This intensive program in spiritual awakening and embodiment will guide you to:

  • Develop greater freedom from the difficult emotions and stories that used to cause you suffering

  • Enjoy increased happiness, peace, and overall well-being

  • Graduate from being a seeker to being a finder

  • Acquire the resources necessary to continue your awakening journey on your own

  • Discover who you really are, in a direct and experiential way

  • Gain deep insight into the nondual nature of reality

  • Learn to abide in your natural state of awakened awareness

  • Understand how to live in accord with your deepest truth in everyday life



What Past Students Say

The School for Awakening was a positive, affirming, and validating experience. Stephan was not too tight, not too loose: clear and simple, did not complicate the teaching, and brought it into the flow of all experience. I especially enjoyed the meditations of opening into the stillness and spaciousness as a non-effort, a non-striving. Ahhh…… thank you!  
— Susan W., Michigan
Stephan skillfully challenges and points out the assumptions of our limited, assumed small self, and beyond to what we are, that which is aware, that which contains. Grounded in his extensive background in Zen and psychotherapy Stephan acknowledges the potential pitfalls of spiritual bypassing and our shared humanity while at the same time pointing to the Mystery, and, yes, the Love that is innate in such recognition.
— Joseph B., Arizona
I would truly recommend the School to any open-minded seeker. The personal dialogues with Stephan felt so helpful and enriching. Stephan conducts the class in a very gentle, intuitive, and experienced way, making everyone feel at ease. If one is truly open minded, one can receive so much more from this course than words can ever express.
— Nika D., Germany
Stephan Bodian’s six-month online course is a pure treasure. For anyone wanting a clear understanding of the nondual traditions of Advaita, Zen, and Dzogchen, Stephan’s explanations are invaluable. I can’t speak too highly of what Stephan has put together here and, of course, of Stephan himself, whose words invariably come with the backing of his own deep experience.  
— Al Z., California
Stephan brings to each session great warmth, humor, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to truth. It was truly inspiring to witness the palpable growth in each of us as we came together with a shared intention. Each group meeting and each of the dyad meetings was a fertile and intimate ground for genuine questioning and self-reflection.  
— Louise M., Taiwan
With ease, humor, and expertise drawn from a lifetime’s immersion in inner work, Stephan provides depthful, emotionally resonant, authoritative, and practical guidance that is completely respectful of everybody’s unique process. I found myself feeling ushered, guided, and encouraged, as if by an unseen hand, and greatly helped by the individual attention given by Stephan as a part of the curriculum.
— Glenn F., California

If you've read the books, watched the YouTube videos, and attended an occasional satsang, class, or retreat but now want a "deep dive" into the nature of reality, the School for Awakening may be perfect for you.

Enrollment Limited to 24 Participants

Enroll in the School for Awakening by December 15 and receive the early-bird discount tuition of $1250 for the complete six-month program. Regular tuition is $1475.

(If you can’t afford the full or discount tuition, please be in touch, as partial scholarships
may be available as the need requires.)

Limited to just 24 participants, the intimate group format enables class members to connect with one another, share their journey and the wisdom they've gathered, and create awakening community together.

In addition to classes, each participant has five individual mentoring sessions with Stephan in which to explore and integrate the teachings in their own unique way.

Each class session includes:

Program structure:

  • Guided and silent meditations

  • Profound nondual wisdom teachings

  • Direct pointers to our essential spiritual nature

  • Focused self-inquiry

  • Ample time for sharing, questions, dialogue, and discussion

  • Eight biweekly online awakening classes

  • Four biweekly embodiment group sessions

  • Five individual mentoring sessions

  • Prerecorded teachings and meditations

  • Dyadic and individual inquiry and contemplation

  • Regular homework assignments

  • Downloadable recordings of every class

  • Two-day online retreat.

The Four Phases of the School for Awakening

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1 The first phase will focus on the direct experience of awakening to our essential nature, beyond the mind. Since different people respond to different pointers and techniques, we will be exploring a variety of practices like guided meditation, self-inquiry, dyadic exercises, and dialogue that point us directly to awakened awareness. Topics covered will include direct vs. progressive approaches to truth; relaxing into the shift from content to context; distinguishing genuine awakening from spiritual experiences; and tracing the trajectory of awakening from first glimpse to full realization.

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2 In the second phase, we will be clarifying and deepening the awakening we’ve had and exploring the many issues and questions that inevitably arise in its aftermath. For those who feel they have yet to see clearly, it’s an opportunity to continue the process of reflection and inquiry. Among the topics covered in phase two: deconstructing the illusion of a separate self; abiding as awareness while welcoming our experience just as it is, Identifying and inquiring into the core stories that cause suffering; exploring the paradox of being both no one and someone, and realizing that awareness and the objects of awareness are essentially not two.

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3 The third phase is the culmination of the first eight sessions: a two-day online retreat in which we have an opportunity to sit in silence for extended periods of time and allow our deeper questions to emerge and be addressed and resolved. Like the classes, the retreat will also include guided meditations, short teaching, and ample time for dialogue and discussion of the insights and realizations we’ve experienced during the School thus far.

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4 In the final phase of the School, we shift our focus from waking up to waking down—that is, from realizing our essential nature as awakened awareness to embodying this understanding in every moment of life. From a class format we transition into sharing together as an intimate psychospiritual group, in which the rapport and camaraderie we’ve developed with one another supports us in opening to and exploring together our difficult emotions and habitual reactive patterns, and releasing their hold over us in the light of the wisdom and compassion we know ourselves to be. Bonus session: At the end of the embodiment phase, we will meet for a final half-day retreat to complete our journey together.

Meet Your Guide

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Stephan Bodian is a licensed psychotherapist and a teacher in the nondual wisdom tradition of Zen and Advaita Vedanta. He has been leading the annual School for Awakening since 2007. Stephan trained as a Zen monk for a decade with several teachers, including Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, author of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, then left the monastery to study Western psychology because he realized the importance of our individual conditioning in the journey of awakening. After studying Advaita for 10 years as a close disciple of Jean Klein, he received Dharma transmission (authorization to teach) in 2001 from Adyashanti. His books include Wake Up Now; Beyond Mindfulness; and Meditation for Dummies. In addition to satsangs, classes, retreats, and the School, Stephan offers spiritual counseling and mentoring to seekers worldwide.