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Introductory Description: 

Originally from Sweden, I have lived primarily in the US for the past few decades. I came across the Diamond Approach in 1994 when I was working with Russ Hudson and Don Riso at the Enneagram Institute and I have been a student of the work since then, while also pursuing other interests in the creative arts as a filmmaker, photographer, actor, and songwriter. My educational background includes degrees in both psychology and international business. I am also a certified Integral Coach through New Ventures West and in 2008 I founded Brotherhood Retreats, which is a spiritual retreat for gay and bisexual men. It originally started as support for those impacted by HIV, but has since grown to include all who feel called to attend.

My passions include travel, creativity, and deep exploration of our inner world.

What have you learned as a result of studying the Diamond Approach?: 

The Diamond Approach is the path that has had the most profound impact on my life and is what I hold as most central to me. In the early years of the work, I learned to shed a lot of beliefs and limitations I had held as being someone deeply entrenched in our ordinary material world. Gradually as I started opening up to more and more subtle realizations in this work I also gained more and more freedom from my habitual sense of self. This has allowed me to journey deep inte realms of life's mysteries. The Diamond Approach has given me a deeper appreciation for life, people, and most of all my own experience as it has brought me closer to myself and allowed me to truly be myself in a free and liberated way.

What would you like your potential students to know about you as a teacher of the Diamond Approach?: 

I am very open-minded and have worked with a very wide range of people from different cultures. I embrace diversity and the uniqueness of each individual person in a way that allows me to meet you where you are. I am ready to sit with you in both difficulties and triumphs as you explore more of your inner world and how you walk through life in your everyday world.

What attracted you to the Diamond Approach?: 

I was already curious about the workings of inner world and having studied the human psyche through the Enneagram lens, I felt that the Diamond Approach added dimensions that felt missing or incomplete in the Enneagram work alone. It was a path towards truly living a realized life in the world in this lifetime and provided the methods to deeply uncover and metabolize the obstacles that kept me locked in patterned behaviors.

What is most important for people to understand about the Diamond Approach?: 

The Diamond Approach doesn't attempt to fix any problems. It starts from a point of seeing you as an expression of True Nature, the Divine, God, or whatever term you prefer to express our deepest origin. In the process of becoming more deeply conscious and learning to live a life of Presence, many of the issues that we have perceived as problems to fix tend to naturally dissolve, but that is never the goal. The focus is on being interested in one's experience and to be open-mindedly curious about it.

Events with Claes

Sunday Evening Inquiry & Exploration

2024-12-22 19:00

Location:  Berkeley, CA, United States

Sunday Evening Inquiry & Exploration

2025-01-05 19:00

Location:  Berkeley, CA, United States

Sunday Evening Inquiry & Exploration

2025-01-12 19:00

Location:  Berkeley, CA, United States

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