TA Newsletter March 2021 Issue 39 – Remembering Sanji Dione Hills
In this month’s issue of our redesigned newsletter, we remember our beloved Interning Teacher, Sanji Dione Hills, who passed away suddenly on March 14. We’ve included a recorded meditation Sanji led called “Embodied Consciousness” as well as her essay, “Grasping the Means of Our Own Awakening.”
Remembering Sanji Dione Hills
Our friend and fellow Trillium Awakening teacher, Sanji Hills, passed away suddenly on Sunday, March 14.
Sanji was England’s and Europe’s first Trillium teacher. She was the organizing power and shepherd for Trillium gatherings in London and Glastonbury. She hosted mutuality groups and recruited teachers to lead sittings and retreats in the UK, beginning in 2009.
Sanji and Cielle Backstrom were the first Trillium teachers to offer regular virtual sittings. Cielle reports, “Our first online sitting was September 2017. Altogether we co-led 40 sittings. Nearly 90 participants attended our sittings, and many attended ten or more times. Sanji was loved and respected for her insights and attuned reflections.”
Sanji was the inspiration behind the Trillium Self-Inquiry deck. Her idea was to create “flash cards” as teaching aids. Together, the collaboration grew and blossomed into something larger than any of us anticipated.
Sanji was a positive loving force in the world, and her presence was grounded in a compassionate grace with which she blessed all who knew her.
Sanji was a principal research consultant at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, where she worked since 1986. Most recently, she explored key components of excellence in organizations for which a central aim is enhancing consciousness (whether in religious, spiritual, or more general mission-based and environmental organizations). This work drew upon many years of experience in meditation and a variety of religious and spiritual organizations, and particularly through her experience as a mentor and teacher of engaged spiritual practice via Trillium Awakening.
A Meditation and Essay from Sanji
Embodied Consciousness MeditationTrillium Teacher Sanji Hills leads a meditative exploration of embodied experience as a route to consciousness. Deliberately shining the light of awareness onto specific parts of our body can serve as a gate to drop into consciousness. It is “the mystery of not knowing, which lies at the heart of all our experience. Can you feel comfortable just resting in this not knowing?”
Sanji’s essay: Grasping the Means of Our Own Awakening
Memorial Gathering for Sanji
Trillium Mentors Nick Nielsen and Beth Griggs from England have set a time for us to gather online to remember Sanji. Nick and Beth write:
As Sanji’s been a beloved teacher, mentor, and co-wanderer on the path, we in the Trillium community wanted to honor her with a simple online session during which those moved will be invited to share stories and memories of Sanji, as well as spending some time in silence together to remember her, and send her love and light wherever she may be in her journey. Anyone moved and able to join us is very welcome, across the European, North American, and wider Trillium circles. It would be wonderful to share this time together in cherishing a beautiful heart.
With much love,
Nick & Beth
The date and time:
– Sunday 28th March
– 7.30 pm to 9.00 pm UK time
– 12:30 pm US Pacific
– 1:30 pm US Mountain
– 2:30 pm US Central
– 3:30 pm US Eastern
Join Zoom gathering
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85691575939?pwd=WGx0SENGM1NoSkJtV3BhQ3ZYZ2U0QT09
Meeting ID: 856 9157 5939
Passcode: 975280
Announcements & Upcoming Events

Upcoming Sunday Spotlight Meditations
led by different teachers each time
more info
- March 21 – led by Bill Epperly
- March 28 – led by Bill Miller – Dragon’s Heart series
- April 4 – led by Bill Miller – Dragon’s Heart series
- April 18 – led by Victor Antillon
Virtual Sitting
Discernment
Teachers: Fax and Sharon Gilbert
3/28/2021 10 am – 1 pm PDT
more info
Virtual Sitting
Daring and Mutuality in a Time of Distrust
Teacher:Bill Epperly
3/28/2021 2 pm – 4 pm PDT
more info
Virtual Sitting
The Lucid Gatherings
Teacher: Bill Miller
4/4/2021 9 am – 11 am PDT
more info
Virtual Sitting
Greenlighting: The Meditation of You
Teacher: Tatini Goler
4/6/2021 1 pm – 3 pm PDT
more info
Virtual Sitting
All Hearts on Deck: Depth Inquiries into Awakened Activism
Teacher: Margit Bantowsky
4/10/2021 10 am – 12:30 pm PDT
more info
TA Introduction
Teachers: Fax Gilbert and Bill Epperly
4/11/2021 10 am – 12 pm PDT
more info
Virtual Presentation
The Art and Practice of Empathy
Teacher: Jim Trofatter
4/11/2021 4 – 5:30 PDT
more info
Virtual Sitting
The Lucid Gatherings
Teacher: Bill Miller
5/2/2021 9 am – 11 am PDT
more info
Check out our
calendar of events
Support our Outreach Fund
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As a registered 501c(6) organization, donations to the TATC are not tax deductible.
The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed in our newsletter are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of the Trillium Awakening Teachers Circle.
Send comments or suggestions for future issues to: fax@lisco.com
Editor-in-Chief: Fax Gilbert
Assistant Editor: Sharon Gilbert
Graphic Design: Subhaga Crystal Bacon
Copy Editor: Deborah Boyar
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