Kirtan with a Master
Laguna Beach native Baba Bhagavan Das – the master kirtan wallah and orator, bhakti yogi and shakta tantra adept – first traveled to India back in 1963 to find his gur, and became the first American to live in the jungle of the Himalayas as a hermit-sadhu. Bhagavan Das was given the Holy Name of Ram by Bhramanada Saraswati through his disciple, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the guru who gave the world Transcendental Meditation and worked with The Beatles and the Beach Boys. Bhagavan Das gained fame himself after being featured in Ram Dass’s book Be Here Now (which reportedly took its title from one of Bhagavan Das’s mantras), and along the way has led innumerable retreats, workshops, kirtan, concerts, and even a collaboration with the Beastie Boys’ Mike D on the 2002 album, Now. Bhagavan Das is headed our way this weekend for a special healing night of singing, prayer, and devotional Sanskrit chanting at Yoga Soup at 7:30 pm on Friday, November 9. Admission is $30.
Soup x 2
The evening of kirtan kicks off a busy period of events at Yoga Soup, as we head into the holiday season with “Giving Thanks,” a benefit class led by Emily Benaron at 1:30 pm on Saturday, November 10. Participants will explore and embody the power of gratitude and appreciation as a transformational practice, as Benaron leads a session of reflection, meditation, and mindful yoga to experience the scientifically proven benefits of recognizing and acknowledging the gifts of life. All proceeds from the class, which costs $25 in advance or $30 on Saturday, will be donated to the Organic Soup Kitchen for its Community Thanksgiving Dinner (which is actually on hiatus this year in favor of a new program of delivery).
Find Your Way
Sunday’s Inner Compass Workshop with Neel Van Lierop provides tools for the use of a special deck of cards for inner guidance on the personal journey. The beautifully designed cards created by Van Lierop are employed as a powerful tool for self-reflection that can be used as a daily guide to answer specific questions or simply for inspiration.
During the workshop, every participant will be able to work on a personal reading with direct guidance from Van Lierop. This workshop is about strengthening the connection with your intuition – it encourages you to be who you are and to walk your own path, as the cards are created with the intention to aid your personal growth and inner awakening. Van Lierop, an entrepreneur and spiritual motivator from Amsterdam, based the Inner Compass deck on 49 life themes that she discovered through her own personal work. The 2 to 5 pm workshop costs $30, or $75 with a card deck to keep.
Coming Soon to the Soup
Tantra Games: Mindful Connecting, with Santa Barbara power-healing couple Lisa Citore and Len Van Nostrand, creates a Tantra-puja-style circle where participants pair up with different partners to share fun communication games, Tantra practices, partner yoga, improv dance, heart opening meditations and other nonverbal interactions designed to inspire authenticity, vulnerability, acceptance, and presence. The bi-monthly event returns Friday, November 16, 7 to 9 pm; $18 in advance / $25 day of… Creating Authentic Relationships with Crystal Stokes, slated for 2-3 pm on Saturday, November 17 ($10/$15), offers “Transformation Through the Power of Psychology and Spirituality,” aiming for shifts in relationships from draining to energizing, and superficial to authentic and nourishing. As transforming relationships starts with making changes in ourselves (rather than trying to change the other person), Stokes draws from tools founded in cognitive behavioral psychology, transpersonal psychology, and personality typing to demonstrate how to shift the energy in your relationships toward agency, acceptance, and authenticity.
Yoga Soup is located at 28 Parker Way. Call (805) 965-8811 or visit www.yogasoup.com/category/events
Move, Munch, and Movie
Siddhi Ellinghoven, who normally offers deep immersions into kundalini yoga or cleanses, leads a somewhat lighter evening over at the Santa Barbara Yoga Center. The evening of nourishment for mind, body, and soul starts with stretching and relaxing as a way to unwind from the week before sharing nourishing and delicious snacks and then settling in for a screening of The Business of Being Born, a 2008 documentary film that explores the contemporary experience of childbirth in the United States. The 6:45 to 9:15 pm event on Friday, November 9, costs $25. SBYC is at 32 E. Micheltorena St. Call (805) 965-6045 or visit www.santabarbarayogacenter.com.
Sacred Geometry at Sunburst
Sunburst Sanctuary’s next weekend of wonder is its Celebrate Life Retreat that offers both Sacred Geometry and Dances of Universal Peace. Sunburst’s lifelong scholar Craig Hanson explains how traditional Western mystery knowledge is represented and expressed through beautiful geometric figures and astonishing numerical coincidences. Learn about your own body’s sacred geometry and discover how understanding ourselves plays a big part in also understanding creation. Participants will also take part in heart-opening Dances of Universal Peace, featuring simple steps and songs meant to promote peace and connection among all religions, guided by experienced local leaders Yarrow Nelson and Kara Hagedorn. No experience at all needed. Then allow your body to relax, your mental clutter to clear, and your inner divine connection to develop as you are guided in yoga and meditation by Sunburst’s daily practitioners on site, meanwhile enjoying nourishing meals, heartfelt camaraderie, and the breathtaking natural beauty of the 4,000-acre expanse that comprises Sunburst Sanctuary.
Pre-registration for the November 16-18 event, with sliding-scale fees of $100 to $240, is required at https://sunburst.org/celebrate. Call (805) 736-6528 or email contactus@sunburst.org.
Not ready for a full weekend commitment? The new Existential Anxiety – Who Needs it? Sacred Geometry and YOU Meetup might provide a quick taste a week earlier. All are invited to come explore the amazing body of “secret” information and fact-based answers to the existential questions of life, ones that offer “easily demonstrable proof” of the Intelligence behind Creation and its benevolence. The group will explore the work of John Michell, Michael Schneider, Tom Campbell, and others along the way, beginning 7 to 9 pm on Thursday, November 8, at Rusty’s Pizza, 232 W. Carrillo St. Details at www.meetup.com/Existential-Anxiety-Who-Needs-it-Sacred-Geomety-and-YOU.
Meetup Mash-Up
Speaking of Meetups, a cornucopia of choices is coming your way, in chronological order for convenience sake. Santa Barbara Spiritual Connection’s “Meet your Spirit Guides” event offers a chance to find out what the masters may want you to know. Do you have more than one? Who are they? What do they look like, where do they come from, why do they care about you? The questions will be considered as participants enhance psychic mediumship skills through creativity and dynamic interactive exercises, and then take home a painting of your Spirit Guide experience. Materials for the first 20 registrants, or bring your own paper, watercolor paint, colored pencil, or pen supplies, for the 10 am to 3 pm event on Saturday, November 10, at Spiritualist Church of the Comforter, 1028 Garden Street. Fee: $36. Info at www.meetup.com/Santa-Barbara-Spiritual-Connection.
Izumi Asura Serra continues to move her Music of the Spheres: Meditation with Sound events around town, with a date at Carpinteria Woman’s Club (1059 Vallecito Road) from 1 to 3 pm on Saturday, November 10, next on the schedule. Rest into the sound space auric field during all or part of the workshop, as Serra provide sounds while you create poses with both beginner (led by Janine Ivanelli, CSCS, RYT) and intermediate/advanced sessions (with Susie Longwill, RYT) before allowing your mind and body to deeply relax during Savasana for receiving sound and vibration of the singing bowls and a gong… A one-hour single session takes place at 5:30 pm next Sunday, November 18, at Santa Barbara Dance Arts, 531 E Cota St. Details at www.meetup.com/Music-of-the-Spheres-Meditation-with-Sound.
Santa Barbara Silent Hiking and Activities saunters down to Carpinteria Bluffs on Sunday, November 11, for a 10 am talking-optional casual walk along the beachside buffs toward downtown Carpinteria, where the group will then find a restaurant to have brunch before returning to the parking lot. Free. Call (805) 836-1185 or visit www.meetup.com/Santa-Barbara-Silent-Hiking-and-Activities.
Cynthia Waring’s new The Power and Healing of Writing Your Memoir Meetup is a monthly gathering in which the massage therapist-turned-author, actress, and workshop leader, whose one-woman show based on her own memoir Bodies Unbound has won awards, gives helpful hints about how to write powerful sentences, and offers an opportunity to write a personal story. You will be encouraged to share what you wrote with the group during the two-hour session open to all levels of writers, though it’s not mandatory. Participants should bring a journal or a laptop. Donation is $25. Location for the initial workshop at 6 pm on Thursday, November 15, provided upon registration. Visit www.meetup.com/The-Power-and-Healing-of-Writing-Your-Memoir.
