My Experience with Eckhart
Tolle and Practicing Presence
Eckhart Tolle is one of the most well known teachers of presence.
It was through his book The Power of Now that
he became acknowledged as one of the outstanding spiritual teachers
of this time. His retreats are always filled to capacity as his
ability to present esoteric teachings in a direct and clear way
is well recognized.
About four years ago, I was visiting a city,
went to a bookstore and saw his book The
Power of Now. I picked it up and read a little
of it and put it back on the shelf having decided not to buy
it. Later that night the ideas in the book kept coming back to
me. The next day I drove back 50 miles to buy it. It reminded
me of a book I read many years ago that was seminal to my understanding
and spiritual development: I
AMness by
Kent and Nicholls, the workshops I took with Ram Dass and other
spiritual teachers, and the many books I have read on this
concept.
Since that time, I have attended seven of Eckhart's retreats
and programs including two 5-day retreats and two special invited
teaching seminars for individuals who plan to teach his model
of personal transformation. I am listed on his web site as giving
workshops (see www.eckharttolle.com )
on his practice.
In the past two years, I have given one, three-month group and
seventeen, six-week introductory Practicing
Presence groups.
In addition, for the past two years I have had an advanced group
called Living Presence. Recently I have begun a new advanced
group called Presence, Meditation and Awareness. I have also
given a number of introductory talks and short (3-4 hour) seminars
on Tolle's concepts. For more information on the groups, please
click
here.
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