Visionary Experience

Have you experienced spontaneous voyages into a spiritual reality that seems to exist outside of our mundane world? Or, are you fascinated by literary accounts of such experiences? Do traditions that focus on such "vision quests" tap into a universal spiritual vocabulary? This course will explore the fascinating intersections between Buddhism and Shamanism and will include narratives and teachings from the experiences of the founders of visionary Buddhist traditions. Cultivate the power of stable focus as a tool to begin your own grounded journey through these visionary realms.

Learn the basics of how to meditate
Learn about key traditions, teachings, and figures within Shamanism and Buddhism, who provide models and pathways for cultivating the inner visionary experience
Learn about the textures, feel, and meanings of the upper, middle, and lower worlds, and how they can strive to access them
Explore the meanings of spontaneous visionary experiences, as well as the discernment to know when to hold onto the message of these experiences, and when to gently pass by them
Cultivate stability of focus, which will serve as an essential steadying tool during the shamanic journey
Study how modern and ancient approaches to Buddhism and Shamanism interplay with one another
Learn how the visionary journey can help us cultivate more compassion for all living beings, which will, in turn, empower us to have an impact on the world

These modules offer teachings on the larger context of shamanic and Buddhist practice, and how visionary experience informs and enlivens both traditions. We’ll look at how visionary experience is expressed in both Shamanic and Buddhist Practices, in particular the journey from ordinary reality to non-ordinary reality, and back. We will cover an overview of the commonalities and differences between the two traditions, with focus on the visionary experience, and consider visionary experiences through both Shamanic and Buddhist lenses and contexts.

In this day-long class, you will learn the basics of the shamanic journey, one of the primary ways shamanic practitioners access inner vision. You will also learn the fundamental processes of deity meditation drawn from Buddhist practice, receive assistance in identifying your strengths as a visionary, and help in addressing any challenges you find in the process of integrating your visionary capacities into your everyday life. And finally we will have an oracle demonstration with student questions.

In the mid-nineties, Isa began developing Depth Hypnosis as she entered into clinical practice. Her studies, both in academia and in the field of cultural and linguistic anthropology, comparative religion, and transpersonal psychology formed the basis of her approach with clients and students. As the body of work that grew out of her clinical practice became larger, she began teaching others so that more people could benefit from the techniques she had developed. In order to accommodate the number of classes that grew out of this process, she co-founded the Foundation of the Sacred Stream, which is now a school for consciousness studies in Berkeley, California, serving hundreds of students each year. Isa teaches and speaks nationally and internationally, and she has published numerous articles, podcast episodes, videos, and the books Return to the Great Mother and Coming to Peace. She maintains a private practice with institutions and individuals in Depth Hypnosis and Coming to Peace processes. Isa speaks five languages and has lived in eleven countries. She is the mother of two children and lives with her partner in San Francisco.

As people are met exactly where they need to be met and as shamanic and energy medicine processes of healing are applied to inner experience, misconception and disorganized thinking are dispelled. Through this inner guidance, the coherence of the natural world is brought to bear on the way that people understand themselves and create their everyday reality. This talk explores the role of the shamanic journey in traditional contexts and works experientially to understand how it can be adapted into the modern therapeutic setting to transform inner experience.

Acclaimed Buddhist scholar, author, and principal translator for H.H. the Dalai Lama, Thupten Jinpa, Ph.D., sits down for an in-depth interview with Laura Chandler (Foundation of the Sacred Stream and Sacred Stream Radio Podcast). In this engaging conversation, they cover a wide range of topics, including the relationship between science and consciousness. Jinpa offers his thoughts on the ways Tibetan Buddhism is evolving, how it addresses issues like gender equality, and the places it is having a positive impact on individuals and modern society as a whole.

At the point where the visionary yoga-based cosmologies of Hinduism and Buddhism converge with AI, quantum physics, and digital gaming, the Simulation Hypothesis claims that we live in a vast and realistic video game without knowing it! Multiple philosophies and religions have taught that reality is not what it appears to our senses and mind. This talk unfolds the Five Coverings meditation practice from the Upaniṣads, which demonstrates how we construct and how we can dismantle the main lenses that conceal our inborn standpoint of natural enlightenment.