Spirituality Matters

Slipping into Silence at Sunburst “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.

Over the last few years, the Dive into Silence weekend retreat at Sunburst Sanctuary has provided respite for all sorts of seekers, including at least one Montecito resident who wanted to find some solace after all the nervous-system challenges of the Thomas Fire and debris flows in the winter of 2017-18. Others have attended as a way to find ways to make big changes in health, increase self-discovery, and/or alter one’s outlook on life. But you don’t need to be desiring anything other than whatever experiences occur in silence, discovering for yourself the joy and opportunity of quietness at a powerful group retreat.

Attendees at this year’s Dive into Silence event – slated for February 20-23 at Sunburst’s Lompoc sanctuary – will have the chance to learn and experience powerful practices that might leave you feeling aware and present, including guided walking and sitting meditations, chanting, contemplation through the use of mandalas, sacred music and yoga and other guided movement. But the greatest gift, at least on my retreat back in February 2018, was the opportunity to be with what arises – or, more accurately, falls away – when nobody’s talking.

That’s why plenty of unstructured time is built into the schedule where participants can be by themselves in any of Sunburst’s community spaces that include a spacious modern version of a rustic lodge, a meditation temple and a chapel, or wandering around the sanctuary’s magnificent 4,000-acre space that include rolling oak-dotted hills, meadows, hiking trails, and lots of wildlife. Nourishing meals prepared by the staff are served three times a day (mindful eating as shaped by Thich Nhat Hanh was one of the highlights for me – who knew oatmeal could be such a fulfilling experience?) while guests will also be able to take home practical tools for creating a wider, calmer expression of life back home.

All meals, programs and activities are included in the sliding scale donation of $175 to $300, and onsite lodging and camping options are available for an additional donation ranging from cabins ($20/night per person, if sharing) to tent or vehicle for camping ($15/night), or you are welcome to commute from home or a hotel. Call (805) 736-6528 for more information or to make a reservation, email con tactus@sunburst.org, or visit https:// sunburst.org/silence.

Moments to Meditate

If a weekend seems like too big of a commitment, by the way, visitors are always welcome at Sunburst’s weekly meditation that take place every Sunday morning at the sanctuary that exists as a community of practice dedicated to personal and planetary awakening. No experience necessary, and beginners are welcome. You don’t have to do anything specific, or do it “right” – just come experiment with observing your mind without judgment or anxiety. The gathering begins at 10:30 am with live, spirit-filled music followed by a short, insightful talk and then a quiet meditation period, after which everyone is invited to the home-cooked, vegetarian brunch at the lodge across the way. Upcoming topics include Find Joy Within (February 16), Keys to Inner Peace (February 23), Faith’s Many Facets (March 1), The Value of Spiritual Goals (March 8), Creating Positive Habits (March 15), Becoming a Divine Instrument (March 22), and Developing Intuition (March 29).

Pranayama Practice

White Lotus Yoga Center hosts its second weekend event of the year, a respiratory relief retreat called The Pranayama Conspiracy. The heart centered yoga retreat weekend workshop taking place February 14-16 is all about consciously honoring breath, which enlightened yogis have practiced and perfected for centuries. Co-leaders Ganga White and Tracey Rich will show participants how to fully utilize your respiratory system with proper breathing techniques, ways to experience the complete breath, bandhas and breath, breathing to balance energy, reduce stress and/or recharge, Pranayama for health, spiritual development and psychic sensitivity, how breath effects and balances the emotional body, the relationship between breath and meditation, and more.

White, the founder of the White Lotus Foundation who counts more than 50 years of experience, has been called one of the “architects of American yoga” by the Yoga Journal for contributions serving as one of the early developers of Flow Yoga, creator of Partner Yoga in the 1970s, and co-creator with his wife, Tracey Rich, of the No. 1 internationally best-selling Total Yoga videos with sales over 1.8 million copies. Rich is also a director of the White Lotus Foundation who worked on the design and development of the Santa Barbara Retreat Center since its inception in 1983.

Asana classes and magnificent vegan or vegetarian meals will also sustain the weekend retreat, dubbed a “conspiracy” for the breathing definition of the word. All levels are welcome. Admission is by a $700 donation. Call 805-964-1944 or visit www.whitelotus. org/sacred-breath-yoga-retreat-regis tration.

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2173 Ortega Hill Rd, Summerland, Ca 93067 • (805) 895–9190 pamandersonsb@gmail.com Soup Snags Weininger Popular Santa Barbara meditation teacher Radhule Weininger found herself needing to arrange for a new location for her weekly downtown gatherings after her longtime location at the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum was unable to continue to host. After a short stint at the Museum of Contemporary Art at Paseo Nuevo, Weininger’s weekly meditation night has found a new permanent home at Yoga Soup, although the night will change from Tuesdays to Wednesdays. Weininger, who was also the resident teacher of mindfulness practice at the La Casa de Maria Retreat Center for 17 years before the January 9, 2018, debris flows obliterated the space, will offer “Heartwork: Living Life Fully with Mindfulness and Compassion,” based on her recent book of the same name, every Wednesday from 7-8:30 pm beginning February 19. A 20-minute dharma (inspirational and instructive) talk will be followed by 25 minutes of mindfulness practice and a 15-minute compassion meditation and a brief discussion. At times the structure will vary, perhaps with visiting guest speakers or aligning compassion meditations with music. Beginners and experienced students are welcome to attend the gatherings which are being offered on a donation basis, as they are elsewhere (Mondays at 6 pm St. Michael’s Church in Isla Vista with Weininger, and Thursdays at 2 pm the Sacred Space in Summerland led by Juliet Rohde-Brown, PhD).

More Cups of Soup

Concurrently, Yoga Soup’s Empowered Presence with Kiaora Fox moves from Wednesdays to Thursday evenings, when Fox’s 5Rhythms practice offers direction to explore your edges, grow your movement vocabulary, break up your habits and create new found freedoms and fuller breath. Also new at Yoga Soup, an ongoing Sunday Night CommUNITY Class, a donation-based, open-to-all exploration of the mind, body and spirit, led by Alisa Deen 7:15-8 pm every Sunday, and weekly Silent Tea Ceremonies from 8-9 am on Fridays and 7:30-8:30 am Mondays (starting February 24), when Lizzie Smith hosts time to sit in reverent silence and connect to nature, ourselves and one another through Tea Medicine.

Meanwhile, Yoga Soup is also set to celebrate its 14th anniversary with international kirtan superstar Dave Stringer & Friends plus a party on Saturday, February 15. The festive evening gathering begins in the studio’s “living room” space with sharing nourishing refreshments and special beverages before moving into the adjacent big studio to lift voices and hearts – and move the body – to the sounds and spiritual seduction of calland-response singing by Stringer, a Grammy-nominated producer, singer-songwriter and innovative modern Kirtan artist. Soup and simple delights follow. Admission is $20 in advance, $25 day of. Also on tap this week at the studio: another Floating Sound Bath with Shane Thunder at 7:30 pm on Sunday, February 16 ($25/$30) and the launching of InCourage Chorus 13-week spring season, slated for Monday evenings 7-8:30 pm, beginning February 17. Yoga Soup is located at 28 Parker Way off lower State St. Call (805) 965-8811 or visit www. yogasoup.com/category/events •MJ