My Approach
Contemplative Artistry
My approach to practice (and living) is first and foremost to see it as an art: something that I deeply enjoy, something that is many-dimensional and dynamic, something that includes the training of a craft, the directed application of that craft, and lots of space for free, playful exploration. I like to call this "contemplative artistry": the art of relating skilfully and beautifully to our direct experience, never formulaic, always sensitive and responsive to this very moment.
Principles
This is why, although I do integrate many different modalities and practices and often find them very helpful, I'm most interested in the foundational principles of contemplative artistry, and in the perspectives and attitudes that are most helpful for opening us up to the Real, brightening our awareness and understanding, infusing our hearts with Love, and becoming more sensitive to the sacred and the "soulful" in all experience.
Endless Exploration
I see the overall trajectory of the human being more as an unceasing exploration than any kind of arriving in a place of final liberation or maturation. In my view, we can open up to the Real and its beauty and mystery infinitely. Our hearts have no limit to how deeply they can love and beautifully they can relate to what is. And I believe to take part in this process, to find enjoyment and Truth in it, to be present within it, is our nature. And this process always happens right now.
Some of the lenses / practices I often work with:
The Sessions
What We Do in a Session
In these 1-on-1 sessions, we focus on your direct, present-moment experience. Whether you want to work with a specific practice or emotional struggle, have a burning question, or long to deepen your craft & art long-term, the work always happens in presence.
Together, we attune to what's actually going on in your experience and I support and guide you in exploring it. Depending on what we're working on, I will invite you to try out directions, perspectives, and inner moves that might help you get you more deeply in touch with your own inner guidance and intelligence.
What I can offer you here is the presence, attunement, and skill in navigating direct experience that the past 12 years of committing to this work have brought about for me. I believe I have some unique and powerful capacities and understanding, and depending on where you are, they might be of help to you.
In any case, it's always your experience that is the authority. I'm a co-explorer. I will of course be honest with you when I think I witness a blindspot or a pattern of distraction, dissociation, or deception. That is actually a big part of what I want to foster in these sessions: authenticity.
Commitment to Realness
It's also what I expect from you if you want to do this work with me. Realness. There are two main ingredients that are so very important for this work: commitment to Realness, which could also be called an orientation towards Truth, and love for Truth.
This work is a space for you to be exactly as you are, and to bring your love and longing for Truth, and to make art.
Pricing & Format
Depending on what you need and how deep you want to go, I offer the following packages of weekly 60 minute sessions:
4 Sessions
€600
8 Sessions
€1200
12 Sessions
€1800
All packages include asynchronous support via Telegram.
Adjusting the session duration to 90 minutes or the rhythm to twice a week is possible.
If this resonates and you want to work with me, book an intro call below or reach out through marvinkeilbach@pm.me
Frequently Asked Questions
About Me
My Journey
I've been committing the past 12 years of my life to the path of contemplative artistry, prioritizing my practice and study over most, and often all, other endeavours. Like everyone, I have fallen into many traps along the way and, sometimes painstakingly, had to learn from them. Nonetheless, while my not-knowing has deepened beyond measure, one thing I can say for sure: my love for the Real and for this path has been continually deepening.
The first years of this journey were spent mainly on the basics of meditation and a focus on deep, existential contemplation. Lots of reading had my mind utterly opened and re-wired by many different teachings, some Buddhist, some Advaita, some secular nondual, but most notably it was the works of Peter Ralston and A.H. Almaas that shaped and guided me. In the last six years I added a focus on psychological work, integration/embodiment, and relational practices. Rob Burbea, IFS, circling, and Dzogchen can be said to be by far the most important influences of this time period. They all keep shaping me and my practice deeply.
Throughout all 12 years, I've also been extensively working with psychedelics for contemplation, emotional work, and somatic-energetic integration and consider myself quite experienced and skilful in navigating their use and integration.
While I've had countless shifts, insights, and peak experiences throughout these years, many of them utterly life changing, I have no interest (and see no good reason) in reifying or classifying them.
I will write more on my practice and my view of contemplative artistry in the future.