Events
Zoom Session with David Richo
Weekly mindfulness, awareness, and Earth connection practices
Sunday, Sept 7, 10-11:16 a.m.
Online only via MHP’s Daily Meditations/Weekly Meeting Zoom link
Dave’s topic will be: “What is Safe and Sane Spiritual Hope?”
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Full-Moon Meditation with Sound Bath
Sunday, Sept. 7, 6:30-7:30 p.m., with Peter Moreno
East Beach, Santa Barbara
Watch the September Corn Moon rise, meditate, and enjoy a soothing sound bath with with crystal bowls and bells.
Look for Peter near the volleyball courts, across the street from the condo complex on Cabrillo Boulevard. There is street parking. There will be three blinking red lights to help you find your way. Bring a jacket, beach chair, and blanket. The suggested donation for this event is $10. It will not be available via Zoom. If you plan to attend, please notify Peter at 805-453-1813 by noon on Sept. 7.
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Yoga Soup with David Richo
Weekly awake awareness guided meditation practice with sound bath and discussion
Monday, Sept. 8, 7-8:15 p.m.
Yoga Soup, 28 Parker Way, Santa Barbara, or online via MHP’s Daily Meditations/Weekly Meeting Zoom link. The session is free; donations are gratefully accepted.
Dave’s topic will be: “What not to do when nothing we do works.”
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Diana Hill Introduces Her New Book
Our friend and teacher Dr. Diana Hill, a clinical psychologist and ACT expert, invites you to order her new book, Wise Effort: How to Focus Your Genius Energy on What Matters Most, published by Sounds True. In the book, Diana blends contemporary psychological science with contemplative wisdom to offer a method for living with greater energy, clarity, vitality, and purpose. With a foreword by Rick Hanson, it has been endorsed by respected colleagues including Jack Kornfield, Tara Brach, Christinana Figueres, and Robert Waldinger. Learn more here: wiseeffortbook.com. If you pre-order it, you can take advantage of bonus offerings.
Diana will hold a book launch party at Art & Soul, 1323 State Street in Santa Barbara, on Thursday, Sept. 25 from 5-7 p.m.
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Half-day Retreat with David Richo
Saturday, Sept. 27, 2-5 p.m., with David Richo and Radhule Weininger
La Casa de Maria, Montecito, and online via MHP’s Special Events/Retreats Zoom link
Their topic will be: Radical Reversal: Turning Fear and Blame into Courage
The suggested donation for this retreat is $30.
Our hosts at La Casa de Maria ask that you register for the retreat in advance. Here is the registration link: https://forms.gle/8GiE4QgtNz8q21cK7
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Radical Reversal in September
Radical Reversal: Turning Fear and Blame into Courage, with Radhule Weininger and David Richo
Saturday, Sept. 27, 2-5 p.m.
La Casa de Maria, Montecito, and online via Zoom
We will provide more information about this retreat later this summer.
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The Wake-up Call with Fred
Revered Mindful Heart Programs teacher and meditation facilitator Fred Delafield leads The Wake-up Call via our Daily Meditations/Weekly Meetings zoom link from 7-8 p.m. every Tuesday. Topics for discussion include sit-spot experiences, metta (loving kindness) practices, or whatever is on your mind. This is an ongoing session.
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Deep Resilience Weekend Retreat
Remembering Who We Really Are: Self-Care 2.0 – Luminous Resilience
Friday, Oct. 10-Sunday, Oct. 12
Sedgwick Reserve, Santa Ynez Valley, California
Registration and lodging reservations: https://psychotherapysb.com/2025/08/25/self-care/
About the Retreat
This retreat is an opportunity to spend time in nature and experience skills and practices that can open us up to a field of care. With guidance from experienced meditation teachers, therapists, and scientists, participants will connect with the luminous ground of their deepest nature and become fields of care for themselves, others, and our world. The Sedgwick Reserve is a world-class research, conservation, and education facility that is part of the University of California reserve system. The setting is rustic/casual.
Fees
Registration: $350 per person, including all sessions, meals, and refreshment breaks. There is no additional charge for therapists who wish to apply for 10 CEUs.
Lodging: Per person, per night fees range from $24 for camping to $48 for Ranch House lodging. (Note: Depending on demand, we may add an option to roll out a sleeping bag in a classroom for $10/night.)
Donations/dana will be gratefully accepted to support MHP’s mission and express gratitude to our volunteer teachers.
When
Check-in, 4 p.m., Friday, Oct. 10
Check-out, 1 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 12
Waiting List
The number of registrants is capped at 30. We will have a waiting list if/when we exceed the cap.
Faculty
The faculty includes Michael Kearney, MD; Radhule Weininger, PhD; Tom Pinkson, PhD; Nicole (Nikki) Evans, PhD; Miranda Field MFT, Andrew Smyth MFT, and Emily Benaron, MA.
Retreat Schedule – Adjustments may be made
Friday, Oct. 10
Arrive 4-5 p.m. Get settled
5:30-7 p.m. Dinner
7-9 p.m. Evening program
Saturday, Oct. 11
7-8:30 a.m. Yoga/movement. Breakfast.
8:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
Introduction to the Work that Reconnects
Compassionate Presence to Feelings meditation practice
Refreshment break
Talk on attachment theory, secure attachment, and deep remembering
Small break-out groups with faculty facilitators
Guided walkabout
Lunch
1-5 p.m.
Introduction to individual, deep-listening nature quests
Nature quests
Refreshment break
Group sharing on quests
Rest break
5:30-7 p.m.
Dinner
7-9:30 p.m.
Candlelight/eagle feather ceremony
Night moves and closing meditation
Sunday, Oct. 12
7-8:30 a.m.
Yoga/movement and breakfast
8:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
Opening meditations
Going Forth fishbowl practice in small groups.
Closing circle
Lunch. Departure at 1 p.m.
Questions? Please use the registration link to view answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ) about the retreat.
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Deep Resilience Teaching Sessions Coming in October
Starting Oct. 15, 2025, Michael Kearney will be offering weekly, hour-long sessions on deep resilience featuring a mix of didactic, experiential, and interactive teaching. The sessions will be held via the MHP daily meditation and weekly meetings Zoom link on Wednesdays at two times, 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. (Pacific time zone) to accommodate people who are in other time zones. Donations will be gratefully received. He will also be co-presenting live/Zoom session sessions at half-day MHP retreats at Santa Barbara Middle School and La Casa de Maria. These sessions will be announced when dates are set. For information about his booklet, My Redwood Teacher – Five Lessons on Deep Resilience, please scroll down. Profits from book sales will be donated to Mindful Heart Programs’ scholarship fund.
Newsletters
Heart Medicine in Difficult Times
In this online year-long drop-in series, Radhule will teach you psychological and spiritual skills that will guide you to address the root causes behind painful patterns and show how to address them with comprehensive practices. Working with painful patterns is especially necessary in these times, as many of our old painful patterns are getting triggered by current difficult circumstances in our world. Uncertainty and trauma bring up our own woundedness and fear. In order to be engaged in our world, we need to heal our painful patterns and connect to the wholeness that is already there.
Register with InsightLA
Awake Aware: Touching the Sky behind the clouds and bringing it back to Earth
New Series with Radhule Weininger, MD, PHD.
This Monday (over zoom), we will continue an exciting new series on awake awareness meditations and the pointing-out instructions. We are repeating this series on Monday nights at 7.15 pm (Yoga Soup, Studio 2, as well as zoom).
Location: Yoga Soup, 28 Parker Way, Santa Barbara
Heart Aware: Mindful Body Breath and Awake Awareness Meditation Group
Time: Thursdays at 6:30pm (beginning December 1st, 2022)
Location: Saint Michael’s University Church, 6586 Picasso Rd, Isla Vista, CA
We will meet in person to practice meditation and self-compassion. Join us to cultivate a regular mindfulness practice and experience a sense of community and belonging on a weekly basis.
Heart Medicine in Difficult Times
with Radhule Weininger, MD, PhD
Sunday, August 28, 12:30-2pm
Last Sunday every month in 2022
In this online year-long drop-in series, Radhule will teach you psychological and spiritual skills that will guide you to address the root causes behind painful patterns and show how to address them with comprehensive practices. Working with painful patterns is especially necessary in these times, as many of our old painful patterns are getting triggered by current difficult circumstances in our world. Uncertainty and trauma bring up our own woundedness and fear. In order to be engaged in our world, we need to heal our painful patterns and connect to the wholeness that is already there.
Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC): 8 Week Course
With Hattie Bluestone, DPT and Anahita Navab Holden, PhD
Sundays: August 7th-October 2nd
(with the exception of Sunday 8/28)
10 AM-12 PM
La Mesa Park
Price: $400
For registration, please visit www.yogasoup.com
In difficult moments, what would it be like to offer yourself the same kindness, care, and support that you would naturally extend to a friend? Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) is an empirically supported, 8-week program that teaches core principles and practices to cultivate the skill of self-compassion. MSC was developed by Kristin Neff, PhD, and Christopher Germer, PhD, leader in the integration of mindfulness and psychotherapy. The program includes guided meditations, short talks, experiential exercises, group discussion, and take-home practices to integrate self-compassion into daily life. For more information please contact: info@anahitaholdenphd.com.
Deepening the Experience of the Sacred: Mindfully Embracing our World
During the morning of this day-long seminar, Radhule will teach you to deepen the practice of Ordinary and Non-dual Mindfulness, Introducing pointing out instructions, so you can learn to rest in awake awareness. Radhule will also introduce Self-compassion and Compassion-for-others (Tong Len) practices, which will include the care for ourselves and our world.
From 2 to 4 pm, Dave Richo will join us again, so we can together integrate our experience of the Sacred. We will also discuss how Kindness and Compassion can help us hold our personal suffering and how we can live with meaning and purpose in our troubled and breathtakingly beautiful world.
Maintaining our Balance in a Shaky World: Psychological and Spiritual Practices that Foster Inner Peace
In our present world of surprises, we may find it difficult to find a footing of safety and security in ourselves or in society. Violence and disease seem to be the new normal.
In an age of anxiety like this one it is perfectly understandable that we fear the future and perhaps lose trust in the political, psychological, and spiritual sources that were reliable before. Likewise, we may lose our trust in our own inner resources.
In this topsy-turvy world we still have one another. That is our source of hope. Our only challenge is to trust it when all the evidence has become shaky. We can learn to do that, always as beginners and always as enthusiasts.
In this workshop we will have time and space to explore what we fear or trust. We will experience practices of ordinary and non-dual mindfulness that take us to deep awareness.