Experience DharmaBridge

Nestle into Spiritual Community

Walking together with companions on the path sparks greater insight than any of us could achieve alone.

Since it’s founding in 2016, the DharmaBridge community has evolved time-tested processes that build the resilient support of spiritual community, while respecting and honoring each individual as walking their own path. Community is one of the indispensable jewels of the path to an awake life. The ongoing sangha has cultivated brilliant methods which form a matrix for our meetings, holding each member of the community in integrity and clarity, and keeping us remarkably free of drama.

Receive One-On-One Coaching

Unlike most group programs, DharmaBridge includes one-on-one personal coaching with Kelly at every level of enrollment. And Kelly has a proven track record. She has helped many people like you blend ancient wisdom with modern insights from the field of psychology to reach deep levels of peace, actualization, and leadership.

You'll also receive more personalized support within a smaller group guided by a DharmaBridge mentor and have the chance for weekly partner work with another member of the sangha.

Engage Practices & Methodologies

Establish or deepen a dedicated meditation practice, juiced up with a connection to the mystic. You'll learn sublime methods for piercing through conditioned mind and opening up space for kindness, creativity, & life-changing wisdom to unfold within you.

Methodologies drawn from the Vajrayana, Zen, Śaiva/Śakta Tantra, Somatic Psychotherapy, Internal Family Systems, and neuroscience-based mindfulness techniques will apply directly to your life experience.

Integrate Dharma Psychology

The combination of Dharma studies with modern psychology yields clarity and deep understanding.

Dharma & therapeutic "maps" will help you uncover and release conditioned patterns. In DharmaBridge, you’ll receive support for unraveling & digesting unconscious habits, freeing you to live your most creative & peaceful life. Year after year, DharmaBridge members say learning these maps has been more supportive and revelatory than any other spiritual or therapeutic work they've done.

On the DharmaBridge Path You Will

Ease Anxiety

Touch the ground of being, and see yourself and all things as interconnected. Receive and practice methods for consistently meeting big inner feelings with loving-kindness, compassion, and wisdom.

Deepen Self-Understanding

Develop positive self-regard by recognizing patterns of conditioned beliefs that obscure the Self. Discern between strategies and needs to form new pathways of loving inner relationship.

Dismantle Emotional Triggers

Respond to life with courageous intentions and creative actions by using techniques that transform habitual stories and emotional reflexes into spaciousness and possibility.

Interrupt Disempowering Stories

Shift the internal narrative that keeps you stuck by identifying typical ways the mind-body contracts. Use somatic and verbal techniques to unlock fresh energy & insight.

Orient to the Mystic

Practice returning yourself to remembrance of wonder, curiosity, and openness by embracing the mystery that lies beyond your mind, beyond your experience, beyond mundane reality.

Show Up with Compassion for Self and Other

Taking refuge in sangha allows us to relax and see others more clearly. Learn to be with inner and outer suffering, take in the good, forgive, and set loving boundaries.

Stop Struggling & Rest in Presence

Bring all the rage, the confusion, the longing, the resentment to the path, so it can be transformed. Experience yourself in the flow of life, open to your own complete wholeness.

Generate Collective Healing

No one is free until all of us are free. We are in this together. DharmaBridge uncovers how doing radical inner healing for the benefit of all beings empowers us to become agents of social change.

Apply Here

Now Enrolling for DharmaBridge 2023


"The moment we started sending metta toward our inner child, I knew I was in the right place. It’s so simple, but so impactful! There’s not one person that can’t benefit from that."

Wendy Wenzel - DB 2021-2022
San Jose, CA

"I am so much more present. Just to stay present amongst so many distractions -- it’s quite an achievement! I can relax and enjoy my clients even more."

Mary Jane Hooper, LMFT - DB 2021-2022
Fort Worth, TX

A Shared Path of Awakening

Hear Kelly tell the DharmaBridge story.

Who Benefits from DharmaBridge?

DharmaBridge brings together a diverse group of friends on the path. All want to prioritize spiritual practice and loving-kindness as the primary touchstones for how we move through the world. DharmaBridge works well for anyone who wants to make conscious life transitions, develop personal discipline, fortify their capacity for self-care, or strengthen their relationships with others.

Spiritual Seekers

You've walked a spiritual path for years, perhaps practicing yoga or dabbling in meditation and other healing modalities, but you keep losing the thread and falling back into unconscious habits. You want to start using everything in your experience to wake up.

Healers, Coaches, & Teachers

You want to deepen your practice and serve your community better by understanding yourself and others through the lens of dharma and the reflection of a supportive, contemplative sangha.

Family-Focused Folks

Your relationships with your family or friends are on edge or seem stuck in vicious cycles. You're ready to interrupt habits of grasping, aversion, blame, and shame, start listening fully and deeply with others, and communicate more clearly from essence nature.

Career Professionals & Entrepreneurs

You've had success, but don't feel satisfied. You know it's time to go beyond "driven" and derive empowerment from connection with source.

Artists & Creatives

You know great creative work comes from a mystical place of knowing and surrender. You want to tap into the energy of the muse, take risks, and explore beyond boundaries.

Activists & Visionaries

You know a sustainable path of activism requires both soulful purpose & spiritual resilience. You want to fill your cup, so you can carry the light of clarity and justice forward for all.

That's Me! I'm Ready to Apply.

We are now taking applications for DharmaBridge beginning in Feb 2023.

Inner Strength
& Devotion

We all have things we really care about - like the environment, or becoming more deeply honest, or taking a stand for justice, or the integrity with how we do business. If we're not doing the deep uncovering work to grow ourselves up, then those core, soul-level directives won't hold sway, and we'll blunder our way through life, making whatever decisions, doing what's easy, and just getting by. Whereas, if we enter into deep conversation with others and get reflected in the light of what most deeply calls to us, we derive the stability, commitment, devotion, and inspiration to embody our values with awakened purpose. DharmaBridge will take you there.

"I knew habits were causing me to suffer. I also knew I was in my head a lot with stories. All the different tools and the lenses we’ve looked through to discover Self have contributed to peeling away those shadows."

Jenny B., DB 2017-18
Santa Cruz, CA

"I was having a really hard time juggling everything, and it jolted me into a more intentional assessment around priorities and continuing to clear away patterns of the past. I’ve taken direct action to shift, and it’s been difficult... and remarkable."

Rochelle Maher, DB 2019-2021
Long Grove, IL

HERE'S HOW IT WORKS

DharmaBridge meets you where you are and coaxes you beyond.

Next DharmaBridge Sangha: February - November 2023
DharmaBridge offers extensive opportunities for connection, practice, and healing. During this intimate program, you will feel held in sacred community, seen, and supported from beginning to end.

  • The 9-month program begins with a 1 hour, one-on-one call with Kelly to explore your unique vision and how to work with obstacles that come up.
  • The full sangha meets twice weekly, live, over Zoom, days and times TBA.
  • Smaller groups within the sangha guided by experienced DharmaBridge mentors meet once per month, live over Zoom.
  • Choose between the Lotus Path, Diamond Path, and Certification Track enrollment options (see below) for one-on-one coaching with Kelly throughout the program.
  • You'll receive an Antenna Listening buddy each trimester to self-arrange weekly phone meetings for partner work in this transformative practice (optional).
  • At the close of DharmaBridge, you'll have another 1 hour, one-on-one coaching call with Kelly to launch you into your next chapter. 

additional support

  • Ongoing community support and reflection with a "walkie-talkie" app called Voxer, in both full group and small group threads.
  • Special weekend sessions with Kelly at various points during the program.
  • Have a total of 3 one-on-one Antenna Listening calls with your choice of DharmaBridge mentors.
  • Somatic work and coaching with guest teacher Nicole Taylor.
  • Somatic work and coaching with guest teacher Nicole Farkouh.
  • Access to Kelly's monthly "office hours" - first come, first serve.

delivery

  • DharmaBridge materials are provided without expiration in a private, easy-to-use, online, course platform called Thinkific.
  • The entire program is yours to keep with Unlimited Access.
  • All live group calls with the full sangha will be recorded and added to the course platform.
  • Additional pre-recorded “dharma talk” videos and yoga asana, mantra, and meditation practices will accompany the content of the teachings.
  • Once weekly emails provide a written recap of our Tuesday calls, with notes for deepening into the material.

bonuses

  • 40% off tuition on one retreat & one short term program during the term of DharmaBridge.
  • 25% off tuition on retreats and short term programs for 3 years after your term in DharmaBridge concludes.
  • Reduced alumni pricing should you wish to re-enroll in DharmaBridge for additional terms.
  • Become eligible for DharmaBridge mentorship, Kelly's next level sangha experience.

While we know that everyone has complex lives and things do come up, the expectation is that you are going to endeavor to come to the group calls live, as much as possible. During the enrollment process, please let us know if your schedule would preclude you from participating live.

Currently enrolling for the Feb 2023 DharmaBridge Sangha

Three DharmaBridge Enrollment Options

1 ~ LOTUS PATH

Receive trimesterly one-on-one coaching with Kelly (3 personal support calls during the program).

2 ~ DIAMOND PATH

Receive monthly one-on-one coaching with Kelly (9 personal support calls during the program).

The options above offer a profound deepening of meditative work with the dharma traditions, giving you a full experience of transformation within the DharmaBridge process and through work with Kelly. These options are for anyone drawn to DharmaBridge because they want to elevate and support themselves through life, alleviate suffering, and deepen on the spiritual path.

3 ~ CERTIFICATION TRACK

For those seekers who intend to go beyond their own personal transformation and also offer support for others, Kelly recommends the "DharmaBridge Certified Counselor" training track for first time DharmaBridge participants. This option provides the foundation of a coaching or counseling practice and includes the opportunity to serve as a DharmaBridge Mentor during your first year in the program. A DharmaBridge Certified Counselor integrates the teachings and practices so thoroughly that they become confidently and steadily rooted into the Self. Upon completion of the program, you will trust yourself to serve others in their process of healing and awakening to essence nature.

If you are interested in this enrollment option, please discuss with Kelly in an exploratory call.

On the call, we will discuss enrollment for the next DharmaBridge cohort.

The DharmaBridge Curriculum

Evolving. Deep. Transformative.

METTA

Learn a fierce approach to loving kindness meditation as a discipline that digests life experience, heals traumas, and creates new possibilities.

TRANSFORM TRIGGERS

Receive coaching in Kelly's signature "Temple Gate" and "3-1-2" Processes for using triggers as portals to wisdom.

BODHICITTA

Practice Tonglen Meditation to fortify the habit of treating inner and outer suffering with compassion..

ANTENNA LISTENING

Nurture your capacity for loving relationships through the profound experience of sangha & the alchemical practice of Antenna Listening.

MAP THE PSYCHE

Understand yourself and others more readily with psychological "maps" offered by modern psychotherapeutic approaches such as Internal Family Systems and Somatic Psychology.

NON-DUAL TEACHINGS

Explore non-dual teachings and practices of the Vajrayana, Śaiva, and Śakta Tantric traditions, and learn to embrace the whole of experience as an opportunity for awakening.

ACCESS SELF ENERGY

Repeatedly access the energy of the deepest Self & train to stay present with it so that you can both take in the good and be a seed of awakening for others.

UNCONDITIONAL POSITIVE SELF-REGARD

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR FEB 2023

"Because of the events in my life recently, I have so much gratitude for this support and getting to lean on it in a way that feels completely transformative and so, so real."

Alexandra Hammond, DB 2018-2022
New York City

"I was in touch with my anger, but I didn’t understand it; I externalized it. The transformation of that into wisdom and discernment is really huge for me."

Lisa Keller, OBGYN - DB 2019-2022
Martinez, CA

MEET YOUR GUIDE

Kelly Blaser


When I came to the meditation cushion in my 20s, I had a sense of vaguely remembering something that I had tasted but not integrated - as if I were meant to have absorbed it much earlier but had gone unconscious.

My mom was a meditator and yogi, so I had exposure to the dharma as a young girl. I think the grace and presence my mother accessed in her practice transmitted to me as a kid, but later, I got caught up in my own mental habits and went off course. The reasons ran the gamut, but at the end of the day, I think my energetic system was quite sensitive, and the patterns of shame, dominance, fear, disconnect, addiction, and trauma in our culture and in my own family were just too much for me. I became deeply shy, insecure, anxious, and withdrawn and got pulled into addictive habits — trying to stabilize myself with perfectionism and overwork, various forms of escapism, and striving to belong.

Adrenaline-seeking, extreme sports, addictive habits, and the raw power of the wilderness all braided together in temporarily elevated states that could turn off the self-critical component of my thinking, but didn't create lasting change. I also started to engage with social justice movements, and I could sometimes feel a righteous edge to my activism that didn't fit with what felt most deeply true to me. I realized I needed to organize my mind if I wanted a sustainable way forward.

When I returned to the dharma in 1989, I had a very strong sense that all my strategies had fallen short. I also had a sense that the things I'd done to manage myself would work themselves out; healing and wholeness were on the horizon. I started practicing meditation, initially encountering Zen. I had some profound tastes of freedom on the cushion and came to a sense that all my striving had roots in a deeper seeking. The dharma gave me back into the lap of that profound inner path.

My first 8 years of yoga practice with Kofi Busia and Zen practice with Cheri Huber created a lot of somatic expansion, healing, centering, and grounding. Some old patterns died away almost instantaneously, and I received a strong inner directive toward becoming a yoga teacher in 1997. I also continued to connect with Buddhist dharma communities - sitting with my Zen sangha and Vipassana teachers, as well as absorbing everything ever uttered by Pema Chödrön. While teaching yoga felt powerful, I also had a sense that true transformative power lived in meditation and in understanding the nature of consciousness through the dharma.

During those years, I also cried my way through a lot of emotional healing with reevaluation counseling and learned to hold space with others as a crisis line counselor in a domestic violence agency and as a counselor for autistic young adults. I began to study Non-Violent Communication and practice lucid dream work with a Sufi group. All these meandering paths ultimately led me to study psychology, becoming a Marriage and Family Therapist in 2006 with an emphasis in Buddhism, Śaiva and Śakta Tantra, and Somatic Psychology.

It feels relevant to note that my life and dharma unfolds inside a bilingual, biracial, bicultural family, which constantly asks me to open into the unknown. I met my partner Gabriel fairly concurrently with becoming a therapist. Almost immediately, I decided it would never work. Gabriel is Afro-Cuban and came to the US when he was 30. Sparks were flying, but my mind was drawing lines: too different, too wild, language barrier... However, I felt an incredible liberation in Gabriel. We slowly gathered trust around us, and 16 years later, here we are, with 2 whirling dervish children.

I've leaned into dharma practices again and again in the midst of the sometimes volatile, sometimes beautiful process of opening to one another across so many divides. Despite the challenges, there's nothing more precious to me than this little brood.

Once I'd become a therapist, I really saw the limitations of one-on-one therapy. I found that it couldn't compare with the profound strength group work had given me to trust my inner knowing, feel supported, and take action in alignment with my values and my vision for a compassionate world.

I created DharmaBridge to blend the wisdom of the dharma traditions, therapeutic techniques, and the alchemy of community. I want people to experience how meditation, loving-kindness, and compassionate self-inquiry offer unparalleled access to the nature of reality, how modern insights into the mind-body offer deep understanding of ourselves and others, and how sangha provides a reliable refuge for true transformation to take place.


Meet the DharmaBridge 2022 Support Team

Delana Thompson

Certified Mentor
Delana began studying the dharma in 1999. She's a writer, dancer, world traveler, & lead coordinator for DharmaBridge programs. She lives in California.

Alexandra Hammond

Certified Mentor
Alex is a multidisciplinary artist, branding consultant, & creative director in NYC. Her work is part of the regenerative social fabric & the economy of the future.

Jodi Earls

Certified Mentor
Jodi has been teaching yoga and energy healing for over 25 years. She's the founder of Yoga Connection and the mom of two teenagers in Napa, CA.

Jessica Arena

Certified Mentor
Jessica is a civil rights and immigrant rights lawyer, an ashtangi, a log surfer, & a backyard farmer raising her family in Mexico.

Martine Auger

Certified Mentor
Martine is a retired dietitian living in Ontario, Canada with her husband & daughter. She loves growing & preparing food, yoga, hiking, & creative projects.

Lisa Keller

Certified Mentor
Lisa is an OBGYN for at risk populations in California, a feminist, & a grandmother. She has lived in a variety of countries & finds sustenance in nature.

Todd Anderson

Mentor
Todd lives in Lafayette, CO with his wife and daughter. He's a corporate tax accountant with a Global Fortune 200 company.

Mary Jane Hooper

Mentor
Mary Jane is a Marriage and Family Therapist offering "Seeds of Change Therapy" for over 20 years in Fort Worth, Texas.

Jean Friendly

Mentor
Jean offers over 40 years of experience as a wellness coach, yoga teacher, and healer. She has two adult sons and lives with her husband in Scottsdale, AZ.

Nicole Taylor

Guest Teacher
Nicole is a life coach, author, & founder of Joyful Pause, where she works to spread well-being in people and organizations. She lives outside of Philadelphia, PA.

Nicole Farkouh

Guest Teacher
Nicole is the founder of CultureWonk and a consultant, trainer, & mediator for organizations seeking greater effectiveness. She's based in San Jose, CA.

Mariela Rico

Client Care
Mariela is a Venezuelan-American realtor, firefighter, dance teacher, & former corporate executive, in South Florida.

Ani Lawson

Admin
Ani is the founder of Divine Business Solutions, a Virtual Assistant, and a mom in Southern California.

Frequently Asked Questions


Do I Need To Be A Yogi or a Buddhist to Participate in DharmaBridge?

Not at all. The way we study and practice in DharmaBridge welcomes and makes space for all experiences. We take a radically non-dual lens and have an anti-racist approach. This program will teach you reliable methodologies for deepening self-understanding and connection with others, while enhancing the quality of humanity you bring to whatever spiritual or secular tradition most inspires you. This program will also benefit anyone who particularly wants to understand and develop real-world application of the dharma traditions.


Is this Therapy?

In delivering the DharmaBridge group program, Kelly Blaser is acting as a Yoga & Meditation Instructor and a Coach, not as a Marriage Family Therapist. If you are seeing a psychotherapist, you should remain in their care, as DharmaBridge does not replace psychotherapeutic care. 

That said, Kelly created the DharmaBridge program due to a strong sense that group work with the support of dharma teachings can create faster, more powerful change for many people than psychotherapy.


How many participants will there be in the program?

We keep the program size limited to roughly 30 people. You will know each participant by name and face and grow close with the other members of the group. DharmaBridge provides an intimate container where you will feel safe to connect and heal.


Can I really transform through an online course without any in-person contact?

Yes. Kelly has developed an immense capacity for holding sacred space in an online format. She came to leading online programs with a good deal of technological skill, so her comfort in navigating the digital world will put you at ease, help you get focused, and bring you into a conscious place of true connection with others.

Keep in mind, this program is delivered almost entirely LIVE, unlike many other online programs, so the experience will feel extremely juicy, interactive, and on purpose throughout.


I've tried other programs, read books, worked with coaches and healers, but nothing sticks. I really want change, but how can I trust this process?

If you feel reluctant to risk again or part of you wants to give up, I deeply encourage you to give DharmaBridge a chance. Relationship with the wisdom traditions, combined with powerful guidance, and regular reflection in sangha makes everything possible.

It's said that only a true narcissist cannot learn from the lessons of another. When we bond with sangha, every transformation from each group member becomes a gift to everyone present, and the growth that ensues is exponential.

Whatever you are struggling to transform or bring into being in your life can come to pass when you connect with your essential awake-ness, lean into the support of community, and contemplate the dharma. You can transform your suffering into nourishment.


What's the Time Commitment?

DharmaBridge sangha cohorts run for 9 months.

DharmaBridge meets live for two, 1 hour long, Zoom sessions most weeks. Both are recorded in case of conflicts. You are encouraged to attend these meetings live as much as possible.

Additional time commitments include:

  • Establishing a dedicated, personal, meditation practice and other ritual practices that support your personal vision of transformation with coaching on how to make sustainable commitments. (10 min per day or more)
  • Weekly Antenna Listening meetups with an assigned partner (20-30 min, optional).
  • Monthly or trimesterly one-on-one coaching with Kelly, according to your enrollment plan (Lotus, Diamond, or Certification Track).
  • A small group call once per month (1 hour).
  • Extended weekend sessions at several points throughout the program (2+ hours each).

Assigned homework is light for Lotus and Diamond path participants. It will include inquiry practices and projects (time varies), listening to and creating Voxer messages in a prescribed format (10-30 min per week), practicing meditation, asana, and mantra with guided recordings (20+ minutes).

Overall, be prepared to spend 2+ hours per week outside of live class times in personal practice, partner work, study, and inquiry.

Those on the Certification Track will have more extensive homework, with readings, recordings, and additional bi-monthly calls. These folks should plan on a time commitment of 4+ hours a week outside of live class times.


How Much Does the Program Cost?

DharmaBridge pricing depends on a variety of factors including which plan you enroll in and whether you qualify for a variety of possible discounts. We will discuss pricing with you on a consultation call. 

It's free to apply and schedule a consultation call to determine your eligibility for custom pricing. Once we determine that the program is a good fit for you and agree upon a suitable pricing plan, a $500 enrollment fee secures your spot.

Click here to apply and schedule a consultation, now.


"I feel like I have a more compassionate view towards others, and I can meet them in a different way rather than with anger or frustration."

Molly R., DB 2017-18
Colorado

"This year has been a really beautiful unfolding of returning to Self and a gradual loosening of the grip of conditioned mind into infinite potential and expansiveness."

Anna T., MD - DB 2017-18
El Paso, TX

Are you ready to leap forward in your spiritual practice, free yourself from conditioning, and open up to possibility?

Yes! I Want to Apply

©2022 - Kelly Blaser & DharmaBridge, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.