ADULT SPIRITUAL GROWTH PROGRAM
Welcome to the Adult Spiritual Growth page! Below you will find a listing of our current offerings. All programs are open to everyone. Make sure to check if the class requires registration
As we try to reinvision UUSF's Adult Religious Education classes, we would like your input. Please take a few minutes to fill out this survey here. Thank you!
If you have questions, or would like to offer a class for our community, please contact Ministerial Assistant Joe Chapot
Email - jchapot@uusf.org
Phone - (415) 590-7836

UPS AND DOWNS FOR UUS IN SAN FRANCISCO
Economic and Cultural High Points and Valleys With Lessons for Resilience and the Future
A Six-Part Adult Ed Course for members and friends of UUSF Zoom, April –May, 2023
Rev. Dr. John A. Buehrens, author, "A Religious Center with a Civic Circumference:
Unitarians in San Francisco Since 1850."
I. Our First High Point: The Argonauts and Thomas Starr King
II. The Gilded Age, Higher Education, and the Great Earthquake
III. World Wars, a Great Depression, & a Unitarian Renaissance
IV. Our Second High Point: Civil Rights and Anti-War Activism
V. The ‘Me Decade’ of the 1970s and the Religious Right
VI. Challenges to Progressive Religion in the 21st Century

STRENGTHENING OUR RESILIENCY MUSCLE
Second Thursdays from 6:00 - 8:00pm
Online only; Drop-in classes; Attend any session
Leader: Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life
After the pandemic, many of us are trying to find ways to regain our resiliency. Each month we will explore a new tool to help strengthen our resiliency muscle. We will look at stress management, building connections, making meaning, and much more. Each session covers a specific resiliency tool and is complete unto itself. Only one tool will be discussed each month and you can choose to attend the Saturday AM or Thursday PM session. This course is based on the specialized training Laura received for a Certificate in Resilient Leadership from Seattle School of Theology & Psychology.

MINISTER'S BOOK GROUP - MARCH 2023
Wednesday, March 22, 6:30-8 PM
Thursday, March 23, noon-1:30.
Leader: Rev Vanessa Southern
Book: "Babel" by R.F. Kuang
The full title, “Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution” is a work of fantasy fiction set in 19th Century England at Oxford (Kuang herself is currently working on her PhD there). In her imagined world words have particular power that raises for the protagonist questions of violence, colonial power, and the necessity of hard human choices. The book is 560 pages so get started early!

MINISTER'S BOOK GROUP - APRIL 2023
Wednesday, April 26, 6:30-8 PM
Thursday, April 27, noon-1:30.
Leader: Rev Vanessa Southern
April Book Poetry Group: A Celebration of Poetry: What’s Fresh?!
Registration:
In April we will have two sessions in which we gather to celebrate poetry. Vanessa encourages you to find and bring a poem you love by a poet whose voice you think feels fresh and new. You can look online to the poetry foundation, see who is a poet laureate in our nation (or another) or of our state (or another), or head to your local bookstore for a recommendation. Bring one to share. Feel free to come both days for this month’s book group!

MORNING METTA MEDITATION
Tuesdays & Thursdays
8:00-8:30 am
Leader: Elena Perez, Member of UUSF
Online Class. Click button to join Zoom call. ZOOM Password: metta
Watch a Sample Recording Morning Metta Mediation
You are warmly welcomed to join this "Morning Metta Meditation" group, which meets Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, 8-8:30 am. Elena leads a simple, centering loving kindness meditation practice which is appropriate for all religious backgrounds and levels of meditation experience. Attendees can choose to leave their microphone and camera off and just follow along.
About the Leader: Elena Perez is a member of UUSF. She is a Licensed Acupuncturist who practices in SF at Dance With Life Chiropractic in the Inner Sunset, and in Fresno at Benessere Fresno.
Questions? email elena@communityneedles.com

EQUANIMITY PRACTICE
Fridays
8:00-8:30 am
Leader: Elena Perez, Member of UUSF
Online Class. Click button to join Zoom call. ZOOM Password: metta
Watch a Sample Recording Equanimity Practice
You are warmly welcomed to join our "Equanimity Practice" group, which meets on Fridays, 8-8:30 am. Elena Hanyo leads a simple meditation practice on cultivating equanimity- that is accepting the reality of life's highs and lows, and developing an attitude of peaceful calm abiding throughout the inevitable changes. This practice balances the heart-centered approach of our other group, lovingkindness- as it is common to get attached to positive outcomes for those we spend time wishing well. Equanimity allows us to develop mental stability and even-minded loving awareness. Appropriate for all religious backgrounds and levels of meditation experience. Attendees can choose to leave their microphone and camera off and just follow along.
About the Leader: Elena Hanyo Perez is a member of UUSF. She is a Licensed Acupuncturist who practices in SF at Dance With Life Chiropractic in the Inner Sunset, and in Fresno at Benessere Fresno, as well as a lay minister with Bright Dawn Center for Oneness Buddhism.
Questions? Email elena@communityneedles.com