Classes and Workshops for Adults

CSD Fall/Winter 2010 Classes

Applied UU Buddhism

Led by Lynnette Delgado and Barbara Seabridge
Six Wednesdays, September 15-October 20, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Suggested fee
For more information and to register call Lynnette Delgado (510) 799-0747

These classes are being offered in response to several requests for a second Applied UU Buddhism Sangha at UUCB.  Though you may sign up for this course with no commitment to continue after it ends, it is possible that some participants will want to form an ongoing group.

We will read a few assigned pages of Jack Kornfield’s The Wise Heart in advance of each class. Each session will begin with a five minute meditation followed by brief check ins. Then we will share our reflections on the reading, calling attention to passages especially meaningful or problematic for us. As we discuss the relevance of our assigned reading to our lives we may comment on the relevance of other Buddhist teachings and UU Principles to our experiences and choices.  We will aim to allow time for all who wish to share their insights or dilemmas. Though we may give supportive feedback, we will not give unsolicited advice. Each meeting will end with a fifteen minute meditation. Class members will be encouraged to meditate daily. This process of exploration and meditation in community can foster deepening awareness and increased mindfulness and compassion.

Lynnette Delgado has been a UU for most of her life. As a UUCB member she heads UUCB's Caring Circle and Center for Spiritual Development.  She studied social change and the evolution of consciousness while earning an MA.  She became interested in learning about various kinds of Buddhism twenty years ago. She has been most drawn to Thich Nhat Hanh's form of Zen and Vipassana. She meditates regularly and has led UUCB’s Applied UU Buddhism Sangha for the past five years.

Barbara Seabridge (Ph.D in Clinical Psychology) trained and worked as a psychotherapist in Massachusetts and Minnesota before retiring to Northern California.  Here she has resumed and deepened Buddhist meditation practices influenced by Vipassana, Zen, and Tibetan trainings.  “Applying Buddhist psychology can help us clear our minds, open our hearts, and inquire deeply into who and what we are. More space for weeping, dance, and laughter too.”

Study Group on Personal Myth and the Sacred

Led by Richard Stromer
Third Wednesday of each month:  September 15, 2010 – May 18, 2011, 7:00 –9:00 p.m.
Suggested fee:
For information, contact Richard Stromer
To register, call Martha Helming (510) 528-3417

Continuing the exploration of personal myth begun in previous classes, this monthly study group will expand our study of the mythic nature of the human experience. We’ll continue considering how stories from the world’s religions and wisdom traditions mirror our own experience of sacredness, as well as the role played by dreams and synchronicities in shaping our relationship with the holy. Expanding our use of shared reflection, we will deepen our individual and communal relationship to sacred dimensions of our myths. This year we will study Campbell’s original “Power of Myth” PBS series. This study group is open to people who have taken Dr. Stromer’s prior classes on personal sacred myth, or by his permission.

The Joy of Writing: Enhance Your Writing Pleasure

Led by Lynn Hammond, Ph.D.
Saturday, October 2, 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m., Safir Room
Bring a bag lunch. Coffee and tea will be provided.
Suggested fee: .00
To register, please make out a check to UUCB & send by September 25 to:  Lynn Hammond, Box 6146, Albany, CA 94706

Spark your creativity. Enjoy writing and listening to others' writing. Leave inspired to write more. Treat yourself to creative reminiscing about people and/or events that have shaped your life. How have they helped you become who you are and how you think? Who needs to be revisited from a new perspective? How do these recollections of things past affect your thoughts about the years ahead?

Lynn Hammond, PhD, has taught writing and literature for over 30 years at colleges and universities around the country. She helped create the Bard Writing and Thinking Institute in New York, which is dedicated to revolutionizing the teaching of composition so that students experience writing as the joyful and creative act that it truly is. Lynn has been a member of this church for 12 years and has published some of her own ruminations

Power of Myth at the Movies IV: The Dance of Light and Shadow

Led by Richard Stromer
First Tuesday of each month: October 5, 2010 - May 3, 2011, 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m., Safir Room
Suggested fee: .00 for series, .50 per session
For information, contact Richard Stromer (510 682-6302
To register contact Martha Helming (510) 524-2858

Cinema is a powerful and captivating medium for exploring the mythic, archetypal nature of our experience as human beings.  As we did over the past three years, this class will continue exploring a rich variety of mythic themes and archetypal characters from the world of film.  In addition, this series will also focus on the perennial dance of light and shadow, of joy and sorrow in the experience of being human.

Discussions will include questions on how the mythic dimension of each of these films relates to the collective mythologies of our society and culture, as well as to the development of our personal myths. Some of the archetypes we will explore in this series are the Reluctant Hero, the Eternal Youth, the Flawed Evangelist, and the Soulful Clown.  We will also explore such perennial mythic themes as relationship between love and grief, the passions of family life, and the rewards and costs of the struggle for autonomy.

The Movies:

October 5:  Like Water for Chocolate, November 2:  The Hours, December 7:  Finding Neverland, January 4:  The Apostle

February 1:  Shadowlands, March 1:  La Strada, April 5:  Schindler's List, May 3:  Tender Mercies

Awakening the Dreamer Symposium

Led by Marilee Baccich and Trish Clifford 
Saturday, October 23, 1:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Suggested fee:
For more information and to register, call Marilee Baccick (510) 526-8944 or (510) 207-9934

The Awakening the Dreamer Symposium addresses the environmental, social and political situation stressing our planet earth. It encourages us to look at where we have come from, our situation now, and what we can each do to address our global problems.  The Symposium is an interactive event inspiring individuals and groups to do what they can to make a difference within the context of their own interests and passions.  It is a non-partisan, non-political, non-proselytizing multimedia event.

The next 4-10 years are pivotal in changing the way we live on our planet earth.  We have already lost many species, over- fished the oceans, destroyed vast stretches of rainforest and stretched the capacity of the earth to regenerate due to our exponential population growth.

In the past we have seen sustainability, social justice and spiritual fulfillment as three different issues.  However, the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium illustrates in an inspiring way that each affects the other.   The Symposium can serve as a means to bring a common goal to a congregation that wants to make a difference.

Marilee Baccich, M.Div. is an interfaith minister and spiritual director.  She shares the goal of the Awakening the Dreamer organization: to create a socially just, environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling world.   Rev. Baccich has recently spent 4 1/2 years doing hurricane relief work in New Orleans and is now focusing her efforts on the global need to live differently on this earth.

Trish Clifford is an environmental educator, urban homesteader and Feldenkrais bodywork practitioner. She has been facilitating Awakening the Dreamer Symposiums for 3 years and is currently involved in building a Transition Town in Richmond to build community to re-localize all the elements needed for us to thrive in a world increasingly challenged by resource scarcity, climate change and environmental injustice.