Music and Meditation x 2 and More Spirituality Matters

The Music & Meditation Santa Barbara series co-founded by pianist Antonio Artese winds up its quite successful first full season next month when flutist Jill Felber joins the pianist in a one-hour offering that brings together the timeless beauty of live music with the calming practice of guided meditation. Each concert is designed as a journey, first inward via a 15-minute guided meditation led by Jessica Kolbe, offers a bridge from silence to sound by gently preparing listeners to enter a space of awareness and presence to receive the music with openness and calm.

Felber, who recently retired from the UCSB faculty, will play solo and alongside Artese on a program that includes the second movement of Claude Bolling’s “Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano,” which had a full reading at Faulkner Gallery earlier this month as part of the La Piazza festival (with Felber watching in the first row). She winds up a smart season that also saw cellist Ani Aznavoorian, violinist Jessica Guideri and harpist Laurie Rasmussen previously serve as guests. The intimate event at Weinmann Hall at the Music Academy of the West, limited to 70 people, takes place at 2 pm on Tuesday, May 12. 

Visit https://musicandmeditationsb.com

ATMA at Lehmann 

Another event billed as An Evening of Music & Meditation takes place this week on Saturday, April 25, at Lehmann Hall – NOTE that this is the 450-seat Lehmann Hall on the UCSB campus, not the MAW’s Miraflores venue. The ATMA Ensemble (Alliance for Tradition in Musical Arts) performs Indian classical music as part of a special collaboration between LA-based The Music Circle and the local Institute of World Culture (which also offers weekly study circles at the Concord House on Chapala Street). This event promises to transport audiences beyond the ordinary, weaving live musical performance and meditative experience into a single transformative evening honoring the profound connection between sound, stillness and the human spirit. The group’s mission is deeply rooted in honoring the legacy of Indian ragas while infusing them with fresh, passionate expressions that reflect both tradition and innovation. ATMA is itself a model of social and artistic connections and understanding between diverse groups of people, specifically South Indian and Western (jazz) musicians, as the ensemble features Aishwarya on violin, Jaden Lehman on guitar, Ray Belli on drums, A.V. Krishnan on Ghatam under the guidance of artistic director/percussionist Guru Vinod Venkataraman. Traditional compositions in a unique time signature will be performed in various Indian classical ragas with the spirit and verve of jazz. 

Visit https://tinyurl.com/ATMA-Ensemble-UCSB

Dishing with Dawa to dip a toe into Buddhist meditation

Fresh off Bodhi Path Santa Barbara’s just-concluded Spring Retreat, the center’s resident teacher Dawa Tarchin Phillips holds a Q&A session on his traditional monthly Thursday night offering at Bodhi Path’s La Cumbre Plaza location. All are welcome at the April 23 event, where Dawa will respond to queries and clarification requests about Dharma practice. Whether you’re newer to the path or a seasoned practitioner, the 7-9 pm session is offered as a warm and welcoming opportunity to ask questions and deepen your understanding of the practice. 

Bodhi Path TAs handle a special two-week dive into a question that often comes up in entering and maintaining spiritual practice. Relating to a Spiritual Teacher, slated for May 7 & 14, considers how as consumers of the postmodern era, we often reject the need for wholesome discipline, concentration and insight, then find ourselves frustrated with the state of the world, feeling victimized by our own and others’ negative outlooks, thoughts and behavior. The new course covers the different kinds of spiritual teachers and how to recognize and learn from them, progressively building a strong personal practice grounded in an authentic path of awakening to open the heart, deepen fulfillment and move toward self-mastery and liberation.

The following Thursday, May 21, is the annual Saga Dawa Celebration across the country’s various Bodhi Path centers, a gathering online that honors the life and enlightenment of the Buddha. During the auspicious period on the calendar, it is said that the effects of our actions – both positive and negative – are greatly magnified, making it a powerful time for practice, generosity and reflection. At the celebration, participants come together to honor Saga Dawa through meditation, recitation and the cultivation of compassion and wisdom, joining a wider community of practitioners around the world observing this meaningful time. All are welcome to participate in this celebration. 

Visit the website (https://bodhipath.org/centers/sb) for the Zoom link. 

Selfish as Spiritual? 

Lifestyle clothing brand Faherty co-founder Kerry Docherty’s provocative new memoir ultimately serves as a brave reminder that choosing yourself isn’t a betrayal of others, but rather a reclining with the truth. Docherty’s just published Selfish: Unlearning, Reclaiming & Telling the Truth chronicles her determination to put prioritizing other people’s needs on the back burner in order to “feel seen,” as an artist, activist, poet and romantic, from stealing simple moments for herself to leaning deeply into her passions and refining her purpose. In chronicling her efforts to reconcile capitalism with her own heart’s desire, Docherty offers a twisting, sometimes conflicted journey that has led to a more satisfying self-understanding. 

On Sunday, April 26, at Godmothers in Summerland, Docherty will discuss the journey with Molly Rosen, the founder of the Brooklyn Writers Collective, an international creative community devoted to the power of personal narrative, and now-Montecito-based actress Jordana Brewster, best known for playing Mia in the Fast & Furious franchise and playing Denise Brown in the first season of the FX true crime anthology series American Crime Story on the O.J. Simpson case.  

Visit https://godmothers.com