Spirituality Matters

14 – 21 May 2020 MONTECITO JOURNAL32 “They say marriages are made in Heaven. But so is thunder and lightning.” – Clint Eastwood MONTECITO

JOURNAL’S VISUAL ARTS CONTEST:

This time we have decided to do something a little different. We have received many photographs and other artistic reflections on the time of corona. So, this week we ask that you submit a piece of visual art that captures a moment of this moment: a photograph, a drawing, a picture or a painting, or anything else visual image fit to print.

We can’t wait to see what we get.

Send your image by Sunday, May 24to:

letters@montecitojournal.net. We will publish the winning image and award the winning artist with a $125 gift certificate to a local restaurant of our choice for

take-out food.

EDITORIAL (Continued from page 5) we are now, due to this pandemic, conducting most of our social and interpersonal interactions on a screen. We’re existing in a universe where we can “unfriend,” “block,” or simply “mute” one another with the swipe of a finger. So, there’s not even the possibility of sitting across the table and hashing things out. No need to even hear the pesky opinions of the ignoramuses who disagree with us. Just “unfriend” them. “Block” them. “Mute” them. It’s so much easier than engaging.

In college I majored in history. One of the figures I found particularly intriguing was a man named Henry Clay, a statesman who represented Kentucky in both the House and in the Senate. Over his long career Clay served as the Speaker of the House, the Secretary of State, and unsuccessfully ran for the office of President five times. Nevertheless, Clay had a lengthy and storied political career, running each of the major political parties at the time, including the Whig Party.

Clay is referred to in history as “The Great Compromiser,” because he was responsible for several major compromises between the Northern and the Southern states over the issue of slavery that likely helped delay the Civil War by 40 years. Clay inherited slaves himself but freed them as he gained both power and empathy. (Of little comfort, I suspect, to those enslaved for 40 more years.)

Clay also negotiated the treaty with Britain that ended the War of 1812 and negotiated the Missouri Compromise. Whatever you think of his politics, at his core Clay was a nationalist, devoted to the economic development and political integration of the United States. And Clay was unsurpassed in the art of bringing people together to talk, often in the interest of moderation and most importantly, moving things forward (like the end of slavery) while avoiding war. And certainly, these were not easy conversations.

I look around at our country and our local community and the daunting challenges we face. And I look at all the deep divisions and digging in over the many possible paths to an uncertain future. And I wonder, where is our Henry Clay, our Great Compromiser? Is that no longer even possible? Have we lost the great art of compromise? Or perhaps, as my daughter insists, that is no longer a thing?•MJ Santa Barbara Yoga Fest Feeds your Soul… and the Hungry 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. E njoy a full day of yoga with a wide swath of Santa Barbara County yoga teachers from Carpinteria to Santa Maria – including many of your favorites and lots of chances to practice with someone new – in a special participatory benefit to raise money for the Santa Barbara County Foodbank, whose goal is “moving the community from hunger to health.” The classes are offered on a donation basis – just $25 gets you admission into any or all of the sessions – with 100% of the proceeds going to the Foodbank, which has put forth an extraordinary effort to make sure everyone in the community is taken care of at this time of unprecedented need.

All of Santa Barbara’s major yoga studios – Santa Barbara Yoga Center, Yoga Soup, and Divinitree – are joined by a handful of other more specialized ones in participating in offering simultaneous half-hour yoga sessions from 9 am to 5 pm on Sunday, May 17. Each studio is conducting their own registration and producing a schedule of events, with the total sessions numbering just shy of 60. Included are all variations of the practices, including Yin Yoga with Live Guitar, meditation, sound immersions, glow yoga, kids’ classes, Baptiste power yoga, acro yoga, and even aerials.

Santa Barbara Yoga Center, which is hosting the undertaking, has created a full schedule of events at www.santabarbarayogacenter.com/ sb-yoga-fest-2020, which also features links for each of the studio’s offerings, or visit the event page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ events/670648956851030. Soul Lift Cacao

Nick Meador, a Bay Area-based transformational life coach, holistic event producer, and mindful entrepreneur, is familiar to local seekers through his participatory workshops at the Lucidity Festival at Live Oak Campground each spring. Meador is also the founder of Soul Lift Cacao, which markets organic ceremonial cacao – the natural, unprocessed form of chocolate grown in tropical regions around the world – sourced from family farms and collectives in Guatemala, and he also conducts regular cacao ceremonies. While today cacao is considered a superfood, ancient civilizations used cacao for introspective and celebratory purposes, calling it the “Food of the Gods” and even trading it like currency. This mysterious “plant medicine” side of cacao offers the potential to put you more in touch with your body and your soul. Meador’s weekly ceremonies have moved online but still serve as an opportunity to connect with our bodies and our souls in a secure container. The gatherings take place every Thursday at 4 pm over Zoom. The ceremonies are by donation but you can register for free at https:// www.soulliftcacao.com/cacao-ceremony-online. Meador has also created a four-week group program called “Get Your Life Together with Cacao” that runs May 16-June 6, aiming to channel the ability of cacao to bring insights that help people get clearer about their life purpose, as well as support the focus and motivation to take consistent action and make that purpose a reality. Meador combines cacao with embodiment practices to de-armor the nervous system (breathwork, trauma release, energetic movement, etc.), and interactive practices to re-pattern communication, beliefs, and identity. The program includes a pound of ceremonial cacao, four weekly experiential cacao journeys via Zoom video with recordings available for later viewing, a private Facebook group for participants, and a private integration call with Meador. Learn more about both offerings online at www.soulliftcacao.com. Spiritual Events Calendar Thursday, May 14

Daily Dharma – Bodhi Path Santa Barbara resident teacher Dawa Tarchin Phillips, a master dharma teacher and well-known mindfulness and meditation expert, leads a 30-minute live practice session every weekday where participants meditate, build connections, share reflections, get answers to questions, and nurture the practice together online during COVID19. (2-3:30 pm Monday-Friday; www. BPSBonline.com.)

Moving Meditation – Sheng Zhen Meditation is a practice of moving meditation that quiets the mind, opens the heart and creates a more healthy body. The practice is highly accessible, even for people who are convinced they can’t sit still, stop thinking, or meditate D id you hear the one about the farmer? He was outstanding in his field.

Send us your best joke, we’ll decide if it’s funny. We can only print what we can print, so don’t blame us. Please send “jokes” to letters@montecitojournal.net L aughing M atters

for a moment. Through graceful movements, the body lulls the mind into a state of contented relaxation. (5-6 pm every Monday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday; donation-based; register at www.meetup.com/Sheng-ZhenMeditation-of-Santa-Barbara.)

Dream Tending Webinar – Stephen Aizenstat, Ph.D., M.F.T., Chancellor and Founding President of Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, conducts a live webinar in Dream Tending, the technique he has studied and developed over his 40-year career. He’ll offer an academically tested tool to help manage anxiety and curb sleepless nights, just in time for coping with the COVID-19 crisis and its economic fallout. Aizenstat’s method uses the healing power of dreams to help people stay calm and collected during times of isolation and uncertainty, to maintain composure and performance while working from home, and to sleep well and wake up feeling rested and ready to tackle the day. Register and view an introductory video online at https://webinar.dreamtending.com/ webinar-registration1587149304040. (12-1:30 pm; free.)

Half Moon 1 – Hour Meditation – In the Thai forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism, the weekly phases of the moon are considered holy days (or ‘wan phra’) and thus typically set aside as days of intensified focus on one’s practice. It is in that spirit that the Santa Barbara Buddhist Meditation Meetup invites all to sit together for one hour of meditation that begins and ends with brief opening and closing remarks. (7-8 pm; register at www. meetup.com/Santa-Barbara-BuddhistMeditation.)

Stay home and meditate with Mahakankala Buddhist Center: When Our Mind Is Governed by Compassion It Is Always at Peace – This meditation class series explores ways of thinking about other people that will uplift our minds. By carrying these ideas into our daily life, we can maintain a light, joyful attitude towards others, whatever life throws our way. Guided by Buddha’s Lojong teachings, participants learn how to identify obstacles in our mind that lead us away from peace — and how to dissolve these inner obstacles by improving our capacity to love others. Each class begins with a guided breathing meditation and culminates with a second meditation based upon the evening’s topic, with visiting Kadampa teacher Bob Day. (6:30-7:30 pm weekly; $10 suggested donation; register at https://medita tioninsantabarbara.org/how-to-signup-for-online-classes.) facilitation at the Center for Mindful Learning, also teaches mindfulness to teachers and children in public schools. The weekly sessions are meant to assist others in achieving the deep awareness, awakening and peace that comes through mindfulness meditation. (7 pm; free; https://zoom. us/j/5612731921.)

Friday, May 15

Being with Grief and Uncertainty – Alexis Slutzky, MFT, a mentor, educator, guide, and facilitator whose work supports cultural restoration through listening and mindfulness practices, nature connection, grief tending, dream work and community ritual, offers a weekly gathering online during the pandemic (9-10 am; free; https://zoom.us/j/5612731921.)

Tea Time With the Monks – Brew a cup of your favorite tea and “meet” Courtney and the members of the Santa Barbara Buddhist Meditation virtually in the American Buddhist Meditation Temple’s tea house. Ajahn Khamjan and the monks of ABMT will be making tea and chatting with the group about whatever comes up. (5-6:30 pm; register at www.meetup.com/SantaBarbara-Buddhist-Meditation.)

Saturday, May 16

Meditation for Beginners: Isha

Kriya – This free online webinar from the Inner Engineering Meetup features a one-hour session where participants will learn Isha Kriya, a simple 12-18-minute practice to help you to become meditative effortlessly and attain more health, clarity, and joy. Isha Kriya does not require any previous experience with meditation and can be done sitting in a chair. Designed by Sadhguru, a realized yogi and a foremost authority in the field of yoga, the Isha Kriya sessions will be conducted by a trained instructor, after which ongoing online support will also be available. Ages 12+ can attend. (1-2 pm weekly; www.innerengineering.com/ page/minute-for-wellbeing.)

Sunday, May 17

Stay Home and Meditate with Mahakankala Buddhist Center:

Meditation for World Peace – “Without inner peace, outer peace is impossible,” says Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, the source for these weekly gatherings for prayer and meditation that transcend passive action to serve as a force for change in our shared world. Each class consists of a guided breathing meditation, a short teaching on the practice of wisdom and compassion, and prayers (in English) to the Buddha of Compassion. Open to everyone. (10:30-11:45 am weekly; $5-10 suggested donation; register at https://meditationinsantabarbara. org/how-to-sign-up-for-online-class es.)

Mindfulness, Compassion, and

Nature-Connection – Santa Barbara meditation teacher and clinical psychologist Radhule Weininger, Ph.D. teams with her husband Michael Kearney, the author of The Nest in The Stream: Lessons From Nature on Being with Pain, which offers an ecological model of self-care and resilience that awakens the desire to act for the welfare of all beings. (10 am weekly; free; https://zoom.us/j/5612731921.)

Open Tending – The Santa Barbara men’s group known as the Firetenders has migrated to Zoom for a series of gatherings with “brothers” from around the country for its Open Tending sessions. Each week a facilitator leads the group on a different topic (last week it was “Embracing All of Our Parts”: A Journey of Radical Inclusion and Letting Go) as a way to cultivate healthy masculinity and real connection in the world by meeting with other men that are committed to practicing integrity, brotherhood, true power, compassion, and embodied presence. The Firetenders hold an empowered container for men to show up as themselves, explore what is really important and what needs attention most in their lives. Through guided group processes, embodied exercises and live engagement with expert facilitators, you can expect to find ways to stay aligned to your purpose during these uncertain times. The current nine-week series began May 3, but men are invited to attend on a drop-in basis. (5-6:30 pm through June 28; $10; www.firetenders.org).

Monday, May 18

Restoring Resourcefulness –The Ojai-based Hendricks Institute’s Foundation for Conscious Loving’s five-week online series to discover and personally learn the skills from its Restoring Resourcefulness program comes to a close this afternoon, but it’s not too late to join. The series was launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to come together to generate a global shift in our capacity to face and resolve challenges through creative collaboration. The faculty are teaching six essential skills that settle the nervous system, dispel the fear trance and expand the ability to integrate rapid change, including Presencing, Whole Body Listening, Breathing and Matching, implementing “Fear Melters,” and more. Each online class includes participatory whole group and partner activities to facilitate whole-body learning. Catch up by viewing the class recordings. (4 pm; free; (https://foundationforconsciousliving.org).

Tuesday, May 19

Tuesday Night Mindfulness Group

– The one-hour meditation program from Santa Barbara Buddhist Meditation Meetup includes a dharma talk, sitting meditation, and the opportunity to practice other mindfulness-building activities. (7-8 pm weekly; www.meetup.com/Santa-BarbaraBuddhist-Meditation.)

Meditation and Trauma – Stacy Zumbroigel, MA, a student of Jack Kornfield who has been practicing since 1989, did the DPP training at Spirit Rock, lived in India for six months in a Tibetan Indian monastery, and gives a yearly family mindfulness retreat at Tara Mandala, Colorado, leads a session geared toward COVID19 and other fear-inducing events. (7 pm weekly; free; https://zoom. us/j/5612731921.)

Wednesday, May 20

Stay Home and Meditate with Mahakankala Buddhist Center:

“Accessing the Peace Within Us” – When the otherwise incessant flow of our distracting or turbulent thoughts subsides, calmed through concentrating on the breath, our mind becomes unusually lucid and clear, and we can experience our own inner peace. Resident teacher Kadam Keli Vaughan teaches and guides meditation to help us remain with this state of mental calm. (6:30-7:30 pm weekly; $10 suggested donation; register at https:// meditationinsantabarbara.org/howto-sign-up-for-online-classes.)

Mindfulness, Compassion and Zen

– Renzi Zen monk Soken Danjo (Danjo San), who lives in a monastery near Hiroshima, Japan, co-teaches annually with Radhule Weininger in the Heart of Mindfulness Meditation Retreat. They team up again for this weekly session to cap off the offerings collectively known as “Meditation in the Time of Coronavirus”. (7 pm weekly; free; https://zoom.us/j/5612731921).

MONTECITO JOURNAL 33

Presentation: Exploring Alaska – Santa Barbara Buddhist Meditation founder Courtney Purcell shares stories and visuals from his world travels in pursuit of his spiritual path. Tonight’s destiny: coastal Alaska, where he spent 3.5 months wandering the mountains, unaware at the time that the experience would be a turning point in his spiritual journey, one that would point directly toward a life dedicated to fully developing the Buddhist path. (6:30–8 pm; register at www. meetup.com/Santa-Barbara-BuddhistMeditation.) •MJ