Tai Chi | Marilyn Cooper

Marilyn Cooper has been training in Kung Fu and Tai Chi for over 46 years and teaching professionally since 1980. She has a first place world title and a National Grand Championship. Cooper started a non-profit organization called Pushing for Peace that is dedicated to promoting wellness and non-violence to the underserved.

Marilyn's students range in age from 5 to 92. Class consists of warm-ups and stretches that stimulate energy, move stagnation and increase the range of motion. Forms are based on traditional Northern Shaolin and Original Yang style Tai Chi Ch'uan. The forms increase circulation, metabolic rate, improve balance and coordination, teach self-defense and cleanse the mind.

On the Web: www.littleriverkf.com

Culinary Experiences at La Cocina Que Canta | Visiting Teacher Deborah Schneider

Tuesday 11 am and 4 pm and Thursday 4 pm

Deborah Schneider is co-author of the James Beard-nominated “Cooking with the Seasons at Rancho La Puerta,” co-authored with Ranch founder Deborah Szekely. She is also the author of “¡Baja! Cooking on the Edge,” a celebration of the food and wine country of the northern Baja region; “Williams-Sonoma’s Essentials of Latin Cooking,” and her latest,  “Amor y Tacos,” which celebrates fresh Mexican food and margaritas. 

Deborah is Executive Chef/partner in SOL Cocina Newport Beach, overlooking Newport Marina. SOL was chosen one of Orange Country’s Best Restaurants of 2010 by Orange Coast Magazine. SOL Cocina’s open-kitchen menu is noted for fresh, high-quality Mexican food, ideas gleaned from her Baja experiences and writings. SOL Scottsdale opened in 2011.

Deborah has cooked professionally since 1980, and is an ACF Certified Executive Chef. Her cooking style is informed by her frequent travels in Baja California, her obsessive reading of anything culinary, and an early grounding in classic French technique. Deborah is currently loving every minute of teaching at La Cocina Que Canta, in the middle of a beautiful garden that is every chef’s dream. Her informal hands-on classes are high-energy and fun for everyone, regardless of skill level.

Deborah was a specialty magazine editor (with diverse clients such as the Canadian Opera Company and Toronto Blue Jays) when she got the travel bug and took off to Europe with a cute boyfriend and a motorcycle, both long gone.  Travels through Spain, France, North Africa, Italy and Greece led finally to her first paid (sort of) cooking job, working on large private yachts in the Greek Islands. She arrived in San Diego in 1983 and talked her way into her first restaurant position with Piret’s Restaurant, quickly working her way up to Executive Chef positions with La Gran Tapa (southern California’s first tapas bar,) Dobson’s Restaurant (a longtime Zagat favorite,) and the tony Grant Grill, where she was the first woman to hold the Executive Chef position in an establishment that prohibited women customers for many years. When she joined the four-star Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines in 1998, Deborah became Hilton Hotel’s first-ever female Executive Chef , a position she held until 2004, when she joined Kimpton Hotels to open the Hotel Solamar and Jsix Restaurant in San Diego’s fashionable Gaslamp District. From 2006 through 2008 Deborah oversaw food services for the Del Mar Thoroughbred Meet, serving 5000 guests daily during the race meet in 7 restaurants with over 200 employees. She has catered events for as many as 10,000 guests; but 16 in La Cocina is much, much better. Deborah married a San Diego surfer and is the mother of 2 teenagers, both of whom can cook.

Deborah offers three hands-on culinary experiences, 3.5 hours each, during which you will enjoy preparing your own meal along with fellow cooks. 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.

Mind, Beauty, & Spirit...A True Transformation | Michelle Phillips

Wednesday 8 pm Thursday 5 pm, Friday 3 to 5:30 pm

In our fast-paced lives we often get so caught up trying to achieve things that we lose touch with who we want to become emotionally, spiritually, or physically and it can affect every aspect of our lives. Michelle's 3-day program guides you through her process that creates a holistic plan for your life; one that instills clarity and purpose that is in alignment with your deepest self.

Day 1- The Rediscovery

To truly make this the year that we improve our health, appearance, and create balance it's time to create a new vision for how you want your life to be going forward.

- Assess what makes you unique; strengths, talents, values

- Drop the Superwoman cape and learn to stop taking on too much which leads to burn out and health issues
- Learn to prioritize and make time for yourself and your goals

- Create a healthy lifestyle so that you are not tired, overweight, and struggling with your body image

Day 2 - Creating purpose and support for your life

If you could wave a magic wand, what would your ultimate life look like? And with that dream in mind, how and who would be there to help you make it come true?

By defining our goals and aligning ourselves with people who mirror our values we increase our chances for success exponentially.

- Create a clear vision for your life
- Set an intention and create plan that is manageable and obtainable
- Create more abundance in the areas of health, wealth, and joy and live your ultimate life
- Re-energize and release yourself from the negative people in your life
- Learn to surround yourself with people who reflect your inner beliefs and values

Day 3- Overcoming fears and building the self-confidence to make it happen

Growth throughout our lives requires change. The question becomes; are you going to fight the change or embrace it? This session provides the tools to overcome the fear and self doubt that can arise when change and challenges occur.

- Eliminate your excuses or resistance to change
- Learn the difference between safety and security
- Let go of the need for approval and permission from others
- Take your power back and learn to speak up for yourself
- Own your inner strength and tap into your intuition

Michelle’s class will be invited to the Women’s Health Center for a demo on jane iredale makeup. A willing or winning participant will be chosen to get a make-up application while the class gets a makeup application lesson from Michelle, a seasoned celebrity makeup artist. jane iredale will be on sale all week at 15% off. Celebrate your beauty, inside and out!

Michelle Phillips is a nationally recognized TV and radio personality, Life Coach, speaker, and bestselling author of the Hay House Publishing Book, "The Beauty Blueprint -- 8 Steps to Building the Life and Look of Your Dreams." Michelle can be heard weekly on www.hayhouseradio.com. She has been seen on : The Daily Buzz, Gal Time, Head Drama, Daytime, HGTV, TLC, and the world's largest website for women, Sheknows.com. As a makeup artist she has worked with major networks and stars of film, TV, and music such as NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, FOX, Katie Couric, Deborah Norville, Colbie Caillat, Jeff Foxworthy, Doris Roberts, Dan Rather, The Fox and Friends Morning Show, and many more.

Concert | Martha Aarons, flute, Lev Polyakin, violin, Jessie Chang, piano

Thursday 8 pm

Enjoy a wonderful performance with Martha Aarons, flute, Lev Polyakin, violin, and Frances Renzi, piano. Their program will feature popular selections from the classical period to the romantic, including virtuoso showpieces.

After 25 years with the Cleveland Orchestra, Martha Aarons embarked on a freelance career that has taken her to many major orchestras around the country. Most notably, she is a regular guest with the Philadelphia Orchestra, with whom she has toured to Asia as well as in the U.S. Other guest appearances have been with the Metropolitan Opera, Mostly Mozart Festival, the Orchestra for World Peace, and the orchestras of Minnesota, Milwaukee, San Diego and Baltimore. She also taught and performed at the Aspen Music Festival for 19 years. Her CD, History of the Tango, is a collaboration with pianist Frances Renzi and guitarist Jason Vieaux.

Lev Polyakin, who at 21 was co-concertmaster of the prestigious Moscow Chamber Orchestra, is now assistant concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra. He has won prizes in international violin competitions, such as Carl Flesch in London.

Jessie Chang is admired for her beautiful tone, commanding technique, and magnetic personality. She first discovered her love for the piano when she was not even four years old and urged her parents to enroll her in the Yamaha Music School in Taipei, Taiwan. Later, Ms. Chang made her TV debut, appearing on the Taiwan Central Television when she was ten years old. Five years later, she made her concerto debut with the California State University Orchestra. Jessie Chang attended the Manhattan School of Music where she studied with Constance Keene. At the age of nineteen, she earned her Bachelor degree and Masters of Music degree two years later and was the recipient of the "Best Female Pianist" award at both commencements.

Her previous teachers included Yin Yin Huang AceVedo and Milton Stern and she has also worked closely with renowned artists such as Menahem Pressler, Herbert Stessin, Oxana Yablonskaya, and Bernard Segall. Ms. Chang has received top honors in more than thirty distinguished piano competitions of national and international stature, including various First Prizes. She has the distinguished honor of being the first person to have won four gold medals at the US Open Music Competition. Among the highlights of her career, Ms. Chang appeared at the Blossom Festival with The Cleveland Orchestra playing Mozart's double concerto with her duo-partner and husband, Jahja Ling.

She has been featured at the Carnegie Hall's Isaac Stern Auditorium, Pasadena's Ambassador Auditorium and in front of 28,000 people at Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta. Ms. Chang has played with various other orchestras including the San Diego Symphony orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Florida Orchestra, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Westchester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Malaysian Philharmonic, the China Philharmonic, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Jakarta Simfonia Orchestra, and the Guangzhou Symphony.

Sexuality and Health – and Live Longer and Better! | Pepper Schwartz, Ph.D.

Saturday 8 pm, Monday 8 pm and Tuesday 5 pm

Pepper Schwartz, Ph.D. is a sociology professor at the University of Washington in Seattle and the new sexuality expert for the AARP. She holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from Washington University in St. Louis, where she was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow; and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Yale. She has received numerous awards and has authored 14 books, including "The Great Sex Weekend," "The Lifetime Love and Sex Quiz Book," and "Everything You Know About Love and Sex is Wrong."

Dr. Schwartz co-authored Glamour's monthly "Sex and Health" column for years. She also has contributed to many other magazines, journals, newspapers and appears regularly on national TV programs and documentaries. She lectures nationally and internationally on relationship topics, women's issues, parent and child issues, communication between men and women in intimate and work relationships, and maintaining personal and family well-being in today's world. Her most recent book is "Prime: Adventures and Advice about Love and Sex in the Sensual Years" (HarperCollins).

Once Upon a Time There Was a Story That Wanted to be Told | Crescent Dragonwagon

Sunday 8 pm and Fearless Writing Monday through Thursday 3 pm

Once Upon a Time There Was a Story That Wanted to be Told
Food, shelter, story: right after dragging back the kill (food) to the cave (shelter) our ancestestors painted a picture of what they'd just done on the ceiling. Crescent Dragonwagon believes human beings are hard-wired for story: telling stories, listening to stories, watching or reading stories. Why? And how can we use the thirst for narrative that is encoded in our very beings to live a fuller, happier, more interesting life? Equal parts entertainment, inspiration, theory, and practice, with a dash of 'improv' and movement, expect to surprise yourself. Elements of Crescent's well-known "Fearless Writing" workshop are included.

Fearless Writing
As human beings we sometimes find ourselves stopped. By doubt in our own abilities. By unexpected change, demands on our time, illness, unfamiliar economic, technological, or social conditions. Fearless Writing offers writers and non-writers a way to stop being stopped. It harnesses the anxiety generated by chaotic conditions as a powerful creative force. Practical, effective, serious and playful, Fearless turns seemingly insurmountable obstacles into material --- from which we write, and build all-around thriving lives. Its practices and principles spill over, cornucopia-like: from writing, to creativity, to problem solving, to business and personal life.

Called "a red-headed, yarn-spinning woman" by the Chicago Tribune and "white-hot" by the Washington Post, Crescent Dragonwagon is the author of over 45 published books in four different genres: novels, culinary memoirs, children's books, and poetry. The winner of the James Beard Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, a New York Times Notable, and the Porter Fund Prize, she co-founded the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, a non-profit which has served more than 850 writers from 33 different countries. Born in New York City, she lived for 33 years in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, but now makes her home in Vermont. Exuberant, easygoing, and in love with writing, teaching, and listening, Crescent helps others reclaim their own creative powers of self-love and reinvention. She spends one week each month with her 97-year-old mother, the acclaimed children's book writer and editor Charlotte Zolotow

Bingo is a Blast with Barry!

Tuesday 8 pm