 The Sangha Series
Small groups for deepening into self
 What is Sangha?
Sangha is the space, flow, and field of our meeting. It is the movement and activity of life.
Sangha points to the nature of the flow of our experience, and the ceaseless creativity of reality–arising to us and as us, each of our interdependent lives.
On the outer level this may look like individuals taking their seat in the meditation hall to practice together, however, what is really taking place is the patterning of energy all together and individually. Moving, opening, shifting, changing, flowing, settling.
This is the field of participation.
We are the space, the energy, and the activity.
"Sangha means an association or a meeting, a coming together...it's often used to indicate a confluence [as in rivers coming together]...the sangha is essentially the ceaseless patterning which arises in our world."Â - James Low
What is the Sangha Series?
These are dedicated small groups coming together for individual and collective practice over several weeks at a time with Darananda. The Sangha Series as a whole is:
- an opportunity for participation with reality, with direct experience, with individuation: Your truth, your wholeness, your essence, your presence
- a place to practice and be with others, while attuning with self and wholeness
- an opportunity to deepen self-sovereignty while being held, in a consistent, shared field of coherence
- a field to practice opening, receiving, sensing, feeling, awakening
- a relational domain to practice clear boundaries and energetic responsibility
- intentional connection with yourself and what's showing up in your life
As living experience we learn to release, allow, and become more deeply attuned in-and-to our own lives, our own flow, our own bodymind, such that we don't get swept away by others and lose our ability to truly participate.
We notice how deepening intimacy with self is deepening intimacy with all.
We notice how there is no need to lose or leave ourselves when we're with others.
This enables greater and fuller participation in our lives everyday.
Less shrinking, less stuckness, less contraction, less merging.
More fulfillment, more spaciousness, more choice, more truth.
"So taking refuge in Buddha, dharma and sangha is relaxing into the spaciousness of one's own mind, allowing the field to show itself and then finding oneself manifesting in that field as part of the field. And from the dzogchen point of view, this is the fulfillment of our potential. This is how the actuality of our existence [is], because this participative arising is not something fixed or defined. It is part of the unfolding field of experience. It is a situatedness which is never concretized as being a solid enduring self." - James Low
The Details: A Group Space for Individual Deepening
Each week, for six weeks, groups meet for 60–75 minute sessions.
Groups consist of no more than 5 committed participants - the same people each week.
Sessions combine the depth of a 1:1 session with the potency of a group sit:
- We begin by settling together into embodied presence
- Each person receives (about) 8–10 minutes of focused 1:1 attention from Darananda while sitting together in the collective field
- We use attuned, open attention to help relax, open, and clear what’s in the way of resting as pure awareness and directly experiencing true nature
- We close by sitting together in the group field, with space for questions and sharing.
By emailing Dara ahead of the session, participants can bring any area of suffering, difficulty, inner block, inquiry, intention, or opening they'd like support with during their 1:1 time.
Sessions are recorded for participants and available until year's end. Possibility of continuing with the group beyond 6-weeks.
If you need to miss a session, you can join via the recording and still receive 1:1 attention if you let Dara know ahead of time to include you while absent from the live session.
How previous participants describe the groups:
- "It is a group where we get to practice tuning into awareness and the movement of energy. We get to practice holding what is ours while being aware of which energies belong to somebody else."
- "A group sit in collective consciousness where material is processed simultaneously between beings."
- "It’s a beautiful space to be held in pure awareness and get a sense of the unity of all things."
- "A shared container to witness and be witnessed in dynamic relation with Dara."
Reflections From Previous Participants:
“I looked forward to each session because I knew I would walk away feeling rested and aware of my own boundaries and groundedness. It was supportive because I got to practice the balance of having a firm sense of my own boundaries while also staying open and receptive to the influence and experience of others.”
“I absolutely loved the group experience. Even though the time spent with each person was short, I felt like the benefits were amplified by the relational space. It really helped me have a more concrete grasp of the idea that what is beneficial for one is beneficial for all.”
“One concrete takeaway I can give at this moment is more awareness and datapoints that I’m able to go deeper into bodily presence in group spaces than when I meditate alone (alone my meditations tend to be far more heady)”
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“I have more awareness of the sedimented habits I carry (eg weak boundaries) in my field and more experience tapping into wholeness that exists in me and all around me.”
“I believe that practicing the group format accelerated shifts for me, not all of which I could articulate. There's now more light, more familiarity with subtle structures - but always still helpful when they're verbally pointed out, so I could follow with my imagination - and more access to stillness and presence."
“There was one moment when Dara was saying there is no inside and no outside and I felt suddenly that all of what I was experiencing inside myself was not self and it had buddha nature to it. That was pretty cool.”
"There's something about being in the same space, with the same people, and all with a strong intention to be there that makes the field really robust.”Â
“It has deepened my practice significantly to have a space to meet weekly where I am held and have the opportunity to hold others.”
“I also really like the group sessions format. I like the agency/participation aspect of it, the sense of democratization of the spiritual process, and the softening of the teacher/guru-student dynamic in a real way. It also upends any sense of being a passive recipient (and, if I understand how transmission really is, one is never just a passive recipient anyway).”
If the groups are full or not available, you can join the waitlist to be notified of the next opportunity to join.
