{Opening}
A 90-day Journey
Any problems or questions: email us at admin@upend.com
What's included:
1. Nine Live and Interactive Zoom Classes with Master Teachers organized in three "weekends" (Thu, Fri, Sat), one per month
2. Six 1:1 custom sessions with expert certified life and executive coaches for individual work ($1,500 stand-alone value)
3. Video lecturettes & wisdom library for self-paced learning (includes scribd.com subscriptions with 2 million titles)
4. Dwell: Online community of Fellow Learners
5. Gifts in the mail to make your wisdom journey beautiful
$99 now + 3 months x $350
or
$999
or
$999
Start With the Four Ancient Ways of Being
Following the footsteps of many ancient mythologies and traditions, we simplify the understanding and learning of wisdoms starting with the four Ways of Being, the four primal and recurring archetypes. Each one embodies a different essence of our humanity and offers wonderful lessons to make life work, if we are willing to listen with our softest ears and learn. Wisdom requires both the mastery of ways of being and daily practices of each, along with finding a balance between them - knowing which one to summon when and to what degree.
Way of the Warrior
Piercing presence, grounded stance, and speaking with sharp distinctions are marks of a Warrior. The courage to be, beyond just fearlessness, is what powers the grit, discipline and leadership that each adult must bring to our everyday life: at home, at work and in our communities.
Way of the Lover
Lover starts by knowing what love is. What different kinds of love are. A lover knows about empathy and compassion. A lover knows about reciprocity – about giving and receiving. A lover appreciates heart power. So many religions, so many cultures, so many traditions agree on one thing – love rules. Love creates. Love is the source of all. Sounds so cheesy when you just say it – in fact saying it like this almost dishonors the entire concept. Lovers have emotional expertise, they understand and appreciate not just their own emotions, but other’s. They know peace in their heart. They know mindfulness. They enjoy and create beauty and pleasure.
Way of the Mystic
Mystics, like healers, seek guidance across inner and outer worlds, and find balance between virtues. Finding where you belong in a vast network of relations can lead to surprising revelations and heighten your intuition. Explore life’s realms with childlike curiosity to unveil guideposts in daily life and your higher meaning, gift and task.
Way of the LightHeart
A rabbi, shaman and agnostic walk into a bar... Without the jokester’s twinkle in your eye, the riding of the inevitable waves of life takes all the fun out of the game. Joy, pleasure and play are part of our birthright, embedded in our DNA and our deepest cosmology - but you must exercise them daily to keep alive.
Where All Will The Journey Take Us?
Over a period of 90-days, we'll walk together on intertwining pathways: some at your own pace, in live groups, 1:1 with your coach, and within a community of fellow travelers.
#1 Big Ideas in
Bite-Sized Lecturettes
We’ve created a series of short, self-paced video lecturettes to land the major concepts, some you’ve seen before, but many new,...
or explored in more depth.
Presented spontaneously and intimately by master teachers who’ve walked the walk for decades, the lecturettes focus on your learning, on distinctions, on examples - without paying heed to Hollywood-style feel-good “spiritual entertainment.” The learning is what really matters, so we can together walk into the experiential classes ready to do real work.
Presented spontaneously and intimately by master teachers who’ve walked the walk for decades, the lecturettes focus on your learning, on distinctions, on examples - without paying heed to Hollywood-style feel-good “spiritual entertainment.” The learning is what really matters, so we can together walk into the experiential classes ready to do real work.
#2 Embodiment of Insights Through Experiential Classes
Three live classes, 3-days each month - you get to see how you really operate, catch yourself in automatic and pre-conditioned...
responses, and re-examine how you actually want to be.
Filled with space for mindfulness and reflection, you will chew on new insights together with your teachers, coaches, and other students in a safe-place laboratory for both playful and serious experimentation.
Filled with space for mindfulness and reflection, you will chew on new insights together with your teachers, coaches, and other students in a safe-place laboratory for both playful and serious experimentation.
With this incontrovertible evidence you yourself experience, you’ll truly master the insights you learned about before. You’ll have a chance to pick and choose for yourself the virtues and ways of being that support you, rooted in deep knowing.
#3 Expert 1:1 Coaching for Practice & Habit Building
Insights and experimental learning are key to truly “get” insights, but building practices takes time and expert guidance...
Our coaches are critical in guiding students from practices to their own daily habits rooted in ancient wisdoms.
Using an “ontological” approach - who do you want to be - and helping you center your voice in an ecology of beings, we are attentive to hidden language, context, and worldview. We’ll also aid the focus on accountability, responsibility, goals and practices, practices, practices. This is not your ole’ football coach pep-talk or willpower-driven task list. It’s a thoughtful drawing out of your own strengths, your own commitments, and your own direction.
Using an “ontological” approach - who do you want to be - and helping you center your voice in an ecology of beings, we are attentive to hidden language, context, and worldview. We’ll also aid the focus on accountability, responsibility, goals and practices, practices, practices. This is not your ole’ football coach pep-talk or willpower-driven task list. It’s a thoughtful drawing out of your own strengths, your own commitments, and your own direction.
#4 Curated Community to Support Your Growth
A learning community is key - recent research shows that schoolkids learn well over 50% from their peers - peeking over, discussing, listening.
We built custom communities based on cohorts, classes, and interests in a safe, respectful, private social network for our students - where teachers and coaches also jump in informally to play, debate and learn. We maintain a large online campus library, many with free resources, tagged and reviewed to be most helpful.
#5 Wisdom Library & Resources
We are building a large online campus library, many with free resources, tagged and reviewed to be most helpful.
For now, we'll share useful links and resources for your independent study and deepening your insights and practices.
#6 Guest Appearances
by Wisdom Elders
Elders from our broader communities will grace us with their loving presence and insights, at their own time and with their own content.
Core: Wise Habits
Our ideal outcome is for you to create wise habits in your everyday life. Habits emerge from custom "practices" you design to serve your worlds, each one deeply rooted in tried and trusted wisdoms of the ages.
Ancient peoples built habits through repetition, in different forms – rituals, ceremonies, celebrations, prayers, dances and stories. We know that habit building is hard, so we focus on making it easy: We gently reiterate the skills, how-tos, and practices, over and over - in fun and refreshing ways. We do so in every lecturette, in every class, in every meaningful interaction with any of us, your coach, or your UpEnd community. Your effort will be rewarded by crossing the threshold from simple willpower into the glorious land of habit - a near-automatic behavior pattern to be wise, loving and do good for you and all.
From there on, it gets easier and easier every day – a virtuous cycle. De-construct your non-working habits, and thoughtfully and smoothly build new ones - rooted in proven ancient wisdoms that have worked for millennia.
From there on, it gets easier and easier every day – a virtuous cycle. De-construct your non-working habits, and thoughtfully and smoothly build new ones - rooted in proven ancient wisdoms that have worked for millennia.
Itinerary of the 90-day Wisdom Journey
Most activities happen on your own time or as you schedule, and we have 3 waves of group experiential classes together over three months
Wave 1: Elements
Mar 31 (Thu) | | | 12:00pm-3:30pm PDT Zoom |
April 1 (Fri) | | | 12:00pm-3:30pm PDT Zoom |
April 2 (Sat) | | | 9:00am-1:30pm PDT Zoom |
Lecturettes | | | Any Time, online |
1:1 Coaching | | | Set up with coach during classes |
Wave 2: Integration
May 5 (Thu) | | | 12:00pm-3:30pm PDT Zoom |
May 6 (Fri) | | | 12:00pm-3:30pm PDT Zoom |
May 7 (Sat) | | | 9:00am-1:30pm PDT Zoom |
Lecturettes | | | Any Time, online |
1:1 Coaching | | | Set up with coach during classes |
wave 3: Action
June 2 (Thu) | | | 12:00pm-3:30pm PDT Zoom |
June 3 (Fri) | | | 12:00pm-3:30pm PDT Zoom |
June 4 (Sat) | | | 9:00am-1:30pm PDT Zoom |
Lecturettes | | | Any Time, online |
Follow Up Coaching | | | On Demand |
Start your Wisdom Journey:
{Opening}
A 90-day Journey
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Any problems or questions: email us at admin@upend.com
Not ready yet, but keep me posted:
Thank you!
More questions about { An Opening }
Can I skip a Zoom class?
Not really. The classes are the praxis - where theory meets reality. They are carefully designed in a sequence, and require your input and collaboration with your fellow travelers in real time, not something that can be recorded. The experiential classes are the beginnings of "practices" - you will learn how to form them and practice them, with feedback and useful hints.
What's next after { An Opening } Journey?
Nothing.
You'll already own a big menu of options and a magic toolbox of skills to manifest your wise life. You'll feel ready to take real action in the world, guided by your own gift and task. We designed { An Opening } for nearly two years by carefully braiding lecturettes, live experiential trainings, coaching and community, to offer an immersive experience and skills sufficient for you to go forward with all you need. Nothing else is required from us, nor will be promoted or "sold", that's just not our way.
If you want to deepen your learning and practices beyond { An Opening }, we'll share fully our resources and roots. We enjoy talking about the work of our teachers in their own communities of growth, transformation and contemplation. We are also curating a shortlist of more narrowly focused organizations and programs - but only the ones we ourselves experienced and love, who we know are doing good work in a good way. We are finalizing those details now, and will, as always, be fully transparent about our connections, arrangements, finances, and goodies we may share as a result of our collaboration.
If you want to remain a part of the UpEnd community more longer term, contribute, share and learn together, as well as access the benefits of our collaborations, we are preparing a simple "Perennial Traveler" annual program priced at $99/yr, after your first anniversary.
You'll already own a big menu of options and a magic toolbox of skills to manifest your wise life. You'll feel ready to take real action in the world, guided by your own gift and task. We designed { An Opening } for nearly two years by carefully braiding lecturettes, live experiential trainings, coaching and community, to offer an immersive experience and skills sufficient for you to go forward with all you need. Nothing else is required from us, nor will be promoted or "sold", that's just not our way.
If you want to deepen your learning and practices beyond { An Opening }, we'll share fully our resources and roots. We enjoy talking about the work of our teachers in their own communities of growth, transformation and contemplation. We are also curating a shortlist of more narrowly focused organizations and programs - but only the ones we ourselves experienced and love, who we know are doing good work in a good way. We are finalizing those details now, and will, as always, be fully transparent about our connections, arrangements, finances, and goodies we may share as a result of our collaboration.
If you want to remain a part of the UpEnd community more longer term, contribute, share and learn together, as well as access the benefits of our collaborations, we are preparing a simple "Perennial Traveler" annual program priced at $99/yr, after your first anniversary.
What is your confidentiality policy
We will make specific agreements with participants regarding confidentiality at the start. You are welcome to share your experience of any of UpEnd, but we will ask that you keep whatever others' share confidential, and while we can't guarantee it, people do a pretty good job at that. As for our content, processes and sequence and all that, the roots of what we do are of course open to all and freely shared, yet the specific flow and design we put together is the labor of our team - we'd prefer that you let people experience it in its original form. Also, if you know the punchline of the joke ahead of time, not as much fun - and a big part of what we do is create space for discovery, which is individualized and unique for everyone. Net/net, share your experience and what you learned, share the core roots of where the wisdoms came from, and you'll be asked to keep confidential what others say about themselves and the particulars of the sausage-making. We'll talk about it together in the first Zoom class and please email us at opening@upend.com for further class questions.
What prerequisites are there to participate in { An Opening }
None. Be willing to participate, learn, hear, share, and stay focused on what you are doing, so insights can show up.
I have strong religious and political beliefs. Am I welcome?
Yes. You are invited to participate like everyone else. There will be no attempt to change your core beliefs or opinions, that's not what we are about. We are about sharing insights across cultures and ages, with the commitment that you "get" what they are about - and then you chose what, if anything, to do with that learning. We ask of everyone to be respectful, inclusive, open, share space and time with others, be willing to listen to others, and general good playground skills, like you would expect.
Have more questions?
Email us at opening@upend.com.
Meet Your Teachers
Bettie
Spruill
Spruill
Master Teacher &
Head of Coaching
Head of Coaching
Patricia
James
James
Master Teacher &
Cross-Cultural Expert
Cross-Cultural Expert
Elvir
Causevic
Causevic
Founder, Teacher
F. Frederick
Johnson
Johnson
Master Teacher
Ray
Blanchard
Master Teacher &
Head of Trainings
Head of Trainings
Anita
Sanchez
Sanchez
Master Teacher
Martha
Borst
Borst
Master Teacher
Geramy
Quarto
Quarto
Teacher &
Coaching
Coaching