Tag archives: workshops

Laugh to the Tune of Improv
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 20, 2022

Chris Shurland, one of the improv instructors and company members at both Santa Barbara Improv and the recently revived Carpinteria Improv at the Alcazar Theatre, has a confession. He really doesn’t like doing musical improv. Or, it turns out, singing at all.  “I’ve done karaoke one time in my life, and that was literally the […]

Palate to Palette
By Lynda Millner   |   May 17, 2022

Carpinteria is like the Little Engine that Could. They wanted an arts center, so they worked, and worked, and now there is a thriving one at 865 Linden Avenue. The annual fundraiser was just held that allows the group to present programs for all kinds of artistic ventures for all ages. Two hundred folks attended […]

The Little Town That Could
By Lynda Millner   |   July 8, 2021

I wish I had thought of that title, but Leslie A. Westbrook did in an article she wrote about Carpinteria. It deserves a rerun because their Art Center in the middle of downtown (855 Linden Avenue) is a happening place and one that everyone can enjoy. They just welcomed in a new executive director, Linda […]

AHA! Update
By Nick Schou   |   June 25, 2020

Ever since the COVID-19 era unceremoniously ended the 2020 academic year in March, local educators and non-profit groups have been redoubling their efforts to help young people deal with the added stress they’ve been experiencing. AHA!, whose mission is to reduce emotional and physical abuse on campus and has provided counseling to more than 20,000 […]

Soul Lift Cacao
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 14, 2020

Nick Meador, a Bay Area-based transformational life coach, holistic event producer, and mindful entrepreneur, is familiar to local seekers through his participatory workshops at the Lucidity Festival at Live Oak Campground each spring. Meador is also the founder of Soul Lift Cacao, which markets organic ceremonial cacao – the natural, unprocessed form of chocolate grown […]

The AHA! Moment: Coping with the Coronavirus’ Psychological Fallout
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 7, 2020

AHA! has long received kudos in town for its success in equipping teenagers, parents, and educators with social and emotional intelligence and strategies to serve as an antidote to everything from apathy to despair. In addition, AHA! has had great success interrupting hate-based behaviors such as bullying. The organization’s programs have become touchpoints for transforming […]

Discount at DiviniTree
By Steven Libowitz   |   April 23, 2020

DiviniTree Yoga, the studio located across the street from city hall in downtown Santa Barbara, doesn’t have any workshops planned over our next week, and also doesn’t offer as many different streaming classes in the time of COVID-19 as its two main competitors. But newbies to the virtual studio can sample all of them for […]

Soup is Soaring, with Workshops, Too
By Steven Libowitz   |   April 23, 2020

Yoga Soup, the studio located down by the Santa Barbara train station that often serves as a bookstore, gift shop, and gathering place during our “old normal” times, has managed to schedule upwards of 70 classes available via the Zoom service each week. A few weeks into the transition, Yoga Soup has also started to […]

A (Virtual) Kiss from a Roses
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 26, 2020

Santa Barbara healer-dancer-actress Teagan Rose’s mission is to support people in connecting more deeply to their sense of home in their body, to their truth, and to their primal creativity. Her Embodiment and Voice Activation sessions and workshops specialize in emotional liberation and integration, self-love and self-understanding, energetic balancing and clearing, embodied trauma release, and […]

Soup’s Off at Downtown Studio
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 19, 2020

“In fourteen years Yoga Soup never closed its doors, not once,” owner Eddie Ellner wrote in an email and note late on Monday, noting that the studio has stayed open “through fires, storms, slides, illness, locusts, bad hair days, insurrection.” The impetus was to take the line by poet Robert Frost to heart: “Home is […]

Soup Central
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 12, 2020

Workshops at Yoga Soup this week include a Breath & Musical Journey with Luna & Gabe from 7-9 pm on Friday, March 13. Breathwork facilitator Blake Spencer will guide participants in tuning into their breath while simultaneously listening to local artist Gabriel Kelly sing his original songs and play guitar with Luna Kelly accompanying on […]

Navigating the End
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 6, 2020

The annual Navigating the End Expo is a free event featuring panel discussions and workshops with local experts in all aspects of end-of-life issues, including medical, legal, financial, funeral arrangements, advanced healthcare directives, LGBTQ and veterans’ issues as well as related speakers, art and exhibits. The 10 am to 4 pm event – which carries […]

Manifesting Magic: Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 21, 2019

Like many spiritual leaders, Madeleine Marentette came to her practice via finding healing through metaphysical experiences. The Toronto native had been in a series of health crises throughout most of her 20s, so sick that she almost skipped an invitation to a discourse from the Dalai Lama at the University of Toronto. “But something just […]

Meditation Magic in Montecito
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 3, 2019

The Magic Castle Cabaret opened earlier this year just off Cabrillo Boulevard by the Andree Clark Bird Refuge. But even more magical moments might soon be taking place next door at the just-opened Montecito Meditation. The new center is designed as a non-denominational destination for the local meditation community as well as a retreat and […]

Sea Glass Treasures
By James Buckley   |   September 12, 2019

Just a short note about this weekend’s Fifth Annual Santa Barbara Sea Glass & Ocean Arts Festival, featuring ocean-inspired art made by artisans from across the U.S.A. and that’s set to take place at the Earl Warren Showgrounds on September 14 and 15. In addition to some fifty-or-so artists’ creations on display (and for sale), […]

Mindfulness with Mochel Launches New Soul Series
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 12, 2019

By his own admission, Dave Mochel was a victim of restlessness, boredom, frustration, anxiety, fear, and anger and suffered such debilitating anxiety in his mid-20s that he could barely leave the house. Now he runs Applied Attention, a Carpinteria-based mindfulness consulting company that teaches people simple and powerful practices to focus thoughts in ways that […]

You? Me? Yoga Soup Mines New ‘Math’
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 22, 2019

“1 + 1 = 3?” is the title for round three of the recently revived Authentic Relating Games at Yoga Soup, which doesn’t mean co-leaders Jenny Calcoen and Damian Gallagher can’t perform simple addition. The inquisitive equation refers instead to the Vesica Piscis, a mathematical shape formed by the intersection of two disks with the […]

What the World Needs Now
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 25, 2019

The Shopkeepers – the Funk Zone boutique that describes itself as ”Curious Goods for Curious People” and offers an inviting tag line of “We hope you visit and shop often, stay as long as you like, and leave feeling better than when you arrived” – hosts an evening of enriching conversation, book signing and networking […]

Writers Converge
By Richard Mineards   |   July 4, 2019

Nearly a half-century after its founding, the Santa Barbara Writers Conference was alive and well when the latest event was held at the Hyatt Hotel, with the five-day event concluding with a glittering dinner where Grace Rachow, director, and Loriel Armstrong presented awards. Exceptional workshop leaders and speakers included Catherine Ann Jones, Dale Griffiths Stamos, […]

Claiming Heritage for Healing
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 23, 2019

Over of the last several years, Unity of Santa Barbara has become a hub for non-church related spiritual and personal growth lectures, workshops, gatherings and more as well as ongoing meditation groups, “A Course in Miracles” study sessions and sound healing, among other offerings. Now that Unity is in search of replacement for its popular […]