PHorum Faces Facts on Dreams and Visions

Just eight days after Hospice of Santa Barbara brought Zen/Buddhist expert Roshi Joan Halifax to town to speak about compassionate care for the dying, Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care of Santa Barbara presents its annual PHorum: Perspectives in Health Care event featuring Dr. Christopher Kerr speaking about “Validating Dreams and Visions of the Dying.” Dr. Kerr will discuss his research on end-of-life dreams and visions – previously dismissed by the medical community as hallucinations – and how they often provide comfort, meaning, and insight into life for the terminally ill. Admission to the 5 pm talk on Thursday, March 7, at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort is free.

Dr. Kerr will also conduct a PHorum Workshop to discuss the clinical significance of his research on end-of-life dreams and visions, including the difference between these experiences versus delirium, and reviews key published findings (both quantitative and qualitative, pediatric, and adult), and more, at 8:30 am on Friday, March 8, at VNHC’s offices at 360 Olive St. Admission is $5. Call (805) 690-6218 or visit www.vnhcsb.org/phorum. 

Awakening Through Art 

SBCAST edges into the nexus between arts and personal transformation via “Awakening: Art Experience,” an immersive video and sound self-exploration by Lisa Trivell that debuts at 6 pm during 1st Thursday, March 7. Trivell, a New York City-based abstract artist and yoga instructor, presents the combination of projections, paintings, and a sound bath experience producing a mystical blend of colors, shapes, sounds, and meditation. Adding the evocative auditory accompaniment to the abstract art is intended to evoke a blissful state of sensory awakening and mindful contemplation. Each of the works is inspired Trivell’s own meditation practice and an understanding of the body’s energy centers, and exhibit the strong connection between her healing work and visual expression. “The paintings activate the visceral senses in a subtle way which has a healing effect,” says Trivell, who has exhibited and led retreats in Santa Barbara since 2010. “As with Mandalas the paintings are visual expressions as well as tools for healing.”

Admission is free. The installation will be repeated 4-6 pm on Saturday, March 9. The Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science and Technology is located at 513 Garden Street (between East Cota and East Haley Streets).

Mindful Nature Connection: Touching the Earth

Mindful meditation leader Radhule Weininger, Ph.D., teams up with her husband, palliative physician and author Michael Kearney MD, for a one-day workshop for all who are curious about meditation, mindfulness, and how to deepen insight practice and connection to the mystery of the natural world. The afternoon will include lightly guided meditations, interactive exercises, and practice outside in nature to explore how bringing mindfulness and nature connection together can quieten the mind, open the heart, reduce suffering from “the delusion of separateness,” and bring a sense of interconnectedness with the rest of life. The 1-5 pm workshop takes place, conveniently, at the MacVeagh House at the Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta del Sol, site of Weininger’s One Dharma Sangha weekly open meditations on Tuesday evenings. Admission is $70. Visit www.mindfulheartprograms.org/living-mindfully.html.

Om Chakra Flow

Tricia Speidel leads a workshop called Chakra Meditation, Flow & Balancing at Power of Your Om yoga studio, where participants will learn how each of the seven major chakras habitually resides in one of four states: excessive, deficient, extreme, and balanced. In striving for balance, it is good to know the current state of each of our chakras and how that affects our body’s functions, our moods, and our life in general. The workshop, which takes place 7:30-9 pm on Friday, March 8, and costs $40 for non-studio members, will include meditation, flow, aromatherapy with essential oils, and post class chakra reading and balancing if interested.

Selections at the Soup

Journey into the bliss of being and connect to the power of your voice, the intelligence of your body, and the creativity of your essence with singer-songwriter and facilitator Elisa Rose from 7-9 pm Friday night, March 8. “Embodiment Alchemy: A Movement Meditation” weaves together somatic movement, vocal opening, sensory sensitization (via blindfolding), dance, and a spirit of playful wonder that ranges from profound stillness to full body celebrating resulting in an expansion of the color palette to paint your life so you may express and create more freely. Rose is a certified “Big Leap Coach” and graduate of The Hendricks Institute’s two-year Leadership & Transformation Mastery Program, a certified Chakra Yoga Teacher, and an Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) practitioner. Admission is $25 in advance, $30 day-of.

Suzanne Marlow, a licensed psychotherapist (LMFT 80919) in private practice in Santa Barbara who is also a senior yoga instructor at Yoga Soup, joins Hannah Fries, a Santa Barbara-based licensed acupuncturist and herbalist (L.Ac.), Integrative Body Psychotherapy allied professional, and fellow 20-year devoted yogini, to lead Embracing Your Demons at the studio. The 2-4 pm workshop on Saturday, March 9, aims to integrate the Tibetan Buddhist practice of Chod with Lama Tsultrim Allione’s method, Feeding Your Demons – defined as anything that drains your energy and blocks you from being completely alive and awake. Participants will learn how to transform your relationship with your demons from one of resistance to one of curiosity, understanding and cooperation through meditation, visualization, creative psychosomatic processing, and optional acupuncture. Admission is $35 in advance, $40 day-of. 

Yoga Soup is located at 28 Parker Way. Call (805) 965-8811 or visit www.yogasoup.com/category/events.

Tarot Teaching

Dr. Alyce Jackson facilitates Studies in the Mysteries of the Tarot Cards, an in-depth presentation of the modality for growth and guidance, in a daylong workshop (10:30 am to 3 pm) at Center of the Heart on Saturday, March 9. The event, culled from a series of classes (Tarot Cards Demystified) taught by Dr. Jackson at the LifeLong Learning (LLLC) of Santa Barbara City College, is aimed to guide participants in understanding and learning  how the Tarot can be used to address issues. Topics include Different Tarot Card Spreads for Divination, Meditations to enhance the intuition for Tarot use, and Interpretations of the Symbolism of the Major and Minor Arcana. A light lunch is included in the $65 fee. Visit http://centeroftheheart.com/event/studies-in-the-mysteries-of-the-tarot-cards-3451.

Sheng Zhen Meditation 

Bryce Lupoli hosts the second of ongoing weekly Meetups in the practice of Sheng Zhen Meditation, a series of moving and non-moving meditations for cultivating deep connection, health and unconditional love. As the body softens through graceful movement, the mind becomes quiet and the heart opens, making way for peace and love to appear. Sheng Zhen is an extremely accessible form of meditation that may be ideal for people who think they don’t have the patience or discipline to sit in motionless silence, and also serves as a potent practice for skillful meditators who want to better integrate the wisdom of meditation into their bodies and daily lives.

The new Thursday gatherings are to practice Sheng Zhen Healing Stage 1 – a trailer for that form can viewed at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/szhealing1. The donation-based classes, held 6-7:30 pm at the Sheng Zhen Classroom at 222 East Canon Perdido, Suite 306, are by sliding scale of $5-$30. Visit www.meetup.com/Sheng-Zhen-Meditation-of-Santa-Barbara.