Facilitators for The Gathering

Ambé Ray’s journey of Self discovery began as a young child who questioned everything about the true nature of reality.  In 1989, Ambe fully stepped into her soul’s deeper purpose while residing in Dharamsala, India and immersing herself in Tibetan Buddhism, Yoga and the Eastern Healing Arts.  It was at that time that she had a series of awakening experiences that raised her kundalini and flowered her heart open to universal love and compassion.

“In this rare and unprecedented time each of us has been given the profound opportunity to script and ultimately self-select out of the old debilitating story.  You are being called forth to play your part in moving beyond the illusion of fear and separation consciousness.”

Matt Kahn is a spiritual teacher and mystic who travels the world, offering sacred heart wisdom that invites all seekers into the joy of liberated existence.  Matt’s spontaneous awakening arose out of an out-of-body experience at the age of 8, and numerous direct experiences throughout his life.  Many spiritual seekers have experienced amazing, unexplainable healings, and have awakened to their true nature through his offerings of profound and loving teachings, and direct transmission of presence.

Julia Schlosser had her first experience of ‘being at home’ around 1993.  An overwhelming feeling of peace and unconditional love kissed her, a knowing that there really is no problem.  The experience left again, but the knowing of that reality never did.  Meeting Isaac Shapiro in 2000 was the turning point.  In the first Silent Retreat with him, very gently the perspective shifted and the outlook on life changed.  Since then it is an ongoing process of exploration and profound integration.  In the dance with her husband Florian Schlosser, who has been sharing Meetings and Retreats for 12 years, this deepening is lived on a daily basis.

Nick Gancitano transitioned into teaching yoga and meditation after a career in sports and teaching.  After discovering Self-Inquiry, he experienced a profound shift and sought the direction of various conscious teachers, including Ramana Maharshi, who then guided Nick to share Self-Inquiry in the West.

“When seeking ends, you become liquid and the whole universe flows in you.  Then the I, or pure unconditioned consciousness, is all there is.  It is immovable, still.  This motionless I-consciousness is the screen through which the mind’s drama unfolds.  The world of things is a vapor in that consciousness, which feels steady as a boulder.  This effortless witnessing is meditation, it is God.  It is You.”

Julie Sarah Powell lives in constant and abiding ‘oneness’ and self-lessness of the heart; she shines a light for us all.  She is able to impart a simple and practical way for all others who wish to be the heart; their true nature, to be this ‘one’, now.  She also points the way for there to be a rapid shift and loss of personal identification with the mind-body package.

“As you live tuned in to the powerful peace that you are, you are under direct inspiration.  You are fearless and confident; for you know that it is your heart that does the work.”

Nissim Amon was ordained in Korea by Zen master Seung Sahn at the Hwa Gye Monastery, with the designation of monk and meditation teacher.  Later he traveled to Japan, and studied with G.W. Nishijima, a Soto Zen master, from whom he received a dharma transmission and got his Zen master title.  Currently he is training therapists in Israel in a new therapy system he named Trilotherapy as well as travelling and teaching all over the world.

“Here and Now is more than becoming aware of the present moment.  It is a difficult task.  It requires one to take a very serious decision.  One must make an important switch in the mind.”

Ellie Roozdar taught mathematics in high school and community colleges, and later worked as a Quality Assurance Manager.  After having wonderful experiences by ‘going within’, meditating and discovering the Truth, she says: “The Truth reveals itself to itself by itself.”  She hopes that you also get inspired to ‘go within’ and ‘discover’ who you really are, and also find the authentic joy that resides within.

“We learn to go within and to be a witness of the nothingness or awareness.  We call this Adaam or Lamakan in Farsi.  It will be very scary at the beginning.  All our lives we want to be somebody and add something to ourselves and now we will face nothingness.  We realize that we are this nothingness.  This pure emptiness and silence under the noise of our chattering minds.”

Over fifteen years ago, Mikael King awakened to the spiritual conscious path when he returned from a “near life ending, eternal review” Pacific Ocean drowning experience.  Since that initial shamanic death liberation, he has journeyed to over 30 countries, studying, learning, teaching, healing, sharing, counselling, and illuminating divine wisdom for thousands of fellow human beings.

Since the inception of his DivineJoy.org Ministry in 2005, he has been serving the Great Human Earth Shift in Com-Passionate flow.  He has led and co-facilitated transformational workshops all over North America.  He has led Divinejoy seminars and trainings internationally in Canada, Italy, Switzerland, New Zealand, Russia, Peru, and Brazil.

Julie Dittmar is one of the top-selling meditation guides in the U.S.  As a certified yoga teacher, meditation guide, and sound healer, her relaxation CDs have been featured on PBS, and are enjoyed around the world.

“Presence, in and of itself, is just tremendously healing and opening, and it created that opening in me so I could settle more into the peace that I am, and the Presence that I am.”

Shubhraji is a close disciple of renowned Vedantic Master H.H. Swami Chinmayananda and studied with him for twenty years from the age of thirteen.  Originally from India, Shubhraji teaches Vedanta, the ancient, non-dual philosophy of India, which is universal in its appeal.  Shubhraji has dedicated her life to spiritual work.

“Vedanta then, means the knowledge that frees us from all limitation.  It teaches that our real nature is Divine.  Every living being is of the nature of God, or Brahman — the Absolute Reality or Universal Being.  The spring of joy is within us — it is our very nature.”

Zahir Khan comes from a Sufi background, and prefers to connect randomly with people in public to share insight.  He operates in the sense of Rumi’s “Come, come, whoever you are.”

Zahir says that liberation, as we imagine it to be, is just an idea in the mind of the seeker.  “Liberation is the catch-all term for a supposed state in which the seeker feels everything will be perfect.  Bliss on tap and an ease to life.  This is life: a celebration of what you already are, a communication that asserts that nothing needs to be done to be what you already are, perfect, whole and complete.  That liberation is never sought for, rather an ‘event’ — an event that will confirm to the seeker that they are what they seek.  A permission to themselves to be awake.”

Elysha experienced his first round of awakening in 1992.  It was a profound realisation that followed on the footsteps of a lifetime of searching.  Thus began the gradual journey of heart and true discovery that led him to become an internationally recognised spiritual teacher.

“Like everything else about waking up to what and who you truly are, the reality is nothing like any of the ideas you may have about it beforehand.  There is a great liberation in realising how truly free-standing your own transcendent consciousness is from the ‘mind-body package’ that you find yourself in.”

Karen Richards experienced a spontaneous awakening during a period of severe illness.  Although she has never had a guru, she has a deep resonance with Ramana Maharshi, and also connects with the teachings of Eckhart Tolle and Adyashanti.  She lives in the U.K. and travels extensively to offer satsang and life coaching.

“In terms of the human experience, ever deepening abidance in truth can be likened to a beginning-less journey of unbounded potential, profound compassion and joy in life.  As the effects of conditioning subside and true being becomes more and more prevalent, the peace and joy that is eternally present flows ever more readily through form and into the ‘world’.”

Florian Schlosser has been sharing satsang for the past 12 years, after awakening with Isaac Shapiro.  Originally from Germany, he now lives in Spain and spends much of his time travelling around the world giving satsang, often with his awakened partner Julia.

“Only when we can meet things without wanting them to change can this world change dramatically.  There are so many things in the world that just want to be met as they are.”

Swami Premodaya’s initial awakening occurred at age twelve, when he became a “dweej” (a Hindu term meaning “twice born” and denoting an experience of direct awakening to the spiritual dimension).  Twenty years later, in a moment of profound relaxation, a series of dramatic and uninvited mystical experiences occurred, including a full experience of death.  This torrent of spiritual happenings and insights poured relentlessly into his mind and body for a year.  He emerged able to see deeply into others, past, present and future.  These mystic experiences brought him to the feet of his spiritual Master, world-famous Indian guru Osho, who named him Swami Premodaya.  Two decades later he met his other Master, Gangaji, a spiritual teacher from California known and beloved in many countries.  Her presence sparked a powerful energy transformation, culminating three years later in his final sanctification on August 1, 2003, from which he emerged experiencing himself, and all beings, fully as “Love Incarnate.”

Bill Bauman is a noted spiritual leader and healer, a sought-out inspirational speaker, a spiritually transformational presence, and a dynamic facilitator of spiritual awakening.  He is simple and humble, lives in a peaceful state of unity, and is most known for his deeply loving connection with everyone he meets.  A former Catholic priest and Religious Science minister, a licensed psychologist, an advocate for world peace, and a spiritual visionary, Bill has developed a unique approach to awakening that he calls “Becoming the Ultimate Human.”  In the Gathering he will lead you into your own ultimate self, where you will find the doorway to infinite being.

Isaac Shapiro is an internationally known facilitator, fascinated with life lived in alignment with the world’s wisdom traditions.  Isaac draws on a broad spectrum of understanding, from neurophysiology to some of the latest discoveries in quantum physics, which he applies in a lighthearted but direct way.  He will be appearing via webcast.

“Stop for a moment and simply experience the totality of your experience simply as sensations now.  Notice that what you experience, your sensations, are changing every moment and therefore cannot be described.  In order to describe your experience of Now, you would have to speak volumes and as soon as you spoke, your experience would already be different.”

Paul Hedderman has been involved with the recovery community since 1988.  In his view everyone is in recovery from something, and his work focuses not on solutions but on providing guidance to return to our true essence.

“What we’re trying to recover from is what we’ve done to get relief from the primary disease which is ‘Selfing’ or identification as self where we forget what we really are.  This causes us to become restless and discontent so we seek relief from that.  Some people seek relief through shopping, drugs, alcohol or sex etc… Really what we’re trying to recover from is that forgetfulness of our true nature.”

Canela Michelle Meyers has been supporting people to awaken to themselves and their world through Satsang meditation gatherings and private Satsang sessions, as well as through Reiki initiations and sessions.  Her main message in all settings is one of self-acceptance — of finding the love that exists in everything.  Her work encourages people to find this in themselves, in the way they relate to others and in their world.  Her spiritual lineage is Ramana Maharshi, Papaji, and Isaac Shapiro with support also from Paul Lowe.  She currently resides in Vancouver, Canada.

Neelam, a native of Poland, is a direct disciple of H. W. L. Poonja (Papaji), who himself awakened to the truth in the presence of Sri Ramana Maharshi.  Neelam has been sharing Satsang with Papaji’s blessing since 1996.  She will be appearing at The Gathering via webcast.

“Suffering is an inability to be here, an inability to be at rest in your true nature.  Would you be willing to be here with whatever is present in this moment?  Let’s find the underlying patterns of conditioning that keep us from experiencing Presence.”