Introducing Lia Rose

Listen to Lia's Music Here

Resonant and compassionate, Lia Rose overflows with a soft articulation of that which makes us all go on. Couple her enormous yet clement tone with a simple honest story to tell, and you will find Lia Rose's newest works.

Having gained some attention fronting oceanic indierock band Built for the Sea, Rose now lets us into her more intimate world with her full-length debut solo album, When You Need Me Most (Release: January 2011).

What this record reveals is a passionate artist with an ear for the beauty in the tastefully adorned austerity of a set of strings, a simple truth; the quiet emotion that binds us all.

Introducing: Don Pender

Well known San Francisco Jazz man Don Pender is serving as the Jazz lead for SF Refresh and helping to organize Jazz musicians to participate at our May 21st SF Refresh event in Bernal Heights, Visitacion Valley and the Bayview.

Nominated for a Grammy 1987 for "JAZZ INSTRUMENTALISTS OF THE YEAR" for Europe and Japan, Don went on to design and build Storyvile "a classic jazz club" and restaurant in San Francisco in 1995. He has had Elvin Jones, James Moody, Jon Faddis, Roy Hargrove, Wallace Roney, George Cables and many others teach and performed with him at Storyville.

Don received his BA, BM Degree’s from Berklee School of Music 1969 and also his Master’s Degree from Boston University in Music Education 1970. He’s played with Buddy Rich, Lionel Hampton and Les Brown and his band of renown on the Dean Martin show.

Introducing: Melissa Lareau

I earnestly began to look for a more meaningful way to engage the world upon the completion of an intense academic career. Weary and clad with a Masters in Landscape History, I found refuge in an organic grocery chain. Among the aisles of tofu delights and gourmet coffees I learned a great deal about organics, holistic healing, plants and cut flowers. Safe within those confines, I explored Reiki, intuition and self-empowerment.

Knee deep in cut flowers, I realized my life’s purpose was not as a florist. When I was in school, I was led to believe that a job or career had to be something from an easily categorized drop down menu. I certainly did not anticipate becoming something from the “other” category. And yet, when I do this work with others and myself, the world feels right. In those moments, I can feel the fulfillment of my purpose with every fiber of my being. This is what I came to do- to be a clear channel for healing and love energy, facilitating others in their unique and marvelous journey to wholeness.

It is my intention to empower individuals to create lives they feel good living. I thank you for being part of my experience and thank you for allowing me to be part of yours. Namaste.

Introducing: Rik Center

Rik Center is a Somatic Stress and Trauma Counselor/Practitioner, Mindfulness Stress Reduction & Meditation Teacher and a Buddhist/Interfaith Chaplain. He is Co-Founder of the Nonprofit "Mindfulness Care Center" and is a member of the USABP/United States Association For Body Psychotherapy.

His private practice focuses on healing high levels of stress, unresolved traumatic anxiety and PTSD bringing about discharge and regulation of the autonomic nervous system. The nonprofit “Mindfulness Care Center” supports people in reclaiming their inner wisdom of the body/mind connection in feeling whole and safe and learning to move in the world with empowerment, boundaries and joy.

Over the years Rik has worked in volunteer community outreach care at the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic utilizing somatic therapy and bodywork. He’s traveled to Baton/Rogue New Orleans providing trauma sessions and assistance training in supporting people who were still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Katrina and Rita. He currently volunteers time at San Francisco General Hospital as a Chaplain, teaches mindfulness movement in one of the hospital wards and meditation. Rik also assists in training other Somatic Experiencing Practitioners.
Rik has trained with Peter Levine, the creator of Somatic Experiencing and author of “Waking The Tiger, Healing Trauma.” He has studied MBSR/Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, developed by author and PHD, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn and has been a Buddhist meditation practitioner of “Insight Awareness” since 1988 and currently leads a weekly meditation class in San Francisco and offers Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Programs.
His background also includes advanced bodywork studies that utilized both eastern & western healing practices. He has a small yoga and Qigong practice and has been a practitioner of the Martial Art Kyudo, “The Way Of Bow” since 1991. Rik’s spiritual practice is connected with Spirit Rock Mediation Center located in Woodacre, Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, Abhayagiri a Thai Forest Monastery in Ukiah
and Theravada Monastery for Nuns in San Francisco, Aloka Vihara.

Rik has retreated with gifted meditation teachers such as Jack Kornfield; renowned author, psychologist and former Buddhist Monk, Ajahn Sumedho a well known Thai Forest Theravada Buddhist Monk and teacher, Dr. Robert Hall, meditation teacher and founder of the Lomi School in Northern California and Stanislov Grof MD, creator of Holotropic Breathwork, plus many other wonderful teachers. At the end of 2009 he concluded a three-month silent meditation retreat at the IMS Forest Refuge. Rik continues his own study and practice of mindfulness, Buddhist practices and spiritual concepts.

Testimonial:
In my personal experience, Rik's professionalism, skills and empathy are unmatched by any other in a world where everyone talks and few listen or connect. Rik has a rare gift in being able to be present and open others up, mentally, physically and spiritually. It's clear that he also takes great pride in what he does and that he never lets himself settle…he is always on a quest to improve himself”…SS

Leader Profile: Ilyse Magy

My work seeks to encourage the exploration, exploitation, and exhaustion of all of life’s possibilities, no matter how whimsical or perverted. Life itself can be art; the creative process in any mode activates the typically passive nature of daily existence.

In every medium—video, performance, installation—I approach my work with a childlike zeal. Some of the primary qualities of being an artist are those of being a child: the impulse to play, the impulse to make, the openness to engage others without bias, and interacting with the world through an active imagination. Engaging in art is a way to retain the excitement of exploration we have in childhood, yet enhancing it with a critical lens.

My emphasis on play and humor is critical; it questions the given, the habitual, the way things are. I use art as a means of illuminating the arbitrary constructions that govern our daily lives. In the creative act, play can be serious and stimulating, continuously opening new possibilities.

Leader Profile: Linda Leu

Linda was classically trained in Ashtanga Yoga in India, and is a Yoga Alliance Registered Yoga Teacher. Linda believes yoga is the best way to connect with all that is beautiful and divine in the universe around us and within. Yoga is for everyone, and everywhere and Linda loves to share the gift of yoga with others who seek freedom from pain and suffering. Outside of yoga, Linda works in health care advocacy and really loves cooking and eating delicious vegetarian food. Linda will be teaching yoga at

The Free Farm (Eddy/Gough)

Saturday, April 16th

- 8:00 AM: All Levels (Flow Style)

- 1:00 PM: Yoga for Kids

- 4:00 PM: All Levels (Flow Style)

Saturday, May 21st

- 8:00 AM: All Levels (Flow Style)

- 1:00 PM: Yoga for Kids

- 4:00 PM: All Levels (Flow Style)

Sunday, July 24th

- 8:00 AM: All Levels (Flow Style)

- 1:00 PM: Yoga for Kids

- 4:00 PM: All Levels (Flow Style)

Saturday, August 20th

- 8:00 AM: All Levels (Flow Style)

- 1:00 PM: Yoga for Kids

- 4:00 PM: All Levels (Flow Style)

Sunday, September 25th

- 8:00 AM: All Levels (Flow Style)

- 1:00 PM: Yoga for Kids

- 4:00 PM: All Levels (Flow Style)

Saturday, October 15th

- 8:00 AM: All Levels (Flow Style)

- 1:00 PM: Yoga for Kids

- 4:00 PM: All Levels (Flow Style)

Leader Profile: Tree

Tree would be the first to tell you that the real story is the garden, not his biography or resume. But, I'll tell you that Tree is an amazingly generous man who has dedicated his life to food justice and urban agriculture. In addition to being a great mentor to gardeners/farmers across the Bay Area, Tree is the founder of the Free Farm Stand and one of the founders of the Free Farm.

Leader Profile: Anne Seeman

Anne received a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. She moved to Visitacion Valley in 1991, and lives in a former bakery which local lore claims was the only bakery to survive the 1906 Earthquake.

With the birth if her daughter in 1994, Anne became interested in creating a better neighborhood for her daughter to grow up in. The Trust for Public Land (TPL) and the city Recreation and Parks Department initiated a series of meetings at this time, to help the community organize and prioritize goals for parks and open space. Anne was a founding member of the Friends of Visitacion Valley Parks, and advocated for her community at City Hall and McLaren Lodge.

Inspired by this process, Anne came up with the initial vision for the Greenway, and together with Rebecca Lillis of TPL, mapped a conceptual plan giving each of the 6 lots its unique theme. A petition drive was launched to build support for the plan, as the lots at that time were threatened with development. During this time, Anne met Fran and Jim, whose artwork and meticulous design have raised the Greenway to an aesthetic standard beyond that of most neighborhood parks anywhere. The Greenway continues to be a collaboration of neighbors, city departments and nonprofit organizations. It is a laboratory of possibilities, enriched by all who participate.

Anne is a co-coordinator of programs on the Greenway, and works with children, youth, and adult volunteers. She teaches cooking and art to children. She is currently seeking interviews with community members who would like to share gardening tips, recipes and folklore, representing the diverse cultures of our community, potentially for a childrens' book. She has served on the Board of the Visitacion Valley Community Center, is currently on the Board of the Visitacion Valley Planning Alliance, and is a member of the Schlage Lock Redevelopment Citizens' Advisory Committee. Other pursuits include playing steel guitar with the Tin Pan Haoles, and banjo with Murray's Banjo Racketeers.

Leader Profile: Fran Martin

Fran received and M.A. in Art in 1973. She fabricated and exhibited sculpture until 1995 and was represented by John Berggruen Gallery. Her work is in the collections of the San Francisco Airport and City of San Francisco, as well as many private collections

Since 1994, she has been co-founder of the award winning Visitacion Valley Greenway Project (VVGP). She has been responsible for co-ordination of volunteers, fund raising, design and construction on behalf of the community, as well as working as a teacher on site with children, youth and adults. She contributed significantly to the design, implementation of signature art pieces and identity of the Visitacion Valley Greenway gardens. She created 2 of the Greenway's gates, weir walls, tile work and patios with columns sites.

She is Chairperson of the Visitacion Valley Planning Alliance (VVPA), which was created in 1999. VVPA has advocated for community planning to bring neighborhood serving retail (particularly a food market), jobs, housing, open space and neighborhood services to the community with an emphasis on aesthetically pleasing development.

Fran has served on many boards and advisory committees including being a board member of San Francisco Parks Trust, and Friends of the Urban Forest (past) and a member of the Visitacion Valley Redevelopment Area and SF Transportation Authority Citizen Advisory committees. She serves as a consultant on the Design Review Committee at SFO.