Time, Intention, and Sound for the Soul with Thomson and Other Spirituality Matters

Montecito’s Ragan Thomson, who has for years led a mission-driven enterprise dedicated to global healing, conscious impact, and spiritual transformation, conducts regular spiritual teachings and events as well as one-on-one sessions to help individuals awaken to their true essence and align with their highest purpose.

In addition to opportunities at her Montecito estate and online, Thomson runs a Rapid Healing with Mantra and Meditation session every fourth Sunday of the month at 12 pm at Unity of Santa Barbara Spiritual Community Center. The events are timed to support rest and reflection and provide opportunity for deeper integration to anchor the week ahead in peace, clarity, and alignment. 

That concept expands with a special event slated for the same space on the evening of Friday, January 23, with “Divine I Am: Awaken the Soul Within,” a one-day immersive retreat designed to support participants at the beginning of the new year with an invitation to pause, release what no longer serves, and align with the deeper truth of your being. The intention is to turn away from the noise of daily life to enter into a field of profound healing, clarity, and soul awakening to step fully into the threshold of the new year. 

The retreat is organized to be both grounding and expansive, weaving together guided practices, sound, movement, and stillness to ease access to your highest inner truth. Activities include guided intention and gentle practices; a guided infusion of pure, loving light; simple breathwork and supportive sound; grounded practices that honor the planet’s energy; steps to move from insight to integration; and anchoring in community and belonging through shared intention and gentle reflection to strengthen your commitment to living from the soul.

“Divine I Am: Awaken the Soul Within” also features a special musical guest in Ojai’s The Brothers Koren, Isaac and Thorald, who once experienced the glitter and glory of the pop music world in their band called The Kin, which enjoyed a Gold Record, arena tours as a support act, and songs on major movie soundtracks. But the siblings eventually traded chasing approval for supporting others in finding and expressing their true voice and authentic nature in music through a variety of projects and workshops. 

More than simply offering songs, this artist will serve as a co-facilitator of awakening through sound, weaving music as a channel for healing, activation, and transformation throughout the day. And The Brothers Koren will also lead a one-hour immersive “Voice as Portal” experience, one that bypasses the thinking mind and opens the heart directly. Participants are invited to enter a shared field of vibration and harmony, as music becomes medicine and sound becomes a bridge between heaven and Earth. 

The experience is similar to what the Koren siblings do with their own workshops.

“It’s an introduction on how to quiet the small voices in our heads – the ones that say not to do things, like sing in public – in order to discover your big voice,” Isaac Koren explained years ago for a similar event.

For more details about the event, and to register, visit https://raganthomson.com/divine-i-am-awaken-the-soul-within

The proceeds from “Awaken the Soul Within” will be split between Your Big Voice Foundation, the Brothers Koren’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit devoted to bringing the healing power of music and authentic expression to underserved communities around the world, and Unity Spiritual Center of Santa Barbara. 

Unity also hosts a timely gathering on February 4 called “Where is Hope” part of the Vibrant Living Series with Hollister Rand, whose books include Everything You Wanted to Know about the Afterlife But Were Afraid to Ask. Rand will address such questions as, “Where is hope? How do we find it? Can the spirits help us experience hope in our daily lives?” by providing spontaneous messages from loved ones in spirit, ancestors, and guides, and sharing simple ways to access the hope of the spirits to sustain us during challenging times. 

Visit www.santabarbaraunity.org

Get Board to Grow

Sure, the year is already three weeks long, but it’s not too late to try your hand at a vision board to provide guidance and support in keeping intentions and growth goals at the forefront for 2026. Amisha Sera Luna, who regularly leads community singing circles both indoors (every 1st and 3rd Sunday resuming in February) and periodically at local parks, hosts a January 24 Vision Board Creation gathering at the studio at 209 Anacapa Street, adjacent to Yoga Soup. Participants will create collages with magazine art, paint, drawing, and words with intention and creativity to serve as an always available visual guide through the year. Some magazines are provided, but creators are invited to bring images that are personally meaningful if desire. Scissors and glue sticks will also be available at the free event, although more tools and donations are also accepted. 

Visit www.amishaseraluna.com

The Bodhi Path Lineage

Santa Barbara Bodhi Path Center’s resident teacher Dawa Tarchin Phillips leads an introduction to the Bodhi Path lineage, which is rooted in the authentic Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and grounded in the Mahayana path of wisdom and compassion. The evening class on February 12 offers an opportunity to learn how these lineage teachings cultivate right view, ethical conduct, and altruistic motivation, and how they can be meaningfully integrated into everyday life for the benefit of all beings. 

The two-hour session also offers an excellent pathway into the first weekend workshop of the year in the ongoing, rolling Bodhi Path Santa Barbara’s Multi-Year Curriculum, which is designed to offer western lay students a comprehensive foundation for dharma study and practice. “Karma and Its Results with Phillips,” which takes place February 21-22, explores the Buddha’s teachings on karma as precise guidance for understanding how volitional actions give rise to results. Participants will see how insight into karma naturally expresses itself as beneficial conduct in daily life and, in turn, supports and deepens meditation practice.  

Visit www.bodhipath.org/sb for details, other events, and future curriculum dates