Mindful Melodies

Music & Meditation – founded by Santa Barbara pianist and composer Antonio Artese in collaboration with Carpinteria-based meditation guide and qigong/tai chi teacher Jessica Kolbe – had a trial launch last November at Weinman Hall on the campus of the Music Academy of the West featuring the two founders. After selling out the initial show, Music & Meditation is back for a full four event series, subtitled Music and Mindfulness for Our Times, with the motto “Quiet the mind, let the music in.” 

Over the course of a single hour and in an intimate setting, the series melds live performance of classical masterworks, intentional silence, and guided meditation. These thoughtfully combined elements encourage reflection, presence, and deep listening in a fast-paced world. Each event is curated to unfold as a carefully shaped arc of attention, interweaving the encounter’s three aspects to produce a unified experience – one that invites audiences into a shared practice of stillness that deepens listening and amplifies the intrinsic expressive power of the music. 

“Our intention is to offer Santa Barbara a place of clarity and beauty,” said pianist Artese in a statement. The idea emerged following Artese’s having attended Kolbe’s classes for several months. “With a quiet mind, every note resonates more fully, and the music reveals its most human and profound side.”

The new series adds additional musicians to the menu, with the opening concert on February 10 featuring cellist Ani Aznavoorian. No stranger to the Miraflores campus, Aznavoorian is the longtime principal of Camerata Pacifica, and as of this past summer a freshly-minted Music Academy faculty member. The cellist will be joined by Artese in solo and duo repertoire that includes pieces by Bach, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich and Italian cellist/composer Giovanni Sollima, with the idea of exploring the relationship between virtuosity, inner stillness, and the human voice of the cello. 

The upcoming events take place March 6 with Santa Barbara Symphony concertmaster and newish UCSB violin faculty member, Juilliard-trained Jessica Guideri; April 10 with longtime local harpist Laurie Rasmussen; and May 12 with flutist and UCSB professor Jill Felber. 

Each event with these locally cherished musicians will likely be a very different experience than a typical concert, Kolbe said last weekend. 

“Antonio told me that when people arrive at a performance they’re distracted, still thinking about other things, not quite settled in, so they’re not fully present at the beginning of a concert,” she said. “But he noticed how quickly he could get into his body right away at class and quickly felt connected to everything in his surroundings.” 

Kolbe will guide the 15-minute meditation at the start of each event, opening with resonance from a crystal bowl, which also closes the afternoon. 

“We do deep breathing, noticing physical sensations, the earth below and sky above, and everything in between,” she said. “It’s about guiding people to a calmer state to fully take in the music – to hear it on a different level.”

It’s a circular experience, Kolbe said. 

“[In turn], music helps us remember that harmony begins within ourselves.” 

Visit www.musicandmeditationsb.com

Soup’s On

SoCal-based kirtan singer Govind Das, the co-director/owner of Bhakti Yoga Shala in Santa Monica, heads north to Yoga Soup on Saturday, February 7, when he’ll be joined by the Montecito-raised tabla player and multi-instrumentalist/singer/composer Jóss Jáffé for a special one-night kirtan event. The uplifting and heart opening practice employs mantra and music as an expression of devotion and prayer and has become a popular participatory spiritual practice because of its joyful, open-hearted, meditative, and communal expression. All are invited to join in the call-and-response chants, move about the room, and enjoy the spiritual community. 

Embracing Life’s Invitation, subtitled “Learning to live fully in the presence of death, aging, and change,” takes place at Yoga Soup on Tuesday, February 10, where participants in the contemplative and experiential workshop will learn to “live as if this were the last moment you had.” The workshop is not about urgency, productivity or self-improvement, but rather about dropping the fantasy of later in favor of a gentle and honest practice of telling the truth about time, change and what genuinely nourishes us now.

Leader Carley Hauck, a former longstanding senior faculty member at Stanford University and Stanford’s Center for Integrative Medicine, roots the experience in her immersive study with Frank Ostaseski through his One Year to Live course, retreats on conscious dying, and her own longstanding Buddhist practice. She’ll offer practical contemplative and somatic practices to meet impermanence, grief, and transition with self-compassion, while creating a clear intention and living vision of how to bring this wisdom into your days, your choices, and the life that is asking to be lived now.

Visit www.yogasoup.com 

The Three R’s Retreat 

Sunburst Sanctuary is summoning spiritual seekers to its upcoming Relax Renew Recharge Weekend Retreat, where the experience is intended to transform previous challenges into strength, energy, and spiritual radiance. The weekend, slated for February 27-March 1, includes yoga, meditation, revitalizing sound baths, immersion in Sunburst’s stunning scenery (spanning 4,000 acres filled with gardens and trails), a felt sense of community, and wholesome nourishing meals prepared on site. 

Details and registration (by February 18) at https://sunburst.org/relax

Wednesdays of Wonder

Psychedelic social club District 216 – the mindful community dedicated to connection, healing, learning, and expanding consciousness through art, music, wellness, and psychedelics – has a couple of upcoming weekly events that even those who haven’t dabbled in mind-altering substances might find valuable. The next Reflection Circle, on February 11, is a confidential gathering around stories, insights, challenges, hopes and questions, creating space to process non-ordinary states of consciousness with care, presence, and community support. Guided by Elizabeth Wolfson, a local licensed professional facilitator, participants are invited to reflect, listen and share in a supportive, non-judgmental environment designed to help translate experiences into grounded, purposeful living. 

The February 25 District House Conscious Connections Roundtable focuses on “Safety, Trust & Setting: Creating Containers Where People Can Actually Be Honest.” The space will be given over to thoughtful conversation, guided by genuine curiosity around the topic, with a diverse community of people interested in exploring consciousness, creativity, wellness, and the human experience. This is exploration and conversation without pressure, performance, or pretense. This gathering – focused on creating safe containers – will serve as one itself. 

Visit www.district216.com

Upping the Healing Ante at Unity

Dr. Lee Moberly is offering a six-week interactive workshop series covering Multi-Dimensional Spiritual Healing at Unity of Santa Barbara beginning February 15. The series will explore the comparative similarities, differences, efficiency, and effectiveness between various healing modalities – including Near Death Experiences, Christ Consciousness Healing, Shamanic Healing Journeying, and Past Life Recall, among others – with the goal of helping the participant to expand and choose the most
beneficial methods on their personal healing journey.

That same Sunday afternoon, Unity also hosts the one-day event Healing through Connection with Jina Carvalho.  She holds degrees in Psychology and Performing Arts and is Director of Communication for the psychology nonprofit PsychAlive.org. Carvalho is also co-founder of the
Santa Barbara Response Network (SBRN), a grassroots volunteer nonprofit dedicated to offering Psychological First Aid and compassionate support for resilient recovery from traumatic incidents including disasters, suicide and violent injuries. The workshop will include poetry and mindful presence, narratives, reflection, and healing to guide participants in gentle practices for grounding, connection and
building resilience.  

Visit www.unitysb.org