About Stephan
Stephan has practiced and taught nondual approaches
to truth for more than 40 years, including 10 years as a Buddhist monk. After a series of deepening
realizations, he received Dharma transmission (authorization
to teach) from Adyashanti, a teacher in the spiritual wisdom tradition of Zen and Advaita. His life is now
devoted to igniting and fostering the flame of truth in others
through his counseling, mentoring, teaching, and writing.
In addition to regular teleclasses, satsangs,
and intensives, Stephan
offers an annual eight-month School for Awakening
that begins again in Fall 2013. A licensed psychotherapist
as well as a spiritual teacher, he has been a pioneer in the integration of nondual wisdom and Western psychology and has evolved a vibrant,
intimate approach to counseling and mentoring that blends
psychological insight and spiritual realization. His latest book,
Wake Up Now: A Guide to the Journey of Spiritual Awakening,
is available in paperback from McGraw-Hill. (To order, click on
the book cover to the left. To read praise for the book, click here.)
Stephan began practicing Zen in 1970 after studying Asian
culture and language at Columbia and Stanford. Ordained a
Zen monk in 1974, he trained with several Zen masters, including
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi (author of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind)
and Taizan Maezumi Roshi, practiced intensively at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and directed the training program
at the Zen Center of Los Angeles. He also practiced Dzogchen-Mahamudra
with several Tibetan teachers and spent 10 years studying
Advaita Vedanta with Jean Klein.
Stephan is the former editor-in-chief of the magazine Yoga
Journal , a contributing editor of Tricycle: The
Buddhist Review, and an editorial board member of Undivided: The Online Journal of Nonduality and Psychology. His articles on meditation and spiritual themes have appeared in numerous national magazines,
including Fitness, Natural Solutions, Cooking
Light, Tricycle, and, of course, Yoga Journal.
He's the author of the popular
guidebook Meditation for Dummies, which has sold over
250,000 copies and is now in its third edition with instructional
CD. The book is available in English, Dutch, German, Italian,
French, Russian, Portuguese, and Spanish editions. His other books include Living Yoga
(with Georg Feuerstein); Timeless Visions, Healing
Voices; and Buddhism for Dummies (with Jonathan
Landaw). In addition, Stephan contributed the chapter "Deconstructing
the Self: The Uses of Inquiry in Nondual Psychotherapy"
for the anthology The Sacred Mirror (Paragon, 2003).
Stephan has also written, developed, and narrated several meditation-based audio programs in conjunction with Mentalworkout.com: Freedom from Stress, Stay Happy, and Mindfulness Meditation. These programs are available as mobile applications for the iPhone/iPod Touch, Android, and Nokia platforms, and as web-based applications. (For more information, visit the iTunes Store or mentalworkout.com.)
For information on counseling, teleclasses, intensives, or the School for Awakening, contact Stephan at info@stephanbodian.org,
or 415-451-7133.