SPEAKERS AVAILABLE

Teri Degler

Award-winning writer Teri Degler is the author/co-author of nine books including The Fiery Muse: Creativity and the Spiritual Quest (Random House of Canada). A long-time student of yoga philosophy and mystical experience, Teri is a widely experienced public speaker. She has taught workshops in the United States and Canada and has appeared on many national radio and television programs. She has just finished writing her next book, The Divine Feminine Fire: Shakti, Shekinah, Sophia and the Call to Creativity. More information on her work can be found at www.teridegler.com.

Teri is available to give short talks, conduct discussion groups, or lead workshops of any length. They all include experiential exercises in creative visualization and, when time allows, opportunities to do creative writing and play with art materials in a warm, supportive environment. Some of her most popular topics include:

“Kundalini, Creativity, and Consciousness”
An exploration of kundalini-shakti as the source of creative inspiration and a look at how this gift of creativity can be used not only to improve our efforts in the “arts” but also in our relationships, families, and careers.

“Express Your Yearning: Express Your Self”
A journey into how your yearning to express your inner Self creatively is, in fact, the call of the divine feminine – the cosmic creative force known as Shakti, Sophia, and Shekinah – and what this means in terms of both your creativity and your daily life.

“Longing for the Beloved: Sexuality, Sensuality, and Saints”
Mystical experiences have often been described as erotically charged and sometimes sexually suggestive "unions" with the Beloved. Age-old Tantric texts explain this in terms of kundalini and the transformation of sexual energy into spiritual energy. This ancient knowledge has profound implications for our ability to tap into creative energy and use it in our lives.

Vitold Kreutzer

Vitold Kreutzer resides on a small piece of farmland in rural southern Ontario in the County of Grey. His experiences on the farm have included obtaining a deep respect and appreciation of all natural life forms through his organic farming practices, simple lifestyle and spiritual thinking. More recently his efforts towards sustainability have included the baking of organic breads, the home use of renewable energy, and the examination of conservation as a means to living simply and peacefully. As a member of various environmental groups, much of his time is devoted to the awareness of his environmental footprint and his responsibility as an ethical steward of all life forms, on his farm in particular and on the planet in general.

This devotion is based on a resolved appreciation of and an intense study of the spiritual realm and its interconnectedness with all life on the planet. The study of Eastern philosophy concerning Kundalini and the Western philosophy of Anthroposophy has shaped his awareness of the divinity of life and the significance of each person’s role in the evolution of the human species and that of our home, planet Earth. Our awareness of the true nature of reality and evolution is demonstrated by our thoughts, feelings, habits, and actions. Vitold’s hope is to share his awareness in a loving and humble manner that touches the divine within all of us.

Dale Pond

Dale Pond has been involved in Kundalini Research for more than 30 years and is the corresponding secretary of The Institute for Consciousness Research. She resides in Markdale, Ontario, Canada, with her husband.

In 1975 she was introduced to meditation and spiritual laws and had a transformative experience that changed her life. In 1977 she met Gopi Krishna and learned about Kundalini, the psycho-physiological mechanism held to be responsible for the evolution of consciousness acting within the human body and brain.

In 1988 a most profound interior mystical experience opened her up to the creative impulse. Poetry flowed, songs came and it is then that she began painting and wood sculpting. She also had what she calls “the blossoming of the intellect” which inspired her to read, especially the lives of mystics and geniuses in order to understand the process she was undergoing.

Having found the answers to many of her questions within this framework, she continues to promote Kundalini research so that others may comprehend the divine, creative energy that awaits our awareness and participation. She intimately shares details of her transformative experiences and how she has weaved them into her life in a balanced and healthy way.

Paul pond

Paul Pond, Ph.D., Director of Research for ICR, has a doctorate in physics and has been involved in Kundalini experience and research for more than 30 years. He has written and spoken extensively on the subject. His focus has been on lifestyle issues and their impact on individual spiritual experience.

Ever since he was first introduced to and experienced the concept of Kundalini, Paul was struck by the fact that there are laws of consciousness just as there are laws of physics. These “mental” laws operate on a much more subtle level than the physical laws of everyday experience and are contained in the basic tenets of traditional religious and esoteric thought. Kundalini is held to be responsible for mystical experience, genius and other exceptional states of mind.

His presentation includes a review of the concept of Kundalini as the evolutionary mechanism in human beings. This emphasizes the point that our so-called spiritual experiences have a biological base and as such impact our lives both mentally and physically. Understanding this biological basis provides us with a framework with which we can positively manage the spiritual transformative process.

Beverley Viljakainen

Beverley Viljakainen is available to speak with those interested in being able to better discover and understand who and what they essentially are in order to be able to function more effectively in whatever environments they find themselves in –-family, community, school, workplace, and solitude. Only then, she believes, can we hope to contribute in a meaningful way to making the world a better place for those who are to follow.

With a background in yoga philosophy and practice, Vedanta as a means for knowing oneself, the world and that which we call God, and the thinking of J. Krishnamurti, Beverley is committed to enabling herself and others to be “the fullness we already are”. She lives in the Owen Sound area of Ontario and, in the interests of the environment, prefers not to travel extensively for speaking engagements.