.Cushion Revolution

As the world seems to grow more and more chaotic on the outside, now is the perfect time to take a dive on the inside. While it’s impossible for us to completely control what’s happening in life, we do have the power to control our actions. We can choose to respond instead of simply reacting.

This is the path of mindfulness, a tool that has been used by Buddhists for thousands of years and—more recently—has been at the center of modern Western movements in psychology, therapy and trauma studies.

Now, Santa Cruz has a new meditation and mindfulness center, located near the Tannery Arts Center. The Sit. Feel. Heal. Meditation Center is owned and operated by mindfulness teacher Joe Clements and is part of a growing community based out of his Sit. Feel. Heal Meditation Group.

“It has a sense of being home,” Clements says. “There’s a big sense of gratitude and being supported.”

In under two months Clements, his family and community volunteers transformed an old workshop off River Street into a fully functional, beautiful sanctuary. Woodwork adorns one wall as newly renovated beams crisscross throughout the ceiling. Soft lighting is decorated with sacred geometric designs, illuminating the rows of chairs and meditation cushions.

On one wall is a community altar for members to leave tokens of appreciation or remembrance of loved ones since passed from this life. Across the way sits a contemplation chair and a free library with books on trauma-based mindfulness along with Buddhist teachings. Outside plants and a fountain provide an inviting oasis in the heart of an area locals know to be loud, congested with traffic and people.

“It happened quickly and really took on a life of its own,” explains Jessica Escobedo, a teacher at the center. She originally met Clements through a mutual meditation instructor and the two formed a quick bond.

“[Clements] poured so much of himself into the vision and the building. It’s been really beautiful to watch him—and the community—blossom and take on a lot of life and energy.”

‘We want people to make a connection with each other that’s going to ripple out into the community.’

—Joe Clements

A teacher of mindfulness and the dharma—the teachings of the Buddha—Clements began the Santa Cruz Meditation Group in 2023 upstairs at the Downtown Santa Cruz Veterans Memorial Building. It was his first “return to home” with the Vets Hall, in a way, having played the venue throughout the 1990s and early 2000s as lead singer for local hardcore outfit Fury 66.

Clements started his practice in the 1990s but “it never really stuck,” according to him. So he marked the start of his true journey of mindfulness in 2010 while in recovery, after years of living the punk rock lifestyle.

“About a year into recovery I was feeling really fucking agitated and angry,” he remembers. “Then my kid was born and I wanted to be a perfect dad while all this life stuff was happening. And I was just bitter. I felt like I was being pulled everywhere and it was everyone’s fault. I call it my ‘blame thrower.’”

Clements felt hopeless. He knew drugs and alcohol wouldn’t ease any of his problems after a “lifetime” of trying.

“So in 2012 I was desperate enough to reach out to those friends who were still meditating and offering groups and asked, ‘What’s up with this meditation shit?’” he laughs. “I was able to find relief, my nervous system relaxed, and from then on I was all in.”

Over time he would begin teacher training, often going on full-scale retreats around the state, country and world to learn the Middle Path of Buddhist dharma.

In 2018, however—after a scandal hit Against the Stream, the Buddhist-oriented recovery program based on the teachings of Noah Levine—Clements felt lost and adrift once more. (Levine, a Santa Cruz local turned Angeleno, was accused of sexual misconduct with female practitioners, which he denies.) So Clements decided to forge his own path, offering one-on-one lessons and teaching in local juvenile and adult jails, saying he was “disheartened in everything but my own practice.”

But during the 2020 lockdowns, he noticed something was missing.

He started working closely with good friend and fellow dharma practitioner and teacher Vinny Ferraro and realized the forgotten ingredient from his practice: community. Sangha—the Pali language word for “community”—is one of the “three gems” that Buddhism teaches to seek refuge in. The others are Buddha (the enlightened one) and dharma (teachings).

“I’ve been let down by community and teachers who were my friends,” he says, explaining the need to build a new community. “So there was a huge responsibility of how to hold space without a power dynamic but still knowing your role. We all have a longing for belonging, but I had put these communities on a pedestal.”

So Clements set out to start a new kind of sangha. One that contained the same things that drew him in: like-minded, tattooed people, some in recovery, others not, who aren’t shy of a little cursing and don’t have to fit inside a certain cultural box. The result was the Santa Cruz Meditation Group. While Clements is a practicing Buddhist, his teachings are what he likes to call “buddhish,” based in Buddhist philosophy but for a secular audience devoid of the heavy religious aspects.

“We like to have practice and hold space outside of traditional norms,” Escobedo explains. “We teach mindfulness which comes from a Buddhist lineage, but we also incorporate other teachings and modalities, offering it in a secular way,” she says. “We’re not teaching Buddhism.”

Community leader and Sit. Feel. Heal. facilitator J.P. Parvis puts it another way.

“It focuses on ethical, mindfulness-based living without any godspeak,” Parvis explains.

Parvis began his mindfulness journey during the Covid lockdowns of 2020 through recovery as well. He’s been with Santa Cruz Meditation Group since the very first meeting and now facilitates the Sunday Sits at 9am at Sit. Feel. Heal.

“It’s all-inclusive and can help people especially who are adverse to those practices,” he says.

Santa Cruz Meditation Group stayed at the Vets Hall for over a year but had to move when practices for A Christmas Carol happened at the end of last year. From there it moved to the London Nelson Center, which—according to Clements—was a fine spot but didn’t feel quite like home. Plus, by then the group had grown from less than ten practioners at the start to more than 30 at most meetings.

“We had a tote I’d carry in my car—this box with all the bells, statues and spiritual stuff,” he laughs. “We were the nomad Buddhist meditation group.”

That’s when Clements and wife Makela, who he claims “definitely wears the pants in the family,” decided it was time for a forever home. They looked at several locations throughout Santa Cruz but didn’t find anything they either liked, or could afford. However, things soon turned around when Makela decided to put an offer on the Suncoast Awning building at 907 River St., a place they drove past every day and had been on the market for some time.

“She called me one day and said, ‘Uh, they took our offer,’” Clements explains.

Since officially opening on May 30, the Center has hosted a number of events, such as half-day mindfulness retreats, sound bathing ceremonies and two “Rest and Reset” meetings at noon on Mondays and Fridays, in addition to weekly events. Currently, a meditation group meets there every Thursday night at 7pm and there is an early morning 30-minute meditation every Sunday at 9am. Each Wednesday night of the week is a rotating meeting, with once-a-month affinity groups for women, LGBTQ+, BIPOC and men.

Clements plans on building the schedule to include daily meditation sessions along with community-building activities, such as a movie night.

“We want people to make a connection with each other that’s going to ripple out into the community,” Clements says. “That’s what lasts longer than the teachings or the guided meditation, a connection of coming together. We practice not only for our own wellbeing but for the wellness of all beings.”

Sit. Feel. Heal. Meditation Center is located at 907 River St., Santa Cruz. Email in**@jo************.com or use the contact form on JoeClements.com.

Find other Santa Cruz meditation centers listed here.