Santa Barbara Zen Center

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Santa Barbara Zen Center

The Santa Barbara Zen Center (formerly the Santa Barbara Zen Group) consists of students from various Go to our webpage: www.santabarbarazencenter.org!

ALL IN PERSON SERVICES SUSPENDED DURING COVID...But please join us online. On Sunday mornings there is zazen (sitting meditation) and a short service at Hospice Santa Barbara (Administrative Offices) at:
2050 Alameda Padre Serra, Ste. 100 -
Santa Barbara, California 93103

Our mailing address is: Santa Barbara Zen Center P.O. Box 1331 Santa Barbara, CA 93102

Our Sunday morning schedule

is as follows:

9:00 AM Zazen
9:30 AM Walking Meditation
9:40 AM Zazen
10:10 AM Sutra Service

Please arrive a bit early to get settled or if you desire some beginning instructions. On the third Sunday of each month, zazen and the sutra service are followed by tea and conversation.

06/24/2026

This Sunday: "discomfort and sangha" with Sōgen Charles Billingsley.

Began formal Buddhist practice in 2007 with Sokai Osho and Joshu Sasaki Roshi. Ordained in 2014 after accepting Sokai's request to be his successor, Ordained in Kyoto 2017, as a disciple of Noritake Shunnan Roshi, eventually living at Reiun-in, returning to Arizona in 2018. Currently the Director at Haku-un-ji Zen Center in Tempe, Arizona

All are welcome — no experience necessary.

Join in person or on Zoom — link in bio.

Afterwards, we’d like to invite everyone to stay for tea and refreshments. Please feel free to bring something to share.

Sunday, 10:00 AM
Santa Barbara Hospice
2050 Alameda Padre Serra, Unit 100

06/17/2026

This Sunday: "Altar Flower Arranging" with Susan Tova.

Enjoy a focused time with the beauty and balance of flower arranging. See an Altar piece unfold in your hands with plants in various stages of their life cycle. Surprise yourself with the shapes/colors/fragrances you discover. We will provide some flower and foliage choices, a few glass vases, and tea afterwards.

Consider bringing:
- Your own vase/container/tray, so you can take your arrangement home intact (some protocols request that the bouquet be smaller than the Altar's Buddha)
- Foliage from your own garden
- Clippers/gloves/apron
- Hat/sunscreen/snack to share

Meet on Sunday, June 21 at 1:00 pm.

Please RSVP to Susan at [email protected] for the location's address.

— Susan Tova

06/03/2026

This Sunday: "Community Qigong & TaiChi" with Vu Nguyen.

Vu Nguyen is honored to have the opportunity of introducing the arts of Qi Gong and Tai Chi to the Santa Barbara Zen Center and the greater Santa Barbara community. Please join us for a gentle, healing class suitable for all levels of practice. His approach emphasizes entering "Qi Gong mode" through softening and simplicity — strengthening the bones, filling the abdomen, emptying the chest, and quieting the mind (Tao Te Ching, Chapter 3). His guidance supports practitioners of all levels in cultivating harmony of body and mind through posture, breath, and mindful awareness. He teaches moving (Dao Yin), standing (Zhan Zhuang), and meditative (Nei Gong) forms of Qi Gong, drawing inspiration from Master Wing Cheung. In Tai Chi, his teaching is shaped by the teachings of Master Amin Wu and Master Wong Kiew Kit. Since 2021, Vu has devoted more than 3,000 hours to teaching Qi Gong and Tai Chi. One of the most meaningful parts of his path has been offering gentle movement and mindfulness to PTSD combat veterans and the staff at Tibor Rubin VA Hospital in Long Beach, California. In 2025, Vu was voted "Best of Ojai" in the Martial Arts category by the Ojai Valley News. This class is held outside in the fresh air and nature at Santa Barbara Hospice, so please bring layers. Tea and snacks served afterwards. Suggested donation $10.

All are welcome — no experience necessary.

Join in person or on Zoom — link in bio.

Sunday, 10:00 AM
Santa Barbara Hospice
2050 Alameda Padre Serra, Unit 100

05/27/2026

This Sunday: "Beyond The Sound Bath" with Bob Sedivy.

Join us for an immersive, hands-on experience where you become part of the music. Participants will have the opportunity to play gongs, Tibetan bells and bowls, tingshas, shakers, rattles, and more together, as a group. We'll also explore placing Tibetan bowls directly on the body to feel sound vibrations on a deep, cellular level. Unlike a traditional sound bath where participants are passive participants, this is an interactive journey.

We will end our gathering with tea and treats to share and reflect on the effects of the sounds on our bodies, as well as our individual and shared experiences. Feel free to bring your own instruments though it's not required.

All are welcome — no experience necessary.

Join in person or on Zoom — link in bio.

Sunday, 10:00 AM
Santa Barbara Hospice
2050 Alameda Padre Serra, Unit 100

05/20/2026

This Sunday: "Dharma Tears" with Meido Barbara Anderson.

Meido Barbara Anderson is the Resident Guiding Teacher at O-An Zendo. She began practicing meditation in 1967 soon after receiving her doctorate in philosophy from Penn State University.

She began her formal study and practice of Zen with the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, receiving the Five Precepts from him in 1994. Thereafter, she studied and practiced in the Soto and Rinzai styles with Dai-en Bennage NiOsho, abbess of Mt. Equity Zen Center; Genro Lee Milton Sensei, abbot of Endless Mountain Zendo, and Jiro Andy Afable Osho of Early Light Zendo.

In 2010 she received the Ten Grave Buddhist Precepts from her guiding teacher Shoho Michael Newhall, abbot of Jikoji and Dharma heir of Kobun Chino Roshi. She was ordained as a Zen priest in 2011, and transmitted to become a Dharma heir in the Cloud Phoenix lineage in 2019 by Shoho Michael Newhall.

All are welcome — no experience necessary.

Join in person or on Zoom — link in bio.

Afterwards, we’d like to invite everyone to stay for tea and refreshments. Please feel free to bring something to share.

Sunday, 10:00 AM
Santa Barbara Hospice
2050 Alameda Padre Serra, Unit 100

05/06/2026

This Sunday: a dharma talk with Alan Eustace.

Alan, a native of Ireland, now living in Oakland, California, was drawn to Zen by its message of intrinsic wholeness, its Taoist roots, and its simplicity. He began zazen practice at home in the mid 1990s, and started formal Zen practice in 1999. He subsequently practiced for several years in the Tibetan Buddhist Gelug tradition under Panchen Otrul Rinpoche with whom he formally took refuge/jukai in 2000. He traveled to hear teachings by HH the Dalai Lama in India and Europe during this period, and also acted as the Buddhist representative for various Irish interfaith gatherings. He returned to formal Zen practice in 2014, connected with Tim Burkett in 2017, and was ordained as a priest by Tim in 2019. He acted as Shuso for the 2023 winter practice period.

Alan is committed to making Zen practice accessible to all, and to bringing it to life in the everyday. In attunement with this, he and his partner Barbara have chosen to raise and home-educate their 2 children following an auto-didactic approach that is guided by principles of self-inquiry, curiosity and compassion. He works as a coach and guide in the area of organizational effectiveness. He has taught mindfulness in various settings since 2005.

All are welcome — no experience necessary.

Join in person or on Zoom — link in bio.

Sunday, 10:00 AM
Santa Barbara Hospice
2050 Alameda Padre Serra, Unit 100

04/22/2026

This Sunday: "The Heart of Stillness: Intimacy with All Things" with Cynthia Overweg.

Sunday, 10:00 AM
Santa Barbara Hospice
2050 Alameda Padre Serra, Unit 100

Cynthia facilitates retreats and educational programs that center on the unifying presence of inner stillness. A frequent theme in her retreats and programs is that our daily lives can be a meditation when the mind is quiet. Her work is inspired by the non-dual wisdom teachings of East and West. Her approach is influenced by J. Krishnamurti, G.I. Gurdjieff, Tibetan Buddhism and by Dogen Zenji, whose profound insight that “enlightenment is intimacy with all things,” beautifully expresses the oneness that underpins the matrix of life. Cynthia is the author of Silent Awareness: The Revelation that changes Everything. To learn more about her, please visit: https://cynthiaoverweg.com/

All are welcome — no experience necessary.

Join in person or on Zoom — link in bio.

Stay afterwards for tea and refreshments.

Address

2050 Alameda Padre Serra Suite 100, P. O. Box 1331
Santa Barbara, CA
93103

Opening Hours

9am - 11am

Telephone

+18052450619

Website

http://santabarbarazencenter.org/

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