NEST Fest Nestles into SBCAST

Last August’s debut of NEST Fest – produced by the collective known as New Earth Star Tribe – was a deep, one-afternoon immersion in all kinds of healing and transformational modalities, from ecstatic dance to conscious talks, sound healing and movement and plenty of partner play. The event was hosted at a private East Side home known as The Community House that once served as Barbara Marx Hubbard’s residence, and it was clear the late visionary’s vibe still permeated the place.

I found myself gyrating freely yet with no audible sounds outdoors on the lawn at the Silent DJ station, and getting an impromptu hands-on healing with improvised toning that I somehow co-created without conscious thought with someone I didn’t actually end up meeting at all. I enjoyed sensory and communication PlayShops (as opposed to workshops), a jackfruit buffet and unique elixirs – not to mention a series of heart-opening connecting conversations with people with whom our age gap spanned much more than a generation.

All of that will be available again as the quarterly NEST Fest returns this Saturday, November 9, for its autumn event, but with a vast expansion of the offerings and a greater separation between stations as the festival moves downtown to SBCAST, the live/work/studio space at 513 Garden Street. Once again, the intention is to create a conscious gathering bringing the annual Lucidity Festival vibe to the center of town.

Ka Luna Ki Ato’s Primal Play/Evolution offering is a prime example. The PlayShop is a consolidated taste of Ka Luna’s self-created deep dive into re-channeling our sexual energy via exploring the space between animal instincts, connection and higher desire. Inspired by Hubbard’s 2012 book The Suprasexual rEvolution, Primal Play “teaches us to sit with the intensity of our sexual energy and be in that space of arousal and sensuality with another person without getting lost in the impulse of procreation,” Ka Luna explained. “That was once an awesome evolutionary trait, but we’re evolving … to explore the space where we can relate to each other without needing to act on it. We can use the potential, the energy created in connection, and see what intimacy wants from us. Primal Play is about cultivating the relationship with our instinctual ancient intuitive wisdom and learning how to direct our sexual force to create worlds. That’s how we literally become the change.” 

To that end, the entire 50-minute PlayShop will be conducted without speaking as participants explore the breath, expression with nonsensical sounding, archetypal play as animals, and energetic communication including boundaries – all while Ka Luna and her team hold space for whatever arises.

“We can get to really expanded states of consciousness by ourselves,” she said. “But when you add other people it amplifies exponentially.”

Primal Play & Evolution is just a piece of the fest’s PlayShop immersion’s new organizing theme of moving up the chakras as well as a storyline echoing Lucidity’s weekends. Shane Weaver’s Soaring Beyond Fear is tied to the root chakra, while Jacqueline Nora’s Taste of Tantra emerges from the sacral. Ka Luna handles the Solar Plexus, Yemaya Renuka’s The Freedom Path cover the heart and Flowing River’s Find Your Flow addresses the throat. The Third Eye shows up in 5D Dreamweaving from Jenny Bee, Nicole Ramirez covers the crown chakra with Breathwork & Sound Journey, and Anya Zama Deva closes out the space with an Ascension Portal Activation. 

All of the PlayShops will have the 8.2 Full Beyond Surround Sound Experience With Haptic Sound Floor featuring eight speaker Surround with Subwoofer and Sub Audible vibrating floor currently installed in the SBCAST space.

Meanwhile, the mainstage boasts beats sets all 12 hours, alternating between DJs mixing ecstatic dance music and live bands, including DJs Baldemar and Grease Withaspoon as well as Grooveshine and Shylah Ray. Ambient sounds will emanate from the Rooftop Soundscape & Cuddle Lounge from 2-10 pm, while the Rooftop Acoustic Lounge, atop a different building at SBCAST, offers artists Sierra Reeves, Conner Cherland, and others, plus a FreeStyle Open Mic, spanning 4-10 pm.

Elsewhere, the UCSB Peace Parlor offers a Heart Talk & Non-Violent Communication seminar with Catherine Cooley at 3 pm, and a UCSB Virtual Reality & Sound Immersion Demo at 5, while Yoga Zone hosts Divinitree Acro Yoga with GECOLEA at 12 noon, and Yoga Embodiment with Alisa Deen at 3 pm. Also, the Healers Tent finds a number of practitioners offering a wide swath of hands-on and other techniques on a first come-first serve basis via a signup sheet on-site from 2-10 pm before Lisa Citore and Deva Dawn team up for a Primal AVATAR Expression event.

Also on tap for the fall NEST Fest: a RoofTOP Lucid-TEA Lounge, high vibe food with Sexy Eats (including watermelon poke, chakra juice and matcha cheesecake), performances by 20-plus dancers from Harmony McAuliffe and Seventh Dimension Dance Studio, plus aerial artists, hoopers, flow artists, fire performers, and acrobats.

NEST Fest takes place 12 noon to 12 midnight at SBCAST, 513 Garden Street. Tickets are $60. Get tickets at https://nestfest.ticketleap.com or visit www.facebook.com/events/2371049856312718. 

Going, Going Gong

Given that yoga can be defined as union, while nidra equals sleep, no wonder Mitsuko Conner-Newlan calls Gong Yoga Nidra one of the most blissfully relaxing yoga practices. Come and prepare to “sleep your troubles away” during the two-hour session that starts at 7 pm on Friday, November 8, at DiviniTree – or at least feel amazingly relaxed at the end. The evening starts with a gentle yoga warm-up to energize the body to support staying alert during the Yoga Nidra experience (but it’s OK if you fall asleep anyway), followed by lying as still as comfortably possible while being verbally guided through the physical body, the senses, and a series of visualizations. The gong is played to reflect and support the senses that are being explored, interwoven throughout the Yoga Nidra experience. No promises, but people who practice Yoga Nidra regularly have reported anxiety reduction, stress reduction and relief, a reduction of chronic pain, better and deeper sleep, increased productivity, feeling more joyful in everyday life and a deeper connection to the self and the world at large. Admission is $25 in advance, $30 day of, or $40 for two people.

That same night at the Santa Barbara Yoga Center, gongs will be paired with Kundalini Yoga as Amardeep Kaur, a certified Level 2 Kundalini Yoga Practitioner and Accessible Yoga Ambassador, leads a 7-8:30 pm class that combines the release of Kundalini Yoga, restoration with healing gong vibrations and rejuvenation with Mantra & Chanting to close out the evening. The 90-minute session is appropriate for all levels of yoga practitioners. Admission is $20. 

Yoga Elites? Throw the Book at ‘Em

Also at the venerable SBYC on this busy weekend for workshops is a celebration for the launch of studio co-owner Jivana Heyman’s new book, Accessible Yoga: Poses and Practices for Every Body. Heyman will be joined by the book’s photographer, Sarit Rogers, and main model, De Jur Jones, for a discussion about Accessible Yoga revolutionizes yoga practice – and makes it truly accessible to everyone, in every body, at any age, and in any state of health. The book posits that yoga is a basic human right that is available to all, not just the young, slim, flexible, healthy and able-bodied people that largely dominate public yoga spaces. The discussion at 7 pm Saturday, November 9, will be followed by a book-signing and reception.

Cheri Clampett’s 150-minute Therapeutic Yoga workshop, which starts at 2 pm Sunday, November 10, blends supported poses, gentle yoga, breath awareness and guided meditation to gently encourage your body to open and your mind to release. Essential oils and hands-on healing massage and adjustments, provided by Clampett and her assistants are part of the experience that also live music in the form of improvised waveforms and ambient musical soundscapes with healing intention played by Avahara. Admission is $50. 

Soup-ed up Seminars

Yoga Soup’s weekend workshop schedule features a full five events over a mere 48 hours, beginning with Creative Play, the latest in the series of monthly gatherings focused on “imperfect art making” 3-5 pm Friday, November 8. Lora Amber and Skyler Levenson of Wild Yes provide the place to come together with curiosity and offer a series of prompts to play with your creative edges and delight in whatever is produced. All artists and non-artists are welcome. Seriously. Fee: $15…

Darren Marc and Zoe Guess team up for Friday’s 7-9 pm Devotional Sound Journey and Cacao Ceremony, a heart-opening evening of cacao, sacred song, Reiki energy healing, sound healing and Bhakti-inspired poetry to dissolve patterns of the past and open up space to experience peace, happiness and joy. Admission is $25 in advance, $30 day-of…

With “Feel Good Naked!” Britta Gudmunson offers a surprising strategy for loving your body, your food and your life. Gudmunson, a Holistic Health and Lifestyle Coach, yoga teacher and co-leader of the InCourage Chorus, will offer course correction away from obsessive focusing on appearance that has led towards the ego and away from truly thriving in body, mind and spirit. Methods include befriending food, finding pleasure in moving, and having more energy than ever. The 3-5 pm workshop on Saturday, November 9, costs $15 in advance, $20 day-of…

Sound healer Asura Serra and Certified Yoga Therapist/Wellness Coach Emily Benaron collaborate on Saturday’s 6-8 pm Sound and Yoga for Wellness. The multidimensional and nurturing evening of yoga and meditation with sound featuring guided, deeply relaxing restorative yoga practice while experiencing soothing vibrations of gong and singing bowls costs $30 in advance, $35 day-of…

Energy healer Patrick San Francesco returns to town for one of his periodic Full Moon Meditation, Healing & Talk events, slated for 7-9 pm on Sunday, November 10. Individual healing is followed by a guided live Full Moon “Harmony” Meditation and a talk on the topic of “What is the Universe?” Admission is $30. 

Saturday Spirituality Seminar from SBCC

The School for Extended Learning also debuts two new classes in its fee-based spirituality program later this month. The Dao of Joyful Transformation Through Quantum Physics looks into how applying basic principles of the study of matter and energy at its most fundamental level can lead to self-improvement and personal transformation and result in meaningful changes in one’s life. Participants will explore the six new, paradigm-shattering ways of looking at reality, and discuss some of the spiritual parallels in the East and the West including Buddhism, Hinduism, Daoism, Judaism, and Christianity. Students will find out how to combine ancient wisdom and cutting edge quantum physics to achieve holistic results in your desired personal, professional and joyful transformation. Admission to the 9 am to 1 pm class taught by Jaikoo Lee on Saturday, November 9, is $35.