Rabbit Hole

TEACHER: Jeff Warren THEME: Upwelling MEDITATION: Transverberation INTERACTIVE PRACTICE: Gratitude Letter In the autobiography of 16th century Saint Teresa of Avila, a cherub flies through the window of her convent and jabs a blazing spear into her heart. This  “transverberation” – a superb word that must be resuscitated – apparently ushered in a new state of mystical consciousness for Teresa, and went on […]

TEACHER: Jeff Warren THEME: The Habit of Looking MEDITATION: Insight into The Inner World INTERACTIVE PRACTICE: Walkabout In the beginning, all is dark. We act and we react. The notion that we may have some choice in the matter – that we don’t actually have to go along with our pinball conditioning – never occurs to us. […]

TEACHER:  Jeff Warren THEME: The Trouble with Peak Experiences MEDITATION: Technology of Bliss INTERACTIVE: Feeling a bit Peaked Peak experiences are excellent. I mean, they’re called peak experiences – what do you expect? They’re fun and rapturous and connected and whatever other adjective qualifies as “peak” for you. There’s nothing worse than finger-wagging spiritual scolds telling […]

TEACHER: Jeff Warren and Christine Pountney THEME: Inhibition MEDITATION: Saying Yes INTERACTIVE: “All Pathology Starts with Inhibition” “All pathology starts with inhibition.” Dr. Henri Laborit said that. I don’t know who he is either, although Wikipedia tells me he’s a dead French guy who experimented on rats. But let’s run with his idea. My friend Christine believes […]

TEACHER: Jeff Warren THEME: Not Knowing MEDITATION: The Beautiful Bogglement of the Beginner INTERACTIVE: Embracing the Alien Meditation is an interplay between knowing and not knowing. Sometimes we know exactly what’s going on: inhale, distraction, butt-itch, eureka! But sometimes – just as importantly – we have no idea. We are genuinely out in the open, without even […]

TEACHER: Jeff Warren and Avi Craimer THEME: God: The Abrahamic Ideal MEDITATION: I and Thou INTERACTIVE: God Party You filthy sinners! You don’t deserve to come to our God Party, particularly after last week’s shocking expose of your deranged spiritual selves. Of course now I am perpetuating the misconception that somehow the whole God thing […]

TEACHER: Jeff Warren and Sarah McCarthy THEME: Premature Enlightenment: How Embarrassing! MEDITATION: Preparing the Body INTERACTIVE: Repellent Spiritual Speed Dating For this special edition of CEC, I will be joined by my pal Sarah McCarthy, a smart Gestalt psychotherapist, who will lead the group in a delightful exploration of all that is most nauseatingly precious […]

TEACHER: Jeff Warren THEME: Awareness: The Nondual Ideal MEDITATION: Unhooking INTERACTIVE: Pointing Out Guidance and Interaction If you don’t know what “nonduality” is, I’ve written a short overview here, and provided some simple pointing out instructions here. Nowadays it’s used as shorthand for a particular approach to spiritual practice that involves orienting to awareness itself, […]

TEACHER: Jeff Warren THEME: The Belief Effect MEDITATION: Powers of Ten INTERACTIVE: How Beliefs Shape Experience We already did this one and it was awesome. Dug into whatever secret beliefs may be guiding people’s understanding of reality and their place in it, brought them out of the shadowy subconscious and into the light of open-hearted […]

TEACHER: Jeff Warren THEME: The Challenge of Feeling MEDITATION: Sensitized INTERACTIVE PRACTICE: The Shadow The inner tracking gets juicier this week, more embodied, into the primordial soup of our emotions. Once we see and feel some tough pattern, what then? One way out is through: we open, we accept. In contemplative lingo, we trickle equanimity down into the interstices […]