central va ions community group Archives

Richmond IONS Meeting June 2020, on ZOOM

Richmond IONS Meeting June 2020 (June 20) and Central Virginia IONS Community Group Meeting. It will feature a talk by Susan Wysoki.

Where/When: Online only, through ZOOM, on Saturday, June 20, 2020, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. See the detailed ZOOM instructions in the email to follow this notice.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Our ZOOM calls are password protected. You need to be on our email list to get the password for each ZOOM event.

It’s easy though: Just click on the Menu button at the top right, and then on the Contact button. Then send us a message that you want to be added to our email list, and we’ll add you. We will send about 2 emails for each monthly event.

Richmond IONS June 2020 Meeting

“Winks from Heaven.”

Our June 20, 2020, meeting will feature a talk by Susan Wysoki, an author and Certified Transformation Life Coach, about her just published ebook, Winks from Heaven.

If you were told you only have a few months left on earth, what would you do? What enormous decisions and intimate details would fill up your weeks, days, minutes, and seconds? Now, imagine if those final months belong not to you, but to the person you love most in the world.

Susan’s life changed forever on the night of December 15, 2016, when her daughter Jessica was rushed to the Pediatric Emergency Room.

The doctors feared it was appendicitis, a scary and potentially life-threatening condition. Within 24 hours that diagnosis would change to something no one ever could have imagined… Stage 4 colon cancer. Jessica had just turned 17.

Jessica escaped her body after a 17-month battle, on the day after her high school graduation, but the “everyday angels” who crossed their path throughout the journey, and the messages from Jessica after her “death” have been extraordinary.

Helping others on their grief journey

Susan launched Good Grief Counseling to help others on their grief journey, particularly parents who have lost children.

She is a Certified Transformation Life Coach, focusing on the transformational aspect of grief, and how it can move us forward in relationships and connections with our children, our faith, and a life of renewed purpose.

Susan’s book, Winks from Heaven, is being incorporated into the Medical School Curriculum of the Medical College of Virginia to illustrate the touch points where science and spirituality meet. The book chronicles incredible and compelling messages of hope, the universe conspiring to bring people together with miraculous synchronicity.

At this moment, as we face an unprecedented time of existential crisis, the world craves emotional and spiritual connection more than ever. Winks from Heaven makes that connection through its message of hope and answers the unspoken question: “What matters the most?” Join us for this remarkable presentation.

About Susan Wysoki, Our Richmond IONS Meeting June 2020 Presenter:

Texas-born Susan Wysoki is first and foremost a mom. She is the proud mama of Jessica, who is, in spirit, the middle child and the “cheese” between her brothers, Jordan and Jonah. Susan is the daughter of a world-renowned psychic healer and a Holocaust survivor.

Her unique perspective on grief comes from her earliest experiences with reincarnation, memories of past lives, and the eternal nature of the soul.

Susan spent more than 25 years counseling Fortune 500 companies, CEO’s, and foreign governments. She was a script writer for Bernard Shaw and Judy Woodruff with CNN’s Washington Bureau, and she wrote weekly press briefings on Capitol Hill for the U.S. Speaker of the House.

She has held editorial positions with Vanity Fair and Vogue, just like The Devil Wears Prada, but without the book or blockbuster movie. Her writing has appeared in More, Glamour, Vanity Fair, Self, Pregnancy, Fitness, Southern Living, and Psychology Today.

Since Jessica’s transition, Susan has spoken to numerous grief groups and medical professionals from all over the world. As an outspoken advocate, she has educated researchers and clinicians about the risks of early onset colorectal cancer.

Her research on the environmental and epigenetic factors influencing Jessica’s cancer has been presented to NIH and the National Institute of Environmental Studies. It has also led her to demand accountability and safer products from food and consumer products manufacturers. For additional resources please visit www.winksfromheaven.net and www.goodgriefcounseling.net.

About Richmond IONS AKA Central VA IONS Community Group:

To find out more about Central VA IONS Community Group (Richmond IONS), please CLICK HERE.

About Our Richmond IONS Facebook Page:

Please also visit and “LIKE” our Richmond IONS Facebook page

Upcoming Richmond IONS Meetings:

Looking for our upcoming meetings? Please CLICK HERE.

To be included in our mailing list, please click the “Menu” button and then the “Contact” button at the top right of this page and send us a message.

Please share your thoughts and any feedback by leaving a comment below:

Richmond IONS February Meeting, 2019

Richmond IONS February Meeting and Central VA IONS Community Group Meeting, Featuring a Talk by Cathie Stivers, Ph.D., M.Div.

Where: St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, New Parish Hall, 12291 River Road, Richmond, VA 23238.

When: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, followed by a potluck lunch at the conclusion of the program.

Richmond IONS February Meeting Program Title:

“How to Tap into Our Old Souls to Become New Humans.”

Our February 16, 2019 program will feature a talk by Cathie Stivers, Ph.D., M.Div., Richmond-based author, teacher and minister.

For her presentation, Cathie will combine decades of college teaching and community ministry experiences with a passion for discovering indigenous ways of being in the world. She will talk about her recently published first book, Reviving Our Indigenous Souls: How to Practice the Ancient to Bring in the New (2018).

Cathie will also explain how its content equips us for living in this time of unprecedented galactic changes, which ancient cultures and religious seers prophesied.

We may call it the “Age of Aquarius” (astrology), “Kali Yuga” (Hindu cosmology) or the “Fifth Sun” (Mayan cosmology). Either way, it is marked by humanity’s exit from a 13,000-year cycle of spiritual and cultural decline.

Instead, it is replaced by humanity’s entrance into a 13,000-year period of ever-increasing consciousness and awakening to the fullness that is our birthright.

That birthright is the indigenous (literally “in-born”) soul that resides deep within each one of us, no matter who our ancestors are.

This is a rare yet most opportune time for us to remember what it means to be fully human. And Reviving Our Indigenous Souls offers an owner’s manual-like guide on how we can make the most of this cosmic occasion.

We ascend into higher dimensions of consciousness, while at the same time discerning our unique identities and purposes in this current lifetime.

Through the exploration of ancient ways of living in balance and harmony with all forms of life, and the application of 31 common verbs that collectively capture what it means to be fully human, this book is a perfect companion for a new age journey!

About Our Richmond IONS Presenter:

Cathie Stivers calls herself a learner and a teacher; a seeker and a minister; a translator and an author. She holds three academic degrees (Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Ph.D.) in Health Education, and was a college professor for 14 years, mentoring undergraduate and graduate students in learning about themselves and how to practice wellness and self-care.

Later in life, Cathie immersed herself in spiritual studies, reading everything she could get her hands on about the spirit world and the infinite interpretations of it.

Ultimately she left her public health career to enter seminary to learn about the spiritual dimension within and surrounding humans. Upon completion of her Masters of Divinity degree at Union Theological Seminary, she became the chaplain at Richmond’s Children’s Hospital, where she served for over 11 years. During that time, Cathie became ordained by the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Glen Allen.

From 2011 to 2014, Cathie was a scholar at Stephen Jenkinson’s Orphan Wisdom School (www.orphanwisdom.com) in Canada.

While she was writing Reviving Our Indigenous Souls, a Mayan shaman revealed to Cathie what he saw as her life purpose − to bring the past into the present in order to manifest the future. This was the very intention of her book − to translate the wisdom of other cultures into a useable form for those who grew up in the dominant, Western culture.

For more on Cathie’s work, see www.indigenoussoulrevival.com.

About Richmond IONS AKA Central VA IONS Community Group:

To find out more about Central VA IONS Community Group (Richmond IONS), please CLICK HERE.

About Our Richmond IONS Facebook Page:

Please also visit and “LIKE” our Richmond IONS Facebook page

Upcoming Richmond IONS Meetings:

Looking for our upcoming meetings? Please CLICK HERE.

To be included in our mailing list, please click the “Contact” button at the top right of this page and send us a message.

Please share your thoughts and any feedback by leaving a comment below:

Richmond IONS January Meeting, 2019

The Richmond IONS January Meeting, and Central VA IONS Community Group Meeting will feature a talk by Flo Aeveia Magdalena.

NEW LOCATION!

Where: St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, New Parish Hall, 12291 River Road, Richmond, VA 23238.

When: Saturday, January 19, 2019, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, followed by a potluck lunch at the conclusion of the program.

Richmond IONS January Meeting Program:

“The Light of Our Origin.”

The program at our Richmond IONS January Meeting, on Saturday, January 19, will be our 23rd Anniversary Celebration. It will feature a talk by Flo Aeveia Magdalena, Vermont-based author, healer, channel, teacher and spiritual coach.

Flo began her professional life as an RN in the 1970s, with specialties in both critical care and psychiatric nursing. She was always a spiritual seeker and from early in her career undertook to combine metaphysics with nursing and medical care.

Then, a transcendent visionary encounter with Christ in 1989 gave her life a new dimension and trajectory. First she became a channel of the spirit of Mary Magdalene and then for other spirit beings as well.

From that experience, her first book emerged: I Remember Union: The Story of Mary Magdalena (1992). It is a first-person, first-hand account of Mary Magdalene’s life and times and her relationship with Jesus, as told by Mary Magdalene herself.

Her next book was Sunlight On Water: A Manual For Soul-Full Living (1995). It was intended to connect its readers with the life designs they carry in their souls. Three additional books have appeared since then.

Mary Magdalene’s Core Teachings

Flo’s presentation will focus on the teachings of Mary Magdalene. They have informed her work throughout the last thirty years. Her presentation will also include a channeling from Mary Magdalene, whose presence brings with it the presence of light.

Mary’s core teaching is that “our light is our strongest ally, our deepest resource, and our most unifying force.”

Remembering that we are light positively affects our cells and our bodily systems. It also helps us find our place in the world, and helps restore our connections with our own divinity.

Opening pathways within us that Mary calls seeds of light, Mary’s message to us will offer ways and means to expand and more fully integrate the brilliance of the light we each carry. Her message will open us to the vastness of who and what we truly are.

It would be hard to imagine a more fitting way to celebrate the 23rd Anniversary of our Richmond IONS Community Group and commence our 24th year than this program promises to provide. Our Richmond IONS January Meeting is a not-to-be-missed program for all who can attend. See you there!

About Flo Aeveia Magdalena, Our Richmond IONS January Meeting Presenter:

In her career as a Registered Nurse, Flo Aeveia Magdalena developed programs for using meditation and relaxation techniques to assist chronically ill psychiatric patients. She collaborated with the program director of the American Heart Association to develop AHA’s first stress management program in 1981.

Flo was also a facilitator for the American Lung Association’s Smoke Cessation clinics. She is the founder and Executive Director of Soul Support Systems (www.soulsupportsystems.org), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. It offers programs designed to connect us with our soul, and catalyze our potential.

These programs are also designed to deepen our understanding of the connections between soul, mind and body. Flo has worked with individuals and groups throughout the world to help them connect with their soul essence and life purpose and to live to their highest potential.

Her other books include Honoring Your Child’s Spirit (2008), Cynthia’s Promise (2016) and Hearts of the Village: You Have A Part to Play In The New Human Story (2017).

Recording of Flo Magdalena’s Presentation:

Please CLICK HERE for the audio recording

About Richmond IONS AKA Central VA IONS Community Group:

To find out more about Central VA IONS Community Group (Richmond IONS), please CLICK HERE.

About Our Richmond IONS Facebook Page:

Please also visit and “LIKE” our Richmond IONS Facebook page

Upcoming Richmond IONS Meetings:

Looking for our upcoming meetings? Please CLICK HERE.

To be included in our mailing list, please click the “Contact” button at the top right of this page and send us a message.

Please share your thoughts and any feedback by leaving a comment below:

Richmond IONS December Meeting, 12/15/2018

Richmond IONS Meeting December Tom Coates Richmond IONS December Meeting, and Central VA IONS Community Group Meeting will feature a talk by Tom Coates + music by Dan O’Neal

NEW LOCATION!

Where: St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, New Parish Hall, 12291 River Road, Richmond, VA 23238

When: Saturday, December 15, 2018, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. A potluck lunch will follow at the conclusion of the program.

Richmond IONS December Meeting Program:

“Choosing and Taking Responsibility for Your Life.”

Our program at our Richmond IONS December Meeting will feature a talk by Tom Coates. Tom is our group’s only still-active original member and one of our most popular guest speakers. Dan O’Neal will provide the music.

This is a continuation of Tom’s Self-Discovery series aimed at exploring the multidimensional facets of human identity and every human’s search for his or her authentic Self.

The Human Potential Movement And How It Has Affected Us

The Human Potential Movement had its origins in the 1960s, and was predicated on the hypothesis that our potential far exceeds our limiting beliefs about what is possible.

Its theme was that as sentient beings imbued with free will we can choose to awaken from our slumber and expand our consciousness, our awareness, our horizons, our capabilities and our potentials in every way we can imagine. And in doing so, we can free ourselves from limitations we previously took for granted and assumed were immutable.

The movement began 50+ years ago. In the meantime, it has been enhanced by parallel streams of information. In addition, it has included avenues of spiritual awakenings from a great variety of sources. These include channeled teachings, NDEs, OBEs, meditation, and more.

Breakthroughs in Science and Medicine

Moreover, they also include breakthroughs in science, medicine, and healthcare. These have mapped the human genome and extended life expectancies.

Tom will explore how these pathways have had the effect of awakening us to greater capacities for realizing who we are at ever deeper levels of our own being. They have also led us to accepting and taking ever greater degrees of responsibility for our lives, our destinies and our development of mind, body, and spirit.

In addition, Tom will also explore how these spiritual pathways are now converging with a host of new scientific discoveries. They indicate that the shifts occurring are not merely developmental but evolutionary in character. Also, the pace of human evolution is quickening precisely as the Mayan Calendar predicts.

As with earlier installments, the goal of this talk will be to enable everyone there to penetrate even more deeply into the mystery of his or her own authentic Self at its deepest levels.

This promises to be another blockbuster program. It will also be a fitting way to conclude our group’s twenty-third year and usher in its twenty-fourth. As always, Tom promises some secrets known only to a few will be revealed.

This is a not-to-be-missed program for all who can attend. See you there!

About Tom Coates, Our Richmond IONS December Meeting Presenter:

Tom Coates is a Richmond-based lawyer who has represented numerous spiritually oriented and public interest groups throughout his career. He was a co-founder of Richmond’s Ekoji Buddhist Sangha in 1985. Tom has been a member and contributor of the Richmond IONS chapter since its formation in early 1996.

In his spare time, he enjoys reading, creative writing, painting, woodworking, alpine skiing, biking, backpacking, sailing, time travel, metaphysics, and relaxing with his family at their ancient Outer Banks beach cottage or their Appalachian Mountains retreat.

He still reports his most significant unfulfilled ambition of this lifetime is to make love to an extraterrestrial female, preferably of Pleiadean or Sirian origin.

Recordings of Tom’s Presentation & Supplement:

Click HERE for the recording of the meeting

Click HERE for the recording of Tom’s additional comments

About Richmond IONS AKA Central VA IONS Community Group:

To find out more about Central VA IONS Community Group (Richmond IONS), please CLICK HERE.

About Our Richmond IONS Facebook Page:

Please also visit and “LIKE” our Richmond IONS Facebook page

Upcoming Richmond IONS Meetings:

To find out about our upcoming meetings, please CLICK HERE.

To be included in our mailing list, please click the “Contact” button at the top right of this page and send us a message.

To share your thoughts and any feedback, please leave a comment below:

Richmond IONS Meeting July 21, 2018

Scarlett Heinbuch Richmond VA Central VA IONS Community Group Meeting (Richmond IONS Meeting) Featuring a Talk by Scarlett Heinbuch, Ph.D.and David Schwartz

Where: River Road Church – Baptist, 8000 River Road, Richmond, VA 23229

When: Saturday, July 21, 2018, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, followed by potluck lunch at conclusion of program.

Richmond IONS Meeting Program Title:

“Waking Up To Love”

Our July 21, 2018, our Richmond IONS program will feature a talk by Scarlett Heinbuch, Ph.D., Richmond based author, educator, energy practitioner/intuitive consultant and certified Reiki Master, who, along with her husband David Schwartz, will be discussing her new book, Waking Up To Love: Our Shared Near-Death Encounter Brought Miracles, Recovery and Second Chances.

Scarlett met David for the first time in September 2005 when David was on the brink of death. He had been in an unresponsive coma for nearly four weeks, on a ventilator for life support and in complete kidney failure due to a rare form of vasculitis. When Scarlett was asked by David’s mother to visit her son David, whom Scarlett did not know, in his hospital room, to perform Reiki on him. David was still in a coma and deemed to be in his final hours of life.

Scarlett spent 12 days doing energy healing with David. During that time they had a shared near-death experience (SNDE),
resulting in an unexplained and miraculous medical recovery for David and an unexpected love story for them both.

The story of two people who woke up to a world of love on the other side and were able to bring it back to earth – together – will inspire others to know that the transformative power of healing love exists and can be applied in everyday life. Her book tells this story and Scarlett and David will be sharing how this remarkable experience changed them both at their deepest levels.

All NDE accounts are transformative and inspiring in one way or another. Scarlett’s and David’s story is especially inspiring due both to the apparent hopelessness of David’s situation when Scarlett was asked to get involved and to the rare and extraordinary nature of their shared NDE. Once opened, Waking Up To Love grabs the reader like a spellbinding thriller that is nearly impossible to put down. Their talk about this remarkable experience promises to be just as electrifying and engaging.

About Dr. Scarlett L. Heinbuch and David Schwartz, Our Richmond IONS Presenters:

Scarlett L. Heinbuch holds a Ph.D.in public policy from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Master’s Degree in public health from VCU’s School of Medicine. She is a certified Reiki Master in the Usui System of Natural Healing. She has
studied complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine for more than 25 years and is an energy practitioner/intuitive consultant in the Richmond area.

Scarlett has also worked in the financial services field, including several Fortune 500 companies, in banking and brokerage for more than 15 years. She is a pioneering researcher in the area of women and money, especially as it relates to women’s attitudes and behaviors around retirement planning. She lives in Midlothian, Virginia, with her husband, David Schwartz. Her website is at www.scarlettheinbuch.com.

We look forward to seeing you at your upcoming Richmond IONS Meeting (Central VA IONS Community Group Meeting) on July 21.

About Richmond IONS AKA Central VA IONS Community Group:

To find out more about Central VA IONS Community Group (Richmond IONS), please CLICK HERE.

About Our New Richmond IONS Facebook Page:

Please also visit and “LIKE” our new Richmond IONS Facebook page

Upcoming Richmond IONS Meetings:

To find out about our upcoming meetings, please CLICK HERE.

To share your thoughts and any feedback, please leave a comment below:

Central VA IONS Group Meeting, March 17, 2018

Featuring a talk by Jim McCarty

Where: River Road Church – Baptist, 8000 River Road (NW corner of River and Ridge Roads)

When: Saturday, March 17, 2018, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, followed by potluck lunch at conclusion of program.

Richmond IONS Program Title:

“The Transition of Earth into the Fourth Density of Love and Understanding”

Our March 17, 2018 Richmond IONS meeting will feature a talk by Jim McCarty, who along with Don Elkins and Carla L Rueckert comprised L/L Research and were involved in the Ra contact resulting in the five books of The Ra Material/Law of One series.

The Ra Material/Law of One series has been hailed by many as the most elegant and complete cosmology ever articulated. Jim will explain that, from information received from Ra, we are undergoing a transition, and that this transition is the last stage of three 25,000 year cycles in which the goal of humanity is to awaken the heart chakra and fully embody the consciousness of unconditional love towards all.

This transition will take us beyond the veil of forgetting and enable us to see and comprehend the total unity of all creation and to feel and fully experience the elements of free will, love and light of which all creation is made. Jim will explain the reasons why the Ra initiated contacts with his group, among which was to provide information about this transition into fourth density.

Jim also will share his insights and personal experiences regarding this transition. He will share with our group background information about L/L Research and the three people who comprised it and were involved in the Ra contact.

Don Elkins was the questioner; Carla L. Rueckert was the channel; and Jim was the scribe. Don and Carla began L/L Research in November of 1968. They researched the UFO phenomenon and the channeling process for over three decades and have since passed into larger life.

Jim continues to share the timeless information that they received from Ra in 106 channeled sessions over a three-year period from 1981 through 1983, and we are very grateful to have him as a guest speaker for our group. This is a not-to-be-missed program for all who can attend.

About Jim McCarty, Our Richmond IONS Presenter:

Jim McCarty was born on May 10, 1947, in Kearney, Nebraska. He graduated from the University of Nebraska at Kearney in 1970 with a Bachelor’s of Science Degree with majors in Business Administration and Sociology. In 1972 he graduated from the University of Florida with a Master’s Degree in Education.

In 1974 he moved to the backwoods of central Kentucky and formed the Rock Creek Survival School, where he taught a self-therapy technique called “Brain Self-Control.”

In December 1980 he joined L/L Research where Don Elkins and Carla L. Rueckert were researching the field of the paranormal in general and contact with extraterrestrial intelligence in particular.

Three weeks later the Ra contact began, which produced 106 sessions with the social memory complex of Ra, and
five books of The Law of One series were published, documenting this contact.

Don Elkins passed away in 1984, and Jim and Carla married and continued the work of L/L Research until Carla passed away in 2015. With the help of Gary Bean and Austin Bridges, Jim continues the work of L/L Research today. Downloads and other information are available at www.llresearch.org.

About Central VA IONS Community Group:

To find out more about Central VA IONS Community Group (Richmond IONS), please CLICK HERE.

Please also visit and “Like” our new Richmond IONS Facebook page

To find out about our upcoming meetings, please CLICK HERE.

To share your thoughts and feedback, please leave a comment below:

Central VA IONS Group Meeting February 17, 2018

Featuring a talk by Dr. Nelson Marquina

Where: St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 12291 River Road, in the old chapel (“Little St. Mary’s”),

When: Saturday, February 17, 2018, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, followed by potluck lunch at conclusion of program.

Central Virginia IONS Community Group Program Title:

“Influence of Electromagnetic Fields on Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Experiences.”

Our February 17, 2018 program will feature a talk by Nelson Marquina, MSc, PhD, DC, President, Founder and Chief Technology Officer of USA Laser Biotech, Inc.

Dr. Nelson Marquina will be making his third appearance before our group in the last decade at our February 17th meeting. He is one of our most popular and frequently requested guest speakers, and for good reason. Always on the cutting edge of technology, Nelson is a developer
of photonic and bioelectromagnetic systems and treatment protocols.

He has spent much of his professional life investigating and researching both the beneficial and the adverse health effects of modern technology, and developing strategies and techniques for enhancing beneficial effects while diminishing or avoiding adverse effects.

Nelson will explore and provide an overview of the biophysics of electromagnetic fields (“EMF”) as they relate to central and autonomic nervous systems and their influences on human physiology, emotions, thought processes and spiritual experiences. Applications in psychiatric, sports and general medicine also will be presented.

Nelson was born in Peru and now lives in Richmond where he is the President of USA Laser Biotech, Inc. His early exposure to shamans in the Peruvian Andes influenced and informed his world view and his later interests in biophysics, psychology and healthcare.

He earned a Masters of Science degree in mathematical statistics from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, a doctoral degree in systems engineering from the University of Houston and a chiropractic medicine degree from Logan University.

He also trained extensively in the US and Japan and is certified by the Virginia Board of Medicine in Asian Meridian therapy and acupuncture. We are extremely pleased and grateful Nelson is willing to take time from his busy professional schedule to address our group once again.

About Nelson Marquina, Our Richmond IONS Presenter:

Nelson Marquina, MSc, PhD, DC is a former Senior Scientist at NASA/Johnson Space Center and has served on the faculties of the University of Houston in Systems Engineering, Virginia State University in Biophysics, the University of Rhode Island and University of Minnesota in Electrical Engineering, and Logan University as the Director of Research.

He also held engineering and management positions with GE, Honeywell and Lockheed Electronics in research and development in US government and NASA related
projects. He has conducted seminars in technical and health areas across the US and in countries such as Japan, China, Australia, Peru, Argentina, and Canada. His website is www.usalaser.us.

About Central VA IONS Community Group:

To find out more about Central VA IONS Community Group (Richmond IONS), please CLICK HERE.

To find out about our upcoming meetings, please CLICK HERE.

Central VA IONS Group Special Event January 19/20, 2018

Featuring a workshop by Eben Alexander, M.D., and Karen Newell.

This is our 22nd Anniversary Program and is presented in collaboration with St. Mary’s Episcopal Church and Richmond MindBodySpirit.

Where/When: St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 12291 River Road, Richmond, VA, Friday, January 19, 2018, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and Saturday, January 20, 2018, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Central Virginia IONS Community Group Program Title:

“Living in a Mindful Universe (Friday) and Into the Heart of Consciousness (Saturday).”

Our January 2018 program, a special event, will feature a Friday evening event and a Saturday workshop by Eben Alexander, M.D. and Karen Newell. It will be based on their new book, Living in a Mindful Universe – A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Heart of Consciousness.

In 2008, Dr. Alexander miraculously survived a devastating, life-threatening case of bacterial meningitis, which resulted in his lapsing into a weeklong coma, when his brainwave activity was effectively zero by measurable medical standards. During those seven days in coma, he was plunged into the deepest realms of consciousness, and came to understand profound truths about the universe we inhabit.

What he learned changed everything he thought he knew about the brain, the mind and consciousness, and drove him to ask a question which still confounds the entire scientific community: How do you explain the origins of consciousness if it is not a by-product of the brain?

Embracing his radically new worldview, Eben embarked on a committed journey of personal exploration into the
nature of consciousness. During this exploration he met and began a collaboration with Karen Newell, who was
already living the worldview he had only just discovered was possible.

Together, they now teach others how to tap into their greater mind and the power of the heart to facilitate enhancement of healing, relationships, creativity,
guidance and more. During their workshop, Eben and Karen will share their insights into the true nature of consciousness and how we all are connected through the binding force of unconditional love and its unlimited power to heal.

Using various modalities related to meditation and mindfulness, they will help you gain the power to access that infinite source of knowing so vital to us all, ultimately enriching every facet of our lives!

About Eben Alexander And Karen Newell, Our Richmond IONS Presenters:

Eben Alexander, M.D., was an academic neurosurgeon for over 25 years, including 15 years years at Brigham &
Women’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital, and Harvard Medical School in Boston, with a passionate interest in physics and cosmology. He is the author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Proof of Heaven and The Map of Heaven (www.ebenalexander.com).

Karen Newell is a life-long seeker of esoteric wisdom and has amassed a wealth of firsthand experience exploring realms of consciousness. She is cofounder of Sacred Acoustics, an innovator in the emerging field of brainwave entrainment audio recordings used to help listeners reach transcendent states of awareness (www.sacredacoustics.com).

SOLD OUT!

Here are the directions:

Eben Alexander Directions

About Central VA IONS Community Group:

To find out more about Central VA IONS Community Group (Richmond IONS), please CLICK HERE.

To find out about our upcoming meetings, please CLICK HERE.

Central VA IONS Group Meeting December 16, 2017

Featuring a talk by Tom Coates + music by Dan O’Neal

Where/When: River Road Church – Baptist, 8000 River Road (NW corner of River and Ridge Roads)

When: Saturday, December 16, 2017, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, followed by potluck lunch at conclusion of program.

Central Virginia IONS Community Group Program Title:

“Avatars & Other Life Memories, a Longer View”

Our December 16, 2017 program will feature a talk by Tom Coates, our group’s only still-active original member and one of our most popular guest speakers, with music by Dan O’Neal. This is a continuation of Tom’s Self-discovery series aimed at exploring the
multidimensional facets of human identity and every human’s search for his or her authentic Self.

This year’s talk will include a brief review of some of the channeled teachings of the Ra Group and the Michael Group discussed in December 2016, and examine the correspondence between those teachings and some of the latest scientific thinking.

Tom also will explore in some depth the phenomena of memories of other lifetimes ranging from very recent to, in some instances, lifetimes reaching back thousands of years or longer.

In recent months we have been treated to fascinating talks on past lives by Jim Tucker, M.D. (August 2017) and Joanne DiMaggio (October 2017), both of which were focused almost entirely on immediate or relatively recent past lives. Tom’s focus will be on recurring themes played out in multiple lives over long spans of time.

These recurrent themes have the capacity to surprise us in a multitude of ways, and reconnect us with others whose souls we have collaborated with repeatedly in incarnate form over eons. Two layers of such soul reunions Tom has encountered in his own life will be shared to illustrate this point.

This program also will include an exploration of what happens when we die, drawn both from Tom’s own memories and experiences and from communications and contacts with departed loved ones. The goal of this talk will be to enable everyone there to pierce ever more deeply into the mystery of his or her own authentic Self at its deepest levels.

This promises to be another blockbuster program and a fitting way to conclude our group’s twenty-second year and usher in its twenty-third. As always, Tom promises some secrets known only to a few will be revealed.

About Tom Coates, Our Richmond IONS Presenter:

Tom Coates is a Richmond-based lawyer who has represented numerous spiritually oriented and public interest groups throughout his career. He was a co-founder of Richmond’s Ekoji Buddhist Sangha in 1985, and has been a member and contributor of the Richmond IONS chapter since its formation in early 1996.

In his spare time he enjoys reading, creative writing, painting, woodworking, alpine skiing, biking, backpacking, sailing, time travel, metaphysics, and relaxing with his family at their ancient Outer Banks beach cottage or their Appalachian Mountains retreat. He still reports that his most significant unfulfilled ambition of this lifetime is to make love with an extraterrestrial female, preferably of Pleiadean or Sirian origin.

About Central VA IONS Community Group:

To find out more about Central VA IONS Community Group (Richmond IONS), please CLICK HERE.

To find out about our upcoming meetings, see below for our January event with Eben Alexander…

and please CLICK HERE

Central VA IONS Community Group Meeting November 18, 2017

Featuring a talk by Dr. Elena Mustakova-Possardt

Where: River Road Church – Baptist, 8000 River Road (NW corner of River and Ridge Roads),

When: Saturday, November 18, 2017, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, followed by potluck lunch at the conclusion of the program.

Central Virginia IONS Community Group Program Title:

“A Systemic Approach to Health in a Troubled World.”

Our November 18, 2017 program will feature a talk by Arlington author, clinical researcher, developmental psychologist, and spiritually oriented psychotherapist, philosopher and metaphysician, Elena Mustakova-Possardt, Ed. D., LPC.

Dr. Mustakova addressed our group in September 2015 and is back by popular demand. As previously, her talk will focus on the multitude of existential, metaphysical, moral and spiritual
challenges we face in the modern world that often, if not surmounted, impede, impair or undermine our efforts to build healthy lives for ourselves, our families, and our local, regional, national and international communities.

More and more, we recognize that our modern world is creating the context for what the World Health Organization has identified since the year 2000 as a Global Social Breakdown Syndrome. This syndrome is ubiquitous and cross-cultural. No socio-economic group, no matter how privileged or well-heeled, is beyond its reach or immune to it.

While we may see its most extreme forms today in places like the Middle East and parts of Africa, we also see its effects across Europe and the United States at individual, community and societal levels.

Our homegrown epidemics of mass shootings, gun violence, suicide, opioid addiction and the extreme and unsustainable polarization of our social, economic and political systems are among the many ways this syndrome is manifesting itself in our own culture.

In 2015 Dr. Mustakova explored the implications of understanding a healthy life in terms of physiological, relational and social coherence. Now she will offer an integrated systemic framework within which to consider what a balanced approach to health may look like for ourselves, our families and our society in our deeply divided and dysfunctional modern world.

Dr. Mustakova is in great demand as a speaker both in the U.S. and abroad, and we are very pleased and grateful to have her for a return engagement as our November 18 guest speaker.

About Dr. Elena Mustakova-Possardt, Our Richmond IONS Presenter:

Dr. Mustakova is an Arlington-based psychotherapist and native of Bulgaria, who emigrated to the United States at 29. She has taught clinical psychology and related subjects at five universities in four countries (Zimbabwe, Switzerland, Bulgaria and the U.S.), now devotes full time to private practice, and has over seventeen years of clinical experience with individuals, couples and families dealing with anxiety and depression, relational dynamics, addictions, and severe mental illnesses.

As a scholar and educator she has authored Critical Moral Consciousness: A Study of Morality in a Global Historical Context (Praeger, 2003), and recently co-authored a volume entitled Toward a Socially Responsible Psychology for a Global Era. See www.elenamustakova.net for her full bio.

About Central VA IONS Community Group:

To find out more about Central VA IONS Community Group (Richmond IONS), please CLICK HERE.

To find out about our upcoming meetings, please CLICK HERE.