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- Accessible Meditation – In-Person
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Item Number: W25PERS308A
Dates: 1/9/2025 - 2/13/2025
Times: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Days: Th
Sessions: 6
Maximum Enrollment: 20
Building: Campbell Center
Room: Room A
Instructor: Thomas Huffman
This six-week course, for the novice as well as for seasoned meditators, is designed to be user-friendly, devoid of any ideological framework, and geared to make the practice of meditation accessible. For some, this may entail “un-learning” rigid doctrines and expectations. For others, it’s an invitation to quiet, to better regulate your nervous system, to follow your curiosity down the yellow brick road of your inner world, as well as to better understand how we all create our subjective experience. Each class will include discussion, guidance, and lengthening periods of meditative practice.
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- Becoming a Refugee: Six Ukrainian Women's Stories – Online
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Item Number: W25PERS267
Dates: 1/7/2025 - 2/11/2025
Times: 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 6
Maximum Enrollment: 26
Building: Online
Room: (Zoom)
Instructor: Louise Paré
What is the journey of a Ukrainian woman refugee? What was the experience of growing up in Soviet Ukraine? What is the impact of the transition from communism to a free Ukraine on the life of a Ukrainian woman and her family? Becoming a refugee involves a change of identity, loss of status and economic stability, and a descent into another unknown world. Through the stories of six Ukrainian refugee women living in Ashland, these questions will be explored within the larger context of Ukrainian history, women’s spirituality, and the refugee experience as a path of spiritual transformation. The course will include lecture and discussion, ritual circles, reflective writing in response to the readings, local Ukrainian women speaker presentations (videos), and out-of-class readings.
NOTE: Required Text: “Displaced: The Ukrainian Refugee Experience” by Tamar Jacoby. Independently published (Sept. 9, 2022).
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- Journey Between Your Heart and Soul — Enhanced – In-Person
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The purpose of this course is to be a personal incubator revealing discoveries of authentic self-awareness and unbiased truths preparing one to enter a new dimension of life. The course road map includes balancing your consciousness with the emotional side of life, understanding and engaging with your spiritual essence, gaining awareness of the key guidelines to living life with integrity, and identifying the facets of the psyche and how they work together. The course offers facilitated discussions focusing on a collection of short video clips by three world-renowned personal exploration authors as well as Ronnie Kaufman’s metaphysical concepts of appreciating the journey between your heart and soul. After viewing each video, open class discussions with the participants will ensue as they share, with no right or wrong answers, possible meanings of each one.
NOTE: All course content, including video clips, is online at JourneyBetween.org so participants can review any class material whenever they choose. Active class participation is encouraged, as it enhances outcomes for all participants. This class offers new information and an enhanced approach to presenting the class material compared to previous OLLI classes. Two separate sections of this course are offered, both on Wednesdays. One is at the Higher Education Center in Medford; the other is online.
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- Journey Between Your Heart and Soul — Enhanced – Online
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Item Number: W25PERS303
Dates: 2/12/2025 - 3/12/2025
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Days: W
Sessions: 5
Maximum Enrollment: 12
Building: Online
Room: (Zoom)
Instructor: Ronnie Kaufman (he/him/his)
The purpose of this course is to be a personal incubator revealing discoveries of authentic self-awareness and unbiased truths preparing one to enter a new dimension of life. The course road map includes balancing your consciousness with the emotional side of life, understanding and engaging with your spiritual essence, gaining awareness of the key guidelines to living life with integrity, and identifying the facets of the psyche and how they work together. The course offers facilitated discussions focusing on a collection of short video clips by three world-renowned personal exploration authors as well as Ronnie Kaufman’s metaphysical concepts of appreciating the journey between your heart and soul. After viewing each video, open class discussions with the participants will ensue as they share, with no right or wrong answers, possible meanings of each one.
NOTE: All course content, including video clips, is online at JourneyBetween.org so participants can review any class material whenever they choose. Active class participation is encouraged, as it enhances outcomes for all participants. This class offers new information and an enhanced approach to presenting the class material compared to previous OLLI classes. Two separate sections of this course are offered, both on Wednesdays. One is at the Higher Education Center in Medford; the other is online.
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- Living a Guided Life: From Theory to Practice – Online (Hybrid)
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Item Number: W25PERS311
Dates: 2/20/2025 - 3/13/2025
Times: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Days: Th
Sessions: 4
Maximum Enrollment: 21
Building: Online
Room: (Zoom)
Instructor: Dan Altman
People who consistently thrive have stumbled across the ability to tap into a deeper level of the mind — the living intelligence behind life itself. This happens for some people when taking walks in nature, playing with their pets, or sipping coffee in a cafe. These people have realized that the important questions in life are answered from beyond the intellect. This deeper intelligence is available to everyone. In class we will watch short, engaging videos from contemporary 3 Principles teachers, including Michael Neill, Dicken Bettinger, and the founder of this work, Sydney Banks. During the third week of the class, students will receive a daily brief video designed to spark the actual experience of living a guided life. There will be an optional open meeting that week for questions and discussions. In the final week, we will explore “Riding the Magic Carpet,” letting life carry us with guidance, grace, and magic. The guiding principles presented here have transformed the understanding and experience of life for many.
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- Living a Guided Life: From Theory to Practice – In-Person (Hybrid)
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Item Number: W25PERS311A
Dates: 2/20/2025 - 3/13/2025
Times: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Days: Th
Sessions: 4
Maximum Enrollment: 21
Building: Campbell Center
Room: Room A
Instructor: Dan Altman
People who consistently thrive have stumbled across the ability to tap into a deeper level of the mind — the living intelligence behind life itself. This happens for some people when taking walks in nature, playing with their pets, or sipping coffee in a cafe. These people have realized that the important questions in life are answered from beyond the intellect. This deeper intelligence is available to everyone. In class we will watch short, engaging videos from contemporary 3 Principles teachers, including Michael Neill, Dicken Bettinger, and the founder of this work, Sydney Banks. During the third week of the class, students will receive a daily brief video designed to spark the actual experience of living a guided life. There will be an optional open meeting that week for questions and discussions. In the final week, we will explore “Riding the Magic Carpet,” letting life carry us with guidance, grace, and magic. The guiding principles presented here have transformed the understanding and experience of life for many.
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- Overcoming Fear with Truth – In-Person
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Item Number: W25PERS238A
Dates: 1/14/2025 - 2/11/2025
Times: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 5
Maximum Enrollment: 19
Building: Campbell Center
Room: Room B
Instructor: Mark Gibson
In this highly interactive Q-and-A wisdom-sharing experience, students will learn how to use self-inquiry tools to recognize and replace destructive, fear-based limitations with positive, truth-based self-confidence. Emphasis will be placed on assisting participants to distinguish the difference between destructive irrational fears from life-enhancing rational fears. Students will explore topics such as minimizing feelings of vulnerability, guilt, and shame while strengthening accountability, personal integrity, and fearless heartfelt willingness to give and receive more love. Students will learn to use mental tools that help silence the pain-inducing inner critic so that you can consciously enrich your life with affirming constructive energy and love from your essence. The course will focus on the benefits that can be enjoyed by learning to replace irrational fear with truth, thereby empowering overlooked personal potentials and commitment to living more fulfilling lives.
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- Sanskrit Chanting for the Love of It – In-Person
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Item Number: W25PERS304A
Dates: 2/5/2025 - 3/12/2025
Times: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Days: W
Sessions: 6
Maximum Enrollment: 21
Building: Campbell Center
Room: Room A
Instructor: Peggy Leviton
Research shows amazing benefits — physical, mental, and spiritual — of chanting in Sanskrit. Emphasis on Sanskrit pronunciation and phonetics enhances our experience. Even as Westerners, we can realize the many benefits of chanting in this rich traditional Vedic language from Bangalore, India. A brief overview of the Vedas will be followed by learning Sanskrit phonetics using IAST (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration). Familiar English/Roman characters are used to help us produce sounds unfamiliar to Westerners. Each week we will review phonetics, then delve in further as we learn and chant simple mantras together. Slide presentations and handouts will be provided. This is an experiential course. Chanting is not singing and does not require any musicality. Sanskrit chanting is for everyone! No prior knowledge is required, only willingness to learn and be open to this beautiful practice.
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- Self-Discovery Through Artistic Expression – In-Person
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Item Number: W25PERS306A
Dates: 2/4/2025 - 3/11/2025
Times: 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 6
Maximum Enrollment: 10
Building: Campbell Center
Room: Room C
Instructor: Daya Jaggers
This course will introduce you to the new social art known as generative scribing: a collaborative group art activity with no artistic background requirements. New on the scene, it is quickly building a reputation as a compassionate form of self-expression through listening without judgment and putting pen and artwork onto paper. Generative scribing invites true cognitive potential that includes broad-perspective viewing, expanded insight, and new realization possibility. These deeper states of self-awareness can support self-healing and encourage interpersonal relationship bonding. Sequence of activities in generative scribing include group grounding, optional prompts, time frames for scribing and drawing, and engaging in sharing each individual’s expressive art piece. Come join in this unique cutting-edge artist group activity!
NOTE: Students supply their own art paper and pencil/pen/markers in a variety of colors. "Your Brain on Art" by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross is optional reading.
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- Seven Simple Practices for Living in Wonder – In-Person
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Item Number: W25PERS307A
Dates: 1/8/2025 - 2/19/2025
Times: 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Days: W
Sessions: 7
Maximum Enrollment: 13
Building: Campbell Center
Room: Room A
Instructor: Beata Chapman
Interested in cultivating a mind full of wonder? In this class, you will learn and use seven rich, beloved practices adapted from Zen Buddhism (but not limited to its practice) for being alive in the moments of your ordinary day and drawing on mundane moments to cultivate wonder-mind. Through sharing experiences, dialogue, and applying the practices in your everyday life, you will end the course fully prepared to build upon your class experiences — you may find yourself living in wonder! No prior knowledge or experience is needed for this course. All are welcome!
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- The Breath in Stress, Trauma, and Immunity – Online (Hybrid)
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Item Number: W25PERS310
Dates: 1/22/2025 - 2/26/2025
Times: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Days: W
Sessions: 6
Maximum Enrollment: 42
Building: Online
Room: (Zoom)
Instructor: Shawn Flot
This innovative six-week course bridges ancient wisdom with cutting-edge science, offering practical tools for enhanced well-being and life-changing skills. Learn how breathing unlocks your capacities for self-regulation, healing, and resilience. Explore calming and energizing practices, understanding their impact on your body-mind. Delve into breath’s crucial role in trauma, stress, and immune function. Discover the often-overlooked importance of nasal breathing for health. Through practice and evidence-based instruction, develop a personalized toolkit of breathing methods for various life situations, including stress relief, better sleep, improved focus, and enhanced physical performance. Join the journey to harness your breath’s potential. Emerge with a deeper understanding of your body-mind connection and practical strategies for lifelong health and resilience. No prior experience is necessary — just bring an open mind and willingness to explore.
NOTE: This is a practical course exploring the different dimensions of your breath and respiratory functions and is not a substitute for medical care of your conditions. You are responsible for your own participation, and a signed liability waiver is required.
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- The Breath in Stress, Trauma, and Immunity – In-Person (Hybrid)
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Item Number: W25PERS310A
Dates: 1/22/2025 - 2/26/2025
Times: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Days: W
Sessions: 6
Maximum Enrollment: 47
Building: Campbell Center
Room: Room D
Instructor: Shawn Flot
This innovative six-week course bridges ancient wisdom with cutting-edge science, offering practical tools for enhanced well-being and life-changing skills. Learn how breathing unlocks your capacities for self-regulation, healing, and resilience. Explore calming and energizing practices, understanding their impact on your body-mind. Delve into breath’s crucial role in trauma, stress, and immune function. Discover the often-overlooked importance of nasal breathing for health. Through practice and evidence-based instruction, develop a personalized toolkit of breathing methods for various life situations, including stress relief, better sleep, improved focus, and enhanced physical performance. Join the journey to harness your breath’s potential. Emerge with a deeper understanding of your body-mind connection and practical strategies for lifelong health and resilience. No prior experience is necessary — just bring an open mind and willingness to explore.
NOTE: This is a practical course exploring the different dimensions of your breath and respiratory functions and is not a substitute for medical care of your conditions. You are responsible for your own participation, and a signed liability waiver is required.
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- Tracing and Honoring the Journey of Your Life – Online
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Item Number: W25PERS312
Dates: 1/8/2025 - 2/12/2025
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Days: W
Sessions: 6
Maximum Enrollment: 12
Building: Online
Room: (Zoom)
Instructor: Kani Comstock
Each of our lives is an amazing journey with various destinations, expected and unexpected opportunities, challenges and transitions that have presented us with choices until we have reached where we are now in our life. Often we are too busy and involved to really reflect on what we have done, the choices we have made, and to remember what we experienced in those moments as we moved forward. There can be magic in taking the time to revisit the trajectory of our life with all its twists and turns, and to fully claim what we have created as our life’s journey. This course is an opportunity to retrace our life’s path, recognize the many large and small choices that sculpted our experience of who we are and what we can be. Each class will address a particular period of life. It can be surprising and rewarding to expand the perspective on who we are.
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- You Can Let Stress Roll Off Your Back – In-Person
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Item Number: W25PERS309A
Dates: 1/21/2025 - 2/25/2025
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 6
Maximum Enrollment: 53
Building: Campbell Center
Room: Room D
Instructor: Lisa Hubler
Learn simple, easy, time-tested and evidence-based methods drawn from the traditions of yoga, meditation, and hypnotherapy. Down-regulate your nervous system and quiet your mind, and stress can roll off your back much more easily. Through lecture, discussion, and guided practices that you can do at home with or without free audio recordings made and provided by the instructor, by the end of the course you’ll have the tools to feel a greater sense of ease and well-being throughout your day and find yourself naturally less reactive to stressors. Becoming more relaxed and present makes it easier to be at peace with wherever you are in life. Each class incorporates a thorough understanding of stress reduction and deep relaxation techniques and an embodied experience of the methods and practices taught. No previous experience with meditation, hypnotherapy, or yoga is required.
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