Spirit Week | Phyllis Pilgrim and Susan Duhan Felix

50 minutes on Sunday, Monday Friday
and 1 hour 45 minutes on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Rancho La Puerta's enriching, memorable SPIRIT WEEKS (three per year) offer daily programs, held Sunday through Friday, that mix movement, nature, meditation, discussion, dialogue and the creative arts. All are coordinated by Ranch yoga instructor Phyllis Pilgrim, and are dedicated to inspiring your mind, body and spirit with concentration and meditation practices. This week Phyllis collaborates with Susan Felix to include Spiritual Poetry. These practices will help us toward greater self understanding, raise consciousness, and improve self-expression and inner balance.

Guests are welcome to come on any day, keeping in mind that to create a group ethos and a shared sense of sharing and evolution along the spiritual path, we ask guests to attend as many sessions as possible through the week.

Phyllis Pilgrim was born in Mexico and brought up in Java where, as a child, she was interned with her family for three years in a Japanese concentration camp. After her family’s release, she returned to England to complete her education, and became a geography teacher in London for 10 years. She then moved to Barbados to teach, and while there, co-founded a yoga center. It was her yoga connection that brought her to the Ranch more than two decades ago. Phyllis is inspired by the teachings of BKS Iyengar, H.H. the Dalai Lama, and Thich Nhat Hahn, among others, in her evolving practice to touch the spirit within. An important part of Phyllis’s life is to adventure abroad, trekking and exploring the nether regions of the world. Each adventure has a spiritual component. Recent journeys include staying in an Ashram for 10 days in Rishikesh, India, visiting Dharamsala to listen to the teachings of the Dalai Lama, and trekking in Tibet, Bhutan, Tasmania and the Inca Trail. Phyllis inspires both your yoga practice and your life towards greater understanding and self expression.

Susan Duhan Felix received a Master’s Degree in Spiritual Poetry from the University of Connecticut. She wrote her Master’s thesis on “How T.S. Eliot’s Wasteland Exemplifies The Lack Of Ritual In Modern Day Life”. She was co- founder of the Wormwood Review, a very successful small press poetry magazine. She served on the Berkeley Art Commission for six years and was elected president for three of those years. Presently she is Art Ambassador of the City of Berkeley and a member of the Berkeley Cultural Trust. In 1987 the California State Assembly passed Resolution No 1452 …commending Susan Felix...for her brilliant display of artistic talents and her exemplary record of community leadership.

In 1989, the City of Berkeley honored her by declaring March 16th, 1989 Susan D. Felix Day and again honored her with the same award in 1999. Also in 1999 Susan received the “Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition,” from the US Congress. Susan was selected for the special Millenium Edition of Marquis' Who's Who of American Women.

Culinary Experiences at La Cocina Que Canta | Visiting Teacher Marie Simmons

An award-winning cookbook author, recognized food writer, talented cooking teacher and lively storyteller, Marie Simmons has made a love of cooking, teaching and writing into a career rich in breadth and scope. Marie is the former senior food editor at Cuisine magazine and test kitchen editor at Woman’s Day magazine. She has helped shape America’s taste for two decades. Many of Marie’s readers say they consider her a trusted friend in the kitchen, as her recipes are easy but stylish, healthful, and most importantly, delicious.

Marie has made hundreds of radio and TV appearances including: CBS This Morning, Good Morning America, Mike and Maty, CNN Cooking 101, TV Food Network, Home Matters, The Main Ingredient, and At Home. She has written a monthly column, “Cooking for Health”, for Bon Appetit magazine and a syndicated newspaper column, “Fresh & Fast”, for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, for over 15 years. She currently writes a bi-monthly column, "Simmons Sez," for the Contra Costa Times. In addition, her recipes and articles have appeared in over a dozen popular consumer magazines, including Eating Well, Food & Wine, Fitness, Shape, Cooking Light, Ladies Home Journal, The Old Farmer’s Almanac, Modern Maturity, Redbook, Prevention, Real Food and McCall’s.

Marie has taught on both US coasts, and in between, including: The New School Culinary Center, Peter Kump's Culinary Center, New York University, and Macy’s De Gustibus, on the East Coast; and Ingredients in Danville, CA; Ramekins in Sonoma, CA; Let’s Get Cooking in Los Angeles, CA; and Sur la Table, nationwide. Marie has also guest-taught at In Good Taste in Portland, OR; The Rocky Mountain Culinary Center in Boulder, CO; and Central Markets in five locations in Texas. She also held the position of Culinary Programs Manager at Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food, and the Arts in Napa, CA.

Marie has authored (or co-authored) over 20 cookbooks. "365 Ways to Cook Pasta" (Harper & Row, 1988), still a popular favorite among beginning cooks, has over 450,000 copies in print. "The Good Egg" (Houghton Mifflin, 2000) won the James Beard Award. "Lighter, Quicker, Better" (co-authored with Richard Sax), won both the Julia Child and James Beard cookbook awards, the culinary equivalent of two gold medals. Another cookbook, "The Light Touch" was nominated for both of these awards, as well. Marie wrote the Beans and Grains chapter for the "New Joy of Cooking" (Scribner 1997). She is the writer on the first cookbook from Sur La Table, "Things Cook Love: Implements and Ingredients" (to be released May, 2008). Additionally: "A to Z Bar Cookies" (Chapters, 1994); "A to Z Muffins" (Chapters, 1995); "A to Z Pancakes" (Chapters, 1997); "A to Z Puddings" (Chapters, 1999); "Holiday Celebrations" (Williams-Sonoma, 1998); "Cookies" (Williams-Sonoma, 2002); "Fresh & Fast" (Chapters, 1996 and re-issued by Houghton Mifflin 2004); "Italian Light Cooking" (Putnam Publishing, 1992); "Rice, the Amazing Grain" (Henry Holt and Company, 1991); "The Amazing World of Rice" (William Morrow, 2003); "Essentials of Healthful Cooking" (Williams-Sonoma 2004); "Fig Heaven" (William Morrow, May, 2004); and "Mastering Soups & Stews" (William-Sonoma 2005)

Marie offers two hands-on culinary experiences, 3.5 hours each, during which you will enjoy preparing your own meal along with fellow cooks. Also, learn from our visiting teacher during a demonstration class (tastings included). These activities take place at La Cocina Que Canta. You also will have the opportunity to harvest produce you use from our organic garden, Tres Estrellas. Transportation will be provided.

For more information and registration, please click here.

Songs for late Summer | Anne Kerry Ford, Shelly Markham and Robben Ford

Songs for Late Summer", a two-part concert assembled especially for Rancho la Puerta by Broadway veteran Anne Kerry Ford, accompanied by acclaimed pianist Shelly Markham and Anne's husband, the multi-Grammy nominated guitarist Robben Ford, presents songs about nature, simplicity, the senses, laughter, love, The Universe and Everything (including the stars above) written by a wide swath of songwriters including (but not limited to) Antonio Carlos Jobim, James Taylor, Rodgers and Hammerstein, The Gershwins , Fats Waller, Paul McCartney, and Kurt Weill.

Actress and singer Anne Kerry Ford graduated from Juilliard when she was only twenty years old and soon after made her Broadway debut in as Grace Farrell in “Annie”, which lead to an opportunity to sing at the White House. As an actress, she appeared in the films “Lovesick,” “Clean and Sober” and “Fearless,” as well as in numerous TV shows. Ford returned to Broadway to appear in “Threepenny Opera” with Sting, and in 2000 she was the vocalist for the West German Radio Orchestra's Big Band tribute to Kurt Weill’s centenary, reprising this concert at The John Anson Ford Amphitheater in L.A. the following year. The recording of this concert, simply titled "Weill" is her third solo CD release and has earned her accolades from the press, including being cited on USA Today's "top ten list". Currently, Ford enjoys concert and cabaret appearances all over the country, most notably as a regular at The Neue Galerie in New York City. She is delighted to bring a program of her favorite music (and her famous husband) to The Ranch.

As a musical director and arranger, Shelly Markham has worked with singer Andrea Marcovicci for the last 12 years at The Algonguin in New York, on tour, and on nine of her CDs. He has also worked with a diverse roster of performers including Michael Feinstein, Margaret Whiting, Carol Lawrence, Julie Wilson, among many others. As a composer, he has collaborated with poet Judith Viorst on "Love and Shrimp,” and their musical "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day,” commissioned by The Kennedy Center, which toured for two years. He also collaborated on the musicals "Naked Boys Singing" and "Too Old For the Chorus,” which ran for six months in San Diego and opened at La Mirada Theater in LA prior to a national tour.

Internationally acclaimed guitarist Robben Ford has recorded and toured with a veritable Who’s Who list of performing artists. In his teens, he was invited to play with blues legend Charlie Musslewhite, and soon after became a member of the L.A. Express, backing Joni Mitchell on her Miles of Aisles tour. As well as forming the jazz quartet The YellowJackets, he toured and recorded with George Harrison, Miles Davis, David Sandborn, Claus Ogerman, Michael McDonald, Bonnie Raitt, Phil Lesh and many others. His own recordings have earned him five Grammy nominations in the blues and rock categories. Robben currently records under the Concord Record label.