Vernice Jones

I began envisioning capacity-building Circles in the early days of the global pandemic as I witnessed clients struggling to lead and take care of the many others in their lives. My goal was to give leaders a place to be in community and hold space for one another, network and leverage their collective intelligence and power.
What I learned was that the collective intelligence, resourcefulness, compassion and awareness shared by these leaders was precious and relationships formed were long lasting.

Since then, I have led a number of Circles and small groups. This program will focus on meditation and awareness.
I began my own exploration of meditative practices in high school when my father insisted that the entire family attend meditation instruction, separately, in order for each of us to have a unique experience. It was a radical move at the time. I recall it feeling like an exhilarating, adventurous experiment, and quickly integrated a regular although perfunctory meditation practice into my daily schedule. That practice turned out to be life altering in a way I couldn’t have predicted. The next five years brought a series of serious family health issues. Meditation as a doorway to awareness gave me an invitation to stand on the balcony of my experience and was the one thing that sustained me during that difficult time.

More recently, while teaching and guiding leaders through transformation—and doing my own work—I have noticed cognitive behavioral challenge and support to be an important part of transformation, but only partial to the multidimensional transformational experience. I have become even more focused on awareness (and awareness of awareness) in working with clients and groups. In our work together, it is not uncommon for clients to recognize in themselves a sense of connection, wisdom, and intimacy, and then ask to learn more. This program is an answer to that call.

Dr. Jan Nicholson

As is so often the case with people who grow up to be therapists and coaches, I had challenges to overcome at home that gave me a determination to help people overcome adversity and reach their potential.

I completed my doctorate at Harvard in Counseling and Consulting Psychology but most of what informs my unique approach to work as a coach and a therapist has been what I have learned since then. Thanks to having a chronically ill father, my passion has been to study and integrate mind-body-spirit approaches fully into my work in order to facilitate healing and wholeness.

Of all the things I’ve learned over the years, the most life-changing and practical knowledge I love to share with others is how to live in the ever-expansive field of awareness rather than being caught up in self-limiting thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

My own story with awareness began when I had a near-drowning experience at the age of 5. Unable to swim and out in a lake over my head after slipping out of my inner tube, I shifted from being terrified to being filled with a deep sense of peacefulness. I felt immersed in radiant light, and was in a state of blissful joy. Trying to revisit and sense this bliss again became my quest for years.

I had moments when bliss again visited me unexpectedly like at my wedding, and when my daughter was born. What changed everything for me, though, is when I met my mentor and he taught me how to consciously enter and hold the field of awareness. Blissfulness arises naturally in such moments and permeates us. This is the most personally empowering thing I have learned along the way, shifting my own life the most.

Drawing from the Waters of our Most Authentic Self is created to provide you with a map to live from an awakened perspective more and more of the time, all the while remaining embodied and fully present.