Luminous Awareness Institute

LAI Revised Returning Student Agreements


Dear Luminous Being,

We are excited that you are joining us as a returning student for the upcoming Luminous Student Program!

We are asking you to read over and sign the following REVISED agreements as the final part of your enrollment process. These agreements have been revised to reflect a new withdrawal period in the Financial Agreements & Terms section - you may attend module 1 before making your final decision about whether the advanced program is for you

These agreements set the container for the relationships between you and Luminous, between all of us as members of an intentional evolutionary learning community, and between you and your own integrity, intention, and alignment to serving Awakening. While we realize this is a lot to read, your careful consideration of and consent to these agreements enables Luminous (LAI) to create and maintain itself as a teaching lineage of high integrity, heart-centered offering, and impeccable quality and facilitates a community in which the greatest trust, healing, and awakening can occur. 

There are six categories we ask you to consider and agree to:

  1. Program Overview
  2. Financial Agreements & Terms
  3. Use of Luminous Teachings, Materials, and Transmissions
  4. Liability Waiver and Release
  5. Community Commitments
  6. Code of Ethics

Questions? Please feel free to contact:

Natasha Kruger, Luminous Coordinator, at coordinator@luminousawareness.com
Jen Stevenson, Program Director, at programdir@luminousawareness.com


Returning Student Program Overview

Luminous is dedicated to generating a loving harmonious awake world and to creating happiness and well being for all sentient beings. This is a lineage path that trains people to awaken to their deepest nature as well as provides tools of liberation and healing that enable us to clean up and purify all the parts of self until we are the living embodiment of that realization. The healing that arises and the skills and techniques taught within a committed community of co-explorers, with expert guidance from teachers who walk the path themselves, are meant to be become ongoing practices that ripple through all areas of our lives.

Students in the advanced program get the opportunity to go through all the evolving material of the Luminous lineage again, deepening your skill, spiritual awakening, and personal growth.

The Advanced Program has three paths: 

Advanced - where students return as participants, going through the program again to continue their healing and growth and deepen their understanding of the Luminous teachings.
Avatar - where students return as participants but also commit to a deeper level of exploration through an additional 5th day intensive, between-module classes, healing pods, and engagement with bringing the Luminous principles into more areas of their lives, both personal and professional.
Practitioner - where students come back to both continue their own development and to step into active service to new students and to the larger Luminous vision. This path requires an interview and  all applicants may not be accepted.

As an advanced students you are in the unique role of being familiar with the Luminous teachings and methodologies, of having done a fair amount of your own personal healing and started the development of your bender gifts and skills. Regardless of whether you are returning as an Advanced, Avatar, or Practitioner student, we hope that you come to continue your own development on your path and also come in service to those beginning their path with Luminous. We ask that you be an example of vulnerability and responsiveness, that you support other students in feeling safe, welcome and mentored whenever appropriate. Many students entering this next program have years of other practices under their belt so it may be best to not assume that you know more, however as materials may be more familiar, see what it’s like to align yourself to being in service to the whole and see how that alignment directs you moment by moment and in relationship.

Logistical Details:

  • Eight 4-day modules (Thursday through Sunday)
    • Immersive, residential setting at the Expanding Light Retreat Center
    • Food and lodging arranged at a separate expense from program tuition
    • 5th day Monday intensive for certain advanced program students
  • Two 2-day meditation workshops
    • Taught collaboratively with Anna-Lisa Adelberg and meditation/awareness teacher Loch Kelly
    • Held in the Bay Area
    • Food and lodging are not arranged for these weekends as the majority of students are local to the Bay Area.

Review the full program description on our 2-Year Program page, including the dates for each module and see the details for returning students on the Advanced Program page.

All modules in this program are built on preceding modules, creating an increasingly rich and deep collective group field in which to grow, heal, and build skills, both individually and collectively. This student body, both new and returning, has been carefully chosen to build a diverse and potent community that is most likely to support development of awake awareness with healing. Each person matters and helps set the tone and create the context for our journey together. Your active engagement with the material and with the community is essential. We invite you to hold both yourself and others with this in mind.

Additionally, as a returning student, you are invited to put into practice the skills you have been developing through your original 2-year program and integrate your healing ever more fully into the way you show up in the world. Whether you are returning primarily as a participant or stepping into training as a practitioner and future Luminous dynamo, going through the material a second (or third!) time is a profound experience that encourages you to continue to grow. 

Luminous Awareness Institute reserves the right to make necessary adjustments to the curriculum, course offerings, class hours, scheduled dates (with up to 60 days notice), equipment and organization as it deems necessary.  

Personal Responsibility

Luminous Awareness Institute is an educational program and lineage transmission for those who are actively engaged with and committed to their own awakening, personal growth and development and to bringing their skills and gifts in service to their larger communities. You may have an new interest in becoming a practitioner or weaving Luminous capacities into current practice modalities. As you move through the program again, you may find you want to bring both your awake awareness and increasingly whole presence into areas from business to teaching to activism to art...or simply into your community and family.

Regardless of how your experience with Luminous ripples out into the world, you are ultimately responsible for your own path. Luminous provides tools and pointing out instructions for finding your way into new and profound states of being and seeks to support your integration of these shifts in lasting, sustainable ways beyond the program and the cushion. And, this is an active path that requires your direct involvement and commitment. As with any practice that leads to real transformation and manifestation in the world, you get out what you put in. The commitment you make to engaging with the teachings, exercises, practices, and community throughout your time in the program will determine the growth, healing, and lasting consciousness shifts that you experience. We invite you to step up, step in, and see what emerges from your active engagement with and ownership of your own unfolding!

 I have read and agree to the Luminous Awareness Institute Program Overview and acknowledge personal responsibility for active engagement with the program as a returning student.


Financial Agreements & Terms

We recognize that enrollment in our program is an investment on many fronts - including financially, time-wise, and in terms of engagement with personal healing and growth. We seek to be as clear as possible about what you can expect from us and what we expect from you. You agree to let us know in advance of any changes to your address or other circumstances that may impact your payments and to respond promptly to requests around any payment issues that may arise.

Please review the following information and reach out with any questions before signing this contract.

Tuition Payments

Tuition payments are due on the dates below and depend on the payment plan you have chosen:

  • Those who have selected a one time full payment:
    • Payment is due October 1, 2017 (or 1st of the month following enrollment, for those joining later)
  • Those who have selected to make two payments:
    • First payment is due October 1, 2017 (or 1st of the month following enrollment, for those joining later)
    • Second payment is due October 1, 2018 (or a year from first payment)
  • Those who will be making 24 monthly payments
    • Payments start October 1, 2017 (or  1st of the month following enrollment, for those joining later)
    • Payments are due on or before the first of the month for 24 months

Food & Lodging Costs

  • Costs vary depending on choice of lodging - plan for an approximate cost of $330-$500 per module
    • Food and Lodging is not included in your tuition.
    • Tent/RV are less and certain private rooms are more.
    • Extra nights are available at additional cost and will be in the same room already chosen.
    • Meals from Thursday dinner through Sunday lunch are included in your lodging price.
    • Additional meals may be purchased separately.
  • Room and board payments will be processed approximately 30 days prior to the module date (see exact dates below).
  • Lodging options are on a first-come, first-serve basis.
    • Advanced students may be asked or choose to stay at lodging off-site (Milano's B&B) or at the Meditation Center.
    • Choose your lodging promptly for the largest selection. Most rooms will open up for selection again prior to the each module. After that, you can reserve your same spot for the rest of the program if you let us know and pay 45 days in advance of each module.
    • Rooms not paid for in advance will return to the general pool of lodging for each module.
  • If for some reason you are unable to attend a module, you may cancel your Food & Lodging reservation with 30 days’ notice by contacting the LAI Coordinator.
    • If you do not provide 30 days notice or more, you will be responsible for your food and lodging costs regardless of attendance.

PLEASE NOTE:

Food and Lodging are a combined cost based on a per-module stay and cannot be separated. Our retreat centers have denied us the ability to allow students to bring and prepare their own food. Thus, Food & Lodging costs still apply for those who have dietary restrictions that prohibit eating at the retreat center. You also may not opt out of certain meals.  

The payment schedule for Room and Board is as follows:

  1. October 30, 2017
  2. January 2, 2018
  3. March 26, 2018
  4. June 5, 2018
  5. August 20, 2018
  6. November 13, 2018
  7. January 28, 2019
  8. April 9, 2019

Deposit Refund

Your deposit is applied to your tuition costs and has already been subtracted from the pricing of your payment plans. The deposit includes a $250 processing fee which is non-refundable. Here are deadlines for what portion of your deposit is refundable when:

  • $600 is refundable if cancellation occurs by Sep 1, 2017
  • $300 is refundable if cancellation occurs by Nov 1, 2017
  • No refunds are offered after Nov 1, 2017

Cancellation & Withdrawal

The student body in your class is a very carefully held gathering of people who will journey together for almost two years. Once you choose to commit to this program, you become an integral participant in the program. Other applicants are turned away based on your enrollment. While new students can be admitted from the waitlist before the second module, once the second module is underway, admissions is closed for the duration of the program. Please keep this in mind as you read our cancellation and withdrawal policies.

  • We are now offering you the option to attend the first module to confirm whether this program is a fit for both you and Luminous Awareness Institute. 
  • The Withdrawal Period is offered until December 10, 2017. 
    • This options replaces the previously stated deadline of November 27, 2017.
    • The withdrawal period allows a time for reflection where you can determine if the program is the right choice for you at this time.
    • If you are signing this agreement after the Withdrawal Period, you understand that you are committing to the program in full.
  • If you withdraw from the program during the Withdrawal Period, you are required to pay $1,000 of your tuition plus the food and lodging costs for the first module.
    • Your deposit and any tuition already paid will be applied as credit towards your $1,000 tuition cost.
  • The qualifying payments towards the $1,000.00 cost of attendance for only module one includes your deposit and any money already paid towards tuition only. 
    • If we have received more than $1,000.00 plus the payment for your room and board for the first module, any amount in excess of $1,000.00 will be refunded by check.  Note:  payments for room and board do not count towards the $1,000.00 cost for the first module.
  • If for some reason you, as a returning student, must discontinue the program after December 10, 2017, there will be no refunds and you are committed to tuition payments for the duration of the program, but not required to pay food and lodging costs for any modules not attended.
    • Unfortunately, given the design of the program we are only able to make exceptions to this policy in the case of a true emergency. We will evaluate any extenuating circumstances on a case by case basis.  

Again, you must inform the Luminous Coordinator of your decision to withdraw from the program no later than 11:59pm PST on December 10, 2017.  If you do not contact us by December 10, 2017, you are committed to the entirety of your tuition costs for the complete program.

Luminous Awareness Institute at all times reserves the right to terminate any student for failure to meet our general policies and guidelines.  

 I have read and agree to the Luminous Awareness Institute Financial Agreements & Terms and agree to pay my tuition as a returning student in full after the drop date as well as any room and lodging costs I may have accrued.


Use of Luminous Teachings, Materials, and Transmissions

Luminous as Lineage

While the teachings at Luminous Awareness Institute (LAI) are built upon many traditions and stand on the shoulders of those who have come before us, Luminous is it’s own lineage stream. Unique perspectives, practices, and ways of teaching and transmitting the essence of that experience have been carefully developed to support the Luminous vision of fostering awake awareness, healing the parts of self that inhibit our awakening, and creating a more enlightened world for all beings.

As a lineage, it is very important that the material be transmitted correctly and only by lineage teachers. This is to protect the teaching, keeping the transmissions pure, strong, and consistent. The  transmission field is harmed when the teachings are transmitted incorrectly. If something is transmitted incorrectly, it can create a barrier for the receiver of those teachings that can harden the mind to the authentic transmission and make it difficult for them be able to learn it correctly. We ask your respect for the unique transmission of Luminous and the designated people and teachings through which it emerges.

Intellectual Property

In addition to the lineage aspect, the teachings of LAI are expressed through specific teachings, techniques, practices, protocols and formats. All material used in the program is copyrighted Luminous material unless otherwise noted, including but not limited to handouts, lectures, web site and online course content, homework assignments, PowerPoint presentations, videos, audio recordings, and blogs. Additionally, the methodology of certain practices and framing used in healing, training awake awareness, and creating the dynamic field in which energy transmutes and reorganizes, is unique to Luminous.

We ask that you respect the Luminous Awareness Institute’s teachings, techniques, practices, protocols and formats and do not teach, replicate or share this information without our express, written permission. It is not okay to use lectures, handouts, or other teaching materials in your own written or other work without explicit permission - such as in books, blogs, teaching handouts for your own program, video blogs, etc.

If material you wish to use can be found elsewhere, in the work of other teachers or resources, feel free to use that according to their permissions. If something is only available in Luminous materials, we ask that you refrain from using it without permission.

A question we invite you to consider in this discussion:
What is your own way of working? What is your unique offering? This helps us distinguish ourselves: this is Luminous, that’s you.

Luminous does offer advanced training where you can learn how to manifest the Luminous Awareness Institute teachings as a healer, work with group consciousness, bring Luminous principles explicitly to other fields and modalities, and/or apply to become a member of the Luminous Awareness Institute’s practitioner or teaching team as your skill and capacity develop. This training is by application. A position with Luminous is not guaranteed. While Luminous will offer the teachings and opportunities to grow as a practitioner, your capacity and skill depends on the effort and investment you bring. It takes the time it takes to become a proficient and seasoned practitioner or teacher.

Students who are enrolled in the program have direct permission to use Luminous material in the following ways:

  • Working with individual clients in the Luminous manner, if you are certified as practitioner.
  • Working with fellow students in the learning of the material.
  • If you’re teaching something of your own and you want to refer to some Luminous teachings and maps and reference Luminous, that’s acceptable if it’s less than 10% of your offering.
    • Please do not give an entire class based on our maps...or transmit the maps.
    • Please attribute the material you use to Luminous.
  • Describing your learning and experience with friends and family.

If in doubt of whether something is aligned with respecting both the lineage and the intellectual property of Luminous, please reach out and ask.

A final note on respect for the Luminous community and teachings: Luminous events or community spaces are not a place to recruit or promote your own or other’s non-Luminous offerings unless permission is given to do so.

I  have read and agree to the expectations around the Use of Luminous Teaching, Materials, and Transmission. I agree to seek permission for use of Luminous materials if in doubt about what is allowed.


Liability Waiver and Release

Informed Consent

The purpose of this consent form is to inform you of the nature of the healing work you will learn and experience and the qualifications required of the leaders to practice this work.  Energy Medicine is a system that falls under the CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) set of modalities.

Energy Medicine as taught within the Luminous Awareness Institute (LAI) program is used to help you identify and work through physical blocks, emotional blocks, and internal belief systems that no longer serve you.

In the experience of the LAI team and facilitators, healing is the process of becoming free of conditioned, pre-programmed reactions to the world. Healing is the growth process towards having the liberated capacity to choose fresh creative responses to each situation as it presents itself. This freedom doesn’t necessarily mean a new or better personal story. Rather, it is the capacity to hold oneself and one’s point of view with lightness and gentleness, and the flexibility to shift when needed.

The leaders and staff at Luminous Awareness Institute are here to work with you and facilitate you in your healing process. That said, healing requires willingness, dedication, and commitment on your part, and thus, at all times your healing is your own responsibility.

The leaders and staff at Luminous Awareness Institute are not physicians, do not diagnose diseases or prescribe pharmaceutical drugs, and do not have the authority nor desire to advise you to discontinue any medical treatment you may be receiving. The leaders of LAI have completed four-year programs in Energy Medicine as well as a host of other modalities. All healing work at Luminous Awareness Institute is harmonious with the allopathic and complementary and alternative medical models.

Acknowledgement and Release

  • I understand that the healing work at Luminous Awareness Institute is done with hands-on healing and the evaluation and balancing of energy fields.
  • I acknowledge that I have read the foregoing Informed Consent and I am fully satisfied that I understand the nature and intention of the healing work taught at Luminous Awareness Institute. I release Luminous Awareness Institute, its leaders, and staff from any and all claims of liability, malpractice, non-disclosure, or lack of informed consent. I freely assume any and all risks whether presently contemplated or herein discovered.
  • I also acknowledge that the leaders and staff at Luminous Awareness Institute have informed me that that they are not licensed under the laws of this state to practice any form of allopathic medicine; that they have stated that they will neither diagnose nor prescribe for any condition or problem from which I may be suffering; and that should I have any physical or mental complaints, I should consult a licensed medical doctor.
  • Additionally, I acknowledge that Luminous Awareness Institute (LAI) assumes no liability for injury, damage, loss, accident for any reason whatsoever, through the acts or default of any company or person engaged in carrying out the arrangements for LAI. Luminous Awareness Institute accepts no responsibility for injury, losses or expense due to weather, strike, war, quarantine, or other causes. All such losses or expenses are to be borne by the participant.

I have read and agree to the Luminous Awareness Institute Liability Waiver and Release and to all terms described above.


Community Commitments

Honor Self and Others
We recognize the core of all beings as True Nature and pure Essence. At the core, we are all the same essence. We realize that no one is better or worse than anyone else and all deserve to be treated with kindness and compassion.   

Extend Highest Regard
We recognize the power of our perspectives, our words, and our actions and, we choose to mindfully make decisions on how to manifest these powers in ways that support one another’s well-being. Our unwavering intention is to cause no harm, and we exert our best efforts to make our intention a reality by holding each other in highest regard.

What to do when we lose clear view of another?

  • It is natural to be triggered by our teachers, mentors, assistants and classmates. Remember our commitment to extend our highest regard for others and to hold each other clearly.
  • Bring openhearted awareness to the experience: by working on from our own Open hearted awareness  or by asking for the help of the Open hearted awareness of a healer, mentor, assistant or classmate. We ask for support when needed.
  • Allow the experience to be felt as it is, without trying to avoid it, change it, or judge it.

Dealing with a difficult energetic charge with others:

Notice where there is charge and bring more attention to it. Seek to find the underlying feeling. What does it remind you of? What need feels under-met? As we begin to strengthen our muscles of holding things lightly… we can hold our stories lightly and we can look for, and find presence in, the deeper content in the felt-sense underneath. We can look for the clarity in the anger, the vulnerability in the reactivity, the simple need that needs to be expressed or held by our own open hearted awareness.

NOTE:  We must be aware of our tendency to seek support for our negative views of others.  We commit to not participate in gossip or collusion against any member of the global Luminous Community.

Co-create the reality you want:

After the charge has lessened:

  • Shift your view of the person and see/feel if they shift too.
  • Directly communicate the impact someone else’s actions had on you and make a specific request of how they could better meet your needs.

Own your own experience:
During communication: Describe things through the sensations and emotions you experienced and the thoughts and stories that you created. Focus on what your own needs are, what your own discovery of yourself is. The more you can understand yourself and share your own needs and feelings (rather than blaming, judging, or making assumptions about the other person’s experience), the more the other person will be able to empathize.

Keep clear and current:

Share any “withholds” that don't naturally shift as you consciously communicate. “Withholds” include those things that are thought or felt by one but not the other person in the interaction.

Integrity:  Do what you say you will do and when you don't, acknowledge that and recognize the impact.

These principles apply to your relationship with other students and with the teachers, staff, and assistants of Luminous Awareness Institute.

I have read and agree to the Luminous Awareness Institute Community Commitments


Luminous Code of Ethics

Luminous Awareness Institute offers processes, tools and techniques for the purpose of supporting the evolution of consciousness and the awakening of all beings to their true nature. As we unfold and expand into heightened awareness, subtle energy perception, sensing ability, and healing capacity, we also step into increased responsibility for holding our ethics to our highest integrity.

We ask that, as you begin to work with other beings’ systems, you first clarify and align your intention and energy and invoke your steadfast intent for the highest good for the client and for all beings. We ask also that you hold and honor the wisdom, intelligence, and divine nature of each being, and offer your work as a tool for their unique process of unfolding.

It is in this spirit that we have clarified specific ethics that we hold for students, practitioners and teachers of the Luminous Awareness Institute work:

  • To respect the innate wisdom and sovereignty of each being, you MUST have explicit permission before tracking or working in a person’s energy field.
  • Before working: align, connect with your highest Self, link with larger intelligence, and establish your unwavering intent for the highest good of the client and for all beings. If you are not able to do so, consider whether you can delay the healing for a time when you are able to feel more centered.
  • Remember that this work is offered for healing and the highest good for all, not for the gain of the smaller self. Maintaining your intent, alignment, and connection to larger intelligence facilitates your ability to not just include but transcend the ego and smaller self as you work
  • To respect the beautiful vulnerability and opening that occurs in healing sessions, you are expected to hold all processes that happen in session or in Luminous modules in confidentiality
  • Energy work has a penetrating intimacy and can open access to realms many people do not commonly experience. We do not use this way of working as a tool to create connection or intimacy in a romantic or sexual way or to gain power or access to people. Any use of LAI techniques for increased intimacy, even with romantic partners, should be shared with previously received yes-based consent.
  • It is not appropriate or ethical to have intimate or sexual relationships with your clients.
  • We do not suggest working on your spouse or family members.  It is very difficult to maintain objectivity and to avoid being overwhelmed by triggers with those closest to us. 

Potential Pitfalls to be Aware of:

The Luminous work allows for expanded awareness and ability which can be directed for the evolution of consciousness and awakening to our true nature. With this expansion, there may be pitfalls along the path where the ego takes hold of newly found skills and powers in the service of the small or disconnected self.  Some common experiences to be aware of include:

  1. A desire to feel special, accomplished, superior, or recognized due to your work.
  2. A belief that you have the power to fix or change someone else.
  3. Loss of alignment during a session. Do not hesitate to take time to realign and reconnect during a session if you feel disconnected. 
  4. “Getting in the boat” with your client (i.e. believing the stories that come from their smaller self and agreeing with their internal structures of fear and limitation). Instead, work to maintain a healthy awareness of your selves and an objectivity toward the client’s self.

I have read and agree to the Luminous Awareness Institute Code of Ethics and will integrate these guidelines into my practice and use of Luminous methods.


Final Confirmation and Signature

Thank you for your careful consideration of these agreements. Please check each summary statement and sign below.

I acknowledge that I have read all the material in these agreements. By initialing below each section and checking the box next to each summary statement, I confirm my understanding of and consent to these agreements. If I am submitting these agreements virtually, through any online method, I acknowledge that my e-signature is legally binding.

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Signature Certificate
Document name: LAI Revised Returning Student Agreements
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November 28, 2017 6:04 pm PDTLAI Revised Returning Student Agreements Uploaded by Jen Stevenson - programdir@luminousawareness.com IP 67.173.250.133
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