The Open Heart Project

Daily Dharma Gathering
2016-12-22 20:00 - 20:30, 2016-12-21 20:00 - 20:30, 2016-12-20 20:00 - 20:30, 2016-12-19 20:00 - 20:30, 2016-12-18 12:00 - 12:30, 2016-12-17 12:00 - 12:30, 2016-12-16 20:00 - 20:30, 2016-12-15 20:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) and 15 more dates
The Open Heart Project is so proud to offer you a chance to:
Practice meditation every single day
Meet and converse daily with a brilliant Buddhist teacher
Get answers to important questions about your practice and your path
Become part of a group of smart, fun, sincere independent thinkers
Join a private Facebook forum to continue the conversation
Daily Dharma Gathering sessions are from 8:00p to 8:30pm. EST on Mondays through Fridays and 12:00p to 12:30p.m. EST on Saturdays and Sundays. All you have to do is log on using the link you’ll receive upon registration. Each session begins with a short talk before moving into a guided meditation practice with time for a q&a at the end.
Each session is recorded and made available for 24 hours or until it is replaced with the next day’s session. So if you can’t join live, don’t worry!
Teachers range from your hosts, Susan and Lodro (who are trained in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage) to Vipassana teachers such as Kate Lila Wheeler and Emily Horn, Zen teachers such as Sokuzan and angel Kyodo williams, and ordained Tibetan Buddhist monastics such as Khenpo Gawang and Thubten Chodron.
We cannot overstate the amazing-ness of these teachers! So many Buddhist traditions are represented in this special group. Our teachers include men and women, are white, black, and Asian, and range in age from twenties to seventies. In all, they represent an incomparable cross-section of Buddhism in the West.
The cost is $20 a month. Once you register, your account will be charged automatically every 30 days, unless or until you cancel.
(Please note: no partial refunds.)
REMINDER: Open Heart Project Sangha members can participate for free.
NOTE: Your registration in this program comes with a free subscription to the Open Heart Project newsletter.
We look forward to taking this journey with you!
Love, Susan
Questions? Please email Michele

Mommy Sangha
2016-12-21 13:30 - 14:00, 2016-12-14 13:30 - 14:00, 2016-12-07 13:30 - 14:00, 2016-11-30 13:30 - 14:00
The Open Heart Project Mommy Sangha: A supportive gathering of moms, stepmoms, and grandmothers to practice meditation together and share our wisdom
Are you a mom (or stepmother or grandmother) who longs to practice meditation but can’t find time amidst the demands–and joys and difficulties–of caring for young children?
Parenting, no matter how desired (and enjoyed), may come with fatigue, self-doubt, and the natural question: who the hell am I now? Meditation can help by offering space to breathe. Sangha (Sanskrit for community) helps by assuring you that you are most definitely not alone. Together, meditation and Sangha can help you to remain present during the long days and short years of caring for your little ones.
Whether you have a meditation practice (or used to have one) or are a brand new beginner, you are warmly invited to join the Mommy Sangha. During this weekly 30-minute gathering, you will be guided in a short meditation practice followed by a chance to connect with other mothers. We will also meet quarterly for a longer practice session and a special talk on how to apply Buddhist mindfulness principles to motherhood.
The Mommy Sangha will exist as a continuous presence for you to participate in as you are interested and able. And, while we will be emphasizing the experiences of caring for younger children, all mothers are welcome.
We promise to:

Provide meditation instruction
Answer questions about meditation
Moderate the dialog to keep it meaningful and on point
Foster kindness
Keep it short!

Where: In the comfort of your own home via the Zoom meeting platform. Each session will be recorded so you can practice with the Mommy Sangha even if you can’t attend the live gathering.

About Jenna Hollenstein
New mom, mindfulness teacher, and Founder and Nutrition Therapist at Eat to Love, Jenna aims to bring the gentle sanity of Buddhist principles to every aspect of her personal and professional life. She is excited to support Mommy Sangha members to create and sustain a meditation practice that creates awareness, lovingkindness, and self-compassion. Her greatest teachers include Susan, her partner Andrea, and her son Mimmo.
About the Open Heart Project
Created by meditation teacher and writer Susan Piver, the OHP is an online meditation center. It shares all the qualities of a traditional dharma center: A shared practice. Workshops. Advanced courses. Retreats. Guest teachers. Community gatherings—all online and available to you 24/7. Currently, there are close to 20000 members all over the world who are practicing meditation to recover a sense of balance, cultivate fearlessness, sharpen our minds, and soften our hearts. While each may practice alone, we also practice together to create a network of sanity and kindness. More information about the Open Heart Project can be found here.
Once you register, your account will be charged automatically every 30 days, unless or until you cancel.
Questions? Please email Michele

Dharma of Writing Group
2016-12-15 16:00 - 18:00
In short, writing is very powerful. Yet, it is so difficult to begin! This is common and natural.
The Dharma of Writing is an ongoing two-hour online monthly gathering designed to help you enter your own writing with the support and companionship of other writers. It will be co-hosted by myself and Kate Lila Wheeler, a novelist who is also an acclaimed Buddhist teacher. During the months that I host, we will gather from 6:00p.m. – 8:00p.m. EST and when Kate hosts, it will be from 4:30p.m. – 6:30p.m. EST. (We will alternate months.) This will give people in various time zones a chance to participate.
At each session, we will practice meditation together and then actually write. Each person will work on his or her own project with the quiet, supportive companionship of writers all over the world. We will convene using the video conference platform, Zoom. Sessions will be recorded and links sent to all, so if you can’t join live you can still participate.
The schedule for each session is:

Guided mindfulness practice: 15 minutes
Journaling exercise (“free writing”): 15 minutes
Writing period: 80 minutes
Check-in and close: 10 minutes

No work will be shared during the class, but the group will have a private forum on our site for anyone who would like to post their writing.
Open to writers of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, screenplays, and song—and anyone who would simply like to explore writing as a practice.
Subsequent sessions:

January 12 4:30p.m. – 6:30p.m. EST (hosted by Kate Lila Wheeler)
February 23 4:30p.m. – 6:30p.m. EST (hosted by Kate Lila Wheeler)
This program is for you if you are looking for some gentle accountability and dedicated time for your writing.

The cost is $15 per month or free for Sangha members. (Please click here to learn more about the Sangha.)
Once you register, your account will be charged automatically every 30 days, unless or until you cancel. (Please note: no partial refunds.)
Questions? Please email Michele.

Fearlessly Creative: A Meditation and Writing Retreat
2016-12-15 - 2016-12-19 | Shambhala Mountain Center, 151 Shambhala Way, Red Feather Lakes, CO, 80545, United States
What do writers want more than anything in the world? Time to write. Yet even if such precious time could be found, it’s not always easy to settle into the writing groove. Meditation may help.
Meditate, Write, Share (or Don’t)
Meditation can help synchronize mind and body in a way that truly supports the creative process. In addition to plenty of personal writing time, quiet, and the supportive (but non-intrusive!) presence of other writers, this writing retreat will include meditation instruction and discussion of how to create and maintain a practice at home. Evenings provide the option to share and discuss your work with others, if you would like.
Open to writers of fiction and non-fiction, published and unpublished. Please note that the majority of time will be spent writing rather than doing writing exercises. Thus this writing retreat is best for those who wish to begin, continue, or complete a particular project. Bring your ideas, works-in-progress, or simply your wish to devote attention to your creativity.

Dharma of Simple
2016-12-06 19:00 - 20:30
A special evening event exploring the intersection of personal organization and meditation.
We all want to feel confident heading into a new year. As you may have learned from the Open Heart Project, genuine confidence is not necessarily about “believing” in yourself—it is a way of being in the world. To live with confidence, according to Buddhist teachings, you don’t have to change anything about your psychology, rather, you can create small shifts in the environment in which you live.
The simplest way to make those small shifts is by getting organized and improving your relationship with time.
In this 90-minute class, Andrew will introduce us to The Organizational Triangle®, three simple and powerful rules for getting and staying organized. He’ll discuss easy and sustainable ways to address the obstacles we all face in managing very busy lives. From dealing with papers and email to time management, and from photographs to sentimental objects, you can simplify your life without sacrificing the quality of your life.
Our intention for this evening is to help you reorder the one place or “hot spot” that is making you most unhappy and give you the tools you need to keep it tidy and in order for good. You’ll also learn how you can easily apply the same techniques to every other area where you feel disorganized, overwhelmed or stuff-challenged.
When Andrew offers this program elsewhere, he charges $97 or more. Because we are pals, he’s willing to offer this to our community for only $29. A DEAL!
Register
No cancellations
LIMITED TO 100 PARTICIPANTS
Participants will also receive Andrew’s Top 10 Tips for Starting the New Year with Confidence checklist.
(Last time we ran this program, it sold out seriously fast. Please reserve your spot sooner rather than later.)
The session will be recorded and a link sent to participants. The recording will be available for 30 days. The day before the webinar, you’ll receive an email with details for joining the live event.
(OPEN HEART PROJECT SANGHA members: You will be able to access a recording of this webinar for free from December 7th-21st. It will be sent via email; no need to register! If you would like to join the Sangha to receive this free viewing and participate in many other programs free of charge, please click here.)
About Andrew:

Best-selling Author of “Unstuff Your Life! Kick the Clutter Habit and Completely Organize Your Life for Good”
Andrew’s humor, honesty, [compassionate] tough love and foolproof strategies have won fans and followers from Fortune 500 CEOs, award-winning artists, and older adults to overwhelmed moms and dads everywhere. He’s maintained a private practice since 1996, as well as leading workshops and speaking worldwide on stuff, sustainability and simplifying your life.
As a sought-after expert on organizing and productivity, Andrew is often called “The Most Organized Man in America.” Here are just a few of the places he’s appeared: Tricycle, Real Simple, This Old House, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Nate Berkus Show, Oprah Magazine, Better Homes & Gardens, Martha Stewart Living Today, Ladies’ Home Journal, Family Circle, GQ, Women’s Day, HGTV and NPR, along with many others.
His corporate clients include American Express, Goldman Sachs, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nationwide Insurance and the U.S. Departments of Education and Homeland Security.
A long-time meditation practitioner, he often teaches on the intersection of organizing and spirituality at venues including Omega Institute, San Francisco Zen Center, Center for Spiritual Enlightenment and NY Open Center, where he is on the faculty.

Questions? Please email Michele
