Tag archives: yoga

Mindfulness with Mochel Launches New Soul Series
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 12, 2019

By his own admission, Dave Mochel was a victim of restlessness, boredom, frustration, anxiety, fear, and anger and suffered such debilitating anxiety in his mid-20s that he could barely leave the house. Now he runs Applied Attention, a Carpinteria-based mindfulness consulting company that teaches people simple and powerful practices to focus thoughts in ways that […]

Authentic Movement: A Truly Moving Experience
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 29, 2019

Until two months ago, your faithful correspondent had never experienced Authentic Movement, a simple form of self-directed movement in the presence of at least one witness, with attention directed inward. As movers follow present-time inner impulses to produce spontaneous gestures and movements as well as moments of stillness, the witness watches and tracks his or […]

You? Me? Yoga Soup Mines New ‘Math’
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 22, 2019

“1 + 1 = 3?” is the title for round three of the recently revived Authentic Relating Games at Yoga Soup, which doesn’t mean co-leaders Jenny Calcoen and Damian Gallagher can’t perform simple addition. The inquisitive equation refers instead to the Vesica Piscis, a mathematical shape formed by the intersection of two disks with the […]

Hollywood Medium’s Rare Visit
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 8, 2019

According to Tyler Henry, he first noticed his clairvoyant abilities at age 10, when he woke suddenly one night with a strong feeling his grandmother was about to die. Minutes later, his family received a call informing them of his grandmother’s passing. After this experience, Henry regularly experienced vivid dreams that frequently contained messages from […]

Body-Mind Centering Association Conference
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 1, 2019

brooke smiley (lowercase is intentional) was born and raised in Los Olivos but has spent the better part of the last decade overseas as a professional dancer and researcher. smiley has danced with the “rebellious” Michael Clark Company in London as well as with Fabulous Beast in Ireland, where she helped reimagine “Rites of Spring” […]

What the World Needs Now
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 25, 2019

The Shopkeepers – the Funk Zone boutique that describes itself as ”Curious Goods for Curious People” and offers an inviting tag line of “We hope you visit and shop often, stay as long as you like, and leave feeling better than when you arrived” – hosts an evening of enriching conversation, book signing and networking […]

Summer Spirituality at SBCC
By Steven Libowitz   |   June 27, 2019

The community college’s School of Extended Learning slims down for the season, but still manages to offer a sizeable swath of learning opportunities, including a number of ones in the areas of spirituality and personal growth. To wit, two two-hour teachings from Dr. David Cumes, the veteran local urologist and surgeon who also happens to […]

I of the Storm
By Steven Libowitz   |   June 20, 2019

The Q Process was taught periodically at Unity of Santa Barbara by Rev. Denese Schellink when her husband Larry served as the lead minister at the space. In the wake of Rev. Larry’s recent resignation, Unity has engaged the veteran Unity Rev. Phil Smedstad – who has led hundreds of transformative workshops over the past […]

Mindvalley’s ‘Extraordinary’ Seminar
By Steven Libowitz   |   June 13, 2019

Vishen Lakhiani created Mindvalley in 2004 just to sell meditation CDs, then transitioned into a self-running media company that built sites for self-improvement authors. By 2011, he created a teaching academy and merged his successful A-Fest into Mindvalley as a live events component. But that was still small potatoes compared to what happened just three […]

Claiming Heritage for Healing
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 23, 2019

Over of the last several years, Unity of Santa Barbara has become a hub for non-church related spiritual and personal growth lectures, workshops, gatherings and more as well as ongoing meditation groups, “A Course in Miracles” study sessions and sound healing, among other offerings. Now that Unity is in search of replacement for its popular […]

The Can-Do of Cannabinoids
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 9, 2019

The Santa Barbara Medical Cannabis Conference and Expo – which would have been the first of its kind in the tri-county area save for a similar if smaller event held in Ojai last weekend – explores the science, and a bit of the spirituality, behind cannabis and CBD and their ability to heal ailments of […]

Mindfulness Over Matters, Part 1: How Living Mindfully Can Save the World
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 2, 2019

The Mind and Supermind series from SBCC School of Extended Learning (aka Adult Ed) has a 35-year history of presenting dynamic speakers and accomplished authors on cutting-edge topics of human psychology in all of its facets and implications. Among the previous speakers over the years have been Deepak Chopra, Byron Katie (creator of The Work), […]

Playing ‘Games’ to go Deeper
By Steven Libowitz   |   April 25, 2019

Authentic Relating Games (ARG for short) – an entry point into the relational field that I’ve been a part of locally for the better part of five years – went on hiatus more than a year ago when its Santa Barbara founders Simon Darcy and Tamra Rutherford stopped leading the once monthly events. But this […]

Letting Go (and Catching Sticks) at Lucidity
By Steven Libowitz   |   April 11, 2019

My first experience at the Lucidity Festival came early on a Saturday afternoon, when I wandered into a workshop from Peace Sticks. The activity – led by brothers who make their home in Ojai – was a simple one: pass the sticks back and forth with a partner. Some of them were balanced ones that […]

All About Ayahuasca
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 21, 2019

EntheoMedicine Santa Barbara co-founder Jacqueline Lopez is thrilled to be able to present the psychedelic journey equivalent of a baseball doubleheader in this Saturday’s event at Unity of Santa Barbara that offers two distinctly different angles on the advantages of ayahuasca. The entheogenic brew made out of vine, bark, and other natural ingredients used as […]

PHorum Faces Facts on Dreams and Visions
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 14, 2019

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. […]

Intuitive Arts Tasting in Paradise
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 14, 2019

Paradise Found, the 33-year-old bookstore and boutique across the public library in downtown Santa Barbara, hosts an afternoon of readings at a special Spring Equinox sampler. The Vernal Equinox, with day and night in perfect balance, marks a period of new growth offering a potent and fruitful opportunity for seekers of clarity. Accordingly, five intuitive […]

MAPS: a GPS for Inner Peace
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 28, 2019

Mindfulness as a valuable human practice has been popular in the west at least since Ram Dass penned “Be Here Now” in 1971 and the Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh wrote his series of teachings of the subject. In recent years, scientific studies at Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, and elsewhere have proven that a consistent mindfulness […]

Kirtan Confab
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 21, 2019

Where can you hear some of the greatest Kirtan/call-and-response chant artists all in one place short of attending a Bahkti gathering? How about Yoga Soup this Friday night, when Sounds into Silence, a feature-length documentary that explores chant meditation, makes its Santa Barbara public debut. Deva Premal & Miten, Krishna Das, Snatam Kaur, Jai Uttal, […]

Fox’s 5Rhythms: Dance as Medicine
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 14, 2019

Kiaora Fox came to 5Rhythms in installments. While she had studied body mechanics and the movement of energy since childhood and was raised with a wide array of healing arts and mindfulness tools in the Gurdjieff mystic lineage, Lakota Sioux traditions, and Huna philosophy, among others, she only came across 5Rhythms at age 18 when […]