The Awareness Institute

I first heard of the Center of Conciousness thru my wife and a couple of her friends a few years ago. They seemed to get a lot out of the weekend workshops and meetings, and always seemed centered and clear and present afterwards. After several changes in my life I participated in my first weekend workshops this spring. Wow! What an experience! It feels so good to dedicate time and effort to learning about me — starting to get to know myself on an incredibly deep level. The profound connections to awareness of myself and how my life experiences have shaped my perceptions and approach to the world we live in has changed my life forever. I am so much more aware and concious of my tendencies and patterns, which has helped me develop truer, deeper and more satisfying relationships in not only my personal life, but also with my family and co-​workers.
I believe that anyone who chooses to experience the weekend workshops and participates fully and openly will gain tremendous insight and tools for improving their lives. It certainly worked for me.

I have changed my life in significant and profound ways in large part because of the Center of Consciousness. After doing one of its workshops focused on living your inspiration, I found the inspiration and courage within myself needed to launch my own business. Having learned from the Center that I am the creator of my experience, I focused my intention on finding a great business partner. A month later, he materialized — and we’ve been working together ever since.
However, the effects of participating in the Center’s weekend workshops/​retreats on my work/​professional life are merely the icing on the cake. The biggest impact on my life I’ve had from going through these workshops is that what I learned from going through them helped me to initially save, and then strengthen and solidify my relationship with my life partner. When we went to our first workshop we were at that point in our relationship where we both acknowledged loving each other a lot, but as we seemed to keep having the same kinds of fights over and over again, we also both recognized that something needed to change and that if it didn’t, we might have to part ways. Thankfully that didn’t happen — thanks to the Center. Going through these workshops taught me: to improve how I communicate in relationship; how to stop playing the victim, blame game; how to start owning up to my own offending actions/​inactions and stop being so goddamn defensive all the time; how to know myself better; how to recognize when I’m succumbing to my old default habit patterns that have kept me small and living in fear most of my life before now; how to shake off those habits and develop new habits that serve me better in life; etc.
The takeaway from all of this: if you feel stuck in a rut and that somewhere in your life you somehow stopped living your inspiration and instead started letting fear run your life — and you want to change that and start living from a place of inspiration and courage again — come to one of the Center’s weekend workshops. Confronting yourself and all of your emotional scars/​baggage/​shit is never easy. In fact, in my experience, doing so has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done in life. In the words of the great Sufi mystic poet, Rumi, this sort of hardcore self-​examination work is not for easily broken glass bottle people. However, in my experience, if you really commit to this sort of work, you will transform your life in powerful and beautiful ways that you may not at this point in time even be able to imagine. If the way you’ve been living your life has not been serving you and you’re not living the life you long ago dreamed you’d be living, to paraphrase Einstein, you can’t solve a problem by applying the same kind of thinking that was responsible for creating the problem in the first place. You want to transform your life? You need to expose yourself to new perspectives and new ways of seeing the world and how you relate to it. The Center can give you that kind of fresh perspective that may support you transforming your life. Give it a shot. What have you got to lose?

I will be eternally grateful that my life path led me to the Center of Consciousness! The experiential workshops have profoundly changed my life and my perspective. I feel more grounded in who I am, my values, my inspiration… the workshops have provided a loving and welcoming space to open up into my depths and discover my own truth. I see the world, and the people in my world, differently and can respond rather than react to life’s opportunities.
I first came to the Center in late 2011 for the Conscious Loving workshop with my partner. The workshop blew our minds — and our hearts — wide open. We relate to each other in an entirely new way that helps us support each other in becoming the best versions of ourselves. We did the summer series workshops, including the Mt. Shasta wilderness retreat, in 2012. Words do not do the experience of Mt. Shasta justice! The best description I can give is that I felt connected to myself and my source of life force in an entirely new and powerful way. It left me feeling ready to charge after all of my dreams and inspirations and leave fear behind.
I now volunteer my time at the Center to not only deepen my own experience but to also support others through their own process. I encourage anyone interested to come to the regularly scheduled Wednesday community meetings from 7−9pm to meet the wonderful people and experience it for themselves!

Excellent, grounding/​connecting workshops at The Center of Consciousness! Great, awesome staff!

This organization has changed my life. I attended my first workshop/​retreat in October 2011 — Conscious Living. After exhausting my time and money with therapists, I stumbled across The Center of Consciousness thorough a friend. The only thing I knew going into the retreat was that I would grow personally and feel transformed. My friend could not of been closer to the truth. I no longer felt lost in the world. The retreat gave me such clarity on my life and made me feel so conscious — literally woke me up. I felt as though I was cleaned from the inside out! What an amazing feeling. And this particular retreat focused on the feminine, Mother. So grateful to have made peace with Mom. And not that I had a bad relationship with her. I just gained a more profound understanding on my mother. And now that she is no longer on the Earth with us — she unexpectedly passed away 3÷7÷12, I am so grateful for the love that she gave me and others while she was here.
Since the first retreat, I have attended 2 additional — Conscious Loving (twice). And I am looking forward to Conscious Creating on May 4 – 5.
If you are at all interested in personal growth and awareness, these workshops are a must do! You will be so happy you did. I used to love to travel and take weekend getaways. Always, searching for something on the next adventure. In the next country. And although I regret none of those travel experiences, the retreats are so worth the time and the money to me. I found what was really inside me. I found internal peace and calm. The travel adventures gave me lots of cool stories, pictures to share with friends and family. As well as a deep sense of gratitude for home. But, these workshops give me something that no travel adventure could — a profound knowing that all I am is just perfect. Conscious Loving truly opened my eyes to self-​love and many other discoveries.
Whatever you do — put a Center of Consciousness retreat on your bucket list! NOW.

I have been coming to The Center for just over a year now and from the very first Wednesday night class I was hooked. This fantastic non-​profit organized by some very dedicated volunteers is a diamond in the rough for any city, let alone Sacramento of all places.
After going through a lot of external changes in my life leading up to my introduction to The Center, I was seeking answers to questions that I couldn’t pinpoint. Through the processes of the first experiential workshop I did with The Center, I gained enough insight and clarity to start seeking those answers from within myself — which is the first truth that I’ve experienced in my life that was utterly unquestionable. I already have everything within that I’ve ever been looking for.
In the past year my internal growth exceeds any growth I’ve experienced in the past 30 years of my life combined. My external life has changed as I adapt to my new self and everyone in my world has seen and commented on the changes they’ve seen — the letting-​go, the depth of self-​understanding, accepting the natural flow of my life, etc. After attending that first weekend retreat I was so blown away that I immediately set the intention of going to the next one. Miraculously, my schedule opened up for me to attend every workshop from that point forward including the week-​long mountain retreat which is the most amazing, yet challenging, adventure into my self that I have ever experienced. I’d recommend it to anyone (and do to as many people as I can).
As the year progressed I realized that I wanted more from this whole experience and have recently started donating my time and skills as a volunteer for the organization. This choice has brought me closer and deeper into the process of self-​awareness where I feel the love and support of all of The Center’s members and have the opportunity to share my new self with the surrounding community. I’ve experienced so many people having a similar experience and internal transformation as I’ve had from this work with The Center that I highly recommend everyone at least going to one of the weekend experiential workshops.
I’m so grateful for the opportunity I’ve had with The Center — not just the workshops but also the Wednesday night classes, dream interpretation class and astrology classes. This is truly a gift to have in my life that has changed me forever and I’m fortunate to continue this journey with everyone at The Center and all of the new self-​explorers who join in at any capacity.

I’ve volunteered here for the past 4 years. At the heart of this organization are about twenty volunteers who are dedicated to freedom and waking up from the egoic dream state.
The workshops have had an amazing impact on my life. Today I feel much more free of the perpetual crisis and latent anxiety I used to live in when I was trying so hard to be someone other than me.
You can drop by on Wednesday nights to see what the folks here are like, however until you’ve done a workshop, it is like going to the book club without having read the book. I suggest everyone do at least one workshop so they have the chance, at least once in their lifetime, to see clearly all that they and life have to offer.

I’ll just say it — the Aspire Foundation changed my life! I went through the four-​workshop series, and it awakened me in ways I never imagined possible. I’m successful, busy, happy, and had done some therapy before doing the workshops. I went because I’d been feeling pressed by work, family, and money concerns. My goal was to get back in touch with myself. I needed something I could really dive into and get immediate, lasting results. Aspire was definitely that. And, at least based on my experience, it seemed to serve everyone there — regardless of the experience and knowledge of my fellow participants.
I emerged from each workshop feeling empowered, relaxed, and fully present and open. The benefits to my life continue to this day. I couldn’t recommend anything more highly — the facilitators and staff are loving and intelligent, the program is what they call «experiential», meaning it’s all process-​based and interactive, not a passive lecture — and it’s a really rewarding weekend immersion program.
The Shasta summer wilderness retreat was my favorite — put me in touch with amazing solitude, peace, and yes, even spiritual awakening.
I totally recommend to anyone feeling at all stressed, overwhelmed — or just looking for a mental and emotional tune-​up.

I hesitate to write this review because I don’t know what people will think of me. I ain’t a cultist, and I ain’t a new agey freako. However, I now have a healthy respect for some of the people who are on the down low. You don’t always know who is a new agey freako, this stuff runs deep. I actually like the people who don’t exude their new ageyness all over you much better than the barefooted flower children of old.
Essentially, this is a new-​age type «whole wellness» place. It’s run by kind of a hippy psychologist who has a pseudo cult following, in that he has a really gentle personality and has good therapeutic guidance skills. He excels in group therapy, and that is why I give the therapy phase program 4 stars. It’s a safe place to sleep, cry, talk and be listened to and be silent.
The foundation does some things that I’m not that interested in: astrology, guided imagery, whatnot. But they do do things that I think are super cool, like vegetarian potlucks and friendship dinners to build community. It’s a very peaceful little place.
The people who are heavily involved are very interesting; many are upper eschelon environmental policy leaders, some are whole health authors, CMTs and accupuncturists, etc.
The thing that I recommend the most is their phase therapy programs. I think these can be addictive, but I’ve only done one, and I only did it once. You aren’t supposed to talk about the therapy you receive, because it’s not exactly pleasant. They broke me down, for the first time in my life, I let myself really crack open, and it was pretty good for me. I think it’s good for a lot of people, and I think a lot of the people who keep going back for this kind of therapy are folks who may need more help than I needed. However, what I did get done worked. I had always had a LOT of problems with my mom, and going to this made me realize that she’s not all that bad but sees things in a totally different way than I do. Nevermind that I have already diagnosed her with ADD and Narcissistic Personalit Disorder… anyway. She’s a good person. I can accept the good parts now and reject the negatory, which is a nice place to be. If I ever need help with that stuff again, I’d go for a 3 day refresher.
I used to think it was expensive, but then I realized that I am able to spend $ 400 in one weekend on booze, food, baby and mom clothes, gas, and makeup. So the price for a weekend of self and group therapy, where you pay to sleep on a floor, not talk when not in group, and eat vegetables and water all day, well, let’s just call it a refreshing change of pace for my spendy ways.
There are 3 phases or Levels I would do, the last, the 4^th one, is not my thing. It might appeal to the really «spiritually» minded folks, but it’s not my thing. It requires a 6 week fast and cleanse (bowel and body cleanse, which I still don’t know if I am sold on this idea that you need to totally clean your guts with clay and psyllium) combined with a fast that tapers down to NO FOOD on the last week. That last week is spent on Mt. Shasta, holed up alone, having visions and revelations a la Shaman folk (dudes, your brain is starving). This is NOT MY THING at all. In fact, it kind of scares me. The people who come back from this fast come back slightly emaciated and very peaceful, but I get the same «peace» from nursing my kid for 5 minutes.
I do, however, believe I could get a lot out of the other 3 phases, starting with the one that I completed and enjoyed. I got a lot more out of it than with my regular therapist, and she was quite good (I used to have a lot of stress issues, nothing too mental, but hard to deal with.) They sell it on the website as yoga, art, music, dance and movement, breathing exercises etc. but it’s really good therapy. A mental check yourself.
The star series is the one I recommend.
Anyway, if this is something you have an inkling you might need, I highly suggest you check it out. The phase workshops, that is. The rest of it is just for fun as far as I’m concerned.
I give it 4 stars because I am still a skeptic.