TAPPING INTO THE TAPESTRY (New York Spirit)

Remember Carole King’s “Tapestry” song? Well, every real New Yorker knows that we have a “wondrous woven magic” of “rich and royal hue” right here. Following are just a few of the threads you can interweave this spring.

Start by untangling the skeins of your past life (or lives) at the Quest Books/Theosophical Society Psychic Fair (April 29, 12-6, 240 East 53 St, 212-758-5521), in the company of tarot card readers, palm readers, astrologers, and numerologists galore. Or thread your way, like Theseus, through the labyrinth of Omega Institute’s 4th annual “Being Fearless” conference in NYC, April 13-15 (see www.eomega.org/omega/conferences for registration info.)

You’ll find that the manifold ways of tying body, mind, and spirit together include releasing energy blocks to cosmic consciousness. In “Deepening Our Experience of Self: the Evolutionary Journey from Dirt to God,” May 12-13, One Spirit Learning Alliance (330 West 38 St #1500, 212-931-6840) will use music, dance, video clips, and psychodrama to help us experience the different energies that make up our developmental stages. “Reiki Spiritual Counseling”, June 9-10, at the Open Center (83 Spring Street) is dedicated to awakening mental and emotional healing (call 212-274-1829 to register). Or let Andrea Bejarano unblock the energy in your meridians with Qigong Meridian Therapy, a unique energy treatment based on centuries-old Chinese medicine (One Source, One Light, 175 West 12 St, 212-712-7985).

Yoga fans can tune in to a special Satsang with Nischala Joy Devi, a disciple of Swami Satchidananda (April 25, 8 PM, Sivananda Yoga, 243 West 24 St, 212-255-4560); sign up for a 10-day Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy certification (May 25-June 3, Centerpoint Yoga, 324 Lafayette St, 212-625-1511); or slip away into deep trance with stress-reductional laughter at Laraaji Nadananda’s “Laughter and Gong Meditation” (May 9, 16, 23, 30, Jivamukti Yoga, 841 Broadway, 212-353-0214). If the gong isn’t enough, Mama Donna will also help you to resonate at her Blue Moon Drumming Circle in Brooklyn (May 31, 7:30, call 718-857-1343 for directions and reservations).

Feeling contemplative rather than resonant? Let Sharon Salzberg answer your questions on meditation practice at NY Insight Meditation Center (June 13 and 27, 7-9, 28 West 27 St, 212-213-4802). Bob Thurman and Mark Epstein can clue you in to the basics of Buddhism (May 18, Tibet House, 22 West 15 St, 212-807-0563, register through Open Center, 212-219-2527)—or you can learn “How to be a Bodhisattva” on a mini retreat with Lama Surya Das (Tibet House, April 21). Japanese flower arranging, also called Kado or Ikebana, can be practiced as a contemplative art. Let Marcia Shibata show you how (June 22-24, Shambhala Center of NY, 118 West 22 St, 212-675-6544).

Somewhere between the warp and the woof you’ll discover that, after all of this spiritual food, your body is starving for attention. Integral Yoga reminds you that your body is a temple of the spirit with 3 superhealthful workshops on beverages and soups (Apr 21), yoga and sports nutrition (May 12), and integrative nutrition (May 19). 227 West 13 St, 212-929-0586). But that doesn’t mean you can’t have any fun--follow up with dessert at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Food and Health (48 West 21 St, 212-645-5170) with classes in “the Chocolate Experience” (May 23, 6:30-10) or “Really Cool Vegan Desserts” (June 28, 6:30-10). In the meantime, don’t forget to pamper your pores and balance your chakras at Olive Leaf Wholeness Center (145 East 23 St, 212-477-0405), an integrative spa with holistic skin and body therapies; or investigate Deepak Chopra’s Center and Spa (1710 Broadway at 54 St, 212-246-7600), for the latest in ayurvedic methods, yoga classes, and workshops.

And don’t get up and leave your loom without food for thought as well. St Bartholomew’s Center for Religious Inquiry (109 East 50 St, 212-378-0222) is offering 2 thought-provoking free lectures, on Catholicism’s ability (or inability) to deal with other religions, and religious perspectives on stem-cell research (May 10 and 17 at 6:30). East/West Books (78 Fifth Avenue, 212-243-5994) is holding a series of author book-signings—check out TANTRA, with Charles and Carol Muir, May 1, 6-9, or THE MANDALA OF BEING, with Dr Richard Moss, May 9 at 7.

Art lovers will want to visit the Rubin Museum, which from March-Sept, is hosting “The Missing Peace,” an exhibition of contemporary artists from around the world, working in a variety of media, offering a range of works inspired by the messages, vision, and values of the Dalai Lama (150 West 17 St, 212-620-5000). Fire Lotus Temple (500 State St, Brooklyn, 718-875-8229) will lead you on an arts retreat and workshop to an unusual collection of Japanese Chan/Zen Buddhist art ranging from the 12th-16th centuries, at the Japan Society (333 East 47 St, 212-832-1155) (June 2, 10-4).

Performing arts mavens can try a semester on the “Art of the Actor”, a comprehensive training for actors to master the technique of Michael Chekhov, sponsored by Anthroposophy NYC/Rudolf Steiner (call 516-351-0842 to apply). Poetry and music join forces in a New York premiere of composer Bruce Saylor’s “Proud Music of the Storm”, set to poetry of Whitman and Dickinson and performed by chorus, children’s choir, soloists and orchestra (Apr 29 at 5, 1157 Lex Ave at 80 St, 212-794-3646).

Now say your magic carpet is all woven and you want to ride it out of NYC. Stop Memorial Day weekend, May 25-28, for Paul Striberry’s “Conscious Riding” (Kripalu Center, Lenox, Mass, 866-200-5203), where your horse becomes an SUV (Spiritual Utility Vehicle); or join the Himalayan Institute (Honesdale, PA, 570-253-5551) for a weekend designed to help you relax and revitalize while enjoying the beauty and fresh air of the Pocono Mountains. Worship Gaia at the Abode of the Message, the Sufi retreat center in New Lebanon, NY (518-794-8090) with “Green Hermeticism: Esoteric Gardening” (May 18-20)…or let Joanna Macy, a scholar of Buddhism, deep ecology, and the Gaia hypothesis, guide you through 2 workshops, “Taking Heart in Tough Times” (May 4-6) and “World as Lover, World as Self” (May 6-11), at the Rowe Conference Center (Rowe, Mass, 413-339-4954).

To complete your personal odyssey, naturopathic physician and mindfulness meditation teacher Paul Epstein can take you on “The Self-healing Journey: Exploring Healing and the Mind-Body Spirit Connection” May 5 at the Wainwright House (Rye, NY, 914-967-6080). Finally,“Living as God: Healing the Separation,” with P. Raymond Stewart at Omega Institute Apr 27-29 (Rhinebeck, NY, registration 800-944-1001), will show you what the tapestry is really all about: our relationship with the Master Weaver.

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