Between Joy and Sorrow
An Evening of Music and Meditations on Compassion
Workshop / Experiential Session with Erika Rosenberg, Ph.D., and Chris Dingman
In-Person at 2929 24th Street & Online via Zoom
Compassion occupies a tender space between joy and sorrow. When we cultivate compassion, we build the capacity to hold the opposites of these emotional spaces, which is needed to embrace life as it is, in all its beauty and pain (and everything in between).
This 2 hour experiential session blends guided meditation and live music as complementary healing modalities. Through stillness, sound, and reflection, we will explore how sadness, grief, and longing can be integrated with joy, connection, and meaning, rather than held in isolation.
Led by compassion educator Erika Rosenberg, Ph.D. and acclaimed vibraphonist Chris Dingman, the evening will offer a gently structured journey involving brief experiential meditation practices, contextual teaching, and extended immersive musical segments that can carry us beyond words into a felt sense of compassion. We will conclude with discussion, Q&A, and a closing communal reflection.
This is a fundraiser and tickets are required! Limited capacity - register to get your spot today.
We are offering tickets with sliding scale tiers to honor different capacities. Please choose the tier that feels aligned with your ability to support this event. If additional scholarship support is needed, please contact us at sfdharmacollective@gmail.com
Erika Rosenberg, Ph.D. is a scientist, author, and teacher dedicated to helping people connect, find joy, and suffer less. A co-developer of Stanford’s Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT™) with Thupten Jinpa, Erika is Founding Faculty at The Compassion Institute and teaches at the Nyingma Institute in Berkeley. A long time practitioner of Tibetan Buddhist meditation, Dr. Rosenberg’s academic work focuses on the study of emotion, facial expression, and meditation. At the Center for Mind and Brain at UC Davis, she is a member of the Saron Lab, which conducts multi-disciplinary, path-breaking research in contemplative science. She is co-author of What the Face Reveals and Psychology: Perspectives & Connections and author of numerous scientific articles.
An acclaimed musician of many genres, Chris Dingman has been performing on the vibraphone for 25+ years, including with celebrated masters Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and many others. He brings together this background with a host of studies andinfluences from around the world, in service of taking listeners on a journey to a transcendent place. Working in the fields of jazz, experimental, and world music for decades, Chris’s trajectory changed when, in 2018, his father entered hospice. Chris played and recorded meditative music as an act of care for him in his final months of life. This music became the 5-hour extended album Peace. Since then, Chris has brought his special brand of healing music journeys far and wide, from live sessions at Omega Institute and The Rubin Museum of Art to his regular online series Transformations and Transformations for Grief, his work with the Psychedelic Sangha, music for mediumship, and much more. His critically acclaimed albums Journeys vol. 1 and vol. 2, are described by The New York Times as “hypnotizing,” and by Jazz at Lincoln Center as “absolutely beautiful.” Chris has presented talks and performances at the Gold Foundation Conference on Humanism in Medicine, the American College of Physicians, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (NYC), and written for the Johns Hopkins Medicine blog. He has been profiled by NPR, the New York Times, AMNY, and many other publications, and has received fellowships and grants from Chamber Music America, New Music USA, South Arts, and the Thelonious Monk Institute.