489. Miranda Macpherson, 2nd Interview

Posted on February 8, 2019 by Rick Archer

Miranda Macpherson began her spiritual journey at the age of thirteen when, amidst a period of clinical depression, she was spontaneously opened into a profound state of boundless love. That experience initiated a lifelong dedication to spiritual practice, psychological depth and the study of the world’s wisdom traditions. Her travels took her from her native Australia to the United Kingdom, where after completing seminary training, she founded the OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation in London, at the request of her teacher. Over the next decade, Miranda trained and ordained more than six hundred interfaith ministers and spiritual counselors.

In 2005, a seismic shift occurred that changed the course of Miranda’s life. While meditating in a cave in India that was once home to the revered sage Sri Ramana Maharshi, she experienced a direct transmission of the true nature of reality that required total surrender. In the wake of this, Miranda found herself again moving to a new continent, this time the United States. There, in the years it took to integrate this opening, a body of teachings on Grace and Ego Relaxation began to emerge that brings ancient wisdom alive for our changing times.

Today, Miranda is known for her depth of presence and gift for guiding others into direct experience of the sacred. Miranda leads the Living Grace sangha in Marin and Sonoma counties, holds retreats internationally, and offers online programs through the Shift Network. Unapologetically feminine, joyful, and down to earth in her way of being, Miranda is dedicated to loving people all the way back into the freedom and wholeness of their true nature. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband Bob Duchmann.

Books:

CDs:

The Way of Grace – The Transforming Power of Ego Relaxation (CD)
Meditations on Boundless Love
‘The Heart of Being’ – Mantra CD
‘Awakening the Soul’ – Meditation CD

Website: http://mirandamacpherson.com

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

First BatGap interview with Miranda.

Interview recorded February 4, 2019

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

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472. Steve Briggs

Posted on October 3, 2018 by Rick Archer

As a teenager, Steve Briggs met his guru at a meditation retreat in the Swiss Alps. After studying English Literature at the University of Arizona on a tennis scholarship, the author received an MBA and a Ph.D. in Vedic Studies, and traveled internationally instructing thousands in the art of meditation.

Steve is a devotee of Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma), whom he met in India in 1996. He has been practicing Transcendental Meditation (TM) for the past 46 years and credits his guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, with showing him the path to enlightenment.

Steve currently coaches the Maharishi School boys’ tennis team. His players have won four state high school championships, including the 2014 triple crown. Steve has trained two national champions and a top 50 ATP professional tour player.

In 1994, Steve Briggs was sent to India to teach TM to corporate executives. During his seven years in India, Steve traveled repeatedly to the high Himalaya where he encountered many yogis and sadhus.

The author’s first book, India Mirror of Truth, was a popular memoir about his time in India.
Steve’s second book, The Tale of the Himalayan Yogis: The Nirvana Chronicles, is a novel set in India and Tibet.
Website: stevebriggsauthor.com
Email

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

Interview recorded September 24, 2018.

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

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462. Dena Merriam

Posted on July 16, 2018 by Rick Archer

Dena Merriam has been working in the interfaith field for 20 years and founded the Global Peace Initiative of Women (GPIW) in 2002. Initially the organization was designed to provide a global platform for women spiritual leaders to organize and mediate dialogues in areas of conflict and tension. This soon expanded to include an equal number of men and women spiritual teachers and to deal with a range of issues, including climate change, ecological destruction, racial inequity, etc. The premise for the gatherings organized by GPIW is that at the heart of all these issues is a spirtual crisis and the way to address them is a shift in consciousness. Dena has served on the boards of the Harvard University Center for World Religions, the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy, Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association, among others. In 2014 she was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize. Over the years as memories of past births have arisen, Dena has recorded them in order to better understand the karmic patterns. She has now shared her memories in My Journey Through Time: A Spiritual Memoir of Life, Death, and Rebirth, in the hope that others will gain insight into their own lives through this sharing.

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

Interview recorded July 14, 2018

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

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421. Vera de Chalambert

Posted on October 12, 2017 by Rick Archer

Vera de Chalambert is a spiritual storyteller and Harvard educated scholar of comparative religion. She speaks and writes about spiritual culture, mindfulness in the modern world and the Divine Feminine and has been a speaker at the Science and Nonduality Conference in the US and Europe, Sister Giant in Washington DC and other gatherings. Vera holds a Master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School where she studied comparative mysticism and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida in Religion and Literature. Her work explores the meeting place of creativity, psychology and spirituality and is informed by insights from both Eastern and Western philosophies. Vera is a graduate of the Barbara Brennan School of Healing and has been a student of Jason Shulman’s Nondual Healing work. She is deeply influenced by Buddhist and Kabbalistic lineages. Vera’s recent work has been on the topic of Holy Darkness and exploration of the Dark Goddesses associated with transformation and initiation found in the world’s great wisdom traditions, the most well-known of whom is the Hindu Goddess Kali. Vera is a mother and a devotee of the Mother. She is working on her first book on the Dark Feminine.

Website: healingawakening.com

Discussion of this interview in the Batgap Community Facebook Group.

Interview recorded Saturday, October 7, 2017.

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

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401. Pernilla Lillarose

Posted on May 21, 2017 by Rick Archer

After connecting with Joel Goldsmiths’ teachings in 1987, Pernilla had a life-changing awakening, realizing Love is All there is. After the initial three months’ free Bliss ride, she went straight from heaven to hell for the next many months. This started her journey back Home, learning step-by-step how to arrive with all parts intact – none left behind – with her Heart as her Teacher.

This journey Home includes teachers like Joel S. Goldsmith, Barry Long, the Ayahuasca plant, Gangaji, Adyashanti, The Hakomi training, Deeksha, Dr. Joe Dispenza and Sat Shree.

All these wonderful teachers helped her get more stabilized as Presence and realize the healing and transforming power of Self Love, dissolving the misperceived duality into embodied Oneness.

Out of this journey emerged the simple ‘how to’ steps, which are incorporated in her life and work.

Pernilla is a certified Hakomi Practitioner with a private practice in the Santa Cruz mountains. She is a meditation teacher at UCSC and founder of ‘Women Standing For Love/Young Women Empowerment Circle.’

She calls herself a Self Love Mystic & Mentor and loves to support her clients bridging the gap between who they truly are and who they think they are or – should be.

Website: divinefeminineflow.com

Books:

Interview recorded 5/20/2017

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

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