Here you will find information about our various adult learning programs, their dates and registration (if any).
adult learning opportunities | Human Being Training
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We commit to lifelong learning and spiritual practice that enriches our lives and those around us. We offer balanced content and spiritual practices from the world's great religions and wisdom traditions, informed by our distinct Unitarian Universalist perspective. Throughout the year, we may offer this content in various formats such as workshop, retreat, forum, or discussion group.
We schedule adult lifelong learning classes and workshops throughout the year. They are led by expert volunteers, staff and outside guests. To register for adult learning exploration classes you may signup online, or contact the class facilitator or our Program Ministry staff. UU Santa Fe Adult lifelong learning is a cooperative adventure. If you would like to facilitate a program, contact our Program Ministry staff. |
2020-2021 Offerings
And for fun and insight: |
ADULT LIFELONG LEARNING OFFERINGS
At-A-Glance
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”―Mahatma Gandhi Program facilitators may cancel any program that does not have at least 5 registrants. For more information about these programs scroll down this page.
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Our Remaining 2020-2021 Program
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Fall in love with Unitarian Universalism! For newcomers.
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Starting Point
Dates Next session January 24 & 31, 2021 Location online Facilitated by Rev. Gail Marriner, Steven Mead, Sherry Kraemer, et al. Sponsored by Adult Lifelong Learning, Ministry and Community Life Teams Cost none Registration required; to Register, click here As our journeys take new or unexpected turns, we all find ourselves looking for new kinds of companions. So if you're a newcomer or long-timer looking to fall in love with UU Santa Fe and Unitarian Universalism all over again, well then, consider Starting Point your spiritual "re-start." We usually offer Starting Point two times per year (August and January). |
Yoga
Melissa Briggs-Bransford is a choreographer and educator, and has been teaching movement, dance and yoga to ages 3 through adult for over 20 years. She is currently on dance faculties at UNM and NDI New Mexico. Melissa, her mother, and her daughters have been attending UUSF since 2012, and love this community!
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Yoga For Body and Soul
Dates Weekly Mondays, 12-1 pm, beginning December 7 Location online Led by Melissa Briggs-Bransford Sponsored by Adult Lifelong Learning Cost $10/session. If you would like to attend, but cannot afford the tuition, contact Steven Mead and arrangements will be made Payment via Venmo (Venmo is a service of PayPal, Inc.) @Melissa-Briggs-Bransford Registration required; to Register, click here. When you register, you will be given the Zoom meeting ID link Equipment to have on hand for each class:
The world is an unpredictable place right now, and it’s hard to balance it all. Yoga, a practice which equally engages the mind and the body, provides both an opportunity for physical movement and a chance to cultivate mindfulness. Yoga reduces stress, increases self-awareness, and builds strength and balance. For those of us working from home these days, it’s the ultimate “brain break."
Through integrating breath with movement, we are able to calm our nervous systems, integrate right and left brain functioning, and increase mental clarity. As we progress through the foundational poses of yoga we stretch and strengthen the body, learn the principles of alignment, and practice relaxation and breathing techniques. We leave class feeling less anxious and less stressed, with skills to bring more balance to our lives. |
Justice-Making Book Discussion Series
“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.” |
Justice-Making Book Discussion Series, January-May 2021, led by our Justice Issue Teams
Location online Facilitated by our Justice Issue Teams Sponsored by Adult Lifelong Learning and Justice Council Cost none Registration required so we can send you the Zoom meeting ID link
January. Racial Justice. Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho, led by Kitty Sherlock and Jean Darling, January 28, 6:30 pm. Copies of the book will be available at Collected Works bookstore. Phone to reserve your copy, 505-988-4226. Register here so we can send you the Zoom meeting ID link.
Emmanuel Acho, son of Nigerian immigrants, former linebacker for the NFL, and TV sports commentator and psychologist, writes an accessible and straightforward guide – answering questions white people have asked him on his videoblog and in personal conversations – a conversation about race that many white people have never been able to have. 
February. Domestic Violence. The Fog of Faith: Surviving My Impotent God by Leona Stucky, led by Leona Stucky and Diane Brown. February 15, 2021 from 1:00 to 2:30 pm, register here so we can send you the Zoom meeting ID link.
This is the true story of Leona Stucky’s childhood on a Kansas farm, surrounded by a loving family and the simple tenets of her Mennonite community. Violence enters her world in the guise of a young man who seems normal to everyone else but who Leona knows to be deranged in his obsession with her. 
March. Immigrant & Refugee Justice. The Undocumented Americans, by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, led by Sally Sabo. Date TBA. Registration link forthcoming.
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio was on DACA when she decided to write about being undocumented for the first time using her own name. It was right after the election of 2016, the day she realized the story she’d tried to steer clear of was the only one she wanted to tell. So she embarked on a trip across the country to tell the stories of her fellow undocumented immigrants—and to find the hidden key to her own. 
April. Environmental Justice. At the Precipice: New Mexico’s Changing Climate, by Laura Paskus. Adam Wasserman will lead the discussion. Date TBA. Registration link forthcoming.
At the Precipice explores the question many of us have asked ourselves: What kind of world are we leaving to our children? The realities of climate change consume the media and keep us up at night worrying about the future. But in New Mexico and the larger Southwest, climate change has been silently wreaking havoc: average temperatures in the Upper Rio Grande Basin are increasing at double the global average, super fires like Las Conchas have devastated mountains, and sections of the Rio Grande are drying up. 
May. Gun Violence Prevention. Bullets into Bells - Poets & Citizens Respond to Gun Violence, Beacon Press, led by Kathryn Holladay. Date TBA. Registration link forthcoming.
Bullets into Bells: Poets & Citizens Respond to Gun Violence brings together the voices of poets and citizens most impacted to call for the end of gun violence with the activist power of poetry. |
A Triad of Poets
"As for us: We must uncenter our minds from ourselves; We must unhumanize our views a little, and become confident As the rock and ocean that we were made from."―Robinson Jeffers |
A Triad of Poets ~ Jeffers, Whyte and Oliver
Dates 3 sessions, February 2021, 2-9-16, 1-3 pm Location online Facilitated Maj-Britt Eagle Sponsored by Adult Lifelong Learning Cost none Registration required; to register, click here. When you register, we will send you the Zoom Meeting ID link A Triad of Poets ~ Jeffers, Whyte and Oliver In this offering of three poets, we explore whether our awe in the face of sublime wilderness may arise from our communion with nature, "one great whole animated by the breath of life". Whether, while in the poem there may be a creative "I", it is the "I" of the human mind woven into the material web of life. We'll read selected poems of Robinson Jeffers, David Whyte and Mary Oliver with a "beginner's mind", open to the delight of the unexpected. And in this openness, who we are is woven into where we are. |
The UU Blessing PathEight Sessions Beginning March
“Life is not a matter of creating a special name for ourselves, but of uncovering the name we have always had.”― Richard Rohr, Immortal Diamond |
 The Three Vinegar Tasters
The UU Blessing Path - A UU Framework to Spiritual Maturity
Dates orientation February 24, Eight sessions 4th Wednesdays thereafter Location online Facilitated and created by Steven Mead, Lifespan Religious Educator Sponsored by Adult Lifelong Learning Cost none Registration required; click here so we can send you the Zoom Meeting ID link
You may either commit to the whole program or join us ala cart for those sessions that appeal to you. Complete your reading before the discussion session!
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Spiritual Direction
Rev. Tony Thieman-Somora
Virtual Office Hours Wednesday, 10 am—1 pm 806.239.7212 PO Box 24204 Santa Fe, NM 87502 |
Spiritual Direction & Pastoral Care
Rev. Tony Thieman-Somora Dates office hours and by appointment Location video conferencing, UU Santa Fe and other locations Sponsored by Ministry and Adult Learning Costs apply (sliding scale); please inquire Rev. Thieman-Somora obtained a certificate in spiritual direction from the University of St. Mary of the Lake and has over 30 years experience. Rev. Tony is a member of Spiritual Directors International and a member of UU Santa Fe.
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Guiding Questions
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Other Resources
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Harriet Kidder Memorial Library
You may like to visit the UU Santa Fe Harriet Kidder Memorial adult library to check out print materials on a variety of topics. Checkout is simple—write down the title, your name, phone/email and date you checked material out on our clipboard. Keep it as long as you need it then bring it back and put it on the shelf with the checkout clipboard. It's simple. Specific donations may be made to our adult library and for other program needs through UU Santa Fe's AmazonSmiles Gift List. Sign on and browse through our Gift List. Give UU Santa Fe an UUnBirthday Present! |
And the world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles, no matter how long, but only by a spiritual journey, a journey of one inch, very arduous and humbling and joyful, by which we arrive at the the ground at our feet, and learn to be at home.―Sarah York (Unitarian Universalist, minister, educator)