workshop schedule | details

Next Workshop: June 27-29, 2008
7 pm Friday to Sunday around Noon
Kansas City, Missouri, Location to be Announced

Einstein said that we suffer from a kind of optical illusion that makes us think we are separate entities when in fact we are all one. He also said that no problem is solved by the same consciousness that created it. Eckhart Tolle says, ... "when (the egoic mind) takes over all aspects of your life including your relationships with other human beings and with nature it becomes a monstrous parasite that, unchecked, may well end up killing all life on the planet and finally itself by killing its host. " SHARED PRESENCE workshops explore a shift in consciousness from thinking to being, from separate to whole. It works with experience not concepts. Shared Presence offers the individual and community a place from which to approach the global problems we face.

Presence is a very conscious state of being, more fundamental than thought. Through being aware of consciousness, of your body, and surroundings simultaneously, a sense of enhancement comes, as though the consciousness you sense might grow infinitely and be connected to the whole universe. Shared presence is the conscious mutual holding of presence in a group setting. It is the essence of community, that joy which brings us together as people. The presence space is something like being in a meditative state while talking and functioning in the world. It is here that we can see the real power in community.

Shared Presence uses the process of being and allows our being to guide. Thinking becomes more of a servant and less of a boss. We will employ a few exercises to help us enter the process. After that the agenda arises out of our space of shared being. The facilitator’s function is to keep the group in the space of shared being.

Connecting with being can change your life and the world. I believe that the shift from what Eckhart Tolle calls the collective egoic mind to presence and shared presence is our best shot at evolving beyond the collective thinking that has brought us terrorism and the environmental peril we face. Living out of being is the only way we can find the creativity and cooperative energy to see clearly and make the necessary changes for our survival. This retreat offers practice of the presence that Tolle speaks of with others, that you might better bring it into your everyday life.

Next Workshop: June 27-29, 2008
7 pm Friday to Sunday around Noon
Kansas City, Missouri, Location to be Announced

Food will be vegetarian potluck. You can bring a prepared dish or the participants can participate in preparation while practicing presence.

Participants are welcome to bring pads and sleeping bags or go home to sleep if convenient. Although we may run late, we will break for sleeping. Food will be vegetarian potluck. We will practice presence while preparing to eat.

The suggested donation for the workshop is $50. No one will be excluded because of inability to pay. Please ask about a scholarship, barter, or other arrangements.
You must register in advance before coming.

Facilitator: Marty Kraft - Through a series of gestalt encounter experiences in 1969 and 70 Marty became aware of the state of shared presence with others and has been a student of this state ever since. Over that time he has attempted to bring a deeper sharing potential to the community by creating parades, Earth Day festivals, encounter groups, workshops, and a commitment to living in harmony with the environment. Marty is a student of Sufism, The Diamond Approach of A. H. Almaas, and Sat Nam Rasayan as taught by Guru Dev Singh which are all presence or experiential based paths. There is also a relationship between this work and dzogchen.

Reference: The books the Power of Now and New Earth by Eckhart Tolle explore presence and are helpful in participating in Shared Presence groups.

General Description: Weekend Workshop

Shared presence is not a product of thought or thinking. It is not something the mind can understand. Understanding presence is being present. It is a quality of being of which we can become conscious.

There is an experience that arises when the awareness is directed away from thoughts of the past and the future and guided to remain in the present. Stress is relieved and an enhancement of experience takes place. This enhancement can grow or deepen until a feeling of presence is felt. Presence might be experienced as if something else is present with you, or you might feel the presence embodied in yourself. Some find presence through being in the beauty and majesty of nature; others find it in meditation or in other experiences.

A group can share this experience of presence. Through the intention and commitment to stay in presence, and with each other, this shared presence seems to grow. A group of people coming together in a state of presence generates a collective energy field of great intensity. Insight and creativity expand. The experience of trust and love deepens and generosity becomes easier. Many experience this state as being the way humans should be living. It feels so natural and right.

We will work in a group and in subgroups. Some experiential exercises may be used. The facilitator will interact with participants to help guide them to a state of shared presence. As participants gain facility with the state, they can share in its maintenance and growth. The agenda of the group arises moment by moment out of present interactions.

This workshop is offered because we are facing difficult times, and people need all the resources they can find to maintain themselves and transform the world. We can’t solve terrorism, the energy crisis, global warming, or the crisis of education with the same old ways of thinking. Einstein said that a problem cannot be solved by the same consciousness that created it. We must dig deeper and explore new or perhaps old ways of being to restore the balance. This workshop is an attempt to share and strengthen a natural human capacity.

Weekend Participant Commitment and Information:

Participants agree to arrive at 7:00 PM on Friday, and stay on site until noon on Sunday. Please, no cell phone interruptions. Our progress requires that we set a retreat like atmosphere, leaving, as best we can, our “normal” lives behind. An intention needs to be set to pursue truth and kindness with ever clearer awareness. This includes holding it firm through time in your heart as well as the mind. Our work will be to practice our best approximation of presence with openness to each other and to nature around us.

Groups are usually held in someone’s home for 10-15 participants. We all bring sleeping bags/bedding and a pad. Food will be potluck, organic and local if possible and tending toward the vegetarian. If you wish to participate in a group or organize one near you, please contact Marty Kraft in Kansas City at 816-361-1230 or at martyk@allspecies.org. The workshop cost is usually about $50. More will be accepted for facilitation based upon the value you find in the workshop and your ability to pay. No one will be excluded because of inability to pay.

Facilitator: Marty Kraft - Through a series of gestalt encounter experiences in 1969 and 1970, Marty discovered that he could help facilitate a profound state of share presence with others. He has been a student of presence ever since. He has worked to bring deeper sharing potential to his community by creating parades, festivals, encounter groups, workshops, community gardens, and a commitment to living in harmony with the environment. Since 1987 Marty has worked full time in environmental and community building education with Heartland All Species Project.

Introductory Mini Workshop Description
Shared Presence with Nature and People - An experiential group focusing on an enhanced present and open state of awareness. We will use breathing exercises, inquiry, gestalt awareness and interaction intended to bring about a sense of shared presence, which is something like a meditative state while interacting.

Workshop Guidelines, pg 2