Inner Transformation As Our Core Need

Guest Presenter: Rahul Brown
Entrepreneur, Filmmaker & Social Artist

Date: March 22, 2014
Time: 2 - 4pm
Venue: San Francisco Meditation Center

If anyone were to make a file on Rahul, it would go into the folder "unclassified". His interests and experiments reach far beyond his formal education and work experience. From working at a technology startup, advocating for alternative healthcare to working with a power company, and taking years off to volunteer in the slums of India, Rahul's journey is characterized by a sincere search for living a life aligned to values. 

  

Along the way, he self-educates himself on the state of the world in various dimensions of economics, politics, religion and non-profits without the biases and limitations that come with academic settings. This has enabled him to dive into a series of service projects (such as directing and producing films as a gift) and personal experiments (such as living gift-economy for one year) through which he tries to balance his social, spiritual and livelihood needs. His spirit shines through in his recent commencement address in San Francisco. On top of it all, Rahul finds joy in small acts and cultivating community. When serendipity invites him to have dinner at the White House, he compiled a series of kindness stories to gift to the First Lady. When a friend came under a series of unfortunate events, he and his wife Asha orchestrated anonymous gifting from friends who rose up in support. From consistently hosting friends and family for dinner, practicing generosity with his relatives, and-- as a new father-- giving and growing in love through his baby daughter, Rahul seeks to maximize truth, love, and happiness in life.

Rahul is also an active volunteer in the ServiceSpace ecosystem, works as Chief Solutions Officer for Infinote, is an award-winning filmmaker, and a student of Vipassana meditation.  

Welcoming Everything!

Date: January 25, 2014
Time: 2 - 4pm
Venue: San Francisco Meditation Center


Newt Bailey, a trainer with Bay Area Nonviolent Communication and founder of Communication Dojo, where he shares his approach Nonviolent Communication (NVC). In his private practice as a communication trainer and coach, mediator, and facilitator, Newt works with couples, and with organizations in the for-profit, education, and not-for-profit sectors. He has also taught NVC in San Quentin state prison. He also teaches yearlong conflict resolution programs in the USA and Europe. 

NVC informs and shapes Newt's spiritual life and he is persistently drawn to exploring the meeting point and overlap between NVC and other spiritual traditions, with a particular focus on non-dual spiritual teachings. 

Newt received an MA in Physics from Oxford University in England. He then worked briefly in sales, followed by seven years as a high school math teacher and department chair, before moving into software engineering and corporate management. After leaving the corporate world in 2004 Newt started to study NVC mediation, and has been studying and sharing NVC ever since.

Impressions from my journey to Working for Good and Conscious Capitalism

Guest Presenter: Jeff Klein
Activator, Author, Producer & Process Facilitator

Date: December 14, 2013
Time: 2 - 4pm
Venue: San Francisco Meditation Center

For the past 30+ years Jeff has pursued a "calling" to leverage the power of business for the greater good and to make my work his spiritual path. He will share stories, insights and milestones from his journey, and raise questions for the participants.

As CEO of Working for Good, Jeff Klein activates, produces and facilitates mission-based, Stakeholder Engagement Marketing™ campaigns and Conscious Culture development programs.

Jeff serves as Director of Marketing & Business Development for Conscious Capitalism, Inc. and producer of Conscious Capitalism events. He authored the award-winning book, Working for Good: Making a Difference While Making a Living and the newly released book, It's Just Good Business: The Emergence of Conscious Capitalism & the Practice of Working for Good, an introduction to Conscious Capitalism designed to be read in less than 30 minutes!

Jeff also serves as Executive Director of BeingHuman.org and producer of Being Human events.  He loves surfing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, ChiRunning and moving in general, and is an actively engaged father of a teenage daughter.

For more information, visit workingforgood.com

How To Be An Eartling

Presenter: Wes Nisker
Radio Host, Buddhist Teacher

Date: Saturday, September 14th
Time: 2 - 4pm
Venue: Brahma Kumaris Meditation Center

Wes "Scoop" Nisker is a Buddhist meditation teacher, author and performer. His books include the newly edited version of his national bestseller, Essential Crazy Wisdom and Buddha's Nature (Random House), The Big Bang, The Buddha, and the Baby Boom (HarperSanFrancisco), and his most recent book Crazy Wisdom Saves the World Again! (Stonebridge Press) Mr. Nisker is also the founder and co-editor of the international Buddhist journal "Inquiring Mind."

For nearly 40 years, Mr. Nisker has worked in radio, first as a news anchor and more recently as a commentator, during his career winning the Billboard Magazine, Columbia School of Journalism, and San Francisco Media Alliance awards for excellence in FM radio programming.

Mr. Nisker has studied Buddhist meditation for over three decades with teachers in Asia and America, and for the past 15 years has been leading his own retreats and workshops in Buddhist insight meditation and philosophy at venues internationally. He is an affiliate teacher at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California, and does regular workshops at Esalen Institute and other retreat centers.

For the past year and a half Mr. Nisker has been performing his monologue to critical acclaim in venues around the country, including the Berkeley Rep, the Freight and Salvage and the Throckmorton Theater.

Man on Purpose: A New Roadmap of Success for Men in an Evolving World

Guest Presenter: Chris Kyle
Creator of Power of Purpose Online Summit

Date: Saturday, July 20th
Time: 2 - 4pm
Venue: Brahma Kumaris Meditation Center

"We are at an important juncture in our culture today where more and more men are asking themselves the key BIG questions like these: What does it really mean to be a man; What does success look like for me now; Is there more for me to give to the world. . .
to make a real difference; and How do I create a happier and more fulfilled life? More than ever it's critical that men answer these questions for themselves and consciously grow and adapt to meet the challenges and opportunities of our day. The old models of masculinity no longer serve in a rapidly evolving world that now needs more conscious and purposeful men who are committed to bringing forth their gifts to serve the higher good. We will explore this new emerging terrain that men are navigating through, and Chris will provide some personal insights as to where he
believes we are heading as men."

Chris Kyle is a speaker, teacher, business coach and founder of The Ascendant Company, an eLearning consulting firm that helps authors, teachers and organizations build online learning programs and highly-engaged global learning communities that unite and inspire people across cultures.

Chris also walks-his-talk by developing and teaching his own public online learning programs in the areas of purpose, success and authentic leadership. He recently created the Power of Purpose Online Summit, which drew 5000 participants from 85 countries; and the Man On Purpose 7-week Online Course for men. He is also the co-creator of the ongoing New Man, New Woman, New Life Tele-Series with Amy Ahlers, where he co-teaches with notable best-selling authors/speakers such as Neale Donald Walsch, Gay and Katie Hendricks and Barbara Marx Hubbard.

Chris is the former Chief Development Officer and Chief Marketing Officer at Evolving Wisdom, a fast-growing online learning company that produces virtual courses with leading personal development luminaries. He guided the launches of new online courses for Neale Donald Walsch, Jean Houston, Arielle Ford, Terry Patten and others. At Evolving Wisdom he also co-developed The Way of the Evolutionary Man Tele-Summit with co-host Craig Hamilton. Chris is an expert facilitator of large and small groups and has been leading personal development workshops for over 14 years including with the global non-profit The ManKind Project® where he is a certified Co-Leader for their flagship 3-day training.

Chris has spent nearly 25 years as an executive, entrepreneur, consultant and business coach. In addition to his eLearning experience, he worked in Fortune 500 companies and owned his own eco-adventure travel company for 6 years. Chris graduated from Stanford University where he studied Political Science and Economics.

Wisdom in the Digital Age

Soren Gordhamer
Founder of Wisdom 2.0 Conference, Author
Date: Saturday, June 15, 2013
Time: 10am - 3pm
Venue: Anubhuti Retreat Center

We will spend the day exploring the context of wisdom in our modern digital lives - what does this mean and how can we bring ancient wisdom in the context of a digital age. We will explore what it means to live with greater awareness and purpose in a culture moving faster and faster. This will be a day of deep exploration on how our lives are wanting to unfold, and each of our particular paths. We will investigate the challenges and opportunities of our times, and what this means for each of us as we move from a focus on information and knowledge to a wisdom-based culture.

Soren Gordhamer works with individuals and groups on living with greater mindfulness and purpose in our technology-rich age. He is founder and host of the Wisdom 2.0 Conference, and the author of Wisdom 2.0: Ancient Secrets for the Creative and Constantly Connected (HarperOne, 2009), one of the first books to explore living with mindfulness and wisdom within the context of our modern technology age.

As project director for Richard Gere's public charity, Healing the Divide, he organized The Healing through Great Difficulty conference with his Holiness, the Dalai Lama. He has been featured in various media, including GQ Magazine and Newsweek.com, and has taught mindfulness programs everywhere from youth in New York City juvenile halls, to trauma workers in Rwanda, teachers in Nigeria, and to staff at US technology companies.

He spent a year walking through parts of the United States, India, Pakistan, and Japan as a part of the Global Walk for a Livable World. He later founded the New York City-based non-profit, The Lineage Project, which offers awareness-based practices to at-risk and incarcerated teens.

At the Intersection of Money and Spirit

John Bloom

Author, Artist, Philanthropic Program Innovator

Date: Saturday, May 18th

Time: 2 - 4pm

Venue: Brahma Kumaris Meditation Center

Money is the threshold experience of the 21st century. Understanding it and our relationship to it is key to our capacity to transform the world around us, and to living in compassionate interdependence. Based upon his experiences working in social finance and the social and spiritual insights of Rudolf Steiner, Bloom will share some leading thoughts and engage the group in a collaborative inquiry of how to stand in spiritual integrity while being an engaged economic citizen.

John Bloom is Senior Director of Organizational Culture at RSF Social Finance in San Francisco, where he has developed innovative philanthropic programs and contributed to the organization's thought leadership in the field of social finance. As part of his work at RSF, he has been developing and facilitating conversations and programs that address the intersection of money and spirit in personal and social transformation. He writes frequently for RSF's Reimagine Money blog on aspects of the new economy. He has worked with over 100 non-profits over the last seven years in the areas of capacity building and culture change. He has led many workshops, lectured, and written about aspects of money, development, and governance for non-profits. John has founded two non-profits, served as a trustee on several, including Yggdrasil Land Foundation, an agricultural land trust, and worked as the administrator at San Francisco Waldorf School for eight years before joining RSF. He was part of founding the Live Power Community Farm CSA twenty-three years ago and is still an active member. He has been a frequent contributor to the Biodynamic Journal on topics such as the economics of CSAs and the cultural life of vegetables. He holds an MFA (UNM) in painting and photography, has work in major collections, and sees the integration of the arts as essential to healthy organizational life.

His book, The Genius of Money: Essays and Interviews Reimagining the Financial World (SteinerBooks) was published in October 2009. In 2012, he edited and introduced a collection of essays entitled Slow Investing: How Your Money Can Transform the World. He lives in San Francisco.