WRITING YOURSELF HOME

Writing & Meditation Workshops & Retreats

with Kimberley Snow & Barry Spacks

July 29-31, 2011
Writing & Meditation Weekend Retreat
Mission Renewal Center, Old Mission, SB
register: retreats@sboldmission.org

Open to everyone, from beginners to advanced writers, from new to seasoned meditators, the retreat will focus on meditation as a support for writing and writing as a means to enhance spiritual practice and personal growth.

Techniques presented can be used to energize efforts in all forms from journaling and memoir through poetry and fiction. Past participants have confirmed that there is a great need for the power of meditation to enter their lives, not only as a cure for blockage or a way to enhance productivity, but as a daily orientation toward genuine happiness and more authentic creativity. They also report that writing in a group fosters fearlessness and creativity while sharpening critical and editing abilities both during the workshop and afterwards at their desks at home.

Meditation and writing exercises will be included in each session with feedback invited. Throughout the weekend's sessions, Kimberley & Barry will facilitate wide-ranging discussions concerning meditation and writing and their mutually supportive powers.

The meditations, led by Kimberley, will include Calm Abiding to cultivate stability, relaxation, and awareness; Contemplation to integrate theory into practice; and Loving Kindness to generate love and compassion. While these meditations come from the Buddhist tradition, their benefits are available to everyone and one needn't be a Buddhist to make good use of them.

Barry Spacks, the first Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara and author of two novels, numerous stories and ten volumes of poetry, has taught Poetry as Memoir for many years in the College of Creative Studies at UCSB as well as various poetry writing workshops.  www.barryspacks.net    

Kimberley Snow, PhD, prize-winning playwright and author of the memoir In Buddha’s Kitchen, as well as Writing Yourself Home and Keys to the Open Gate, taught writing at UCSB for many years and has given a number of workshops on writing memoir. Since 2007, she has been the Program Director for the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies headed by B. Alan Wallace.  It Changes, her novel will be forthcoming from World Parade Books in November of 2011.
www.writingyourselfhome.net
www.snowlight.com

 

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ARCHIVED MATERIAL:

April 8-10, Meditation & Poetry
(April is National Poetry Month, after all)
weekend writing & meditating retreat
Mission Renewal Center, Old Mission, SB.
register: retreats@sboldmission.org

Meditation for Writers
Day Long Workshop
with Barry Spacks & Kimberley Snow
Nov 6, 2010
9:30 am to 4:30 pm

Upstairs Blue Agave, 20 E Cota St, Santa Barbara, CA
$80 - Blue Agave lunch included

The great success of our recent Meditation & Memoir retreat at the Old Mission assured us that there's a need for the power of meditation to enter the lives of many writers, not only as a cure for blockage or a way to enhance productivity, but as a daily orientation toward genuine happiness and more authentic creativity.

We're experimenting next with a one-day gathering of limited size in the second floor lounge of one of Santa Barbara's premier restaurants during its off-hours. At the severely reduced total price of $80, the day includes meditation instruction & practice, writing in any and all genres with critical response, passionate support for the value of meditation as part of a life focused on art-making, and a fabulous lunch all paid including tax and tip.

The day will include writing, wide-ranging discussions, and meditations designed to cultivate stability, relaxation, and clarity as well as fostering compassion and loving kindness. The workshop is open to everyone, from beginning to advanced writers, from new to seasoned meditators.

Memoir & Meditation Weekend Writing Retreat
With Barry Spacks & Kimberley Snow

August 20 - 22, 2010, Santa Barbara,

Mission Renewal Center, Old Mission, Santa Barbara

The retreat will focus on how to use meditation as a support for writing and on writing as a means to enhance spiritual practice and personal growth. Although the retreat will specifically focus on memoir, the techniques  presented can be used to enhance many forms of writing. This retreat is open to everyone, from beginners  to advanced writers, from new to seasoned meditators.

After a general introduction to memoir writing in various genres by both presenters, Barry will lead a hands-on poetry workshop dealing with personal history.

Kimberley will lead a workshop on memoir writing drawing on playwrighting and other fictional techniques.

Both Kimberley & Barry will facilitate wide-ranging discussions of both meditation and writing and their mutually supportive powers.

The meditations, which will be included in every session, will be led by Kimberley, and include Calm Abiding to cultivate stability, relaxation, and awareness; tonglen (taking and sending) to generate compassion; and loving kindness. While these meditations are from the Buddhist tradition, their benefits are available to everyone and one doesn't have to be a Buddhist to make good use of them.

Barry Spacks, the first Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara and author of two novels, numerous stories and ten volumes of poetry, has taught Poetry as Memoir for many years in the College of Creative Studies at UCSB as well as at various poetry writing workshops.  www.barryspacks.net

Kimberley Snow, PhD, author of the memoir In Buddha's Kitchen as well as Writing Yourself Home, and Keys to the Open Gate, taught writing at UCSB for many years and has given a number of workshops on writing memoir. She is also a prize-winning playwright.  Since 2007, she has been the Program Director for the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies headed by B. Alan Wallace, and has coordinated numerous SBI retreats at the Mission Renewal Center and has also offered spiritual teachings and guided meditations at various events.

www.snowlight.com
www.writingyourselfhome.net

Snow-Spacks: http://www.snowcrest.net/ksnow/

Registration starts at 2 pm on Friday.  Retreat begins with welcome and orientation at 5:00 pm, dinner at 6:00 pm and ends on Sunday with lunch. Cost: $200 per person shared / $225 private room / $150 commuter / $240 private bath (limited)

This event is sponsored by the Mission Renewal Center, Old Mission, SB

* * Writer’s Special * * - Extra nights at $60/person/night includes breakfast and lunch  

REGISTRATION FORM for “Memoir & Meditation” August 20-22, 2010 Mission Renewal Center, 2201 Laguna Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93105      805-682-4713, x133    email: retreats@sboldmission.org or On-line registration at www.santabarbaramission.org   Name(s):                                                                                                                                   Address:                                                                                                                                   City/State/Zip:                                                                           Phone:                                               E-mail:                                                                                                                                                   Single ____   Double ____   Commuter ____   Private Bath ____      Roommate requested:                                                 # of extra nights requested _____   A $50.00 non-refundable deposit per person is required to secure your place at this event.

 

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