to 8 people.
• The groups start in either September or January and run for either an academic or calendar year. They may continue past the original end date, if the group desires.

Retreats in Buckingham, PA will be offered on Saturdays starting in 2025.

These are limited to 10 participants on chairs, and 5 more who bring their own meditation cushions and back-jacks.  The cost is $150 for the day. We meet from 9:30am to 5:30pm with an hour break for lunch at 1PM.

We mix meditation sessions of varying lengths, with mindfulness exercises, and Q&A time.  The first retreat date will be announced in January 2025.