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The first class is
designed to be an introductory session, for students
and practitioners of all backgrounds, to see if this
is a useful approach at this point in your life. You
can take this class session on its own, and you may
then elect to upgrade your registration to the full
course of study.
Click
Here to Register Now
Class 2 - Getting
Unstuck : From Ego-Identity to Open-Hearted Awareness
Sunday, October 19, 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm
“The
most important journey we take in this life is from
the head to the heart." - Native American Saying
The Buddhist
word for suffering, dhukka, literally means
"stuck," as in a wheel stuck in a rut. The
Christian term “repent” means to change,
as in turn around. We will focus on experiential ways
for our awareness to become unstuck from its identification
with thinking and ego-identity, so that we can turn
to find the non-judgmental presence that is our true
nature.
When awareness is not occupied with the information
of the mind we can connect to the peace that passes
understanding and discover the love that has no conditions.
This natural wakefulness is able to bear what seemed
unbearable and respond, rather than react, to the pain
and ignorance in the world.
Without going back to the mind for a second opinion,
there is an opportunity to see through the fear of fear
and feel the ground of being, the basic goodness at
the root of who we are. We will learn to “hang
out” as open hearted awareness and marinate in
this ground of being.
Click
Here to Register Now
Class 3 - Who
Am I? Moving from Spiritual Experience to Spiritual
Awakening
Sunday, November 23, 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm
“The
door is round and open, don't go back to sleep."
- Rumi
 Many
of us have had a glimpse of Awake Awareness; it is often
initially perceived as a spiritual experience such as
“I am one with everything” or “I am
aware of vast peace.” However, until this wakefulness
embodies, we can bounce back and forth finding it and
losing it.
It is not about the experiences but who the experiences
are appearing to. This shift from our ego-identity to
Being awareness takes some getting used to, and there
can be the experience of being snapped back like a rubber
band to the habits of the old identity. “I’ve
got it!” “I’ve lost it!” We
are moving from an initial recognition of Awake Awareness
to a realization of Beingness. Today, we will experientially
explore the myths, the pitfalls and the eddies in the
course of awakening.
Spiritual experience is a state, which can seem like
it comes and goes; spiritual awakening is a shift of
identity to Being Awareness. It cannot be grasped by
the ego but it can live this life.
Click
Here to Register Now
Class 4 - Waking
In: Experiencing Embodied Awareness
Sunday, December 14, 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm
“Form
is empty, emptiness is form.” – from The
Heart Sutra
One
of the most profound meanings of non-duality is that
it includes both the transcendent, vast, pure awareness
and relative, everyday reality. We will explore the
Heart Intelligence of awareness that knows from the
inside, and discover freedom from reactivity to pleasant
and unpleasant experience. We will investigate how Awake
Awareness can naturally be with pain without suffering,
and be with pleasure without grasping.
Just as initial awakening can be unhooking from thinking,
the beginning of embodied awakening is connecting to
the natural intelligence that is both outside and inside.
This “Waking In” shifts the center from
the head to open-hearted awareness. The emotional knots
of core beliefs and story begin to be untied and detoxed,
returning life energy to its natural condition.
This process may unfold by itself, but to support it
we will learn natural inquiry. Natural inquiry is the
way Awake Awareness explores what is appearing as the
world, and can know itself as spirit embodied, incarnated.
Click
Here to Register Now
 Evening
Gatherings that
Complement the Day Classes
The following evening gatherings
with Loch Kelly combine dialogue, meditation and inquiry.
A wonderful supplement to the Day Classes, evening gatherings
offer students opportunities to deepen their exploration
of Awake Awareness and practice with others. These gatherings
are invitations for participants to recognize, realize,
and rest as that which they have always been. Join Loch
Kelly in deep silence and living inquiry as he offers
profound, yet simple direct doorways into the freedom
of natural wakefulness.
Awake
Awareness: The Ultimate Medicine --
Wednesday, October 8, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
The Wisdom of Not-Knowing
-- Wednesday, November 12, 7:00
pm to 9:00 pm
Who Am I? Natural Inquiry
-- Tuesday, December 2, 7:00 pm
to 9:00 pm
Click
Here to Register Now
 Loch
Kelly, MDiv., LCSW has a Masters in Clinical
Social Work from Columbia University and a Masters from
Union Theological Seminary in Psychiatry and Religion,
where he was awarded a fellowship to study Buddhism
and Advaita in Sri Lanka, India and Nepal from 1981-1982.
A licensed psychotherapist, Loch was asked to teach
meditation by Mingyur Rinpoche and the direct path of
non-duality by Adyashanti. He is the founder of the
Natural Wakefulness Center in New York City.
www.lochkelly.org
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this
Awake Awareness is not the exclusive province of mystics,
monks and the fortunate few who are graced but is equally
available to every human being. Moreover, it is our
natural state, not something that is created or achieved.
Most in our society have not been aware of this overlooked
aspect of consciousness. Yet it can be known –
if one knows where to look, what to look for and who’s
looking.