Enlightenment Intensive

An Enlightenment Intensive is a group retreat designed to enable an enlightenment experience within a relatively short time. Devised by Americans Charles Berner and his wife, Ava Berner, the format combines the self-enquiry meditation method popularised by Ramana Maharshi with interpersonal communication processes in a structure that resembles both a traditional Zen sesshin (meditation retreat) and group psychotherapy. Religious teachings and philosophical concepts are generally avoided.

Charles Berner (1927 – 2007), who was later known as Yogeshwar Muni, created the Enlightenment Intensive. In the 1960s, he formed the Institute of Ability where he and his wife Ava promoted "holistic health techniques such as fasting and massage, communication exercises like those used in encounter groups, emotional release therapies, past life regression, and a host of other modalities popular among the 1960s counterculture."

In spring 1968, it "just suddenly occurred" to Charles Berner - "what source it came from I know not but it wasn't a process of sitting down and figuring it out" - to combine meditation methods with the structure of an interpersonal workshop.