Upcoming Events

Living Awake Online Community

Monthly Drop-In Zoom Meetings with Susanne Marie

Each two-hour gathering opens with a talk on a different topic, followed by an hour of open inquiry where you can bring your own questions. Some in this group have been gathering with Susanne for over ten years.

Next Online Meeting: Saturday, October 17th, 2026
Time: 10am-12pm Pacific Time
Topic: The Nature of Being Human
Cost: $25-40 (sliding scale based on ability to pay). No one turned away for lack of funds.
Drop-in (no sign up needed).
For more information (zoom link & donate button), follow this link. 

 

 

New Online Course: Earth School

Not elsewhere, but here. From birth to death, there is continuous learning.

An experiential course in learning how to come home, in the body, on this earth.

6 Saturdays, beginning October 31st, weekly through December 5th 10am–12pm Pacific Time
Registration Now Open

 

~ Living as presence~

Earth is the divine. Not just in our minds, in truth. Earth traditions have long held this, the sacred as immanent, present in and as the natural world. Spirit isn’t somewhere else, waiting for us to leave the body behind and arrive at it. It moves as flesh and breath, as the dishes and the traffic, the grief and the joy of an actual day. This is the divine in motion. This course is that movement, spirit brought fully down into life. Oneness already includes everything, exactly as it is, right here in our lives, there’s nowhere else to go looking for it. This course asks what that means in the ordinary: in how we treat our bodies as they age, how we treat each other, how we treat her.

It’s called Earth School because earth is home, and she teaches us what it means to actually arrive, in the body and in relation to her, living in presence the way nature intended, one with her, in harmony rather than apart. None of this is new. What’s different now is how full and complicated life has become, making it easy to forget that we are the sacred. When we lose touch with nature, we lose touch with ourselves. That rupture is painful, but it’s also a teacher. These are direct lessons, and they can grow us, if we’re willing to stop looking elsewhere for freedom.

We spend so much of our lives in imaginative thinking, somewhere other than here. Earth School is about coming out of that and finding the simplicity of this moment, and being willing to stay with it. It’s the hardest thing to do, and there are always more layers to it.

At the center of all of this is connection, real relationship, real love. Waking up happens between us, in how we love and let ourselves be loved, in how we stay in contact with one another even when it’s hard. That is as much the curriculum here as anything else.

None of this resolves neatly. It means opening to what’s irreconcilable and landing here anyway, learning to speak authentically instead of managing how we appear, and learning to stop avoiding what is. Forgiveness and prayer come up here too, as real questions, ones we don’t always get to answer.

This is a course in being human as much as it’s a course in being spiritual, because in truth, they aren’t separate. What is the point of being anywhere at all, if not to be here as fully as we can, living, learning, growing, evolving, participating, loving? Love, most of all. What spirituality brings you to, in the end, is simply the ability to live your life as a human being. To be flawed and imperfect is already the divine, exactly as it is, even as we keep evolving, finding our way back to what we already know, each time deepening rather than simply repeating, more a spiral than a circle. This is the divine itself, learning and growing, as us.

Some of the terrain we’ll cover, a place to begin. Earth school is nothing less than the whole of being human:

• The natural laws of this place: birth and death above all, held as a koan rather than a fear, illuminating just how precious it is to be here, and impermanence, limitation, and change moving through everything else
• Contrast as a teacher: individuality and universality, how oneness shows up as this one particular life, and the paradox of both/and, what the limited mind can’t fathom but our vaster Self already knows. Fear and resistance are what arise when we forget this, and believe instead in separation and control.
• Becoming more loving and kind, to ourselves and each other: admitting that it has always been about love, and softening the places that have hardened inside us
• Family, relationships, and the teachings only they can offer us: the importance of real connection, and the difference between aloneness and loneliness
• Opening to pain both personal and collective: heartbreak, grief, environmental and collective suffering, being humbled and broken down, and the gifts offered on the other side of loss
• Embracing being here fully, opening to what’s possible: we are creators, mirrors of the one Creator, becoming a representation of the light of creation itself, invited to cooperate with nature and with each other, to dream together, and to act on what we dream

Course Details:

• Weekly live sessions via Zoom, Saturdays at 10am Pacific
• A recording sent following each session
• Contemplation exercises sent following each session
• Optional pairing with a listening buddy, to meet weekly at a time of your own choosing
• Time for questions in each session

Dates: October 31, November 7, 14, 21, 28, December 5
Location: Online via Zoom video
Cost: $270–$360 sliding scale
Registration: To register, email Susanne expressing your interest in taking the course.
susannemariecourse@gmail.com 

Partial scholarships are available for those in need. Cost is a sliding scale based on income. Please choose your scale with integrity. We have a vast range of financial realities, and I like to keep this available to all who are sincerely interested. It helps hold our spiritual community with care.

 

 

Living Awake Community in Person Events:

 

*This Retreat is fully booked!

Devotion to Truth: An Awakening Immersion Retreat

7 Nights: October 2–9, 2026
Crestone, Colorado
Vajra Vidya Retreat Center

Enrollment is open. Limited spots available.

I am delighted to offer my fourth silent seven-night retreat at the beautiful Tibetan Buddhist Vajra Vidya Retreat Center in Crestone, Colorado. This immersion offers a profound opportunity to deepen your spiritual practice within a loving, embodied, and well-supported container.

This retreat will be held in a small, intimate, non-sectarian setting, allowing for depth, presence, and genuine connection. Noble silence will be observed throughout the retreat, with two daily group sessions that are not silent. Each day will include a morning teaching, followed by an afternoon session devoted to questions, inquiry, and shared dialogue.

Vajra Vidya is nestled at 8,300 feet in the Colorado Rockies, offering a spacious and pristine natural environment that powerfully supports inner stillness and contemplation. We are deeply grateful that the retreat center is offering an exceptional rate for private rooms and meals. There are 18 rooms available on site, with additional off-site housing options nearby. Due to the limited capacity, this retreat is intentionally small and is filling quickly.

Integration and Support

There is an application process for all new participants. I will personally check in with each applicant to ensure the retreat is a supportive and appropriate fit for your current well-being and spiritual journey. Retreat energy can be quite powerful, and it is important to me that each participant feels well held and supported.

The final full day of the retreat will be devoted to integration, including small breakout groups and time to harmonize and ground the insights and experiences of the week.

Application Information

New applicants are invited to email us to request an application.
Those who have previously attended a retreat with me may simply email to express their interest.

Email: susannemarieretreat@gmail.com

Housing and Meals

Retreat Center Housing and Three Meals Daily:
$95–$100 per night for a single private room (including meals). 
Housing is booked directly with Vajra Vidya Retreat Center once your participation is approved.

If on-site housing becomes full, nearby off-site accommodations are available.

Tuition

Susanne’s Tuition (separate from housing and meals):
$1,050

Non-refundable deposit: $200

If you feel called to contribute to our scholarship fund, please let us know via email. Your generosity helps make it possible for a sincere spiritual practitioner to attend. Thank you in advance for your support.

Warm blessings,
Susanne

 

 

Retreat Testimonials:

Susanne Marie is an extraordinary guide whose warmth and care create a safe and nurturing space for deep exploration. Her presence radiates a profound connection to the ground of being, the quiet and empty space that is our true home. Through her guidance, I’ve come to rest in my true nature and become familiar with the stillness from which all things arise and into which they dissolve. What makes Susanne truly unique is her ability to guide without imposing any dogma or ideology. Her talks feel like a guided meditation, effortlessly drawing students back to their source. She points so directly and lovingly to what is real, allowing the simplicity and beauty of our true essence to reveal itself naturally. Susanne’s teachings are not just words; they are an invitation to rest deeply and to recognize the quiet, boundless space of being. I am endlessly grateful for her transmission and the profound impact it has had on my journey.
~ Stryder Reilly, Colorado 

So beautifully held, I felt, in this largely silent and powerful retreat, in majestic nature, with the mountains at our back. Wonderfully insightful talks each day by Susanne Marie as well as a daily Q&A, and complementary somatic activities such as nature walks, mindful movement, singing bowls and breath exercises. Susanne led us masterfully, step-by-step, down the deeper path. It was astonishing to witness how she could speak, at the same time, to all the group, in all our different places in the journey. I for one was always hearing what I needed to hear. I always felt safe and cared for. The spaciousness and silence I needed was always there. Nature too, as we integrated into our surroundings and the nature we are. Whilst a secular retreat, we were nestled in the nurturing cradle of a very-well-run and inspiring Tibetan retreat centre (Vajra Vidya). The joyful loving-kindness of Khenpo Jigme and the centre staff and long-term retreatants resonated far beyond the boundaries of their physical home. It is quite hard to put into words how special this retreat was. If you are sincere in your desire to take your spiritual journey to the next level, I highly recommend a retreat led by Susanne Marie.
~ K. Davies, UK

~ Photos below are taken from Susanne’s retreats in Taos, NM, Crestone, CO., Sonoma County, CA. & events around the world.