Offerings
Resonant Sessions
Are you longing for a little support? Maybe you'd like some good company as you explore an area of stuckness or some accompaniment in grieving? Maybe you long for more clarity or focus in some part of your life? Or maybe you just want to celebrate and acknowledge yourself - where you are and/or your willingness to change?
Humans are wired for connection; we do a lot better when we feel seen, heard, accompanied, when there is acknowledgment that, "Yes, I make sense."
Many of us didn't receive much of that resonance when we were little ones; we had to invent our own strategies to survive, and thank goodness, we did. However, what served us well back then, now often confuses us. Many times, we just need to shine light on systemic crazy-making and intergenerational trauma. Find ways to understand, disentangle, begin again. Again.
KindMind sessions flow from the client's intentions. With warmth and care, Lalli honors what your body/mind knows, remembers, and wants to express. She follows your flow and choices, listening to words, gestures, memories, images, posture, pace, rhythm, and silence.
Each session is unique, paying attention to what is and what wants to be expressed. It might include meditation, writing, doodling, movement, listening, letting go and/or hanging on, singing, time travel, and contract release.
(Photo above is the a sun tunnel - when light continues to rise into the sky AFTER the sun sets,)
Writing and Mindfulness Workshops
Lalli has been designing, coordinating, and leading playful spaces for inquiry, dialogue, and connection for decades.
Since receiving her MA in Writing (University of Iowa), she's worked with writers of all sorts, individually and in groups to explore, experiment, and encourage authentic voice(s) to emerge. Some folks are already working on a manuscript, others need a nudge to begin a memoir, others write songs, poetry, a short story. Others simply want to grow imagination, practice focus, enjoy fresh levels of resilience and well-being, gain perspective, or simply connect with others.
Listening and asking good questions matters. The stories we speak/hear matter. Language is a powerful tool for self, relational, and systemic discovery. .
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Lalli designed Writing Our Lives into Being in 2003 as a place to explore our relationship with growable traits - how roots of kindness, courage, authenticity, honesty, or acceptance can support us individually and collectively.
She began teaching Mindfulness at SBCC in 2007 and over the years created dozens of workshops.
In 2020, responding to folks' despair and isolation, she created online Write Now Workshops, a grounding space to acknowledge/honor joy and grief - in appropriate and ever-evolving doses.
2023, Lalli introduced Writing Back to Being. Her first hybrid Magic Carpet Write was at Santa Barbara Yoga Center and
BE in Nature: Practice Mindful Whole-Heartedness
was live at Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.
In 2024, she introduced
Shake, Rattle, and Write at the 2024 Resonant Summit - The Power of Play.
Fall 2025, Lalli will offer one Writing Back to Being, a 5-week group for 12 participants. Each week, we'll write together AND workshop a piece from one of the participants. For details, please write Lalli.
Were you part of Shake, Rattle, and Write - Create Your Own Unique Self-Care Concoction at the 2024 Resonance Summit?
If so, contact Lalli for a follow-up prompt from that session.
AND
Peyton Peyton and Lalli will be collaborating again in 2025. Stay tuned OR join the list to be the first to know/register:
(photo above: a friend and I created this labyrinth before one of my Write Now workshops.)
Upcoming Events, Testimonials
Upcoming Events
SBCC Non-credit Online courses for California Residents
Mindfulness in Daily Life
CRN 66936, NC 039
Thursdays 3:30-5:15
January 30 - March 20
Writing Our Lives into Being
CRN 67006, NC 646
Tuesdays 11-12:50
April 1- May 20
Registration opens 1/7/2025
https://www.sbcc.edu/extendedlearning/apply-register.php
for support/information on registration:
SCHOTT CAMPUS
310 W. Padre St.
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
(805) 683-8205
WAKE CAMPUS
300 N. Turnpike Rd.
Santa Barbara, CA 93111
(805) 683-8205
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Fall 2025, Lalli will offer a 5-week Writing Back to Being group for 12 participants. Each week, we'll write together AND workshop a piece from one of the participants. If interested, please contact Lalli for details.
Testimonials
I did three sessions via Zoom with Dana. I can say without qualification these were the most productive 'therapy' I've had. Much longer more traditional therapy sessions achieved less benefit. I credit this both to the method of memory recovery Dana employs and to Dana’s calming, warm, inviting, non-judgmental engagement with me as a client, which by disarming defenses enabled me to retrieve and unpack moments of consciousness to a degree I had not previously experienced.
Dr. Stephen Vlastos, Emeritus Professor of History, U of Iowa
*****
I was at ease with Dana's technique. Even though it felt easeful she was able to open dark crevices and bring out what was truly behind what was happening for me. Once she helped bring some light onto issues I kept hidden, she helped me to process these issues. She gave me gentle guidance for approaching and then working with them. After our sessions I felt clear and confident about the best way for me to move forward. She has such a deep and loving compassionate heart. It made me feel safe and helped me to heal. She has a gift.
Karen S, MS
*****
I was in Dana’s first SBCC meditation class in 2007. I took it five or six times at different locations for continuing education units for my RN license, and then, I just kept signing up once or twice a year. For 17 years now, I attend because I know I will learn another skill, practice, or technique that we haven't covered in previous classes. Dana pours her heart and soul into each session, creatively changing and adapting course material to meet the present needs of her students.
Dana's 40 year commitment to meditation allows her to usefully address different students' questions with care, credibility, and grace. She helped me with stress reduction! Meditation didn’t come easily, but now it is an important part of my life,
Evan McCabe RN MN, Professor Emeritus, Santa Barbara CIty College
WomenHeart of Santa Barbara, Group Facilitator
When I think of Dana’s classes some of the words that come to mind are warm, safe, inspiring, rich, authentic, embodied writing.
Each session is a wonderful blend of old and new. There is structure and there are delightful surprises. Dana brings her experience as a meditation teacher and helps us get into the quiet and wise place inside. She creates a warm safe space so that the writing that happens is natural, brave and full of insights.
Dana also brings her experience as a language teacher and gives pointers on the craft of writing. She not only brings excellent reading material, but also helps us see why a particular poem or story works, what are some of the element that go into making a good piece of writing.
I love being a part of Dana’s writing community. I always go away feeling inspired and not so alone for the days when I do my writing practice on my own.
Sometimes our brains can make writing into a complex thing but in one of Dana’s classes I had the aha — writing is not complicated. You just notice the world around you or the world of your imagination and put that on the page. What could be simpler?
Seema Chopra, Santa Barbara, CA
*****
I value the time Lalli shared with me. I felt a large part of the traumatic event of my mother’s suicide was released. How? I remembered an expression during our 2nd session - words I made up and held onto as that 12-year old who was not allowed to mourn. Remembering those words after all these decades helps me understand and finally “delete” one of my ongoing blocks that stops me from expanding.
Clown/Artist/Writer, California, USA