Dear Fellow Travellers on the Road of Enlightenment and Love,
It’s been about a week since the 2019 New Year Eve Enlightenment Intensive completed.
I trust you are doing well and integrating into your daily life the depth of self realization you uncovered at the retreat.

Relating Dyads are a powerful tool for improving ​communication,
listening and understanding.    
Learn how to do there Relating Dyad Practice here.
​

​Knowing Your Self: 100 Self Awareness Exercises 
by Yoah Wexler, PhD
​
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1490339434

A poem from Gitesha:

WHAT I AM
I am
The loving presence in all things.
In total harmony.
Bright Clear Unassuming
The feeling of being separate- is gone.
Everything seems to be happening by itself... somehow.
The sorrows, the burdens, the complications, 
that are so central to ordinary life,
are no longer there.
Now there is free space, it’s open.... It is a Miracle!

In loving awe of the divinity of us all,

Running away or cowering embeds the fears deeper into the body/mind.
Facing the fear and communicating what you are conscious of
helps to empty the mind thus leaving you with
​the Truth of who you are.

​Dear Friends,

Please join us for the 40th Annual Intensive, led by Jason Nathaniel, October 24th - 27th at Isis Oasis in Geyserville CA.
Everyone is welcome.

The Enlightenment Intensive combines contemplation with communication in a powerful process aimed at direct conscious knowledge of truth. Over the past decade, Jason has been actively involved in taking, staffing, and mastering Intensives.
He offers a Love Intensive each year in northern California and leads with a freshness and authenticity that have earned him
a devoted following.

For more information about Enlightenment Intensives, please visit: http://highsierra.org/ei.html

Isis Oasis, where the Annual Intensive was held for many years, is about an hour's drive north of San Rafael, easily accessible from both SFO and the Santa Rosa airports. Amenities include a large swimming pool, new hot tub, comfortable double rooms, spacious dorm areas with adjoining baths, and good chairs for sitting.
Tuition is on a sliding scale from $375 to $650, which includes your lodging, bedding and towels, delicious vegetarian meals, and the Intensive. Please plan to pay at the highest level of the sliding scale that you can afford. This will allow others who need to pay less the opportunity to attend. Origin is a 501c3 non-profit, and those paying above the base price will be making a tax-deductible donation to support the scholarship fund. 

You can reserve a place, sponsor someone, or donate to Origin at https://www.paypal.me/originintensives;
or mail a check to Origin, 40600 Hwy 49, Calpine CA 96124. 
For questions or more information, please email origin@highsierra.org. 
We hope to have you with us for the 40th Annual Intensive!
Love,
Osha

Come to the
Enlightenment Intensive
in your local neighbourhood and
Click Link
to ​check out these books on Amazon.

​https://www.amazon.com/Charles-Berner/e/B00IRCAD3M?ref=dbs_p_pbk_r00_abau_000000

The CD has two audio tracks. Track 1 is an audio teaching on how to do the Relating Dyad Process. Track 2 is a 40 minute Gong Timer that sounds a bell every five minutes. This CD Gong Timer is used when dong the Relating.

​www.amazon.com/Yoah-Wexler/e/B001K8N1UM

The mind is a mixed blessing. It has some good features and some bad features. Without the mind, at least in the beginning, we wouldn't be able to be conscious at all A good feature of the mind is that it provides a tolerable indirect way of relating with others. Yet the mind is a curse because it tells us things that aren't so. It is both a friend and an enemy. In total, the mind is more of a curse than it is a blessing. Still, without it we would not get to the place where we can be liberated from the mind and have true consciousness rather than partly true consciousness and partly false consciousness. So in the beginning the mind is a necessary evil, but in the end it must go.

The Mind, Chapter 1; The Mind, The Brain and You. (unpublished)
​Charles Berner

​Amazon Books by Charles Berner
​https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=charles+berner+&rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Acharles+berner+

Orange and Almond Slice
(Lesley’s version)
Servings: 32 squares

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup whole almonds
1 cup almond meal
2 cup dried apricots
1 1/3 cup coconut
2 navel oranges (they need to be seedless as they are processed whole)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup yoghurt
1 tsp cinnamon

1. Heat oven to 180oC. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Reduce the whole oranges into a pulp in food processor (or use a stick blender), tip into a large bowl.
3. Place the whole almonds and apricots in the processor and roughly chop, tip into the bowl withe oranges.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and mix to combine.
5. Tip the mixture into the lined tin and press down firmly to ensure it will hold together when baked, bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top turns golden.
6. Leave to cool in the tin for 15-20 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack. Once completely cool, cut into squares and store in an airtight container.

Notes:  
Sweeten this recipe with any dried fruit that appeals, be it sultanas, prunes, cranberries or peaches.  Equally, if you prefer other nuts to almonds, swap them out too.  Macadamias, pistachios or cashews would be great.  Freshly ground cardamom seeds, instead of the cinnamon would be a delicious addition too.  
Source: https://ourkitchen.fisherpaykel.com/recipe/orange-and-almond-slice/

Original Version:
1 1/2 cups oats
1 cup almonds, roughly ground
1 cup apricots, roughly chopped
2/3 cup coconut
1 orange, processed whole
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup yogurt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Pre EI Teaching: The Enlightenment Technique
Click here to read the entire essay:
https://www.enlightenmentintensive.com.au/pre-ei-teaching-the-enlightenment-technique.html

2018 July Enlightenment Intensive
29 June - 5 July 2018
Adelaide, South Australia
6.5 Days or 4.5 Days

The up coming July 4th weekend is the 50th Anniversary of the first Enlightenment Intensive. I recall Charles Berner, the originator of the EI commenting that if the Enlightenment Intensive is still being practiced in 100 years then it will have established it’s mark on the evolution of awakening practices and probably will continue on into the future.  I suspect it just might make it to that 100 year anniversary.

I will be facilitating an Enlightenment Intensive to celebrate the 50th Anniversary and I invite you to celebrate with me and a few friends.  It will be held on the 29 June - 5 July 2018.  You can choose 4.5 days or 6.5 days of celebration. Click here to register for the Early Bird price.

If you’re wondering what the Enlightenment Intensive is all about these few words from Pamela who participated in the 2018 Easter EI says it all:

Day 3 of the Enlightenment Intensive, finally my mind and body surrendered. At first a feeling of lightness in contemplation and that I was not part of my body, and then explosively a huge thrust of energy occurred from my seat to the top of my head and then out of my head. My head and heart felt enormous and I knew my body could not possibly contain what I had just experienced… I knew exactly who I was. I was in union with God.
‘I am here, I-am-here, I was always here’…. then I broke into laughter, loud raucous uncontrollable laughter that went on and on and on, ‘hallelujah’, a Direct Experience.  ‘I’ thought it was so hilarious that I had just dis-covered and experienced the truth about who I really was beyond any intellectual understanding. I’ve been so busy and my mind so crammed with distractions in life that I didn’t give myself sufficient space to spend time with the real ‘Me’. Thank you dyad partners for listening and sharing this experience with me. Thank you Yoah for such clear instruction and guidance."

There are 2 WAYS to view this material.
1. Request ENLIGHTENMENT, the FREE eBook: yoah@enlightenment intensive.com.au
2. Enlightenment and the Enlightenment Intensive, Vol 1, by Charles Berner, available in paper or kindle
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1492267546

Many years later Charles Berner wrote in Consciousness of Truth that:
“Enlightenment is consciousness of a state of direct knowledge of yourself as you truly are.

When we think of how we know something, we usually think of consciously receiving information through our senses and processing it with our brains. Direct knowledge (Direct Experience), however, does not involve consciousness, the senses, or the brain. Direct knowledge is very much like this dictionary definition of intuition: ‘the power of the mind by which it immediately perceives the truth of things without reasoning or analysis; immediate knowledge in contrast with mediate (indirect, dependent) knowledge.’

The difference between direct knowledge as it is used here and intuition is that intuition is a power of the mind to know things in or of the world, and direct knowledge is a power of the actual individual by which one knows actual individuals.

The experience of direct knowledge is one of just knowing, like the way that you know anything that requires no thought process – your own name, for instance, or where the kitchen is in your house, or how to ride a bicycle. However, direct knowledge differs from these examples in that each of them has had a prior history of learning before entering the realm of intuitive knowledge, whereas the intrinsic, fundamental ability of each of us to directly know is timeless. It is exercised in the eternal realm of the true individual.”
Want to read more from Consciousness of Truth, Click Here.

Here’s some very insightful and inspirational feedback and comments from Gitesha, Lany, Mattice, Prem and Jim.  If you haven’t yet sent me any comments and observations from the Enlightenment Intensive you can still do so and I will add it to the follow up letter and re-post it.

Gitesha
Dear friends
I wanted to say a big thank you to you all for being so nice and quiet during my resting periods, so that not even the incy winciest rustling disturbed my deep contemplation-meditation-sleepy-rest…and my awakening!
Such a JOY to be amongst soul brothers and sisters gnawing away on the ropes that hold shut the trapdoors to the Infinite!
Such a BLISS to serve God in serving each other!
Such a PLEASURE to witness life unfolding moment after moment in the midst of US.
What I AM??
I am one with the task that is asking to be attended to.
I am one with the hand that stirs the pot, and with the other hand that holds the lid.
With the fire under the pot keeping it warm and transforming the myriad of ingredients into a melting meal mass.
I am the ear that listens for the bell in the other room.
I am the fragrantly flavoured scent that lingers so temptingly in the air.
I am the ladle that completes the set up on the serving table,
that ladle that lies there patiently awaiting the hand of another, many others,
so it too can be of service by filling the plate that provides loving sustenance for the one entering into eating contemplation,
which whom I am One as well….I am One with him and with her and with them and with ME…
And as I communicate this in writing,
I notice that I am also these two forefingers so eagerly feeling their way to the right letters on this keyboard,
so that what’s written can be read
and received by the eyes of the many
who are ME in endless variety of individual uniqueness
and who may use what is said here
as another stepping stone into the Infinite, to that marvellous infinite Allness, that IS, always has been and always will be!
With Love and Gratitude

Lany:
Another amazing enlightenment intensive.  The deeper I go,  the intimacy of looking into another's eyes and connecting without mind in the way is the most divine way to relate.

What you keep inside will destroy you.  Liberation is communicating and by communicating to someone who will recieve you in a non judgmental way it will get dissolved out of the body mind. enlightenment intensives wow

Mattice:
What an amazing experience. The English language just isn’t rich enough for me to describe to you what happened, or how good I feel. To cut a long story short I didn’t want to leave. You are right, that moment in a dyad - it is my home.  And I can't wait to go back!

Prem
Greetings brother !! I want to share my experience of my enlightenment inrensive. In this cold morning air my fingers are cold and trembling my body shaking with prana. This prana is the sense i have of myself ,my connection with life and living. I am a hollow reed .To be with self , to open , is a blessing .Thanks to everyone for the wonderful gifts of love , those transcendant moments when fear dissolves . Much love Prem

Jim:
The Transition from will to surrender at an Enlightenment Intensive
I would like to write about what happens for me at the transition point between doing a wilful technique and then having surrender take over in a substantial way on an Enlightenment Intensive. Before I get into this, I would like to tell you a few insights that I've had about will versus surrender. These insights usually happen and also get clearer at this transition point between the two. The first insight is that using the personal will is simply the presence of a 'me' being in control and being the doer. There is nothing more to it than this. Both being in control and being the doer are deep impurities in the body, mind and feelings. Its unlikely that such deep impurities will be vanquished forever by attending an EI, but quite likely that there will be a temporary de-identification from them during a dyad leading to substantial surrender taking over. What I mean by substantial surrender taking over is that one is no longer experiencing that there is a 'me' who is the doer or controller of the body, mind and feelings. There are, of course, shallow forms of surrender where doer-ship and the controller are still somewhat in place, but are in the process of being de-identified from and/or purified. That's not what I mean by substantial surrender in this case.

In substantial surrender, actions still happen, but they occur spontaneously without the perception or experience that an 'I' is doing it. Right at the point when this substantial surrender has 'grabbed hold' of the body, mind and feelings, the second insight that comes is that there was no will used to begin with. In other words, there is no such thing as a personal will. That is, being the doer and being the controller are not only impurities, but they are also an illusion. One is in effect under the 'cosmic spell' that one is using one's will when all along everything was happening spontaneously out of It's own power to act. This brings up the question, “Why call the enlightenment technique a wilful technique to begin with?”. My answer to this is so that a distinction can be made between when the illusion of the doer and the controller are in place and when they are not in place as in the case of actual surrender. Since this particular impurity is a very deep one for most of us on the planet and is most often happening for us, it can be useful to make a distinction between will and surrender.  

Now that I've described these insights, I'll go onto talking about the experiences I've had at the transition point between will and surrender. When using my will, I perceive that I am the one doing the enlightenment dyad technique. I am the one contemplating. I am the one sitting opposite my partner. I am the one being the listening partner and I am the one being the communicating partner. Yet, at the transition point between will and surrender, all this changes. Who or what is contemplating and doing the technique? If not me, then how is it happening? The revelation that has dawned upon me is that the collective non-physical 'field' that appears as the Enlightenment Intensive is doing the technique through each and every one of the EI participants. It was always so to begin with.

When a glass of ice is taken from the North Pole and then transported to a warm and tropical environment, the ice turns to water to match its environment. The atoms and molecules in the glass of ice begin to behave or act differently in the tropics. They start vibrating to match the vibration in the warmer environment, and sooner or later, the ice appears to change into water. Yet in essence, its still the same ice. It is only the appearance that has changed. In the same way, sooner or later the will turns into surrender at an EI, or so it seems. It is the same molecules and atoms, but now they are aligned with the new non-physical field they are associated with at an EI. So then, why is it that some participants thaw out into a state of surrender quicker than others? Well, you can think of the impurities of doer-ship and control in the body, mind and feelings as insulated layers of foam surrounding the glasses of ice. Each glass has a varying thickness of foam around it than other glasses. Therefore each glass of ice will thaw out at a different rate much like layers of impurites temporarily peel off at different rates by EI participants de-identifiying from them.

I'd now like to finish off by telling you the personal ramifications of these experiences and insights. One ramification of realising that it is the non-physical field manifesting as the EI that is doing the technique and not me is that it allows me to relax sooner that part of the mind that exerts force to do the technique. Ultimately, I'm not doing the technique anyway, so its a very good start to at least soften and ease all tension about doing it from the very beginning. In the place of using force and firm brainpower to do the technique, I increased my surrender to and faith in the collective non-physcial presence that is the EI. Could that non-physical field 'take care' of me as a participant to such a degree that it did the technique for me? The revelation so far is a definite 'yes'. And boy, does the EI field do a good job at doing the technique. Hello surrender.

OverviewAsana and Mudra by Swami Kripalu

Swami Kripalu was arguably the most accomplished kundalini yoga master in modern times. He revived an ancient form of yoga taught to him by his guru, whom he later discovered was Lakulisha, the 28th incarnation of Shiva. He called this yoga sahaja, or natural yoga, which is also known by many other names, including surrender yoga and kundalini yoga. Kripalu practiced natural yoga for over 30 years, 10 hours a day without fail. In the end, he achieved nirbija samadhi, the highest goal of yoga.

The hallmark of natural yoga is that it is spontaneous. Once the practitioner surrenders to the Divine and the life energy is awakened in the body, asanas and mudras, pranayama, sound and song, dance, thoughts and feelings all arise on their own. The practitioner merely observes what is happening. After the life energy has been awakened, the kundalini awakens by the grace of God or guru and travels up the spine, systematically piercing and evolving all the chakras. By this means, body and mind eventually become completely pure.

Kripalu believed that natural yoga is the source of all other yogas and should be accorded the highest place. In this book, he combines his own experiences with what he learned from his guru, scripture, Ayurveda, and the modern sciences. He believed both in God and in science. He saw yoga as a science which has its own rules as the modern sciences have theirs. For Kripalu, the spiritual and physical merge in yoga; the evolution of the mind and body is also the evolution of the soul.

This book is addressed to practitioners of both the surrendered and willful paths of yoga. It describes the asanas that occurred to Kripalu spontaneously and gives detailed instructions on how to practice them. It also includes chapters on mudra, pranayama, and all the other components of yoga practice, as well as chapters on anatomy and physiology, psychology, and ayurvedic prescriptions for the healing of thirty diseases. It is truly an encyclopedia of yoga.
Includes 227 color/b&w photos.

Editorial Reviews

"To live near one of the greatest saints of India is an experience of profound grace. Rarely does such an evolved being exist on this plane. And here he was in the spring of 1977, Swami Kripalvanandji, lovingly known as Bapuji, living among us at the spiritual community named for him." —Yogi Amrit Desai

"Nothing could have prepared me for my first encounter with Swami Kripalu. As the 69 year old Kripalu walked into the room, my mind was catapulted into a state of focused awareness deeper than anything I'd ever experienced. My first startled thought was that he looked surprisingly like my grandfather, who was also bald and pencil thin. But the similarities stopped there. Swami Kripalu was a lightening bolt wrapped in an orange robe." —Rick Faulds, author of Kripalu Yoga: A Guide to Practice On and Off the Mat

"His Holiness Swami Shri Kripalvanada was the greatest yogacharya of the 20th Century. He meditated 10 hours a day for 30 years, a stunning feat, in pursuit of the Divine Body. He is revered in India as one of our greatest saints." —T.R. Patel, Doctor of Ayurveda, author and yoga instructor, Ahmedabad, India


From the Publisher