Enlightenment Intensive
Jnana Yoga - the path of self inquiry!
There is nothing that compares to enlightenment, to the discovery of our True self. This journey of inner discovery is the most fantastic, the most mysterious, the most rewarding and the most important journey any of us will ever take. And it comes with a poignant urgency. Each one of us is on this planet for such a short time. Any opportunity to find out who we really are and what we are actually here for is precious beyond measure. Enlightenment intensives offer exactly this opportunity. Three to five days spiritual retreats with no affiliation to any religion or any guru. Enlightenment intensives rely solely on their simple, powerful, and effective format to help people of all ages and backgrounds get enlightened. Since they began run in the 1960s, Enlightenment intensives have enabled many ordinary people to discover without any shadow of doubt, that genuine spiritual awakening is a very real phenomenon which can be arrived at with remarkably short space of time - and that it is worth every step of the sometimes challenging path it takes to get there. If you have a yearning for Truth and are ready for the possibility of an inner experience that will capture your heart and stay precious to you forever, then there is a good chance Enlightenment intensive will support you there.
Benefits from participating
Beside the high possibility to have a direct experience (Awakening,Satori) of the truth of who
and what you are there are many pleasant side effects from taking a enlightenment intensive
Improving capacity to be present.
Improving listening capacity and communication skills
Improving feeling capacity
Improving capacity to focus, to be still and attentive.
Improving ability to maintain a relaxed eye contact with the other.
Improving the overall contact with the other.
Improving being in the body, being centered.
Improving general vitality and health.
Improving capacity to embrace strong feelings in oneself and in others.
Improving capacity to speak from ”the heart” , to be spontaneous and true.
Improving capacity to trust oneself.
Relating from truth
Know thyself! Most people live in a fantasy about themselves.Thus they are divided within, reality contra fantasies. When they work for inner growth and changes they tend to work with the fantasies of themselves and not with who they really are. Thus they grow very slowly or not at all. From real knowing growth and progress comes fast and with little effort. People who know themselves from direct experience have an aura of presence and natural authority. They have a clarity, a still center within that gives them ability to act in harmony with what is going on. Others sense, relaxes and benefits from their presence.
The primary outcome - the key learning
The Enlightenment intensive has one primary goal. To help the participant to a direct experience of the ultimate truth of who and what he/she is. This truth is always present no matter what is happening in life. Once you have known it, you cannot be fooled by illusions any more. You know without a shadow of a doubt who you are. You are your own authority! The Enlightenment intensive is done as a residential retreat in a environment that is highly supportive. For this journey to be as powerful as possible the participant will be asked to leave day to day life aside. Program will go on from early morning until night. Thus the name intensive! There is no truth, dogma or religion presented at the intensive, the teaching and the structure has only one aim; to bring forth the inner wisdom of the participant. Requirements; No previous experience is necessary, the only request is that the participants inform us if they have any mental or physical medical problem and if there are any medications.
Enlightenment Intensive group in Tittebo 2015
Hari Deva about Enlightenment Intensive
"I love the Enlightenment intensives. I love being in the climate of truth and total presence that is created during an intensive. I love the fact that the truth frees again and again and I love when the vital energy of the now flows through and give each expression and experience an immediacy and totality that is completely fulfilling. It does not matter if the expression is crying, laughing or talking, the feeling is love, peace, anger, calm, horniness, emptiness, etc. It is what it is and I love when I see all individual expressions of truth and life into the room. I love when the veil drops, and love all the comic stories, we are so wonderfully funny when we are ourselves! Above all, I love when someone every now and then come home to the place where all questions cease. When a man/woman is reborn into the great room and know - are in complete contact.
Enlightenment Intensive is a completely ingenious method. As the master of the intensive I have no answers for you, no teaching. Me and my helpers function is only to inspire and facilitate your individual journey to enlightenment and awakening. EI (enlightenment intensive) is an invitation for you to embrace everything you are and an invitation to let go of everything you are not. As any true teaching,the method of EI is stripped to the essential. What makes it work is the combination of true intent, openness, contact and communication. It is a journey where you will come to know the layer upon layers of identification with the thoughts, feelings and body sensations that is forming your world.
As you are moving through and letting go of these layers, simultaneously your contact with presence, the one you have always been, will grow and your inner stream of aliveness will start to flow with more intensity and passion. In this presence, life is no longer restricted or dictated by the mind. Now the movement of life leads you and every moment is experienced as meaningful. The life force itself is free to dance and vibrate transforming the rigid, frozen life patterns to a life where you can be fully alive in any life movement. All and nothing united.
In joy " Hari Deva ”Wisdom tell me I am nothing. Love tell me I am everything. Between these two my life flows” Nisargadatta Maharaji
How it is done?
The method is to contemplate one of the following questions:Who am I? What am I? What is life? What is another?
Sometimes other questions can be used such as: What is love? How is life fulfilled? The purpose of an Enlightenment Intensive is not to answer these questions intellectually but to directly experience their deeper meaning.The questions are used in a "dyad" in which two participants are sitting opposite each other on chairs or cushions. They take turns to contemplate the issue and share the experience they get through contemplation to his/her partner. Each dyad is usually 40 minutes long and the participant sits with a new partner each time. On longer intensives (more then four days) the program ease up with less sittings and more time for walks, sleep,yoga etc. Charles Berner has been given and passed on a flawless method that for more than thirty years helped thousands of people in many countries around the world to an awakening to ones true nature. Enlightenment Intensive is currently no experiment but a proven very powerful way that works. Again and again, teachers around the world found that many students get the same experience on a three-day intensive that people experienced after meditating for months and years. To say that a person achieves an awakening in just three days is not entirely true. All the work that a person has done with himself to wake up to the truth might be awarded on an intensive. Some people confuse enlightenment with being perfect. Enlightenment does not change you into a "perfect human being," whatever that means. There is already a perfection in you that can be experienced. Enlightenment means to experience yourself as the truth you are right now, there's no need to fix or change anything.
Example of a typical schedule.
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06:15 - 06:30 Up
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06:30 - 07:00 Opening lesson with teacher
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07:00 - 07:30 Physical exercises and tea
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07:30 - 08:15 Dyad (sitting opposite a partner)
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09:30 - 10:15 Dyad
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10:15 - 11:15 Walk contemplation
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11:15 - 12:00 Dyad
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12:00 - 12:45 Lunch
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12:45 - 13:30 Dyad
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13:30 - 14:15 Lesson and discussion with teacher
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14:15 - 14:45 sitting quiet
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14.45 - 15:30 Dyad
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15:30 - 15:45 snack
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15:45 - 16:30 Working contemplation or dyad
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16.30 - 17:30 Rest or moving meditation
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17:30 - 18:15 Dyad
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18:15 - 19:00 Dinner
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19:00 - 19:45 Dyad
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19:45 - 20:30 Dyad
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20:30 - 21:15 Walking contemplation
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21:15 - 21:30 Snacks / breathing exercise
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21:30 - 22:15 Dyad
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22:15 - 22:30 Preparing for the night's sleep
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22:30 - 06:15 Sleeping contemplation or silent sitting
Charles Berner
History of Enlightenment Intensive
Charles Berner (1927 – 2007), who was later known as, Yogeshwar Muni, created the Enlightenment Intensive. Charles Berner had observed that those who were most identified with their self-image, ego or personality tended not to make much progress in personal therapy, which may require
flexibility. Mystics who practice insight or jnana yoga report a momentary change of
consciousness bringing a direct experience of the reality or truth of self or of others, or of existence, such as is known in various traditions as kensho, satori or samadhi. But traditional techniques for this realisation depend upon a monastic or eremitic life difficult to attain for the average Westerner. In spring 1968 it "just suddenly occurred" to Charles Berner - "what source it came from I know not but it wasn't a process of sitting down and figuring it out"- to combine meditation methods with the structure of an interpersonal workshop.The first experimental Enlightenment Intensive was held in the Californian desert with Charles and Ava Berner.“ The result that Berner and his students discovered was that this combination increased consciousness and quickened the process of enlightenment. “Presentation is the technique used by us,” writes Berner in a booklet titled, Enlightenment. “By continual interaction with another, by presenting continually to another the results of contemplation of the nature of one’s self, the process of enlightenment is accelerated. One maintains his state of increased consciousness because it is achieved while in contact with another, and so one is in Life and the enlightenment is useful.” This was a major discovery in the history enlightenment techniques. Berner ran dozens over the next few years, gradually refining the format and method, optimizing the retreat for the "weekend truth-seeker". He also trained others to lead groups. His 99th and last Enlightenment Intensive was held in Berkeley in 1975
Enlightenment Intensive Master
Hari Deva Eriksson came in contact with the method 1977 when he participated in an Enlightenment Intensive held in India at the ashram of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh later called Osho.
” The intensive changed my life, It was like waking up from a dream into another reality! After participating in several intensives I took the master training with the founder Charles Berner in 1981. Since then the EI has been a part of my life, apart from mastering over 50 full intensives I have trained and worked with many teachings in the field of psychology, meditation, Yoga, Shamanism, Buddhism and I have been sitting with many masters but nothing that I ever done is even close to the purity and effectiveness of EI. Do you want to truly be You? This is the real thing! Apart from me there will be experienced staff helping out on the intensive! If you read this far, don´t hesitate but come and join us in a beautiful intimate meeting with your innermost truth! "
The intensive is open to anyone who feel called, no previous experience is needed. Since the intensive by its nature is demanding you need to contact us before signing up if you are on medication, has a history of mental illness or any serious health issue.
In "News" and in "Calender" you will find the upcoming Enlightenment Intensives!