Falling in Love with Silence
Free Weekly Meditation Class
for Integral Coaches
Sundays 10-11am PT, 1-2pm EST, 6-7pm GMT, 7-8pm CET
About The Class
Silence is at the heart of everything. All sound arises from silence, all thought arises from silence, all emotion arises from the ever present silence. Having practiced Integral Coaching for over 14 years now, I know the power of silence and the importance of listening and speaking from silence, and the best way to cultivate silence is in meditation.
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Over the past few years in my interactions with other Integral Coaches, it has been clear that knowing where to go to learn meditation techniques and tools that aligned with Integral theory and with the heart of Integral Coaching is a challenge, hence this offering that is just for Integral Coaches.
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What we will cover
I will draw from a whole range of different traditions and spiritual paths, while staying rooted in the Zen tradition I am a Priest within. Some of the areas and topics we will explore...
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The 3 perspectives on God/Divine/Beloved, the I, We, and It/Its relationship to all that is and the practices that support these
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Breaking meditation down into its fundamental principles and ways to hold the mind
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Stages of spiritual practice
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The role of shadow work, how different state and stage shadows show up, and how to work with them in meditation
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The markers or lines of spiritual development
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The role of safety, trust, power, and love in meditative practice
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Spiritual state stages
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.......and many more topics that will unfold as we go​​​​​
Quietness By Master Rumi
Inside this new love, die.
Your way begins on the other side.
Become the sky.
Take an axe to the prison wall. Escape.
Walk out like someone suddenly born into color.
Do this now.
You're covered with thick clouds.
Slide out the side.
Die, and be quiet.
Quietness is the surest sign that you've died.
Your old life was a frantic running from silence.
The speechless full moon comes out now.
Do this now.
My Spiritual Journey
My journey in spirituality started when I was 15 when I first started to learn to meditate and had a curiosity for all things esoteric.
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At 22 I attended my first Tibetan Buddhist Retreat in Dharamsala in India, where I also got to meet the Dalai Lama.
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For most of my 20's I then travelled the world and visited many retreat centres and explored many different types of spirituality.
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At 31, I moved to the Findhorn in Northern Scotland where I lived and worked for 3 years in this famous international spiritual community.
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After leaving Findhorn I studied briefly with Andrew Cohen before finding my way to Integral Theory, Ken Wilber, and eventually Jun Po Dennis Kelly Roshi, my first Zen Master.
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In 2018 I became a Zen Priest in the Rinzai Zen Lineage with Jun Po, and studied and sat with Doshin Roshi, the Integral Zen Master.
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Since then I have dived deeper into my Zen path, attending 20+ week long retreats, as well as a Darkroom retreat last year.
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I am now starting to lead retreats myself with corporate clients, and with a large proportion of my Executive Coaching clients, I now offer bespoke meditations as practices for them.
As well as Zen, I weave in insights from many different religions and paths, always aiming to find the most expedient way to wake up, and help others do the same.
Enough, these few words are enough!
If not these words, this breath!
If not this breath, this sitting here!
This opening to life we have refused again and again, until now!
Until now!
~ David Whyte
There is a way between voice and presence where information flows.
In disciplined silence this opens.
With wandering talk this closes
- Master Rumi
Join me
If you would like to join this weekly meditation class and learn how to fall more in love with silence, then please click the sign up link below.
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It will be held on Zoom most Sunday apart from when I am traveling. There is no charge for this and I expect no donations, it is offered freely for the benefit of all beings in their path of awakening. It also isn't part of some funnel marketing approach and there is no paid offering this is leading to.
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Each week there will be a Dharma talk on a specific topic, a guided meditation building on that topic that will be recorded and shared afterwards, then some time for Q&A at the end.
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As I also hold a role on the ICC faculty, let me be clear up front, I am not offering any instruction on the method, how to use the method, or any form of supervision for applying the method, this is a separate offering designed to support you as an Integral Coach in your spiritual practice and path of awakening.
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Please share this webpage and link to anyone else in the ICC community that you think would benefit from these calls.
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I look forward to seeing you there. Chris Gyoki Alder
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