Who Am I? A Two Day Inquiry with Academy founder, Aaron Stern Friday to Sunday, April 17-19, 2009 • $175 To register for this program go to the Schedule of Activities and clik on Register Online Drawing upon the rich resource of the Who Am I? exercise developed by Ramana Maharshi, Academy founder, Aaron Stern, will lead this 3-day passage and inquiry into our deepest nature as human beings. Through the Who Am I? meditation, and the processes of art, music and intimate conversation, participants will have opportunity to experience the profound stillness of our essential nature and the expression and integration of this experience in the company of others.

Aaron Stern is the Executive Director and founder of the Academy, serves as President of the Board, and is a member of the Core Faculty. He designed the core curriculum, which is at the heart of all Academy programs, and directs its facilitation team. He is a composer, performer, educator and former dean of the American Conservatory of Music. He consults with educational, arts, spiritual and social-change organizations and communities, worldwide. He is also trained and certified as a transpersonal therapist.

This workshop is part of the Rites of Passage Series

In times of great change it is necessary to practice and perfect the skill of letting go of the old and opening to the new. However, in our culture we are taught the opposite - to hold on at all cost. We are unskilled in one of the most basic human processes: learning to let ourselves die to new life. Yet, collectively, we are being swept forcefully into the death of our current unsustainable paradigm and the birth of something new.

The Academy’s Rites of Passage Series will help us develop the capacities and practices that will reconcile and loosen our holding patterns, by delving deeply into life passages -- including death and dying, gender reconciliation, self- renewal and reflection and our roles in social change. These ceremonies and explorations will give passage to deeper levels of our humanity and guide us into ways of honoring the past while inviting new ways of being and doing. Each season we will be introducing new courses and trainings designed to guide us through these passages of death and rebirth, transforming our selves and therefore our worlds.