Meditation & Movement, Inspiratia’s meditation sangha, offers weekly, monthly, and seasonal somatic meditation and movement classes and retreats at the Inspiratia sanctuary in Santa Barbara, CA and Aspen-Snowmass, CO.
Weekly Meditation & Movement Classes
Thursday morning meditation & movement Classes in Santa Barbara, CA.
Grounded in presence and self-exploration, we play in the field of awareness and welcome another day together.
When: 7-9am (Two sessions: 7:00am and 8:00am start times. Come for one or both.)
What to expect: Embodied practices of guided meditation and movement in the temple space and outdoors with periods of complete stillness and silence. Ending with individual sharing and witnessing of experience.
Register: Check our calendar page to register for upcoming classes and events.
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This is a community event offered by sliding scale donation. The suggested amount is $15, however we do not want it to be cost prohibitive to anyone. All are welcome, no experience is necessary, and we'd love to have you join us.
All profits from Inspiratia programs are donated to organizations supporting Earth regeneration.
What is NOBLE SILENCE?
"The practice of Noble Silence means that we refrain from talking, gesturing, writing to one another, and even making eye contact with one another, in order to give each other a wonderful and rare gift. This is the gift of allowing each other to experience the joy and contentment of our lives in a new way – truly being, truly together, truly being together. The practitioners at the retreat form a community, and Noble Silence gives us the opportunity to get to know one another in a very different, new way. Instead of asking, “Hi, what’s your name? What do you do? Where do you live? What movies have you seen lately?” we sit, walk, eat, and work together, side by side, in respectful and loving silence.
When the community practices together harmoniously, there is a quality of Noble Silence that feels like peaceful ripening. Standing under a fruit tree, we know that the apple or pear or persimmon above our head is ripening in the sunshine, but we can’t see or hear it ripening because its maturation and sweetening is happening slowly and invisibly. When we practice Noble Silence in this manner, we give ourselves and each other the opportunity to deeply experience the present moment. If we’re always talking, always interacting with other people, always thinking about what we need to do, usually we’re running on habit energy.
The practice of Noble Silence is a gift of creative spaciousness for ourselves and others. In this human silence, we can bloom and ripen very beautifully. We might suddenly hear with great poignancy the buzzing wings of the hummingbirds at the feeder, or the sound of water running in the kitchen as lunch is being prepared for us. We might smell and feel things we never noticed before. When we are quiet we become more receptive to everything around us and inside us. We have the chance to learn new things in a fresh way, to experience our genuine Self."
For additional meditation opportunities, we recommend our teacher Marlies Cocheret’s weekly online guided meditation here.
Meet Our Teachers
TIMOTHY (TEO) TILLMAN, MA, CHT is a Somatic Psychotherapist, Hakomi Trainer, Somatic Educator, Meditation Teacher, and Founder of the FireTenders Men’s Movement with over 25 years experience in his field. He holds a B.S. in physical therapy and an M.A. in clinical and somatic psychology. In his years as a physical therapist, bodyworker, and somatic psychologist he experienced first-hand the connections between body, mind, and emotions. Today Timothy draws on personal and professional experience to provide a fresh mindfulness-based and embodied approach, guiding individuals toward self-inquiry and freedom.
LAURA TOWNE is a Santa Barbara native who is delighted to share the practices of yoga, meditation, and edgu with her hometown. She holds an MFA in Writing & Consciousness from California Institute of Integral Studies as well as a BA in Language Studies from UC Santa Cruz. She received her certification in hatha yoga at a Sivananda ashram in 2010 and has practiced meditation for a decade.
MEG WEST meditated for the first time in 2003 at a 10 day Vipassana retreat, where she recognized the importance of sitting every morning before starting her busy days as a Landscape Architect in Santa Barbara. After experimenting with many different types of meditation, she found the Inspiratia meditation sangha, and had a breakthrough release that deepened her meditation experience greatly, and inspired her to practice more diligently. She currently lives in a quiet cabin in the woods, where she is writing a TV show about forgiveness and working on her carpentry skills.
