Beginning from the ideas of Gurdjieff, the North Fork Study group meets regularly at Smoke Farm and at other locations in and around Seattle. We are a practice community exploring a way of life that reveals our potential for transformation and presence.

We approach this practice primarily through the forms introduced and elaborated by Gurdjieff and his students — meditation, group exchange, the study of ideas, and movements — in addition to related forms of exploration and meditation. Monthly weekend retreats and longer summer sessions are hosted at our center in the foothills of the Cascades.

We are teachers, carpenters, doctors, musicians, business people, students, IT professionals, artists, foresters, non-profit directors, nurses, journalists, social workers, architects and gardeners. The Northfork Study Group was founded in 1990 by Stuart Smithers, Professor Emeritus of Buddhism at the University of Puget Sound, together with a small group of students, primarily to study the ideas of Gurdjieff. We are founding members of the Gurdjieff Foundation of Washington in Seattle, where regular meetings and movements are held throughout the year. We work with other Gurdjieff foundations and societies in the United States and internationally.