Oh, Hi: Halifax Returns with Words

Joan Halifax is the rare Zen Buddhist visionary whose background and education traverses Western and Eastern practices and study, and it’s an astonishing background that has brought her to where she is today. Among the many early accomplishments of the activist, author, caregiver, teacher, and Zen Buddhist priest, who will be the subject of the season’s first “Speaking with Pico” event via UCSB Arts & Lectures this week, is founding and leading the Ojai Foundation for 10 years back in 1979, when she was a research assistant to famed mythologist Joseph Campbell. 

Halifax employed her background of personal study with shamans, Zen masters, Tibetan lamas, Native American elders, and spiritual leaders from around the world, along with her Western academic connections – she had worked with (and been married to) psychiatrist Stanislav Grof, and with ethnomusicologist-activist Alan Lomax – to draw an extraordinary faculty to the rustic facility in Ojai that became a world-famous educational and interfaith center that helped popularize council circle. (The Ojai Foundation Land Sanctuary is currently closed, as it continues to recover from damages incurred during the Thomas Fire).

Halifax runs the Upaya Institute and Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a Zen Peacemaker community she opened in 1990 where her practice focuses on socially engaged Buddhism, which aims to alleviate suffering through meditation, interfaith cooperation, and social service. She is the director of the Project on Being with Dying and founder of the Upaya Prison Project that develops programs on meditation for prisoners, continuing work that began while earning her Ph.D. in medical anthropology in 1973, and she continues to lecture on the subject of death and dying at many academic institutions and medical centers around the world.

Halifax also studied for a decade with Zen teacher Seung Sahn and was a teacher in the Kwan Um Zen School. She received the Lamp Transmission from Thich Nhat Hanh and was given Inka by Roshi Bernie. A founding teacher of the Zen Peacemaker Order and founder of Prajna Mountain Buddhist Order, her work and practice for more than four decades has focused on engaged Buddhism.

In her conversation with Pico Iyer at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, October 23, at UCSB Campbell Hall, Halifax – who has authored such titles as A Buddhist Life in America: Simplicity in the Complex and Shaman, the Wounded Healer –  will offer a rare opportunity to hear the stories behind her extraordinary life, as well as gain insight into her just-published book, Standing at the edge: Finding freedom where fear and courage meet. Tickets cost $20 to $35. Info at (805) 893-3535 or www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu. 

Writing for Wellness

Santa Barbara Public Library has teamed up with California Hope 805, an organization established in response to the Thomas Fire and Montecito Debris Flow to support the wellness of the community, to present a series of “Words of Peace” writing workshops to explore the context and subtext of the natural disasters and the changes they spur in our community and daily lives. The workshop provides an opportunity for both connection and introspection through writing and education at this phase of the recovery process. The informal six-week writing group began on October 11 and continues every Thursday at 10:30 to 11:30 am in the Community Hall at the Montecito Library, located at 1469 East Valley Road. Participants of all ages are welcome to attend any week on a drop-in basis. For more information, contact Kim Crail, senior library technician, Montecito Branch, at (805) 969-5063 or kcrail@santabarbaraca.gov

Welcome Wuttke 

Montecito Library also hosts a talk by Martin Wuttke, the founder of the Wuttke Institute of Neurotherapy in Santa Barbara, which offers clinically proven non-drug therapies for a variety of common problems. Wuttke will present an informal talk about the effects of trauma, grief, and anxiety on the brain, and discuss the use of neurofeedback and a complementary intervention for healing. The methodology employs a type of biofeedback that charts brainwave frequencies in real-time to teach the brain self-regulation. The free talk takes place 6:15 to 7:15 pm on Thursday, October 25. Call (805) 448-8095 or visit www.WuttkeInstitute.com. 

“Blisstopia” Beckons

The folks at Fishbon are turning the Pescadrome (located at 101 S. Quarantina) into a New Age Retreat Center for its latest performance piece, “Blisstopia.” At this lighthearted event powered by spiritually-inclined satirical content, guests are invited to take a ringside seat at “the cosmic convergence of a lifetime” where within the sacred halls of the center attendees will be given three hours to align all seven chakras before the comet Sven-Sushen passes between Earth and the moon during the predicted lunar eclipse. Feeling too spiritually bankrupt to complete the task? Fear not, as there are many guru guides to choose from for assistance, from gazing into the Punchbowl of Destiny in the Yellow Guru’s sanctum, wrestling with alligator spirit animals in the domain of the redneck Tarot reader, or playtesting Google Map’s Guided Meditation software. “With entertainment by the devoutest performers (including aerialist Selfia “Selfi” Styx), workshops by the holiest of teachers, and libations by our certified barista-alchemists, you’ll have your karma whipped into shape in no time.”

Performances take place 8 to 11:11 pm on Friday and Saturday, October 19-20, and the $20 tickets include an after-party where you can mingle with the meditators and magicians. Visit www.eventbrite.com/e/fishbon-presents-blisstopia-tickets-50917968013. 

Saying Yes to Kirtan

Mantra Lounge Kirtan – which began holding its monthly gatherings at the Montecito Library before moving downtown to Unity of Santa Barbara – has another new location: Yes Dance! Studio in the Paseo Nuevo Mall.
All are invited to come rouse the soul by means of kirtan – meditative song and call-and-response chanting to the divine – on Saturday, October 20, at the studio that has broadened its horizons as a community hub. No experience necessary and quality of your singing voice is immaterial. The hosts provide the ambiance, the music, lyrics as necessary – and plant-based refreshments/vegan eats to share after the singing. Dress comfortably, but don’t wear any fragrance to spare those who are sensitive. Chairs are provided or if you prefer to sit on the floor, you can bring a favorite cushion, and dancing is also encouraged for those who like to move their body to the rhythm and the spirit. Admission to the 7 to 9:30 pm is $10 at the door. Info online at www.facebook.com/MantraLoungeKirtanSantaBarbara or www.meetup.com/Santa-Santa-Barbara-Mantra-Lounge-Kirtan. 

Mindfulness & Journaling to Open Your Heart

Montecito author Diana Raab joins Radhule Weininger for an afternoon workshop where the two leaders will guide participants in a process that includes writing as well as meditation. With Raab, author of the new book Writing for Bliss: A Seven-Step Plan for Telling Your Story and Transforming Your Life, handling journaling exercises while Weininger, whose first book, Heartwork: The Path of Self-Compassion 9 Practices for Opening The Heart came out late last year, facilitates guided mindfulness and compassion meditations, the goal is for participants to allow themselves to become still, look deeply inside and, in a gentle and creative manner, and bring forward what’s at their heart center leading to an opening up and healing. The 1:30 to 5 pm workshop on Saturday, October 27, at the MacVeagh House at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, is limited to 25 participants and costs $60. Visit www.eventbrite.com.

Spiritual Shortcuts 

Death Cafe Santa Barbara in conjunction with The Center for Successful Aging, holds its next gathering from 3:30 to 5 pm Wednesday, October 24, at Hill-Carrillo Adobe building at 11 East Carrillo St. Liz Bauer, Lynn Holzman, and Peggy Levine host the event where people come together in a relaxed and safe setting to discuss death, drink tea, and eat delicious cake. The objective is to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives, and as such each Death Cafe is not grief support nor a counselling session but rather a group directed discussion of death with no agenda, objectives, or themes. Admission is free. Contact Holzman at cominghomesb@gmail.com or (805) 729-6172.

Unity of Santa Barbara (227 E Arrellaga St; 966-2239 or www.santabarbaraunity.org) hosts a screening of The Gate: Dawn of the Bahá’í Faith, the new groundbreaking documentary that tells the true story of the Prophet Herald, known as The Báb, his message and the origins of a new era in world religion. The film combines dramatic re-enactments with interviews with renowned historians, religious scholars, and Bahá’í Faith experts, to discuss the Bahá’í religion that is practiced throughout the world by more than 5 million people. A Q&A session follows the 7 pm screening on Friday, October 19.

Shane Thunder has a special guest for his next 432hz Spirit Metacine Sound Meditation at Yoga Soup at 7:30 pm Friday, October 26. Vocalist/DJ/sound healer T.O.A from Toronto, Canada, will join her songwriting and musical vocalizing harmonies with Thunder’s 432hz gemstone bowls, chimes, elemental and planetary gongs to form a blissful synchronicity of sound and music to align and balance the body and soul. Admission is $25 in advance, $30 on Friday. Call (805) 965-8811 or visit. www.yogasoup.com.