Teachers

Michael McAlister

Beginning in 1987, Michael began his practice and study with the Zen community at Green Gulch Farm in Sausalito, California. Over the years his journey led him to study abroad with teachers in both Thailand and Nepal, where, in addition to broadening his exposure to Buddhist teachings, he also experienced different ways of walking the Path to Spirit. While his teaching is Zen-inspired, he works to integrate several of the Nondual teachings from the contemplative traditions of Vedanta Hinduism, Christianity, Kabbalah, and Sufiism.

After becoming frustrated after college with what he came to regard as “the basic superficiality” of his life, Michael began looking for spiritual meaning that had depth and integrity. He looked into several religious practices, hoping to find deeper balance and peace in a tradition. But over time he became increasingly discouraged with the hypocrisy and the exclusivity of traditional versions of faith.

Then a friend introduced him to Zen meditation and things began to shift. Visit Michael McAlister’s page to read more about his journey and the founding of the Infinite Smile sangha.

June 20-25th join Miranda Macpherson at Esalen Institute for Living Spiritual Depth.

This is Miranda’s most extensive retreat of 2010 and takes place in a beautiful natural environment on the ocean cliffs of the California coast where redwood trees and healing hot springs meet the sea.

As a retreat participant you will join in spiritual community and receive support and guidance in diving beyond habits of suffering to access more of the peace and freedom within. We will also discover how to allow our realizations to take deeper root in our daily life.

Miranda teaches and transmits embodied Self-Inquiry, powerful meditations and devotional practices in a style that is profoundly allowing and real. Additionally, she will share her methods for ongoing practice to support deeper liberation and more substantial access to Grace.

For bookings and further details email programs@esalen.org or visit www.esalen.org.

The only place to start is here, which is to say, in the middle of a life that has no true markers, however much you might try to find or create them.  Here has no need for markers.

It’s a center with no perimeter.  Which is a relief actually—to not have to worry about patting down one’s edges (that are always fraying anyway), or pulling them in or otherwise having to keep track of that fictional construction of I that we’re always fussing with, checking in the mirror to see if it’s still there and how much it has deteriorated since we last looked.

When did I start to notice that all this fussing and checking and tending was such a chore?  I think it happened backwards.  It was after the walls that were keeping here boxed in relaxed themselves, as if the tension that had held their molecules together couldn’t be bothered to get it up anymore.

It wasn’t dramatic.  It was, in fact, a very gradual and tender sort of process.  But at a certain point I noticed that my usual sense of hurtling through the backyards of life on a Bullet Train was gone.  Evaporated.  And here was the only place to be.  I was going to say, The only place I wanted to be, but it wasn’t like that.  It wasn’t a choice.  Here was, and is, what is real and everything else seems to be beside the point.

I hope I’m not driving you crazy with this.  I’m just trying to tell you how it is these days over here in Cronehood or Cronedom or Elderville or whatever you want to call this most interesting time of being alive in my late sixties.  And to explain why the idea of my making a map makes me feel like the handless maiden.  Read more »

June 18-26 join Sherri Baptiste and India Supera on a pilgrimage to the Emerald Isle to celebrate the Summer Solstice.

This Celtic Journey will be an amazing experience and balm for the soul, a tour interwoven with wisdom, compassion and Joy in the Journey.

This ancient land carries an inspirational richness of tradition that will enrich and deepen your own personal journey.

Read more »

Starting with the Truth ~ Sherry Anderson

For many of us the path of spiritual seeking begins with an uncomfortable or painful feeling. To move through it we must start wherever we are yet also we must know the truth of that place, the truth of how we feel. It might be a sense of being alone or afraid or disconnected that consumes our hearts and moves us to find a deeper, truer source of nourishment.

Yet how exactly do we begin?

How do we wake up and access our truth so that we may seek with authenticity the path that brings us everything we truly need to awaken and open our hearts with compassion?

What do you actually do?

In Starting with the Truth Sherry Anderson shares with us the secret to beginning, to getting beyond the stuck-ness of discomfort or pain. Click here to view (#2 in the list).

Finding Your Path ~ Lama Palden Drolma

Whether you are actively seeking or currently following a spiritual path or just beginning to pay attention to a question that is awakening within, the Touchstones video library is filled with our favorite teachers sharing everyday wisdom from diverse spiritual paths. We share this to illuminate and inspire as you find your way.

In Finding Your Path Lama Palden Drolma speaks on ways to take in the nourishment of the divine mother, accessing a living presence of the Sacred Feminine beginning with a simple step. Click here to view.

You are invited to join an ongoing spiritual community that is dedicated to opening into direct experience of The Sacred and living everyday life from greater spiritual depth.

In a tangible atmosphere of unconditional love and presence,  author and spiritual teacher Miranda Macpherson works experientially, inviting participants to bring their deepest questions and concerns as the gate-way into our true nature. She teaches and transmits a unique form of embodied Self-Inquiry, powerful meditations and devotional practices, guiding us in an authentic spiritual life, so we can discover the means to liberate ourselves from the patterns that shape our lives.

Meetings will be in downtown Mill Valley, California on Tuesday evenings from 7:15-9pm on the following dates: May 18, 25 and June 1, 8, 15, July 6, 13, 20, 27 and August 2, 10, 17. The cost is $20 per session or $200 for all 12 sessions.

For more information or directions please email info@awakeningwithmiranda.com.

Sherri Baptiste- Baptiste Power of Yoga on ABC’s KGO Radio (810am) this Saturday!

This Saturday hear renowned yoga teacher and Touchstones resource Sherri Baptiste speak on health, fitness and yoga with Joanie Greggain on San Francisco’s Channel 810 AM. You can also tune in live at www.kgo810am.com.  Catch Joanie’s show 8–10 AM Pacific time – Sherri is scheduled at 9.30. If you can’t make the live program an Mp3 will be available to download to listen later on your computer or iPod.

Mark your calendar! Saturday, May 1, 2010 · 9:30–10:00 AM.

Lama Palden Drolma

One of the questions that drives us – and a question Celedra asks our Teachers is,

How, in the midst of all the demands of a busy life, do you touch the sacred within? How do you come home to that place of peace, again and again, moment to moment?

In this exclusive video, Lama Palden Drolma shares the techniques that allow her immediate access to the peace and calm always available within. Click here to view Touching the Sacred Within.

I see them as the pillars of a temple. A temple of pure, infinite being.

In the same way that a pillar actually holds the structure of the temple up, these are the poles that we need to plant and cultivate within ourself to enable everything to open up.

Spiritual teacher, counselor and author Miranda Macpherson says that your soul knows the way, and when we learn to work with it, instead of interfering or judging our own process we begin to encounter an inherent intelligence deep within – our inner teacher. When we awaken these Five Pillars we can inquire and be taught directly by life, by our own experience.

Click here to view the 11 minute video (#9 in the list) titled The Five Pillars of Awakening, where Miranda tells us what these five pillars are and ways we can approach their cultivation.