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Toronto Awakenings Sharing Group
Exploring Near-Death Experiences & Spiritually Transformative Experiences
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Toronto Awakenings Sharing Group
Exploring Near-Death Experiences & Spiritually Transformative Experiences
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Toronto Awakenings Sharing Group
Exploring Near-Death Experiences & Spiritually Transformative Experiences
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Toronto Awakenings Sharing Group
Exploring Near-Death Experiences & Spiritually Transformative Experiences
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Meetings

Attend our meetings and share your Near-Death Experiences and other Spiritually Transformative Experiences.

About

Find out more about Toronto Awakenings Sharing Group and its in-person and online meetings.

Founders

Meet Toronto Awakenings Sharing Group’s co-founders, Dr. Yvonne Kason, Monica Maurin, and Dr. Shira Taylor.

Toronto Awakenings Sharing Group in the News!

“Not some hallucination: Near-death experiencers share their stories at Toronto organization”

By Ryan Rocca, Global News
February 16, 2023

Toronto resident Yvonne Kason has had multiple near-death experiences in her life — experiences so powerful that they dramatically changed her view of reality.

Kason, a retired family physician who was also on the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine for many years, has since started two organizations — one of which is based in Toronto — where people can listen, discuss, and gain insight into similar experiences.

Near-death experiences, referred to as NDEs, are often so powerful, extraordinary, and difficult to put into words that those who experience them commonly don’t know where to turn, Kason says.

The internet is full of NDE accounts and while each one is often unique, there are similarities.

Join Our Meetings

You are most welcome to join us. We will be exploring Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) and other Spiritually Transformative Experiences (STEs).

We are the Toronto Awakenings Sharing Group. Our in-person and Zoom video-conference meetings feature a STE related speaker and a question and answer period.  We also offer “Experiencers” Sharing Circles, hosted by Spiritual Awakenings International starting October 2021, which are small sharing groups in which you are invited to share your STE experiences and listen to others. This is not a therapy group but rather a meeting of those who are curious to learn and share their experiences. Sharing is not required, but attentive and respectful listening is. Our meetings are held roughly 5 times a year. Please sign up for email notification of upcoming meetings.

Upcoming Events

 

Dr. Brian Sackett

Dr. Jeffery Overall

Register

Navigating the Path of Awakening: A Personal and Research-Based Journey Through Spiritual Transformation

Saturday, January 25, 2025 – 1:00PM

In this presentation, I delve into my journey through various phases of spiritual awakening, from pre-awakened brushes with death and pilgrimages on the Camino de Santiago and Via Francigena, to a profound kundalini awakening. This pivotal event spurred me into deep academic research and worldwide travel, studying with over 100 practitioners that unfolded over four years. This phase closed with the publishing of my book ‘Capitalist Buddha: Waking up to Conscious Economics’ and a subsequent kensho awakening. Each phase of my awakening journey revealed unique cognitive, emotional, and existential challenges that reshaped my views on life, spirituality, consciousness, and economics. I will share insights from my experiences and academic research, exploring kundalini and kensho awakenings, the dark night of the soul, spiritual transformation, and my vision of conscious economics. Throughout the presentation, I’ll outline practical strategies for overcoming common obstacles in spiritual awakening and examine emerging trends in consciousness expansion.

Dr. Jeffrey Overall is a professor of conscious economics and entrepreneurship. He studies the link between consciousness and: mental health, optimum performance, increased productivity, sustainability, business ethics, financial performance, wakefulness, and spirituality. He also studies the causes of entrepreneurial and organizational success and failure. He has nearly 50 publications with 25 of these in peer-reviewed academic journals. He is the author of Capitalist Buddha: Waking up to Conscious Economics. Dr. Overall has been an academic for over a decade. He was a tenured professor at Ontario Tech University in Canada. Before that, he held professorships at Nipissing University in Canada, Ryerson University in Canada, and Leibniz Universität Hannover in Germany. He taught at the St. Petersburg Polytechinical University in Russia and the University of Bradford School of Management in Britain. He has 25 years of experience working directly with entrepreneurs within start-ups, incubators, and SMEs across various sectors and countries.

Spiritual Awakenings International

Experiencers Sharing Circles 

First Saturday of Every Month: at 1 PM EST or 6 PM EST

Join us the first Saturday of each month at the “Spiritual Awakenings International Experiencers Sharing Circle” in which anyone who has had a Spiritually Transformative Experience can come together with a group of other “Experiencers” to share and to listen.  SAI Sharing Circles will be offered the first Saturday of each month.  These meetings are confidential, and not recorded.

Spiritually Transformative Experiences* include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Near-Death Experiences
  • Other death-related experiences such as: deathbed visions, deathwatch experiences/shared-death experiences  and After-Death Communications
  • Mystical experiences
  • Diverse psychic or intuitive experiences, including clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, out-of-body experiences, past-life recall, mediumship, channeling, and more…
  • Spiritual energy and/or Kundalini Awakenings
  • Inspired creativity
  • Spiritual Emergencies

Many people who have had Spiritually Transformative Experiences seek a safe place to share their story. If you think that perhaps you have had such an experience or you are interested in learning more, you are welcome to join the Experiencers Circle to share and learn.

*Note: “Spiritually Transformative Experiences” was first coined by Dr. Yvonne Kason in 1994.

Live online via Zoom. Register at www.spiritualawakeningsinternational.org

 About Our Group

Toronto Awakenings Sharing Group was started in 2019. We call it an “Awakenings Sharing Group,” providing discussion time for those who are interested in Near-Death Experiences and other Spiritually Transformative Experiences. All are welcome to the meetings, whether they have had any of these experiences or not. (Minors must be accompanied by their legal guardians.)

We are not organized by or affiliated with any religion or religious organization. Near-Death Experiences and other Spiritually Transformative Experiences come to those of all different faiths and no faith at all. They also come to those of different cultures, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, and ability, and we hold openness for each unique experience and experiencer. We are a non-aligned group and do not endorse any one doctrine, philosophy, religion, religious interpretation or political position. We welcome participants with diverse views and perspectives and ask all participants to respectfully engage as listeners to others’ experiences, without offering judgment, challenge, comment or advice. The views and opinions expressed by any individual or speaker attending our meetings do not reflect any official position of the Toronto Awakenings Sharing Group. To read more on our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policy, click here.

Toronto Awakenings Sharing Group was created to offer interested individuals a safe, supportive place in which to share, network, and learn more about diverse Spiritually Transformative Experiences (STEs) and their often powerful after-effects on body, mind and spirit.

The term “Spiritually Transformative Experiences” was first coined by Dr. Yvonne Kason MD, in 1994. STEs include: Near-Death Experiences (NDEs); Mystical Experiences; Spiritual Energy or Kundalini Awakenings; diverse Psychic Experiences; Inspired Creativity; and other death-related STEs such as Deathbed visions, Death-Watch/Shared-Death Experiences, and After-Death Communications. Research studies have show that up to 15 percent of the population have had an NDE or other types of STEs. Many people find these occurrences very impactful and even life transforming. Sadly, experiencers often find they are misunderstood by their family or friends, and feel they have no one with whom to share their understanding. Our group meetings aim to provide just such an opportunity, to share privately and respectfully, with support and understanding of the diversity of each person’s STEs.

We believe that Near-Death Experiences and other Spiritually Transformative Experiences hold a wealth of information for all of us, especially given that no two experiences are identical. Our meetings are facilitated by Toronto Awakenings Sharing Group’s three volunteer co-founders, who have worked with and have also experienced their own Spiritually Transformative Experiences.

Toronto Awakenings Sharing Group is affiliated with Spiritual Awakenings International.  www.spiritualawakeningsinternational.org

SAI-affiliated-group-logo

Meet Our Co-Founders

Dr. Yvonne Kason, Monica Maurin and Dr. Shira Taylor founded the Toronto Awakenings Sharing Group in 2019. All three co-founders have had many Spiritually Transformative Experiences (STEs) and two have had Near-Death Experiences (NDEs). They felt there was a need for a community such as this in Toronto and began to offer bi-monthly meetings to all who feel sincerely interested.

Toronto Awakenings Sharing Group is not a therapy group and no counselling can or will be offered. Rather, it is a forum in which to share personal NDE and STE stories in a supportive environment, and to learn more about all types of STEs from our meetings’ featured speakers. Experiencers, their friends, families, physicians and counsellors, as well as all persons sincerely interested in learning more about the wide range of Spiritually Transformative Experiences are welcome to attend.

We believe that Spiritually Transformative Experiences are part of the spectrum of healthy human experiences.

Currently, Toronto Awakenings Sharing Group is led by Dr. Yvonne Kason and other volunteers. Please direct all inquires to: info@torontoawakenings.org

Yvonne Kason MD, MEd, CCFP, FCFP

Dr. Yvonne Kason MD is a retired Family Physician and Transpersonal MD-Psychotherapist previously on Faculty at the University of Toronto.  She has had 5 Near-Death Experiences and multiple Spiritually Transformative Experiences. She first coined the phrase “Spiritually Transformative Experiences” (STEs) in 1994. She has 40 years experience researching and counselling persons with NDEs and other STEs.

Dr. Kason is President of  Spiritual Awakenings International, www.spiritualawakeningsinternational.org, Past-President of IANDS, cofounder of the Spirituality in Health-Care Network and the Kundalini Research Network, and author of 6 books, her most recent “Soul Lessons from the Light: How Spiritually Transformative Experiences Changed my Life” (December 2022), and “Touched by the Light: Exploring Spiritually Transformative Experiences.” (2019). Learn more at Dr. Kason’s website: www.dryvonnekason.com.