Spirituality Matters
Salt Cave Staying Open
by Steven Libowitz “Spirituality Matters” highlights two or three Santa Barbara area spiritual gatherings. Unusual themes and events with that something extra, especially newer ones looking for a boost in attendance, receive special attention. For consideration for inclusion in this column, email slibowitz@yahoo.com.
Accessing an Alternative to Anxiety
Bryce Lupoli leads in-person and virtual Sheng Zhen practices
Sheng Zhen meditation creates a deep state of inner peace
“S
heng Zhen means unconditional love in Chinese, and its purpose is to produce that within ourselves,” said Bryce Lupoli. “What that means practically is that Sheng Zhen helps us live with a quiet mind, a relaxed and healthy body, and an open heart.” Lupoli is one of only a few local teachers of the practice comprised of gentle, graceful, and healing movements and contemplations that stimulate the body’s life force energy (qi), producing a deep sense of inner-peace and well-being. Lupoli, who has been studying and more recently leading Sheng Zhen in town only since 2018, started reading about ancient wisdom at 16, when he was struck by existential depression. For the following eight years he unsuccessfully tried to use philosophy to think his way out of depression before spending five weeks in an ashram where he discovered the benefits of meditation. “Meditation fundamentally changed my life,” explained Lupoli, who talks in a slow, measured pace that in itself evokes calmness. “I was depressed for seven years, two of which I was suicidal. I thought I was a foundationally sad person. But through meditation, I discovered my depression was a product of attaching my sense of self to my personal story and my thoughts. When I detached from the stories, my mind was quiet, and love, meaning, joy, and peace automatically came flooding in.” Seeking a movement practice that could help integrate the stillness of his meditation practice into much more dynamic everyday life and also heal a serious auto-immune disease 19 – 26 March 2020
that had resulted in joint pain, Lupoli came across Sheng Zhen, and was instantly drawn to the practice that combines Qi Gong-style moving and non-moving meditation. He immediately attended a 36-day Sheng Zhen retreat with the practice’s founder, Master Li Junfeng, who had previously achieved international fame as a popular film actor, action director and the coach of the Beijing Wushu team. Soon after, Lupoli started teaching, with a desire to spread the practice to his friends, family and community. “Sheng Zhen is the most accessible meditation I’ve ever come across,” Lupoli explained, adding that the aspect makes it perfect for those who are suffering but think they can’t sit still or quiet their minds. “The body acts as a portal – when it relaxes, the mind is able to relax into a state of quietude. We do the rhythmic, smooth motions and then pause in still meditation, and the quietude remains.” Sheng Zhen differs from Qi Gong or Tai Chi because it teaches that to move well is a good thing, to feel chi in the body is also good, but not so important as to live with love and peace, Lupoli said. “Master Li – who comes from China and has extensive experience in Qi Gong – told me that those practices are wonderful but sometimes the teachers never speak about or seek to embody love, even though the mastery of any arts or practice inevitably results in love.” Lupoli recently returned to town and started teaching Sheng Zhen regularly at Yoga Soup and other locations around town. Then the situation with the coronavirus intensified. He decided to both broaden the practice
and make it available online to help alleviate the high level of anxiety, sleeplessness and even panic many people are experiencing in dealing with or imagining the extent of the crisis. “Sheng Zhen is a specific, proven means for gathering perspective and peace and strength and love within oneself, and thereby becoming a seed for those qualities that can spread to one’s family and community,” he noted. “I wanted to bring it to the community, because we are social creatures who derive strength and encouragement from being around each other. Meeting with others who value and embody peace and loving-kindness helps these qualities bloom within us, too.” Santa Barbara locals can practice together with the sun, ocean, wind, and sand as a backdrop in person at Lookout Park (aka Summerland Beach) from 5:15-6:15 pm on Fridays, and 10-11 am on Sundays, beginning this week. For those who are unable to attend in person, or want to stay sheltered at home, he’s also offering half-hour sessions every day save for Fridays, either at 5 pm or 10 am on the video conferencing platform Zoom (https://us04web.zoom. us/j/4927511554). All of the classes are free. Lupoli also encourages those who have a more formal practice such as prayer, deep breathing, yoga, or a different form of meditation to get deeper as the days grow darker. “I encourage people to find whatever their practice is, and make a commitment to do it, and with the community. It’s not about a specific practice, but a way of being.” (For more information about Sheng Zhen, visit https://shengzhen.org. For Meetup details, visit https:// www.meetup.com/Sheng-ZhenMeditation-of-Santa-Barbara.)
• The Voice of the Village •
Salt, which bills itself as the largest underground crystal salt cave in North America, is not ready to close its cave nor its doors, as the boutique features pink Himalayan salt in crystal cave rooms, massage and facial treatments, and unique products made in Santa Barbara for the home, body, and cooking. “We’re still open and everything is still happening,” said Chava Logan, general manager of Salt Cave which has graced downtown Santa Barbara since 2012. Cave sessions, however, are limited to just 10 people per hourly session to maintain mandated social distancing, and Logan explained that the salt air is pumped in, and that the stuff salt is both antibacterial and antiviral. Salt is also keeping its workshops going, although a few of the teachers have called in cancellations. Sunday’s Yin Yoga, Chakra Meditation & Sound Healing session, led by Susan Rae, works to open up a potent meditative awareness of breath, deep listening, and witnessing of sensations through longer, passive holds. The workshop uses ancient healing techniques to create a deeper connection between consciousness and the spiritual realms. The 9:30-10:30 am session is followed later in the afternoon by a 4:30-5:30 pm Sound Healing Experience with Phil Schwartz. On Monday, March 23, a Slow Flow with Sound Healing workshop from Christine Fronterotta aims to have participants enjoy mindful, conscious breath and movement, as physical postures become fused with inspired teaching to create a soulful motion. Singing bowls and other healing instruments are played for a longer Savasana, to offer vibrations of restoration and healing via sound waves, and aid in meditative practice for the 5:30-6:30 pm session.
Soup’s Off at Downtown Studio
“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 the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in… But our mandate to serve the Santa Barbara community perversely demands we do just that.” Ellner stressed that Yoga Soup wasn’t taking the action lightly. “It’s during unnerving times that Yoga Soup has felt most useful in
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