Gatherings with Joan are about exploring the living reality Here / Now, seeing through the thoughts and beliefs that limit and confuse us, waking up to the aliveness of presence, discovering the transformative power of awareness, learning to embrace and open to the darkness in this body-mind-world without running away or chasing after false solutions, and being just this moment, exactly as it is. Joan has an affinity with Buddhism, Advaita and other forms of nonduality and meditative inquiry, but she belongs to no particular tradition. She is the author of Bare-Bones Meditation: Waking Up from the Story of My Life (1996), Awake in the Heartland: The Ecstasy of What Is (2003), Painting the Sidewalk with Water: Talks and Dialogs about Nonduality (2010), Nothing to Grasp (2012), and a forthcoming book about old age, death and imperfection is in the works. Joan has lived in California, New York and Chicago, and is currently living in southern Oregon.