Events
May 1: May Day Full Moon Meditation and Sound Bath, with Peter Moreno
About: May Day marks the halfway point between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Celebrate by joining MHP teacher Peter Moreno for a guided meditation practice and soothing sound bath with crystal bowls, bells, and – for the first time – a crystal harp and large vibration bowl stand. Please notify Peter by noon on May 1 if you plan to attend by calling 805-453-1813.
When: Friday, May 1, 7-8 p.m.
Where: Santa Barbara Middle School, Lotus Theater, 1321 Alameda Padre Serra. Follow the Mindful Heart Programs signs.
Donate: $15 suggested donation.
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May 2: Awake Awareness, Beginner’s Mind Series, Part 4, with Radhule Weininger and Harrison Heyl
We are wrapping up our four-part Beginner’s Mind series with an exploration of the benefits of Awake Awareness meditation practices. Attendance at other classes held in this series is not required. Here are the details:
About: As you settle into Awake Awareness, you will find that it is not you who is practicing but awareness itself moving through you. We each carry within us an open, luminous awareness that is present before thought, beneath worry, and wider than any passing storm. We will explore connections between ancient Mahamudra and Dzogchen traditions and contemporary non-dual practices as interpreted by Loch Kelly, John Makransky, and the late Daniel Brown. Through Awake Awareness practices — brief, direct invitations into the sky behind the clouds of our ordinary mind — we learn to recognize the spacious, warm ground of being that is always present. The class will feature instruction, guided meditation practices, and group discussion. Whether you are a seasoned meditator or new to practice, these teachings will meet you where you are.
When: Saturday, May 2, 1-5 p.m.
Where: Santa Barbara Middle School, Lotus Theater, 1321 Alameda Padre Serra, or via Zoom.
Enroll: Register for the class and receive Zoom instructions if joining remotely.
Donate: $30 suggested donation in person or via our website. A refreshment break will be served.
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Online Retreat: Compassionate Awareness, with Radhule Weininger and Special Guest Jessica Morey
About: Through guided meditation, teaching, and reflection, Radhule and Jessica will explore how compassionate awareness opens the door to inner freedom.
When: Saturday, May 16, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. PDT/1-4 p.m. EDT
Where: Online only via Zoom
Enroll: Register here to receive Zoom instructions
Donate: $30 suggested donation via the MHP website
Lessons and Benefits: Participants will:
Be guided in self-compassion and awareness meditations
Obtain tools for working with difficult emotions
Gain a felt sense of inner safety, support, spaciousness, and ease
Receive resources for continuing practice after the retreat
Radhule and Jessica have over 70 years of combined meditation practice and teaching experience. Jessica is an Insight Meditation-trained teacher and a contemplative coach who has studied under John Makransky. She is a co-founder of and lead teacher with Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (www.iBme.info). She has a BA in Environmental Engineering and master’s degrees in Sustainable Development and International Affairs.
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May 30: A Day on the Land at the Sedgwick Reserve
Deep Resilience 2.0: Remembering Who We Really Are
About: Spend a day at the magical Sedgwick Reserve to connect with nature and your deep inner resilience to remember who you really are – a luminous being. This popular retreat is a rare opportunity to visit the reserve, a UCSB research facility that is only accessible to the public on a limited basis. The day will feature an introductory lecture, guided meditations, guidance on sit-spot practices, outdoor time on the reserve for a nature-connection vision quest, and group/circle discussion. MHP faculty will include Michael Kearney, Radhule Weininger, Andrew Symth, Miranda Field, Karen O’Hara, and special guests.
When: Saturday, May 30, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Where: Sedgwick Reserve, UCSB research facility and grounds, Santa Ynez Valley
Enroll: Register here to reserve your spot and receive driving directions. Contact us for ride-sharing options. The reserve is about one hour from Santa Barbara via San Marcos Pass. Class size is capped at 30 registrants. There is not a Zoom option.
Fee: $70 for the day payable by cash, check, or invoice. Please do not use the Donate on our website for this fee-based retreat. Contact us to inquire about scholarships. Refreshment breaks will be provided. Participants will bring their own lunch.
Questions? Write to us mindfulheartprograms@gmail.com
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New! June 20 Retreat With Special Guest Donald Rothberg, Ph.D.
Loving Kindness and Developing A Field of Care and Compassion, with Donald Rothberg and Radhule Weininger
About: We will explore two powerful resources to help us live with care, kindness, and compassion – for ourselves and for others – during this day-long retreat. We’ll develop loving kindness (metta), both as a meditation practice and as integrated in daily life, learning especially to manifest a center of radiating warmth and kindness. We’ll also work with practices to develop a field of care and compassion for ourselves and our world. In both practices, we’ll look into what works best for each person attending. The retreat will include guided and silent meditations, short talks, and group discussion.
When: Saturday, June 20, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Where: Santa Barbara Middle School, Lotus Theater, 1321 Alameda Padre Serra, or via Zoom
Enroll: Register for the class and receive Zoom instructions if attending remotely.
Donate: Suggested donation $70 in person or via our website. MHP will provide two refreshment breaks. Participants are asked to bring their own lunch. The room has chairs for everyone. There is a limited supply of cushions and blankets; you may want to bring your own.
About Donald Rothberg, Ph.D.
Dr. Rothberg is a leading teacher and writer on meditation, the intersection of psychology and spirituality, and socially engaged spiritual practice. He has taught and practiced Buddhist meditation since 1976. His teaching and trainings provide new ways of connecting inner and outer transformation. He is a member of the Teacher's Council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in the San Francisco Bay Area, a guiding teacher for the Marin Sangha, and a regular teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, CA, Southern Dharma Retreat Center in North Carolina, the Louisville Vipassana Community, InsightLA, and New York Insight. He is the author of The Engaged Spiritual Life: A Buddhist Approach to Transforming Ourselves and the World.
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.