Sister Moutique Ayodele El Sister Moutique Ayodele El has co-led the Jizo Peace Center's celebrations of Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday for the last three years. She is active in The Million Mom March, the Greater Kern County Brady Campaign for Gun Safety and has directed local performances of the Vagina Monologues. She is an empathic masseuse who has facilitated retreats and fasts in Harlem, New York. She continues to be busy with her husband and three children in Pine Mountain.
Tomoe Nakamura Tomoe Nakamura resides in Osaka, Japan and San Francisco, CA. Ruth and Tomoe met at the 60th Anniversary of the nuclear bombing in Hiroshima, Japan in 2005. Tomoe is the official Japanese translator and Japanese community liason for the Jizo Peace Center. She shares traditional knowledge about Jizo and helped lead the Memorial Ceremony for Lost Children in May, 2009. Currently she is pursuing a college degree in fine art and photography.
	Rachel York-Bridgers Rachel York-Bridgers, co-leader of weekly Yoga and Meditation at the Jizo Peace Center, has been practicing various styles of yoga for fifteen years and teaching for six. She finds yoga and meditation a means for nurturing inner peace and compassion, becoming a gift we receive and give anew. She is also a dedicated parent, partner, environmentalist, and activist originally from Canada, now living in beautiful Pine Mountain Club, CA. One of Rachel's favorite quotes: "The universe is not a collection of objects, it is a communion of subjects" Thomas Berry
Sarah-Jane SunJay Owen Sarah-Jane SunJay Owen, a lovely art professor, musician, yoga teacher, and sound healer has given teachings generously at the International Peace Day in 9/07 and also the Universal Love Workshop in 2/08 held at the Jizo Peace Center. She brought her large ceremonial drum “River Song” on both occasions to include as many as 8 beaters keeping rhythm and singing at the Peace Pole. Due to the sacredness of the process, no photos were taken of the drumming. Also at both of the above events, SunJay led chakra balancing sessions in the Jizo Meditation Room where we all lay with our heads to the center. SunJay played a combination of rattles, drums, and gongs that relaxed and centered us for a nice energization and healing. Ms. Owen helped out with the Pine Mountain Roots and Shoots’ entry at the Chalk Festival in Frazier Park in the fall of 2007. She outlined the tree on the pavement and showed the children how to use chalk to create the desired affects for bark and fruit. SunJay’s current schedule is listed at www.powwowlodge.com. We look forward to Sarah-Jane Owen sharing interesting and enlightening activities with us again.
	Rev. Chris Faulconer Rev. Chris Faulconer is the joyful Founder and Director of the 21st Century Mystery School.* She led workshops at the Jizo Peace Center's 9/07 International Peace Day celebration and at the 24 Hour Peace Vigil in 8/08 After 25 years designing computer systems for aerospace and studying with many traditional people, she developed a Journeying process combining ancient wisdom and empowerment, assisting individuals to connect to their own inner resources. As an ordained minister, she is available for births, weddings, and memorials. Her teaching and counseling practice is located in Claremont and Pine Mountain, where she lives. Call 661-242-1818 for more information or an appointment. *The mission of the school is to provide practical application of ancient wisdom teachings relevant to the modern world and to empower ordinary people to live extraordinary lives.
Michael Attie Michael Attie, a long-time meditator, founder, and teacher of the Don't Worry Zendo, presented his Squeezebox Swami Show on April 13, 2007 at the Jizo Peace Center. He has been a student of Zen, Vipassana and Advaita Vedanta for over forty years. Mike has written several original songs with inspirational themes to the accompaniment of accordion. In India, in 1973, the revered Guru Neem Karoli Baba told him to teach Dharma in the West and gave him the name of Vivekananda. Mike also spent time meditating at a Zen monastery on the slopes of Mt. Fuji in Japan. After a trip to Nepal, he became the founder of Dharma Banners, a company that designs and manufactures prayer flags of all the worlds’ religions. He is a poet and performance artist who has authored three books, Many Ways, Middle Way, No Way—a Guide to Meditation, Spiritual Awakening and Fun, This Smiling Heart—Collected Poems, and The Love Beggars, poems 1995-2005. He continues to lead an informal, friendly, non-sectarian meditation group on Tuesday nights in Los Angeles as well as an all day sitting once a month at his home at 444 Flores, Los Angeles, CA. For further information see www.dontworryzendo.com. Mike led a privileged childhood and for a time inherited his father's lingerie store on Hollywood Boulevard where he became known as “The Lingerie Monk”. After learning the trade of converting gas refrigerators to propane, he was called “The Blue Flame” by his neighbors in a remote area of Northern California.