A Vibrant, Thriving Community of Conscious Evolutionaries in the San Francisco Bay Area

About Bay Area Integral

The original goal of Bay Area Integral (BAI) was to create a vibrant, thriving community of Integral practitioners in the San Francisco Bay Area. This was accomplished early in our ten-plus years of hosting speaking events with respected teachers and authors, and by helping to form practice groups (Integral sanghas) that provide ongoing support for those who want to live a more Integral life. BAI first launched in January 2006 as a listserve organized by Camille Nowell at the first Integral Institute Weekend Experiential Trainings in San Francisco. In 2007, Terry Patten founded BAI as a formal entity, and was joined by a team of dedicated volunteers. Over the years, Terry has led Bay Area Integral in partnership with a leadership team which has changed over the years. Lisa Chacon, Bill McCart, Valerie Beltran, and now Cynthia Madix have helped lead BAI and helped it grow, professionalize, and mature. And that has only been possible because of the work of other key volunteers, including Christina Sophie, Deborah Boyar, Shekinah Shepard, Andrea Bryck, Antoine Moore, Laurie Pantell, David Buettner, Katrina Paulsen, Lisa McKay, Masen Ewald, Suzy Karasik, Larry Minikes, Graham Bond, Lorraine Fletcher and Terry Frances. There have been many more who have given generously of their time and energy and continue to co-create this living community. Join us! BAI has become a central gathering place where people engage conscious inquiry and find community in the San Francisco Bay Area. Most of our events are in the East Bay, although a few have been held in SF and in the North Bay, and we draw evolutionaries from all these regions as well as the Peninsula and Silicon Valley. In addition to BAI sponsored events, this website will sometimes list events sponsored by other groups that have an Integral focus. We also list a few especially significant events outside the Bay Area. As of July 14, 2014, BAI is a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization. Our Federal ID is 46-3005777. How to contact BAI: For general questions or suggestions or to report a problem with the web site, please use our Contact form. To volunteer to help BAI, please use the form on our Volunteer page.

Promotion of Third Party Events

As part of our mission, we sometimes have promoted third party events that may be of interest to the Integral community, and sometimes we give our community and volunteers a break. The criteria we consider for this, in additional to our own rhythms, are:
  • The proposed topic expresses evolutionary or integral theory, practice, consciousness and/or culture
  • The presenter has recognized expertise in the topic
  • The presentation is not purely informational; it should have some experiential and transformational component linked to a higher good
  • The event should not conflict with any BAI events around the same time (check our Upcoming Events page)
  • There should be some form of value exchange with the sponsor (see below)
The support we can provide is limited to sending a dedicated email to our list 1-2 weeks before your event. In return for our support, we look for some kind of exchange of value. Our main goal is to educate, inform and enlighten our community, and third parties who approach us typically have similar goals, so we are flexible about value exchange. It usually takes the form of reciprocal support for one of our events, or “affilliate commissions” if the presenter has that capability, and sometimes other forms. If you would like BAI to promote your event, please contact us at least four, preferably six weeks before your event and provide the following information:
  • Brief description of the topic or a link to the event page if it already exists
  • Date, time, location and pricing
  • Information about the presenter or a link to the presenter’s website
  • Why the BAI community will be interested in the topic and what they can get from the event
  • Your contact info.
You can use our Contact form to make your request.
About Bay Area Integral

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