Rothko Chapel

The Rothko Chapel presented Mindful Moments for Parents and Families as a part of our summer series of family-friendly program offerings. Led by Simone Woodage from Dawn Mountain, this session offered busy parents some simple, sharable practices to promote mindfulness and full attention in the present moment. From mindful listening to mindful eating, to the gift of a simple, grateful pause, these tools are useful for adults and children alike, and can help add a beautiful new dimension to connections within a family.

About the presenter:

UK-born Simone Woodage, RN, is a mother of three boys and a sought-after youth and family educator in the Houston area. On a personal mission to spread self-compassion and kindness in the world, since 2011 she has been the Family Educator at Dawn Mountain, leading mindfulness and compassion classes for children, teens, and parents. Simone holds a certificate in mindfulness fundamentals from Mindful Schools in Boston and completed the curriculum training program for educators. She has also trained as an Inner Kids instructor with Susan Kaiser Greenland, author of The Mindful Child.

About the series:

Since September 2005, on the first Wednesday of each month from 12-1pm, the Rothko Chapel hosts a meditation or contemplative practice focusing on a different spiritual or faith tradition featuring teachers and religious leaders from throughout the greater Houston community. Twelve Moments: Experiencing Spiritual and Faith Traditions series provides opportunities for visitors to learn more about a specific spiritual or faith tradition, and experience a related meditation or contemplative practice, such as prayer, chanting, and more.

Satmitar Khalsa, Sikh Tradition

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Pay What You Can, suggested value $10

For the month of June, the Rothko Chapel presented a meditation in the Sikh tradition led by Satmitar Khalsa. We explored Guru Nanak's Mul Mantra, the origin, the root, of all Sikh teachings. When chanted, or preferably sung repeatedly, this mystical mantra provides a practical approach to achieving a stable, elevated Unity consciousness.

The presentation included: light history and story telling, brief intellectual review of the mantra, singing/chanting the mantra for personal experience, meditation/contemplation in brief silence and time for questions.

About the presenter:

Satmitar Khalsa, a native Houstonian, became a certified Kundlini Yoga teacher in Portland, OR in the late 1990’s. By 2001, she began working for Yogi Bhajan in Espanola, NM. For 11 years, she lived in a spiritual community and served in the non-profits established and managed by Yogi Bhajan. Some of her duties included: Director of 3HO’s NGO/Representative to the United Nations, Director of International Peace Prayer Day and the Peace Cereal Grant Philanthropy, Director of Community and Public Relations, President and Vice President of Interfaith LEAP (a local faith based nonprofit) and other positions along the way. Recently, she created an eco-friendly design company and became a consultant for doTerra Essential Oils. Satmitar offers a transformational approach to teaching. She focuses a great deal on the breath, naad yoga (chanting) and meditation. She is grateful to return to her Texan roots and become fast friends with the unique and beloved Kundalini Yoga community in Houston. Satmitar means “True Friend.”

About the series:

Since September 2005, on the first Wednesday of each month from 12-1pm, the Rothko Chapel hosts a meditation or contemplative practice focusing on a different spiritual or faith tradition featuring teachers and religious leaders from throughout the greater Houston community. The Twelve Moments: Experiencing Spiritual and Faith Traditions series provides opportunities for visitors to learn more about a specific spiritual or faith tradition, and experience a related meditation or contemplative practice, such as prayer, chanting, etc.

6/5/2018

Twilight Moments: World Environment Day Observation with Martha Serpas

Pay What You Can, suggested contribution $15

In commemoration of World Environment Day, the Rothko Chapel will hold a Twilight Meditation led by poet Martha Serpas. Join as we unite in support of environmental justice around the world.

The paradoxes of water—conceived by death and love—may never have been as obvious as during Hurricane Harvey. Though we live alongside the unpredictable, life-giving, destructive Gulf, last August water was what we sought and what we cursed and wished away. In our meditations, water can be a teacher of receptivity and respect. Through focus on images, sound, walking, and poetry, we can reconnect with the intuitive space that rests amid water’s disparate forms and effects, which are the disparate forms of life itself. -- Martha Serpas

Attendees are invited to bring an image of water, open to their interpretation, to place inside the Chapel upon entering for the meditation. Images should be physical and/or printed (no digital images), maximum size 8.5x11 inches. Please do not bring any irreplaceable items.

About the presenter:

Martha Serpas has published three poetry collections, The Diener, The Dirty Side of the Storm and Côte Blanche. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Nation, Southwest Review, Image, and in anthologies such as The Art of the Sonnet and the Library of America’s American Religious Poems. She co-produced Veins in the Gulf, a documentary about coastal erosion in her native Louisiana. A graduate of Yale Divinity School, she serves as a trauma chaplain at Tampa General Hospital and is a member of the University of Houston's Creative Writing Program faculty.

The Rothko Chapel presented a meditation in the Islamic tradition led by Imam Dr. Wazir Ali of Masjid Warithud-Deen Mohammed and Masjid Al-Qur’an.

About the presenter:

Imam Dr. Wazir Ali is the Imam of the historic Masjid Warithud-Deen Mohammed and Masjid Al-Qur’an in Houston, Texas. Imam Dr. Ali completed an eight year mentor-ship program in Islamic Studies, comparative religion and Masjid administration under the guidance of Imam Qasim Ahmed. Imam Ali is also a student of the preeminent American Muslim scholar, the late Imam Warithud-Deen Mohammed (may G-d have mercy on him).

Imam Dr. Ali, an entrepreneur, kinesiologist and registered dietitian nutritionist owns a private nutrition consulting firm in Houston. Imam Ali holds a Doctorate degree in clinical nutrition from Rutgers University, a Master of Science degree in kinesiology from the University of Texas Pan American, and Bachelor of Science degrees in nutrition and psychology from the University of Houston.

About the series:

Since September 2005, on the first Wednesday of each month from 12-1pm, the Rothko Chapel hosts a meditation or contemplative practice focusing on a different spiritual or faith tradition featuring teachers and religious leaders from throughout the greater Houston community. The Twelve Moments: Experiencing Spiritual and Faith Traditions series provides opportunities for visitors to learn more about a specific spiritual or faith tradition, and experience a related meditation or contemplative practice, such as prayer, chanting, and more.

Gaelyn Godwin Roshi, Zen Buddhist Tradition

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

For the month of April, the Rothko Chapel presented a meditation in the Zen Buddhist tradition on the 50th anniversary of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination. Led by Gaelyn Godwin Roshi of Houston Zen Center, this session explored the practice of allowing ourselves to be fully present with the moment and will lift up MLK’s profound impact on equity, peace and justice.

We enter Zen practice with awareness of our sensations, our breath, the sounds, the feeling of being a living body. In this simple yet profound meditation practice, the act of just sitting in the present moment can lead us to a sense of ease and release. Zen can be practiced by people of all faiths. It was originally taught by the Buddha as the method to live in awakening.

At 1:00pm, after the meditation, we had a moment of silence followed by an audio installation of MLK’s final speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” played inside the Chapel and outside on the plaza.

Double Vision: The Unerring Eye of Art World Avatars Dominique and John de Menil

Lecture & Book Signing with William Middleton

A book signing and reception at the Menil Collection's Byzantine Fresco Chapel followed the program.

This program was supported by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the US.

Co-presented by the Rothko Chapel and the Menil Collection, this special reading celebrated the launch of William Middleton¹s Double Vision. With exceptional access to family archives, Middleton has written a biography of this couple as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the art world of the twentieth century and the influence of the de Menils. Middleton is a journalist and editor who has written for the New York Times, the New York Times Magazine, Vogue, House & Garden, Esquire, Texas Monthly, Travel & Leisure, Departures, and the International Herald Tribune. He will sign copies of his book following the reading, and a reception for registered guests will be held at the Byzantine Fresco Chapel.

About the book:

Double Vision: The Unerring Eye of Art World Avatars Dominique and John de Menil is the first and definitive biography of the celebrated collectors Dominique and John de Menil, who became one of the greatest cultural forces of the twentieth century through groundbreaking exhibits of art, artistic scholarship, the creation of innovative galleries and museums, and work with civil rights.

Dominique and John de Menil created an oasis of culture in their Philip Johnson-designed house with everyone from Marlene Dietrich and René Magritte to Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns. In Houston, they built the Menil Collection, the Rothko Chapel, the Byzantine Fresco Chapel, the Cy Twombly Gallery, and underwrote the Contemporary Arts Museum.

Now, with unprecedented access to family archives, William Middleton has written a sweeping biography of this unique couple. From their ancestors in Normandy and Alsace, to their own early years in France, and their travels in South America before settling in Houston. We see them introduced to the artists in Europe and America whose works they would collect, and we see how, by the 1960s, their collection had grown to include 17,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs, rare books, and decorative objects. And here is, as well, a vivid behind-the-scenes look at the art world of the twentieth century and the enormous influence the de Menils wielded through what they collected and built and through the causes they believed in.

About the author:

William Middleton is a journalist and editor who has worked in New York and Paris. He has been the Fashion Features Director for Harper's Bazaar and the Paris Bureau Chief for Fairchild Publications, overseeing W Magazine and Women's Wear Daily.

Art & Activism: An Evening with Peter Sellars

The arts play an important connecting role in society in ways that other sectors cannot. Artists can move through a variety of environments using music, performance, visual arts and other media to address difficult topics, challenge cultural stigmas, bring diverse people together, and provoke new ways of thinking that can lead to powerful social and political changes. In a time of censorship, political bullying, and polarization between people, where do the arts stand today, locally and nationally? What is the role of the arts as commentator and catalyst for social justice? And what is the responsibility of cultural institutions and patrons for preserving the arts as a voice for the public?

In partnership with Houston Grand Opera and in conjunction with their initiative Seeking the Human Spirit, join the Rothko Chapel for a conversation exploring arts and activism in society today from the perspectives of the artist, cultural institution and funder.

The conversation participants include Peter Sellars, renowned opera and theater director and professor at UCLA; Debbie McNulty, Director of Mayor Turner's Office of Cultural Affairs; and Patrick Summers, Artistic and Music Director of Houston Grand Opera; moderated by the Rothko Chapel’s Executive Director David Leslie.

International Women's Day Observation

The Monument Quilt display on Chapel grounds, 10am-8pm

Twilight Meditation inside Chapel, 6-7pm

The theme for International Women’s Day in 2018 was “Press for Progress” – the worldwide campaign calls for changing stereotypes, promoting positive visibility of women and celebrating the achievements of women. Responding to this theme and the #MeToo movement, the Chapel hosted a small display of The Monument Quilt, a quilted collection of stories from survivors of rape and abuse. The Monument Quilt is organized by FORCE, a Baltimore-based activist collective dedicated to upsetting rape culture.

In the evening we hosted a Twilight Meditation facilitated by Claire Villareal from Dawn Mountain Center for Tibetan Buddhism, along with Shanti Flagg, FORCE's Studio Director, sharing quilting stories from the many woman all over the U.S. who are survivors of sexual and domestic abuse. Join as we unite in advocacy and support of women around the world.

Shanti Flagg was onsite before and after the meditation to answer questions about FORCE and The Monument Quilt project and to guide visitors in contributing a message to be added to the project.

About the presenters:

FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture is a creative activist collaboration to upset the culture of rape and promote a culture of consent. FORCE designs communications campaigns to generate media attention and get millions of people talking. The organization gained national attention for their viral panty prank, where they pretended to be Victoria’s Secret promoting consent themed slogans on underwear. Today, FORCE is most widely known for The Monument Quilt, a quilted collection of stories from survivors of rape and abuse. Learn more at upsettingrapeculture.com

Shanti Flagg is an artist and has been a collective member at FORCE for 3 years. She directs the operations of their studio headquarters in Baltimore. The project Shanti primarily works on is the Monument Quilt. She coordinates volunteers in the studio to create the quilts, and she works with the Monument Quilt Leadership Team to plan the culminating display of the Quilt on the National Mall. The Monument Quilt creates public healing space for survivors of rape and abuse.

Claire Villarreal PhD, a native of Fort Worth, TX, has been practicing and studying Buddhism since 1997. She completed her undergraduate studies, including two years of Tibetan language study with Dawn Mountain co-founder Anne C. Klein, with a bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies at Rice University in 1999. Next she traveled to Thailand, where she trained with Theravada Buddhist monastics, and she has spent time in India and Nepal practicing and studying Tibetan Buddhism. Returning to Texas, Claire has taught mindfulness in a variety of settings in Fort Worth and Houston since 2004. She defended her dissertation, on the interface between contemplative practice and philosophical developments in Tibet, at Rice with Anne as advisor in spring of 2015. She administers Dawn Mountain’s programs, teaches meditation, and practices kung fu.

Fali Engineer, Zoroastrian Tradition

Wednesday March 7, 2018

Pay What You Can, suggested value $10

For the month of March, the Rothko Chapel presented a meditation in the Zoroastrian tradition. Led by Fali Engineer of the Zoroastrian Association of Houston, this session explored the contemplative practice of Ahura meditation.

At present the demands of life are greater than our ability to cope. This results in stress, anxiety, fear and worry, affecting our health and well being. The best antidote for stress is deep rest. This meditation gives rest twice that of sleep. It is easily learned, as it involves no concentration. The effortless process allows the mind to quiet levels, which is a welcome relief from incessant thinking. This quieting of the mind conveys deep rest to the body for stress relief and relaxation.

About the presenter:

Fali Engineer is a Zoroastrian by birth and was educated in India, worked in Pakistan and retired in the US in 1987. He learned this style of meditation in 1975 and has since taught over two thousand individuals from Pakistan to Houston, Louisiana, Colorado, and even Mexico. He has been a member of the Theosophical Society since 1966 and served as the President of the 106-year old Houston Lodge for over 7 years. He is also a member of the Zoroastrian Association of Houston, established in 1976 to promote religious, social, and cultural aspects of the Zarathushti faith to members of the Zarathushti Community and interact with members of the greater Houston metropolitan area.

Concept of the Divine Series

A Hunger for Wholeness

Ilia Delio in conversation with Bill Kerley

Ilia Delio, a Franciscan Sister of Washington, DC, who bridges the spheres of science and religion shared her personal concept of the Divine and how that has changed over time, as she moved from a scientist in academia to a nun within the Catholic Church. She discussed how her spiritual belief system has informed her own evolution and contributions to her community. Following her lecture, Delio engaged in a rich conversation with Houston counselor and spiritual teacher Bill Kerley, as they delve into Delio’s most recent insights on the spiritual evolution of human beings in the age of technology from her forthcoming book A Hunger for Wholeness: Soul, Space, and Transcendence.

This program was made possible in part with a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Program Participants:

Ilia Delio, OSF is a Franciscan Sister of Washington, DC and American theologian specializing in the area of science and religion, with interests in evolution, physics and neuroscience and the import of these for theology. Ilia currently holds the Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology at Villanova University, and is the author of seventeen books including Care for Creation (coauthored with Keith Warner and Pamela Woods) which won two Catholic Press Book Awards in 2009, first place for social concerns and second place in spirituality. Her book The Emergent Christ won a third place Catholic Press Book Award in 2011 for the area of Science and Religion. Her recent books include The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution and the Power of Love (Orbis, 2013), which received the 2014 Silver Nautilus Book Award and a third place Catholic Press Association Award for Faith and Science.

Bill Kerley is a psychological and spiritual teacher using Jungian insights to help achieve personal and relational growth. In addition to his private practice as a counselor and spiritual director, Kerley has been an instructor at Baylor College of Medicine where he taught "at risk" heart patients the beliefs and behaviors necessary to enhance and prolong their lives. Kerley is past president of both the Houston Association of Marriage and Family Therapy and the National Speakers Association, Houston Chapter. A great deal of his energy goes into writing and giving “life talks” designed to contribute to individual psychological and spiritual growth. He does this at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church where he has been on the staff for many years.