February 2017: Best Holistic and Entertaining Events in San Francisco Bay Area and Around





Streetcar Routine 10 Extended: Dance Workshop (W29)

Thursday, February 2, 2017 at 7:30 PM - 9 PM

Li's Wushu Academy
10268 Bandley Dr, Ste 107-B,
Cupertino, CA 95014

There are short-cuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them.
- Vicki Baum


Dance therapy is offering numerous benefits for physical, mental, and emotional health. Music itself can be a very powerful tool. It can affect our moods and our state of well-being by triggering memories and other emotional experiences. When dance or any movement is set to music, it can create a stress relieving, joyful and sometimes healing moment for those involved, as well as increasing/releasing endorphins in the brain.

Please join us for the dance movement therapy workshop in Cupertino, where we will explore different attributes of the emotional and physical well-being through set of the creative and fun exercises, mixed with the episodes, filled with free-form dancing.

Main benefits you may expect:

- Getting a good ability to express suppressed emotions
- Establishing a positive and rejuvenating connection with your body
- Improving general physical fitness and gross motor skills development
- Processing internal negative beliefs, improving confidence and self-esteem
- Encourages creativity and imagination
- Connecting others people on emotional level
- Creating a positive life outlook, addressing stressful life events and depressive episodes

Every workshop is different, and the facilitator will follow the flow, adjusting the list of the exercises and free-form dance activities to the created team spirit and atmosphere.

Important notes:

- No partner or previous dancing experience necessary.
- All ages and physical capabilities are welcome. You choose you own level of participation and involvement.
- Please try to be on time, as it is easier to “catch a wave” if you are present from the class beginning.
- Clothing: anything that would let you move freely.
- Shoes: dancing bare-feet is the best, but you can also use soft flat shoes. Please no outdoor shoes on the floor.
- There is plenty of parking near the studio. Follow the GPS guidance, however as soon as you turn to the parking lot from Bandley Drive, you need to drive around the building to find the Li's Wushu Academy Entrance at the back. There are no entrances from the front or sides of the building.

Workshop Facilitator: Tanya Pekker, LMFT

Cost: Recommended donation $15 (cash, at the door).


Shamanism Dance of the Deer Ceremony

Friday, February 3, 2017 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Pacific Cultural Center
1307 Seabright Ave
Santa Cruz, CA 95062

Join world-renowned shaman and healer Brant Secunda for a special evening of sacred celebration. Experience ancient ritual and dance your prayers into the altar of Mother Earth during this traditional shamanic ceremony.

This special community event is an opportunity to participate in indigenous ceremony, listen to ancient song and chanting, drum and rattle together, purify your mind and find vision for your life.
 
The Huichol Tribe

The Huichol (Wixaritari) are a small indigenous tribe of approximately 35,000, living in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico. They are considered one of the last cultures in North America to have maintained their pre-Columbian traditions unto the modern day.

Origins of the Deer Dance Ceremony

According to Huichol cosmology, the origins of this ceremony date back to the birth of the Sun. The dance is a reenactment of creation itself and honors our sacred relationship to the light. Kauyumari (The Magical Deer Spirit) is representative of our super-conscious mind and acts as an intermediary between our hearts and the spiritual world of nature.

Facilitator: Brant Secunda

Cost: $15 - $20


Intro to Self-Empowerment with Energy Healing

Saturday, February 4, 2017 at 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM PST

Reiki Angel Intuitive Arts
259 Meridian Ave Ste 9
San Jose, CA 95126

Feel scattered and need to have a few tools to get grounded and centered?

Want to have more physical vitality and mental clarity?

Have you been wanting to explore meditation and don't know where to begin?

Aeriol Ascher, CMT is a Metaphysical Minister and Energy Healing Master Teacher with decades of experience assisting clients to live more comfortable lives by increasing their body awareness, helping them hone their own intuition and offering gentle guidance.

In today's class Aeriol will lead you in a guided meditation and introduce you to the chakra system. You will learn how to filter and shield your energy body from negative energies. You will come away with healing tools you can apply to your daily energy practice immediately whether you are a practitioner or lay person.

Cost: $15


Meet Your Valentine Dance

Saturday, February 4, 2017 at 8:00 PM – 11:30 PM PST

Aloft Cupertino
10165 North De Anza Boulevard
Cupertino, CA 95014

Meet someone special in time for Valentine’s Day, dancing to your favorite hits, with DJ Mike. We recommend you wear something red for the occasion (optional).

Adults of all ages welcome. FUN Matchmaking Game, with prizes, makes it EASY to meet people!

Free parking underneath hotel or on street.

Cost: $15/advance (by Feb 3) or $20/door


The Art of Seduction and Communication - A Valentine's Workshop for Women

Sunday, February 5, 2017 at 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM PST

The Yoni Temple
6536 Telegraph Avenue
B204
Oakland, CA 94609

In time for Valentine's Day, join a small group of women to explore the art of seduction and communication. Learn how to inspire your lover, and create a sensual space for a sexy invitation. The art of communication is a powerful tool for letting your lover know what you really like. Not sure? We will use exercises to uncover our preferences and then learn simple techniques for expressing them. A woman who knows what she wants is sexy. Seduction begins with your relationship with your pleasure. Come explore in a safe and intimate group of women. There is no nudity in this workshop.

Workshop led by Ashley Apple, sexuality educator, yogini, alchemist, herbalist and pleasure seeker. For over 18 years she has studied human sexuality and traveled around the world studying different techniques for creating conscious sexual experiences. Her journey began in 1998 when she discovered the power of herbal aphrodisiacs and fell in love with holistic nutrition and superfood, herbal remedies. She created a line of herbal elixirs and began recording chocolate aphrodisiac recipes for her cookbook, The Kama Sutra Kitchen. She created the Juicy Living Course, an online video series that shares practical, secretive and technical information that help women get juicy, sexy and satisfied in their sex life. She teaches retreats and workshops all over the world with the intention of initiating women in the feminine arts and unlocking their sexual power.

Cost: $49


SF Cuddles - Cuddle Party!

Sunday, February 5, 2017 at 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM PST

San Francisco, CA 94121

What is a Cuddle Party?

Cuddle Party is a 3-hour workshop experience where participants engage in communication exercises, explore touch in a non-sexual space, experience personal exploration and intimacy, and have fun with like-minded people.

What do we do at a Cuddle Party?

We do two main things at Cuddle Parties:
1. Enjoy each other's touch. You can come and enjoy giving and receiving caring touch from other people who want to give and receive it.
2. Practice Consent. A major part of Cuddle Parties is learning how to ask for what you want and how to answer requests. Worried? Confused? Don't fret - we will teach, guide and help you practice how to do it.

Why is Cuddling important?

Nurturing and consensual loving touch is good for maintaining a healthy life, a strong nervous system and a balanced emotional state. One’s ability to connect with and develop greater trust in others is emphasized during the group exchanges during Cuddle Parties. Self-care is a cornerstone of the Cuddle Party experience.

Cost: $35/single; $60/couple


Will Meditation Make Me Boring?

Sunday, February 5, 2017 at 10 AM - 1 PM

East Bay Meditation Center
285 17th St,
Oakland, California 94612

Does strong equanimity make us boring and apathetic? Excitement, speed, and intense emotions and opinions can be highly pleasurable. So why did the Buddha teach the importance of Equanimity as the foundation for wise loving kindness, compassion, and empathetic joy? We'll explore dwelling in upekkha (equanimity) close and up front in this half day retreat for committed practitioners. Meditation, Dharma talks, and community dialogue. A ͞ committed practitioner͟ is one who does not need instructions in sitting or walking/movement meditation, but who already has an established practice of any kind of meditation that can be done in silence and, during the sitting meditation periods, in stillness.

Facilitator: Mushim Ikeda

Cost: Free (Donations encouraged)


Free SF Psychic Fair

Sunday, February 5 at 12-5PM

The Center SF
548 Fillmore St, San Francisco, California 94117

Join us and enter the portal to the otherworld- a variety of readers, a tea house and the magical space of The Center SF, all to help you find your own connection to wisdom from within and around.

Free admission // Hot Teas // Free Mini-Workshops // Great People

Cost: Free


Love Yourself Day

Monday, February 6, 2017 at 2:00 PM – 7:00 PM PST

Mindseed Soundstage
926 85th Ave
Stage A
Oakland, CA 94621

West Wind Artists & WuDang West Presents...

a day dedicated to loving yourself!

Love Yourself Day is Inspired by our ancestors. After a WuDang West Tai Ji class, the idea sparked that the answer is always love. We chose to honor Bob Marley, since this love day manifested to fall on his birthday and he promoted love across the world.

What the world needs now is love, sweet love, so West Wind Artists, WuDang West & friends have joined forces! We are offering a day of massage, qi gong, Chinese medicine, consultations, kung fu photo shoot, prizes, and a live Bob Marley birthday tribute by local Bay Area artists Shami Bey & The Charm! Djing by Dj Oracle Selassie. Veggie sushi by Roots Lounge; sake, tea & great eats on the menu. Limited capacity for an intimate gathering.

Flow

2pm- 5pm Health Specialists

Self-love qi gong, intimacy games, and partner massage by David Wei, WuDang West.
Chinese medicine: Ear acupuncture/NADA (Addiction, PTSD), herbal, food and nutraceutical consult, antioxidant screen, and BCA (Body Composition Analysis) by Najia Wei, CMT, LAc.
Chair massage by NHI Extern.

Hand Reflexology and more, by Melanic Vibrational Healing, a wellness consultant center specializing in Melanic, Emotional and Spiritual concerns. They also deliver medicinal cannabis and infused products to patients in Oakland and the East Bay.

Zodiac Love Readings

Thai Massage

5pm Love Mix, by Dj Oracle Selassie

6pm LIVE Music: Bob Marley Tribute, by Shami Bey & The Charm

Cost: $20


Magic Mirrors: Dance Workshop (W30)

Thursday, February 9, 2017 at 7:30 PM - 9 PM

Li's Wushu Academy
10268 Bandley Dr, Ste 107-B,
Cupertino, CA 95014

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who in this land is fairest of all?

- Brothers Grimm


Dance therapy is offering numerous benefits for physical, mental, and emotional health. Music itself can be a very powerful tool. It can affect our moods and our state of well-being by triggering memories and other emotional experiences. When dance or any movement is set to music, it can create a stress relieving, joyful and sometimes healing moment for those involved, as well as increasing/releasing endorphins in the brain.

Please join us for the dance movement therapy workshop in Cupertino, where we will explore different attributes of the emotional and physical well-being through set of the creative and fun exercises, mixed with the episodes, filled with free-form dancing.

Main benefits you may expect:

- Getting a good ability to express suppressed emotions
- Establishing a positive and rejuvenating connection with your body
- Improving general physical fitness and gross motor skills development
- Processing internal negative beliefs, improving confidence and self-esteem
- Encourages creativity and imagination
- Connecting others people on emotional level
- Creating a positive life outlook, addressing stressful life events and depressive episodes

Every workshop is different, and the facilitator will follow the flow, adjusting the list of the exercises and free-form dance activities to the created team spirit and atmosphere.

Important notes:

- No partner or previous dancing experience necessary.
- All ages and physical capabilities are welcome. You choose you own level of participation and involvement.
- Please try to be on time, as it is easier to “catch a wave” if you are present from the class beginning.
- Clothing: anything that would let you move freely.
- Shoes: dancing bare-feet is the best, but you can also use soft flat shoes. Please no outdoor shoes on the floor.
- There is plenty of parking near the studio. Follow the GPS guidance, however as soon as you turn to the parking lot from Bandley Drive, you need to drive around the building to find the Li's Wushu Academy Entrance at the back. There are no entrances from the front or sides of the building.

Workshop Facilitator: Tanya Pekker, LMFT

Cost: Recommended donation $15 (cash, at the door).


Mantra and Self: An Evening of Chant, Trance and Transformation

Friday, February 10, 2017 at 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM PST

California Institute of Integral Studies
1453 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

A musical offering devoted to experiencing the liberating qualities of sacred sound through the vitality of Sanskrit Mantra and Medicine Melodies.

"That by which one ponders secretly or contemplates inwardly, by which one becomes aware of not being different from the Supreme-That is Mantra" Abhinava Gupta

Shivananda Thomas Amelio is a founding member of Kripalu, and the president of the New York Open Center. He practiced and studied yogic disciplines and philosophy in India. While there, he edited the book Yoga: The Ultimate Spiritual Path, by Swami Rajarshi Muni. He teaches meditation and chanting in New York City. His latest meditation CD is Mantra Darshan.

Silvia Nakkach, MA, MMT, is a Grammy-nominated musician and a renowned vocal artist. She is the creator and leads the curriculum development of CIIS' Sound, Voice, and Music in the Healing Arts certificate program. A leading voice in the field of music in consciousness and shamanic practices. She is the director and founder of the international Vox Mundi School of the Voice, and the author of Free Your Voice.

Cost: $10


Your Relationship Renaissance Retreat - Connect with Tango

February 10-12, 2017 (Friday – Sunday)

Tannery Art Center
1010-1070 River Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Tango will inspire us to use our minds and bodies differently, exploring how you lead and follow, dynamics of connection and the challenge of learning new skills together. Tango is an energy-centered dance in which we can learn about subtle shifts and points of contact and expression. Work with non-verbal communication and physical closeness. Breath together, move together, and laugh.

No dance experience required.

Facilitators: Melissa Fritchle, Luis Garza & Devi Pride

Cost: $600 / couple


Valentine's Couples DISC Retreat

February 10 -12, 2017 (Friday – Sunday)

Monarch Cove Inn
620 El Salto Drive
Capitola, California, 95010, United States

DISCover your spouse's unique language using DISC Behavior and Communication assessment and tools. Find your personal strengths, then combine those strengths to form a solid union in your relationship. Build common ground, remember what you love about your mate. Learn to appreciate each other's differences as a compliment rather than conflict.

Agenda:
Friday
7p-9p Wine and Cheese Reception

Saturday
9a-noon Morning session - Individual Assessment and Discovery
Lunch break - Historic Village and Beach just steps away
2p-5p Afternoon session - Couples Focused
Date night - Short drive to Santa Cruz or Pacific Grove

Sunday
Free time

Cost: $595 / couple


Dancing with Difference

Saturday, February 11, 2017 at 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM PST

East Bay Meditation Center
285 17th St
Oakland, CA 94612

Dancing with Difference: Growth, Compassion, and Healing in Intimate Multi-cultural Relationships
Open to self-identified people of color, including biracial and multi-ethnic individuals of all gender identities, and sexual orientations, whether currently in a relationship or not. Also open to those whose parents (biologic or adoptive) were of a different race or ethnicity.

It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept and celebrate these differences. - Audre Lorde

Cradled in one culture, sandwiched between two cultures, straddling all three . . . la mestiza undergoes a struggle of flesh, a struggle of borders, an inner war. - Gloria Anzaldua

How do we sustain loving in intimate partnerships across racial and ethnic divisions? What gifts and opportunities, or wounds and challenges arise in these relationships? Using embodied spiritual practices, story-telling and movement, we will honor our differences, celebrate our humanity, and explore the transformative power of love and compassion.

Facilitator: Arisika Razak

Cost: Donations


Riding the Ecstasy - A Valentine's Workshop for Couples

Tuesday, February 14, 2017 at 7:15 PM – 9:30 PM PST

Aquarian Heart Center
4920 Telegraph Avenue
Oakland, CA 94609

This is a fun date night, out of the box option for Valentine's day! This class is packed with exercises and opportunities for you and your lover to connect deeply away from your daily routine.

In this workshop you will learn simple tools that allow you and your lover to slow down and create an easy ritual of connection that opens the heart. After expanding into intimacy with your partner we will explore moving our own sexual energy to experience different types of pleasure. We will practice feeling our partners energy. Then we will journey into conscious, intimate, pleasure producing states of love by riding the waves of ecstasy. Learn the simple tools for slowing down and speeding up in sex to create incredible pleasure that builds to epic orgasms.

There is no nudity during the class. Hopefully you get naked later at home and practice ;)

Workshop led by Ashley Apple

Cost: $95 - $150


Embracing the Beloved - Cacao Ceremony & Puja for Singles

Tuesday, February 14, 2017 at 7:00 PM – 11:00 PM PST

Oakland Hills
Oakland, CA 94605

Beloveds
This Valentine's Day, join us for for an evening of conscious connection with our yummy community of Tantrikas, opening to the Beloved residing in each of us. In this ceremony, we'll be calling Eros to work through us, stirring our sensual energies and opening together into a field of sacred loving. Using Tantrik practices to embody your sexuality while remaining aligned with the heart, we're inviting awakened singles to come celebrate our nature as sexual beings, initiating one another into a higher octave of authentic expression. This evening promises to be a safe space for you to connect and explore your own energies and desires, and a powerful opportunity to cast a love spell into the universe, calling your own sacred Beloved into your life.

Cacao
Our ceremonial medicine will be raw cacao, which opens and activates the heart, inviting us into deeper intimacy. Cacao has been used ceremonially by the Mayan, Aztec, and Olmec people for millennia, and today our cacao is grown by their indigenous descendants in Southern Belize. Drinking cacao directly into our heart space creates an alchemy for powerful intimacy to emerge.

Puja
Puja is the Sanskrit word for Worship. Drawing on Tantrik practice, we will enter into a Ritual of divine play between the masculine and the feminine. Anointing each other and calling forth our highest selves, we will embody Shiva and Shakti in their infinite dance of love and attraction. Our Puja will guide you to open your heart to receive the Beloved in us all, and to be witnessed in your heartfelt desire to call that precious being into your life.

Snuggles
Following the Puja, we will have time for relaxation and snuggles, ensuring everyone gets fully loved up this Valentines Day! This will be a clothing-on event, with no direct sexual contact, but sexual energy is more than welcome between enthusiastically consenting participants.

Is this for me?
Embracing the Beloved is a ceremony for singles (or a poly couple) to invoke the sacred in intimate connection. We're co-creating a safe container of like-minded souls for authentic union to blossom. This is a space where you can embody your full sensual radiance. It's an invitation into deeper intimacy.

Facilitators: Leslie Grace and Matt Sturm

Cost: $40


Valentine's Puja

Tuesday, February 14, 2017 from 6:30 PM to 10:00 PM

Oakland Hills, CA 94619

Celebrate Valentine's Day with the gift that keeps giving!  Come as an individual and meet fun people to connect with or joining in as a couple and take your intimacy and connection to the next level.

Sample the juicy delights Tantra has to offer. Tantalize your senses while getting high on energy itself exploring your heart, energy and a deeper connection with yourself and others. This is the perfect place to come and explore Tantra whether you're dipping your toes in for the first time or a seasoned pro!

Caroline Carrington's legendary Pujas are an interactive experience expanding connections, intimacy, and love. You are guided through a series of fun and playful exercises including sound, breath, energy and conscious touch and invited to choose a variety of partners through the evening. Each Puja Caroline creates includes new exercises for a unique experience every time. This event is LGBTQI positive and welcomes singles, couples, and triads to join in the fun.

Please bring some finger food to share in the potluck. Come dressed in something that makes you feel sacred and sexy

Cost:
$50 per person (Early Bird Super Saver)
$55 per person (Sexy Single)
$60 per person (Lucky Last Minute)
$65 per person at the door if tickets still available


PantheaCon: Pagans of All Ages and Kinds

February 17 – 20, 2017 (Thursday – Sunday)

Doubletree Hotel
2050 Gateway Place, San Jose CA

Join our many and varied spiritual traditions – Pagan, Wiccan, Norse, Druid, Egyptian, African
Diaspora, Ceremonial Magick, Reconstructionist, Indigenous, shamanic, spiritual and magical groups
in education and celebration. Topics include tarot, divination, goddesses and many others. Enjoy
musical performances, rituals, workshops, scholarly papers, slide shows and more.

We fill the whole hotel with 14 function rooms for events including 4 ballrooms with over 60
vendors of pagan, magical and earth oriented products along with open house parties that host more
events.

Cost: $40 for a full day, $20 for an evening only

Ayahuasca Ceremony - San Francisco Bay Area, CA

February 18 – 19, 2017 (Saturday – Sunday)

San Francisco Bay Area, CA

The main purpose of these ceremonies is to develop a deeper and more conscious relationship with the divine spirit, and to look for better and healthier ways to live and relate to self, family, and community. Therefore, it’s essential that you bring your own purposeful intent. We'll gather in small groups of 15 to 20 participants for each ceremony. Dates fill quickly.

Follow up information will be emailed to you once you've registered. Registration deposit is non-refundable.

Each participant will be asked to fill out a health form as part of their registration. Major health conditions, may require special attention. Certain drugs, herbs and medications have been found to be incompatible with ayahuasca. We've found ayahuascasafety.org a helpful site to review interaction safety guidelines. Give your system sufficient time to remove any incompatible substances from your body, before attending ceremony.

If you've been on anti-depressants recently, you'll need to have been off of them for at least 8 weeks before participating. Anti-hypertensive medications must also be completely out of your system. If you have a heart condition or chronic high-blood pressure, you cannot participate in ceremony. But feel free to contact us by phone or email in this regard. Our contact information is available at www.aya.guide.

Preparation for ceremonies: In seeking help, guidance, healing, and learning, establish a clear intention and purpose. It’s important to be in the best possible disposition for the event. There are some basic dietary restrictions to adhere to at least five days prior to the event.

Once you register, we'll send you materials on diet and best practices for preparing for the ceremony. If you don't receive a confirmation email immediately following registration, please contact us at ceremoney@aya.guide. Plan on arriving at the site the day of the event between 7:00 and 8;00 PM, but no earlier than 6:30 PM.

Cost: $250


The 2nd Annual Palo Alto Swing Dance

Saturday, February 25, 2017 at 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM PST

Terman Middle School Cafe
655 Arastradero Rd
Palo Alto, CA 94306

This is the 2nd Annual Palo Alto Swing Dance hosted by the Gunn High School Band & Orchestra Boosters. The dance will have live music for the entire event provided by the Gunn Jazz Bands. Anyone is welcome to attend and all proceeds will go to the Gunn High School music program!

Multiple ticket options are available! Add-ons include song dedications or even singing/performing with the jazz band! Each ticket includes group swing dance lessons with Nick and Melissa Enge, light food, and non-alcoholic drinks throughout the evening. Please print your ticket and bring it to the event.

No dancing experience necessary! A perfect date night or a night out to celebrate our wonderful community, students, and the arts together.

Tickets may be sold at the door if we are not sold out online.

Cost: $40