Drop into a Girlie Stories Gathering to join an instant community of womyn-identifying folks empowering themselves and each other via personal storytelling! 

Every last Saturday of the month, we'll check in with each other, experience some playtime with a community building activity, and then we'll share our stories! 

Please RSVP to girliestories@gmail.com if you'll be in attendance. Please prepare a personal story (about your life), no longer than 10 minutes. 

You are welcome to tell your story with or without notes. Girlie Stories believes that all of us have stories worth hearing and that all of us are storytellers! We welcome womyn with all levels of performance/writing experience, including none!

Come to tell a story or just to listen and share space with other womyn. Please bring a snack or drink to share.

$5 suggested donation or whatever you can afford, though all are welcome regardless of ability to pay and nobody will be turned away due to lack of funds.

FACILITATOR BIO: Johanna Middleton is an artist and arts educator with a passion for creating spaces for others to share their own stories. She is the creator of Girlie Stories, which provides a platform for women and girls to empower themselves via personal storytelling through monthly gatherings, workshops, and productions. Johanna has performed her original pieces as a storyteller with KPCC's Unheard LA, Rogue Machine's Rant and Rave, iO West, Upright Citizens Brigade, The Last Bookstore, and even the Long Beach Transit! She debuted her first solo theatre piece, Timeline:27, a participatory storytelling show, at the Santa Monica Playhouse. As an arts educator and arts-based facilitator, she has worked with students of all ages in Chicago and Los Angeles.  She is currently the Student Program Coordinator at Greenway Arts Alliance. She has facilitated storytelling and theatre workshops for UCLA, Black Women for Wellness, WeRise LA, and more.

 

The purpose of this daylong meditation workshop is: TO CLOSE THE GAP between the life we live on the cushion and the one we live on the street. In meditation sits and retreats we seem to be able to connect with our best selves – calm, present, open-hearted. Then we step into the urban chaos and stress and all our hard-won composure is forgotten. How do we work with this? What simple strategies can be used in daily life – at work, with the family, at the gym, or out at a bar. How do we close the gap more generally between the life we live on the cushion and the one we live on the street?

Shinzen Young is an American mindfulness teacher and neuroscience research consultant. His systematic approach to categorizing, adapting and teaching meditation, known as Unified Mindfulness, has resulted in collaborations with Harvard Medical School, Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Vermont in the bourgeoning field of contemplative neuroscience. Shinzen’s interest in Asia began at the age of 14 when he decided to attend Japanese ethnic school in his native city of Los Angeles. After majoring in Asian languages at UCLA, he entered a PhD program in Buddhist Studies at the University of Wisconsin. As a part of his thesis research, he lived as a Shingon (Japanese Vajrayana) monk for three years at Mount Koya, Japan. It was then that he received the name Shinzen (真善). Also during that time, he became friends with Father William Johnston (author of Christian Zen). Fr. Johnston helped broaden Shinzen’s interests to include comparative world mysticism and the scientific study of meditative states. Upon returning to the United States, his academic interests shifted to the dialogue between Eastern meditation and Western science. Shinzen is known for his interactive, algorithmic approach to mindfulness, and often uses mathematical metaphors to illustrate meditative phenomena. He is the author of The Science of Enlightenment, Natural Pain Relief and numerous audio offerings. Shinzen leads residential retreats throughout North America. In 2006, he created the Home Practice Program. These phone-based mini-retreats are designed to make deep meditation practice accessible to anyone in the world regardless of their location, health situation, and time or financial constraints.