Spirituality Matters

Horse Sense for Healing “Spirituality Matters” highlights two or three Santa Barbara area spiritual gatherings. Unusual themes and events with that something extra, especially newer ones looking for a boost in attendance, receive special attention. For consideration for inclusion in this column, email slibowitz@yahoo.com.

MONTECITO JOURNAL34 R ebekah Powell grew up outside of Nashville, aka Music City, USA, where her family’s business, not surprisingly, was songwriting. Her father, Monte Powell, was a longtime collaborator with Keith Urban, and other artists who recorded his songs include Tracy Byrd, Billy Ray Cyrus, Tim McGraw, Collin Raye, and Restless Heart. Rebekah’s older sister, Suzannah Powell, has a thriving career as an experimental rap-cabaret artist named Boyfriend. Rebekah’s biggest passion as a kid was writing songs and then going outside to sit with the horses and sing.

“I came by my delusions of grandeur naturally,” Powell recalled recently. “I figured I’d go make a ton of money as a musician and songwriter right away and then maybe become a therapist.” When she got her first publishing deal, Rebekah relocated to Los Angeles, the West Coast’s hub for songwriters, but that’s where things went a bit awry, she said.

“The music industry here is a lot more unwieldy than in Nashville, just brutal compared to what I was used to,” she said. “I hit a wall. I just started feeling so lost and depressed, wondering what would get me home, feeling like myself again.”

That’s when her other side of her childhood pastime proved valuable – spending time with horses. After volunteering at an assisted equine therapy center, she heard about equine assisted therapy. Within minutes, she knew she’d not only found her own healing, but also a new purpose in life.

“In that first session, my life was so changed by the interaction with the horses. It brought back the strong connection that I’d felt as a child. Growing up, I would go out and sit with the horses and soak up their sense of presence and peace in the herd. It was a real medicine for me as a child.”

Powell received a clear lesson in that first equine therapy session, when the horse she chose to connect with and to take for a walk refused to budge no matter how hard she tried. “I was just pulling and tugging, just trying to get movement. Then I just suddenly lost it and burst into tears because it was just how I felt in my life.”

The therapists asked her where she was feeling so stuck in her own life, and hearing that she didn’t know where to go with the songwriting, they asked if she had a destination in mind when she tried to get the horse to walk with her. “I realized that I hadn’t, just like in my life. As soon as I picked out a spot to walk to, the horse immediately began to walk with me,” she recalled. “I’d done a lot of talk therapy as a client, which was extremely supportive, but this physical experience of feeling the pattern play out with another creature and then being able to transform that energy with a horse that can’t lie about it – I knew it was the work I wanted to do in the world.”

Fast forward a few years, and Powell is now a certified Equus Coach through the Koelle Institute for Equus Coaching, sees clients in Los Angeles, and has an ongoing apprenticeship with accomplished horse trainer Nicolette Birnie of Wild to Willing Horsemanship in Santa Ynez.

The appeal and value for her clients is the same as it was for her in that first therapeutic encounter.

“Because the horses are prey animals, they’ve evolved to communicate silently, so they can pick up on our energy and emotions and show us the patterns that are playing out in our lives,” she explained. “Any horse has that reflective ability. It’s how they’re wired. You get in an enclosure with a horse, whatever patterns are happening with your life will play out with the horse, usually pretty quickly. They’re always attuned.”

Earlier this year, Powell founded “Connect with Horses, Connect with Yourself,” a Meetup group created to guide groups in observing and interacting with gentled mustangs and other herd horses. The first gathering in Santa Ynez took place just last month.

But with social distancing due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, the Meetup and much of her work has moved online. An introductory session on Zoom last weekend drew more than a dozen participants to practice meditation, a breathing exercise, checking in with each other, and then watching videos of Powell amid the horses in a paddock and discussing what intuitively came up.

“My intent is to use my gifts and expertise to support my community at this time,” she explained. “The work I do with the horses is about coming home to your true nature because the most effective way to feel peaceful and present and supported by the universe is to connect with nature, however that looks. The horses are an amazing partner. Since we can’t go outside and be with them now, we can go online

Certified Equus Coach Rebekah Powell hosts a virtual meditation gathering on Sunday, March 22

and gather and check in with our own bodies, which also have a tremendous amount of wisdom that we’ve been socialized to ignore. Creating a practice of getting back in touch with the wisdom of your own true nature, and then to spend time with the horses on the videos and talk about how they show up in the world, we can use them as a metaphor for how we might be different, too.”

Powell has planned another free “Presence & Peace Virtual Herd Meditation” gathering for this Sunday, March 29, at 1 pm on Zoom, where she’ll once again be drawing on the wisdom of horses to lead the “herd” in a guided meditation on presence, and offer coaching tools to help participants get grounded when anxieties arise.

“It was great to attune to the energy of the horses and experience media differently from just watching a YouTube video, to lean in and experience the energy of what was happening in that scene. I’m excited to continue because I have a ton of content we can explore online.”

Powell also plans to rejigger what was to be an in-person, on-site threemonth program into a 90-day virtual visit with the horses and deeper dive into life coaching. The “Peace and Presence” program, slated to start in April, will consist of weekly group gatherings plus one-on-one coaching to explore what’s available during this time of social distancing.

“A lot of people are in fear, or confused or stuck. But this time is also an amazing opportunity to get in touch with what we really value and need. I want to support people in making the most of this time and getting in touch with the inner peace and stillness to make decisions to make the most of their lives when things return to normal.”

Meanwhile, Powell’s own earlier dreams have been coming true for a while, as her songwriting career and a collaborative coach has blossomed.

“Once I stepped away from the music industry and was on my right path, listening to my internal wisdom and checking in with nature, I got a lot of success in the U.K., a sort of funny wink from the universe… But it’s a similar skill set – coaching and songwriting in assisting other artists, which was my specialty, what I was groomed to do. You ask open-ended questions and support them in a safe container where they’re allowed to be vulnerable and share what they’re feeling. Then they identify those feelings and put words to it.”

(For details and more information, visit www.meetup.com/HorseConnection or www.skyhouselc.com.)

More Meetups in Motion

Santa Barbara Spiritual Growth Meetup Group founder Kelsey Cordle doesn’t want to let the novel coronavirus curtail connection any more than necessary. So, she writes, “In light of what’s going on in the world, I’d love for us all to still ‘get together’ virtually.” Among the possibilities on the menu for the gathering over Zoom are meditation, breathwork, Tarot and other “card pulls,” prompts for journal writing, and just good, old-fashioned chatting and connecting. Be sure to RSVP for 1 pm Meetup on Friday, March 27, at www.meetup.com/SantaBarbara-Spiritual-Growth-MeetupGroup/events to receive the link to the Zoom call for the free event. Minette Riordan’s similarly sisters-oriented Art Journaling & Collage Playshops is also migrating to Zoom for a special free three-hour event on Sunday, March 29, called “Spring Cleaning for Your Spirit.” Join the creative sisterhood for a morning of inquiry, play, connection and creativity – a spring cleaning for your internal garden that might make use of some weeding and planting of fresh flowers. The playshop offers a feminine, sacred path to transforming your inner life and your business through creative play in a safe space with other women on a similar entrepreneurial journey. The intention is that by the end of the 10 am to 1 pm event you will be feeling inspired, refreshed, excited, and impressed with yourself and your creativity. No creative or artistic skills needed, just an open mind and an open heart. Riordan will provide a pdf of the workbook and list of things to have on hand. Visit www.meetup. com/art-journaling-collage.

Authentic Relating Games (Virtual Edition) Carpinteria resident Damian Gallagher has been hosting Authentic Relating Games in person at Yoga Soup for more than a year, eager to share his practice and expertise in the relational field with the local community. By his own accord, AR games have allowed him to push his edges and find deeper and more meaningful ways to connect with himself and others. Now, Gallagher, who in normal times teaches

yoga and sound healing and facilitates breathwork, meditation and sound healing workshops, and conducts private sessions, is moving the practice online to Zoom. The intention for the as-of-now eight-event experiment is to host the games every Sunday and Thursday evening through April 16. At last week’s kickoff, about a dozen of us – all locals – played such games as Anybody Else (you share something true about yourself, then ask if it’s true for anyone else too), The Google Game (a round-robin in which one person at a time is asked what we might find if we Googled you and [fill in the blank]). Anyone interested is invited to join, even if you’ve never attended ARG nights in person. All you need to bring is your presence, awareness, and curiosity to explore via interactive experiences themes such as Relational Attunement, Projection, Ownership Language, Desire, Grief, Play, Connection, Vulnerability, and Fear, plus a willingness to show up as yourself, honor yourself, and honor others. (Don’t worry if you’re not sure what that means; Gallagher is happy to explain.)

The events have a suggested donation of $5, but it’s purely voluntary, and the 7-9 pm evenings begin with a 15-minute “dance party” at 6:45 pm. Visit www.facebook.com/ AuthenticRelatingSantaBarbara for details and Zoom link.

A (Virtual) Kiss from a Rose

Santa Barbara healer-dancer-actress Teagan Rose’s mission is to support people in connecting more deeply to their sense of home in their body, to their truth, and to their primal creativity. Her Embodiment and Voice Activation sessions and workshops specialize in emotional liberation and integration, self-love and self-understanding, energetic balancing and clearing, embodied trauma release, and cultivation of creative life force energy.

Of course, like everyone else in this era, Teagan has had to migrate online to continue her offerings. During this time of collective uncertainty, she is catering the Embodiment for Health virtual workshop, hosted by PratyAgati Embodiment, towards grounding the body, calming the mind, and integrating the spirit. Teagan will guide Zoom participants in voice activation techniques for grounding, energetic clearing, and emotional integration, and offer embodied movement techniques for presence and self-love and as a form of medicine. The intention is for everyone to gain a better understanding of the emotional and energetic qualities of these modalities and to leave with connection to community and self, and having enjoyed a powerful shared experience to carry

into the rest of the day.

The event, slated for 10:30 am on Saturday, March 28, has a suggested donation of $12, but all are welcome regardless of available funds. Register at www.teagan-rose.com/contact to receive the Zoom link.

SDI for SBI Alan Wallace – the founder and director of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies and the motivating force behind the development of the Center for Contemplative Research in Tuscany, Italy – returned stateside due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is spending time in a remote cabin in Colorado for the now-in-progress Contemplative Path Through The Crisis: Inter-Contemplative Dialogues taking place in France.

Wallace, Benedictine monk Laurence Freeman, and Eva Natanya – “Buddhist and Christian Friends Serving Peace by Seeking Truth” – are conducting the dialogues and meditations representing different traditions, long personal practices and a common love for unity among all sources of wisdom. The events – which are being offered as a “way for us all to stay centered in the peace of the good heart, which is our common humanity, and the best source of hope for our turbulent world” come to a close on Saturday, March 28. Each of the transmissions has (or will be) recorded and several have already been posted online as a “free will offering” at www.wccm.org/content/ contemplative-path-through-crisis-inter-contemplative-dialogues.

Wallace is also staying stateside for SBI’s annual eight-week spring retreat, intended to take place in Italy but now located on live stream for the April 1-May 27 duration that focuses on the opening presentations of śamatha and vipaśyanā in Düdjom Lingpa’s classic Dzogchen text “The Vajra Essence: From the Matrix of Pure Appearances and Primordial Consciousness, a Self-Emergent Tantra of the Nature of Existence.” Visit www.sbinstitute. com/product/2020-8-week-retreat-audio-stream-registration for details and registration for the podcasts.

Buddhism Online Breakdown

All of Santa Barbara Buddhist Meditation’s in-person gatherings are on hiatus during the crisis with COVID-19, but at least the Tuesday Night Mindfulness Group has moved online. The evenings, that usually took place at Purnamaya Ayurveda & Sound Healing Center in Ventura and included a Dharma talk, sitting meditation and the opportunity to practice other mindfulness-building activities with occasional guest speakers, now takes place 7-7:30 pm weekly over Zoom at https://us04web.zoom. us/j/443644980. Visit www.meetup.com/Santa-Barbara-BuddhistMeditation/events for details.

Bodhi Path Santa Barbara’s bountiful online offerings, which also feature Sangha-led meditation on Tuesday evenings, has a few recorded sessions specifically addressing the pandemic available. Dharma teacher Tsony posted a brief video teaching focusing on current events from a Buddhist perspective, the first of a planned weekly diary, at http://bodhipath. org/tsony-videos, while Karmapa has created two videos giving guidance on the Chenrezig practice and a teaching on “Change, Karma and COVID19,” available at www.karmapa.org/ chenresig-karma-change-covid-teaching. Meanwhile, some Bodhi Path teachers in North America are offering online courses for their students through GroupSpaces, some of which are already underway, including classes by Santa Barbara’s own resident teacher Dawa Tarchin Phillips, and another by Khaydroup. Visit http:// groupspaces.com/BodhiPathOnline.

Somatics In Cyberspace

Dharma Body’s Tuesday and Thursday in-person Somatic Meditations at its yurt temple atop Mission Canyon – which some call the “space ship” – and downtown at Yoga Soup have been put on hold in favor of virtual online meditations beginning this week. Now the space ship will come to you, leaders Timothy Tillman and Laura Towne suggest. “And remember: encased within flesh and bones we all have access to our own ship of space, a way and a place to access universal love within our own bodies and breath.” The opportunity to participate in virtual social cohesion in a time of physical social distancing, helping to counter the collective fear and chaos, takes place at 7 and 8 am on Tuesdays, and 7:45 am on Thursdays as a community event offered by donation (suggested amount of $15). All are welcome, no experience is necessary. Email info@ inspriatia.org for the Zoom link or to ask questions.

Meet Your Voice

Holistic Health and Lifestyle Coach, yoga teacher and “Eat Here Now” author Britta Gudmunson, aka Britta GreenViolet, has long been using song to cultivate healing, confidence, and connection. She’s a song leader and co-founder of the inCourage Chorus, the low-stress, joy-filled non-audition community choir that has iterations at Yoga Soup and the Somatic Sanctuary in Ojai. So when she says that holding an online voice workshop makes sense during the coronavirus crisis, she’s not doing something akin to a

string quartet playing “Nearer My God to Thee” on the deck of the sinking Titanic. Indeed, she says, vocalizing can serve as an antidote to anxiety. “Singing is one of the best prescriptions I know of to boost your confidence, calm your nervous system, unblock your creativity, deepen your connection to the essence of life itself and to the life force in your own body,” she says on the invitation to join Meet Your Voice, which has two separate classes, 5 pm this Thursday, March 26, and 10 am on Friday, March 27. Participants will learn two simple exercises to ease into the foundations of singing and to start befriending your voice in a non-scary, non-judgmental environment; discover the awesome power of your singing voice to heal emotional, mental, and physical wounds, making you a happier, healthier human, from the inside out; and learn how singing can seriously uplevel your confidence and creativity, even if you think you’re a bad singer. Visit www.brittagreenviolet.com/ meetyourvoice to preregister.

Britta is also regularly posting on Facebook and Instagram and creating Facebook Live videos daily at www. facebook.com/britta.gudmunson. And the Ojai version of the inCourage Chorus is still meeting, albeit virtually, from 7-8:30 pm on Tuesday evenings. Single drop-in sessions are available on Zoom.

Somatically Streaming Speaking of Somatic Sanctuary, the somatic-based healing and movement arts center in Ojai has migrated much of its offerings to live streaming, including several classes per with Meredith Sands Keator and Sultana Parvanta in Somatic Stretch for Self-Healing and Awareness Through Movement sessions with Mary Jo Healy and guest teacher Shivani Jane. A special Monthly Aura Clearing Women’s Circle led by Mirah Love takes place on Saturday, March 28, while Teja Anand offers “How We Awaken: an introduction to Meditation” on Wednesdays, April 1-29. Visit http:// somaticsanctuary.com/calendar for the schedule and to register to receive the Zoom link.

MONTECITO JOURNAL 35 Outreach for the Over-50 Set

Santa Barbara’s Center for Successful Aging wants to help combat the loneliness and isolation caused by COVID-19. So the center is extending its CareLine Telephone Reassurance Program as a free service to anyone 50 years and older, ensuring that one of its volunteers will call you every day (or on any schedule that you prefer) to check on your well-being. Call the Center at (805) 898-8080 to enroll, or visit www.csasb.org. •MJ