We interviewed Diamond Approach teacher Ilene Buchalter about her journey with the Diamond Approach as well as the open group that she is co-leading, Diamond Approach Florida.
How did you first find the Diamond Approach?
It was over 40 years ago, when I was at my first job as a young lawyer. I had been looking for something—I’d done some meditation and psychological work—and nothing quite hit the mark. A coworker in Denver said there was an open house at a home in Boulder, and asked if I wanted to go. This was before it was even called the Diamond Approach… The process the teacher engaged in at the open house captivated me, by what seemed at that time like magic: she could understand the interiority of people, just by asking a few questions, and could say what was actually happening for them. She became my teacher. It evolved from there.
When you were starting out, what were some of the challenges that came up for you?
Now I have a wider and more varied perspective; at the time it was challenging because it was jumping in feet-first into what was then a very intense style of this Path—the Returning Process. A lot of transformation happened in a short period of time, which is both wonderful and can also be challenging. This process required and instilled a certain discipline that made a deep impression on me when I was in my 20s.
What has kept you engaged with the Diamond Approach teaching over the years?
I have a deep love for the teaching itself. There’s a deep love for my teachers, the students—and there’s also the love of the teaching, the gift of the teaching of the Diamond Approach. In our culture, people want instantaneous enlightenment. The Diamond Approach really isn’t like that, and that’s part of the beauty, intelligence, depth, and magnitude of it.
It also includes all of us—the hurts, the wounds, our humanness. It’s quite human: nothing is excluded. So there’s the sense of the intelligence of the Diamond Approach, the heart of it, the soul of it. It is really a complete teaching.
Sometimes I might wonder, why am I doing this? I’d rather just go out and take a walk! After all, there are difficult things; this work can confront us, our defensiveness, and there are things that are hard to look at or painful. Over the years, there’s a trust that has come up and developed for me that what needs to show up in a real way will show up.
What aspect of the teaching is most alive for you right now?
In this moment, it’s what I’m going to be teaching next. It’s in my fingertips, my pores, and is what I am immersed in. This always has an aliveness. The teaching on Unwavering Voyage of Discovery, on the Will aspect, is “up” in the sense of being what is most affecting me. When we teach, we are affected by the teaching. Working with the material, feeling into the group, what’s needed, and the actual material itself, including explorations of real inner support, confidence, steadfastness, and ease.
Tell us a little bit about the group you are co-leading in Florida.
I’m the lead teacher for the Diamond Approach Florida group, www.diamondapproachflorida.com, an open group where we are welcoming folks not only from Florida but from the Southeastern US. One of the unusual things about this group that I’ve had reflected back from others is its diversity in terms of age (mid-20s to late 70s); national origin; gender; and race and ethnicity. It is a little microcosm of the world, and very dear in that way.
Students have commented on the sense of inclusion in the group. It’s not like there was an intention but there is a sense of inclusion and being welcome; the students enjoy that rich tapestry.
We have the intro weekends four times a year online—fall, winter, spring and summer—our next is October 30 and 31, on the Will aspect. In between these weekends we have online inquiry groups, which is both another entry point into the group and a way for people to integrate the material from the weekend. It’s very supportive for the students; in the beginning, we need that kind of frequency for support, because of the historically conditioned way we know ourselves that we are challenging.
What advice would you share with someone who is thinking of attending an introductory event with the Diamond Approach?
I’d say go for it! Just attend. And the reason I say that is that, from what I see, it’s when people get a taste of the Diamond Approach, then they have more of a sense of it– because this work is so experiential! If you’re thinking about it or wondering, really give it a taste and see whether or not it’s for you. The biggest way people find out is to go to an event and see how it is! That’s how I got involved, so many years ago. Other things about it are good for orientation, and important, but the actual felt sense—hearing a teaching and then doing an inquiry exercise—that is what can let us know: is it for me?
How do you see the Diamond Approach helping humanity and the planet?
The planet is hurting these days. There are all kinds of difficulties and divisiveness. When we meet as a group it has a ripple effect. People may not recognize it or know it, but I feel it does have some sort of ripple effect beyond the folks who are attending.
People that are close to me, who aren’t in the school, are affected. I’m not necessarily talking to them about the Diamond Approach, but it’s something that happens in a way—sort of a vibrational thing—that happens and affects what is happening in the world and the community. It may be on a small scale, in how we talk to people, like the grocery store clerk. We may not be aware, but we affect someone even when we have a casual conversation, with presence. Everyone has that!
The orientation toward truth that we have, which is so allowing of us being who and what we are, is really unusual—and very much needed, with the din and cacophony and pain and difficulty that the world is in right now.
Read more about the workshop Ilene is leading this month on the Will.