La Casa Emerges from the Rubble
La Casa de Maria, the long-beloved retreat center on El Bosque Road in Montecito near San Ysidro Ranch, has been basically shuttered since the property was severely damaged by the January 2018 Debris Flow. But now comes word that La Casa is reopening to a limited number of events while continuing to undergo renovations. Among the first to return is Radhule Weininger, the Santa Barbara psychotherapist and longtime meditation teacher who co-created the Mindful Heart Program (MHP) even before the pandemic.
Weininger and other MHP teachers will convene at the retreat center on one Sunday every month beginning in October to provide insights on the theme of “Healing Spiritual Homesickness.” The retreats will include talks, guided meditations and discussion, while one Sunday each quarter will feature an interfaith/inter-spiritual gathering.
Deep Resilience Planning is also underway for MHP Co-founder Michael Kearney, M.D., to teach a five-week series on Thursday evenings in October that will introduce a Celtic framework for understanding the human psyche, the causes of burnout, and a step-by-step path to deep resilience.
But Weininger is actually leading a half-day retreat at La Casa de Maria even before October arrives, teaming up with frequent presentation partner David Richo, the longtime and much-loved former Adult Ed instructor, for “Inner Peace in a Troubling World” on September 27. The premise is that our world is not stable enough to give us security, nor reliable enough for us to trust. But we do not have to be discouraged by our predicament. In a version of the famed Serenity Prayer, the leaders will discuss how we can say “yes” to the serenity that comes with radical acceptance of reality, as well as the courage to make changes, however small, and the wisdom to know the difference. The retreat is designed to offer insights and spiritual practices to help us get there.
Visit www.mindfulheartprograms.org.
The Case for Cayce
Dr. James Kwako’s The Light of Healing speaker series has featured a number of guest presenters. This month’s offering comes directly from Kwako. A pioneer in the field of holistic medicine who endeavors to make the mind-body-spirit connection part of our approach to health care, Kwako completed one of the first medical residencies at the A.R.E. (Association for Research and Enlightenment) Clinic, with Drs. Bill and Gladys McGarey, studying the application of the Edgar Cayce readings to health care. He subsequently joined neurosurgeon and noted researcher C. Norman Shealy, M.D., Ph.D., in the first comprehensive outpatient chronic pain treatment program, and then teamed with Evarts Loomis, M.D., at Meadowlark Retreat Center, which became a well-known holistic retreat program.
A founding member and former board member of the American Holistic Medical Association, an ordained minister of the International Church of Religious Science and Healing (now the Centers for Spiritual Living), and the author of Mobilizing Your Healing Energy, Kwako has been working in private family practice in Santa Barbara since 1990 and has served as an instructor for Santa Barbara City College’s School of Extended Learning (aka Adult Ed) program for 35 years, offering seminars on the holistic approach to disease and healthy living.
In his Light of Healing presentation at 10 am on Saturday, September 12, at his office at 3015 State Street, Suite B, Kwako will address such questions as how common Cayce concepts apply in today’s medical treatment plans for fatigue, sleep, pain, memory and aging issues. He’ll share what Cayce readings and other sources hold on potential causes and treatments of chronic conditions, delve into other insights about the mind-body-spirit connection over the last 80 years, and discuss the role that dream study might play in building health. The talk will include a Q&A session coordinated by Joy Scott, chairman of the A.R.E. Board of Trustees and another alumna of the A.R.E. Clinic.
Admission is free, although a love offering is appreciated. Email [email protected] to RSVP.
Ragan’s Retreat
Also on Saturday, Montecito-based Ragan Thomson brings her Divine I Am Journey experience to Yoga Soup for a donation-based gathering at 6:30 pm. The event poses the query, “What would it feel like to leave an evening of spiritual practice feeling lighter, clearer, and more deeply connected to yourself?”
The gathering, devoted to purification, awakening and soul remembrance, serves as an opportunity to clear old patterns and release accumulated energy in order to return to your life feeling more peaceful, present, and connected to your higher self and your own inner knowing. “Because the deeper purpose of spiritual practice isn’t simply what happens while our eyes are closed,” Thomson said. “It’s how we live when we open them again.”
The event also offers an introduction to some of the spiritual work that will continue at Thomson’s Divine Alignment: Harmonize the Sacred Masculine & Feminine Within workshop, slated for November 7 at Unity of Santa Barbara, where participants will explore how receiving and action, intuition and creation, softness and strength can come into greater harmony within us. The harmony cultivated within us becomes part of what we bring into our relationships, our work, our communities, and our world.
A Quarter-Century of Chanting with Snatam
Snatam Kaur, the veteran Sikh devotional music singer, songwriter and kirtan leader who also works as a peace activist, is headed back to Santa Barbara for the first time in almost a decade. Snatam, as she is known, has been nominated for a Grammy Award for one of her myriad albums, but is even more cherished for her live events, which include long periods of chanting in the call-and-response style. “By Thy Grace: 25 Years of Mantra” has its second date of the fall tour at Santa Barbara Junior High School’s Marjorie Luke Theatre on Sunday, September 27, when the singer and harmonium player will be joined by her current ensemble of Ram Dass Khalsa, Bruno Justi and Sukhmani Rayat in what she calls an act of gratitude, “a bow to the grace of the mantras, and to the healing we’ve experienced together while chanting them.”
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