Spirituality Matters by Steven Libowitz “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.
SBCC SEL in Cyberspace
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hat with all the online learning taking place in colleges, universities, and other educational institutions, it may not seem all that revolutionary that Santa Barbara City College’s School of Extended Learning is embracing the internet. Indeed, with the COVID-19 crisis, there was no choice but to go virtual. What is rather exciting is the breadth of classes from the division formerly (and belovedly) known as Adult Ed that have made the journey. Courses in art (including drawing, painting, collage, and flower arranging as well as appreciation), music (including several singing sessions and instruction in the ukulele and more), acting, writing, travel, film, and much more. More germane to our area, there are also plenty of personal development/spiritual practices classes that have zipped over to Zoom as well, a transition made all the more simple by the fact that most don’t require any props at all. You can choose from several section of Body/Mind Awareness; Consciousness, Science, and the Nature of Being; Essence of Compassionate Communication; Acupressure - Simple Patterns for Pain Relief and Relaxation; Health and Wellness: Active Body, Active Mind; and Naturopathic Medicine - Science and Nature Working Together, to name just a few. All of the instructors seem not only amenable but actively enthusiastic about having people join any class that’s already ongoing. A little more surprisingly, Rodger Sorrow has figured out to take people on meditative journeys through the plentiful beaches, mountain trails, parks, and such in our area through his now virtual Nature and Self-Healing classes, which have both beginning and intermediate sections (not sure how they differ since nobody is actually moving). “I think we can still have fun with this,” Sorrow said in an email message. “We will start with some time just to visit and connect. I will bring some hiking pics and short video clips so we can talk about different trails and the special features they offer. We can have our usual discussion of a self-healing topic and then a short meditation.” What’s new is an assignment: a weekly suggestion to go for a hike while, of course, maintaining safe social distance unless you are with the people already in your house2 – 9 April 2020
hold. You can even ask during class if anyone wants to go with you and perhaps try a new trail – keeping far enough apart that you’re untouchable by COVID. Participants can then share digital pictures with the class. Sorrow provided the Zoom link, but I’m withholding it here, because students need to register as SBCC gets funding through attendance, and low enrollment means the class might get canceled. Even more exciting, perhaps, is the news that came just this Monday that The SBCC School of Extended Learning has also arranged to conduct the annual Santa Barbara Nonviolent Communication Conference online. In response to COVID-19, the event, curated and moderated by Sorrow, will be hosted by the NVC Academy, the existing online classroom for learning NVC concepts, meaning dedicated Santa Barbara-area NVC practitioners can stay in touch with the local NVC community and learn from the seven visiting trainers without leaving your home. There will be 20 sessions in all during the April 24 -26 conference, which will be conducted via four parallel Zoom rooms. We’ll have more details in an upcoming issue. Visit www.sbcc.edu/extendedlearn ing/sel_online_classes.php to see the current spring schedule and register for the conference. Email Sorrow at rodgerhsorrow@gmail.com or call (805) 452-8874 to find out more about the new format.
Next Up in NVC
Speaking of Nonviolent Communication, this week offers a chance for a free session with Sarah Peyton, a Washington-state based CNVC Certified Trainer who is also an international speaker and facilitator known for an ability to weave together neuroscience knowledge and experiences of healing that unify people with their brains and bodies. Peyton’s revolutionary Resonant Self Process and associated retreats have helped hundreds of people rewire their brains and restore their capacity for self-love, something that might seem even more essential in these harrowing times. Peyton will be offering her transformational retreat in an online format for the first time next month, so she’s holding a free session to provide a taste of what to expect. The 90-minute Introduction to Resonant Language provides an opportunity to learn reso-
nant language skills for powerful and effective relational connections and to experience the interactive and connecting possibilities of online retreating. A live Q&A session with Peyton will follow so you can learn more about the retreat that also served as the basis for her book, Your Resonant Self: Guided Meditations and Exercises to Engage Your Brain’s Capacity for Healing, which was published by W.W. Norton, and brings together neurobiology, the science of relationships and Nonviolent Communication. Visit https://zoom.us/meeting/ register/vJYkcOqprTkpnNL2bkgPbL-h5eQSL-z2yg for details and registration.
Jessica’s Journey to Zoom
Carpinteria QiGong teacher Jessica Kolbe, another SBCC SEL we have profiled in these pages in the past, held out as long as possible in keeping her in-person classes going at the Linden Avenue beach, where people were easily able to stay more than six feet from each other, all the way through March 22. But the city, wisely in our humble opinion, shut that down in favor of flattening-the-curve isolation. So Kolbe’s COVID capitulation means classes have migrated to Zoom. Her six live classes a week schedule began last Monday, March 30, with sessions in Qigong for Optimal Health, Qigong/Tai Chi, Tai Chi Easy™, Inner Power Qigong, Wudang Qigong/Tai Chi, and Animals and Elements Qigong. Kolbe has also made pre-recorded videos in Every Day Qigong, Phoenix Qigong, Balance and Fall Prevention, and Animal Frolics Qigong available online for free, while her friend and one of her teachers, the celebrated Qigong teacher and author Daisy Lee, is offering an introduction to Zang Fu Gong, a graceful, empowering form of Qigong renowned for its cleansing and rejuvenating powers, via a onehour video. “Qigong to Cleanse Your Organs for Better Health & Energy Flow: Receive Two Zang Fu Gong Practices to Bring Healing Energy to Your Liver & Lungs” is also being made available for free at https:// shiftnetwork.infusionsoft.com/go/ qc/a18955. Visit https://www.qigongsb.com/ online-classes for details and to register for the six weekly Zoom classes, which cost $10 each.
just keeps expanding her ongoing offerings to the community to gather, connect, and share silence and guided meditations together. The weekly schedule produced by the clinical psychologist and teacher of Buddhist meditation and Buddhist psychology now includes events on every day of the week, save for Saturday, and features no fewer than 11 different practitioners with various approaches as guides. On Mondays from 12-12:30 pm it’s Anahita Holden and Hattie Bluestone “Mindful Self-compassion,” while 7-8:15 pm Weininger offers “Mindfulness and Compassion.” Tuesdays at 7 pm is Stacy Zumbroigel “Meditation and Trauma,” and Weininger teams with Danjo San for “Mindfulness, Compassion, and Zen” at 7 pm on Wednesdays. Thursdays brings
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Surfing Cyberspace in Search of Loving Kindness With fining homes, teacher
COVID-19 concessions conalmost everyone to their Santa Barbara meditation Radhule Weininger, Ph.D.,
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