Who We Are
Mission
The mission of Meditation Mount, a nonprofit organization, is to promote the building of an enlightened and compassionate world through the power of Creative Meditation, inspirational educational programs, and community-based events focused on the practical application of the following universal spiritual principles: Right Human Relations, Goodwill, Group Endeavor, Unanimity, Spiritual Approach, and Essential Divinity.
ABOUT CREATIVE MEDITATION
Meditation Mount is part of a growing global network of groups and individuals who practice meditation as a service to humanity and the world. Our commitment is to make the power of Meditation Mount available to people of all ages and backgrounds.
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EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES
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We present a robust and relevant educational program that reflects the core work of the Mount. Courses, workshops and dialogues are in the areas of meditation training, spiritual leadership, soul centered living and the new economy.
LAND STEWARDSHIP
As wise stewards of the land, we nurture and care for the land so that it may benefit our many visitors and groups. We honor the natural world by providing a sanctuary for visitors to connect to the sacred quality of all life. Our International Garden of Peace is offered for ceremonies and for quiet reflection.
History of Meditation Mount
Meditation Mount’s lineage stems from the Trans-Himalayan Wisdom Tradition which also gave birth to the work of the Theosophists, Krishnamurti, Rudolph Steiner, etc.
In 1950, Roberto Assagioli, founder of the spiritual psychology ‘Psychosynthesis’ and direct student of the Master DK, took on an assignment to promote Creative Meditation and the six universal laws (pathways) and principles to help establish the architecture of a new world. The principles and pathways are:
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The Pathway of Right Human Relations
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The Principle of Goodwill
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The Pathway of Group Endeavor
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The Principle of Unanimity
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The Pathway of Spiritual Approach
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The Principle of Essential Divinity
After several years of searching for suitable co-workers, Roberto Assagioli met up with Michal Eastcott and Nancy Magor from Sundial House, a spiritual center in the south of England, and together, they gathered a larger group of students who took on the role of expanding Creative Meditation and the Universal Spiritual Principles and Pathways around the world. One of these students was an American citizen, Florence Garrigue.
After retiring in 1943, Florence moved to New York to join the Arcane School, an institution for esoteric studies founded by Alice A Bailey who was also a student of the Master DK. After ten years there, Florence and a group of friends started the School for Esoteric Studies in New York which is still active. She then became a member of the small informal group of individuals from several countries who met at Sundial House in England with Dr. Roberto Assagioli for the purpose of fostering group meditation to benefit the world.
Roberto Assagioli compiled a Creative Meditation course that was taught via booklets distributed through the mail every two months. They included a three and ten year course, which can now be accessed on our website at: https://www.meditationmount.org/study-courses
Florence was asked by Roberto Assagioli to set up a center in the USA and so, in 1962, she established Meditation Groups, Inc. as a legal entity in Connecticut.
The official purpose statement of Meditation Groups, Inc. is taken from ‘Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. II’ ( pp. 231 & 236) by Alice Bailey and uses the wording from the original assignment for which Dr. Assagioli had agreed to assume responsibility back in 1950. It is:
“ to establish a united world group given to unanimous and simultaneous meditation upon the work of preparing the world for the new order and for the jurisdiction of the Christ [and] to establish the knowledge of and the functioning of those laws and principles which will control the coming era, the new civilization and the future world culture.”
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From the time of the Chumash Natives, the Ojai Valley has long been held as a sacred place where a vision for a new way of life can be demonstrated through collaboration, right human relations and group endeavor. The Ageless Wisdom teachings talk about an area in Southern California that would be set aside to grow this new civilization and, in the 1920s, Annie Besant understood this vision and bought several pieces of land in the Ojai Valley to help fulfill this dream of a better future.
Florence Garrigue, approaching her 80th birthday, was guided to the Ojai Valley and arrived in 1968 to establish a center for Meditation Groups, Inc., with the physical location now known as “Meditation Mount”. After finding the initial benefactor and arranging financing for the project with generous gifts from the people who believed in the work of the organization, Florence selected the site at the East end of the valley. She worked closely with Ojai architect Zelma Wilson in planning the beautiful Tibetan – style buildings, and Grant Castelberg of Santa Barbara who served as the landscape architect for the center.
The Meditation Mount facilities were completed in April of 1971. Since that time, Meditation Mount has functioned as an educational center offering spiritual programs that enhance the awakening of the human soul in all aspects of social endeavor. Group Creative Meditation and Monthly Full Moon Meditations continue to be an important part of the rhythm in the Mount’s life, focusing on the embodiment of the universal spiritual principles and pathways as a cornerstone to build a more enlightened and compassionate humanity.
Florence Garrigue, Founder of Meditation Mount
Board of Directors
MICHAEL LINDFIELD – PRESIDENT
Michael has studied and applied the Ageless Wisdom teachings and been involved in Creative Meditation since the late 1960s through an affiliation with Sundial House in England (a sister group of Meditation Mount). He is a highly regarded consultant and coach with over 45 years of international experience in helping individuals and organizations unleash the creativity of the human spirit to meet the urgent needs of our times and the compelling call of a more just and joyful future.
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Michael learned his craft from a broad range of experiences that include: a 14 year residency as a gardener and as Director of Education at the Findhorn Community in Scotland; small-scale organic farming in western Sweden; conducting seminars and presenting at conferences around the world on the theme of ‘transforming self and society’ and as a senior organization development consultant with The Boeing Company from 1989-2005.
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Michael is author of ‘The Dance of Change: an Eco-Spiritual Approach to Transformation’ (Penguin Books 1986) and numerous articles featured in psychology, education and business journals. He is also co-founder of The Science of Group Work Initiative and a member of the Community of Living Ethics in Umbria, Italy.
ROSA MARIA (ROSY) ROMERO – VICE-PRESIDENT
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Rosy is a businesswoman who has long been engaged in meditation and service work. Originally from Guadalajara, Rosy moved to Northwest Mexico in 1980 and it was there that an inner prompting led her to a study group in creative group meditation — Sintesis En Acuario (SEA) in Tijuana. The group meditated together daily for many years, and held weekly meetings to study the Ageless Wisdom teachings contained within the Alice A. Bailey books. Rosy began attending biannual conferences at Meditation Mount in the early ‘90s, and in 1996 began participating in the annual World Service Intergroup gatherings held in different parts of the world.
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Rosy is an Insurance Broker and has participated in many conventions in Latin America and Europe–with the Latin American Federation of Insurance Intermediaries and its European equivalent, BIPAR. In 2002, she also joined the worldwide service organization Rotary International, lending her diverse skills to the Rotary’s mission of building goodwill and peace in the world, alleviating human sufferings through combating hunger, improving health, providing education, job training, and more.
BRIAN ZIEGLER – TREASURER
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Brian first visited Meditation Mount in January 1972 while attending the Krotona Institute of Theosophy in the Ojai Valley. At that time he had the good fortune of personally meeting and getting to know the Mount’s founder, Florence Garrigue. He has been serving on the Meditation Mount board for over 10 years and has been functioning as its Executive Director in a volunteer capacity for the past 3 years.
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At various times he has been affiliated with The Theosophical Society, the School for Esoteric Studies as well as the Lorian Association. While involved with the Theosophical Society, he collaborated on several projects including Nicholas Roerich: Messenger of Beauty, The Esoteric Nature of Music and a 13-segment audio series for broadcasting. With Lorian he collaborated on the project Kingdoms in Co-Creation based upon the deva messages of Dorothy Maclean.
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Recording live acoustic musical events is one of his passions, especially the various ethnic musics of the world. Several of his recordings have been released including artists Milenko and Kathi Matanovic, Zakir Hussain, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Peter Ritzen, Shivkumar Sharma, Bismillah Khan, Salamat Ali Khan and the William Ferris Chorale among many others. Another passion is photography which he enjoys both locally and during his travels.
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Recently he retired from his life-long business as co-owner of a group of Ace Hardware stores located in the Midwest. He has been involved in both non-profit and for profit Boards over the past 30 years. Past board positions have included a symphony orchestra, a hospital, a community bank and a trade association. In addition to Meditation Groups Inc., he currently serves on the corporate boards of a manufacturer and a retailer.
HALINA BAK-HUGHES – CORPORATE SECRETARY
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Halina has been a life-long student of the ‘Mystery Tradition’ beginning in her youth with the rituals and sacraments of the church, leading to Ordination and Consecration through a lineage related to the Liberal Catholic Church. Years later she discovered Holodynamics, a profound psycho-spiritual approach for life transformation and ‘True Soul’ contact, serving as a teacher/facilitator and program coordinator.
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Upon attending Seven Rays conferences, she recognized the continuity of the Mystery traditions flowing through the more scientific Ageless Wisdom teachings for the coming Age. Following years of study earning certificates and esoteric degrees (in Psychology-Science-Philosophy and a Doctorate in Divinity, ABD), her focus has been “living” the universal Truths, Laws and Principles of Reality in daily life and service.
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Extending ‘Living Truths’ in group life, Halina has worked with her husband in corporate America as an Organization Development consultant and executive coach, inculcating Soul values and practices that unfold individual, group and organizational life for the “greater good”. She serves on three Boards all related to the “wisdom” teachings, has a Spiritual mentoring/coaching practice, and directs a ritual contemplative process aligned with the rhythms of the stars and liturgical seasons in service of the emerging new world spirituality and religion.
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She lives in the Sierra Nevada foothills; interests include Soul Astrology, music/sound, photography, natural architecture, promoting well-being through aromatherapy/flower essences/medicinal herbs and organic gardening/cooking.
SHELDON HUGHES
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Since childhood Sheldon has enjoyed living as an observer and participant in an inner world of Beauty and Light while actively engaging in the everyday interests of youth. During college he awakened to the Power of group Love and Compassion discovered in mourning the death of several high school friends returning home for Thanksgiving. Such was the depth and Light of the experience and its continuance he majored in Religion and Eastern Philosophy to understand the nature of those energies and forces and study the higher range of human possibilities.
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Upon graduation, the desire for study superseded by a need to “plunge into the practical world”, he lived and worked for two years in E. Harlem, NYC; participated in a life changing course in Group Dynamics at Union Seminary; lived and studied at an experimental college in Denmark, and worked with an urban service training center on issues of Racial Justice. Then hired as an internal change and development consultant with a large Bank in New York City launched 40 years working with organizations and groups building Soul/Values based cultures, relationships, minds-brains as a practical mystic in today’s world.
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Later, while completing work for an MBA degree in Management and Organization Behavior he discovered the Ageless Wisdom teachings through the writings of Alice Bailey and the work of Lucis Trust. In addition to working with the United Nations Peace Day project and continuing study toward a Doctor of Divinity in Esoteric Philosophy, for the last 25 years he has been a student, teacher, and member of the Board of the University of The Seven Rays/Seven Ray Institute, and program support for its annual conference.
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Today, Sheldon co-teaches an online course on A Treatise On White Magic with his wife, Halina. He follows and serves, meditatively, the transformation of Business witnessed in the Conscious Capitalism and New Economy movements; the emergence of the new Soul inspired world culture seen in the de-structuring of organizations, ideologies, and governments currently driven by materialism, separatism, and fear; the establishment of prototypes built from the ground up based on the Principles of Love, Goodwill, Cooperation, and Sharing, and the growing guiding Presence of our Spiritual Elders.
DIANA LANG
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Diana is a teacher of meditation and a spiritual counselor. She is the author of ‘Opening to Meditation’ published by New World Library. Diana has studied spiritual teachings and philosophies from around the world and is also a lifelong astrologer. Her background in the Ageless Wisdom began with studying Alice Bailey, Agni Yoga, The Nature of the Soul, and many other esoteric and theosophical teachings.
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She discovered Meditation Mount one day in 1976, after attending a talk by J. Krishnamurti in the meadow just down the road from Meditation Mount. It was recognition at first sight and she’s been involved with the Mount ever since. She has served as a board member in the past and has returned to serve on the board again as the Mount furthers its spiritual work in the world.
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Diana has a unique ability to explain abstract ideas in a way that is easy to understand and usable. Her encouraging approach allows for an authentic and real spiritual experience.
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Currently, Diana joins with Michael Lindfield each month to facilitate the Mount’s Full Moon online meditations. We hope you will join us!