Abundant Universe 3-course Dinner & Movie as Gift (1/30/25)

3-Course Meal & Golden Chai

Enjoy a plant-based warm meal hand-made with healthy, tasty, high-prana, farm-fresh ingredients grown in local community (Pico neighborhood's Growing Hope Garden) that regenerate our soil, our souls and embody Abundance, Interdependence & Harmony.

Yogic, Ayurvedic & Pico Roots

Rooted in holistic food-as-medicine wisdom from India, this meal brings together energies from communities we are connected with through the garden. French, Mexican, Ethiopian and Indian cultures rooted in the community garden and Chef Master Nataraj G's cultural heritages mix as we look deeper into the land and see ingredients, spices and flavors from all over the world that empower us to embrace, celebrate and transcend differences so we may come together in Abundance and Peace for good health.

Movies to Regenerate Mother Earth

Each night, we will screen films and shows related to movements for creating mutual aid networks from the ground up to regenerate our lives. Films include The Secret Life of Plants, Earthlings, Emergence Magazine’s Taste of the Land, Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet, Don't Look Up and more.

We will also share clips and other work in development on a film that invites you to participate in the story of Pico Roots Revolutionary Garden becoming what is now Growing Hope Gardens in the Pico neighborhood where many vegetables for this dinner are hand-picked a day prior to gathering.

This is a community-based film we invite you to participate in (writing, photography, interviews, editing, marketing, tools to build movement, healers, artists). More details are below in the PICO ROOTS STORY section. Come to dinner and get involved!

Three-course Meal offered as Gift with suggested $20 Gift Economy Donation

To honor and share the energies of Abundance and Generosity, the full three-course meal with a cup of Golden Chai (caffeine-free, Tulsi-based chai) is freely offered as a gift for you based on the generous efforts of (1) Mother Earth and the Growing Hope Gardens Community, (2) Chef Master Nataraj G and (3) the donation of a previous diner that has paid-forward your meal. This allows us to include all community members, regardless of their income.

While not required, a $20 donation is suggested to pay-forward a meal for another person in community to keep the generosity circulating. If you are able to offer more than $20, please do. If you cannot share $20, no worries, share what you can or enjoy the meal for free.

This Gift Economy model is based on the work of our fine friends at Karma Kitchen that have been sustainably offering gift-based free meals since 2007. You can learn more about gift economies and how Karma Kitchen has operated for more than 15 years on their about page.

Coming together in Gratitude for Mother Earth

The Abundant Universe pop-up restaurant experience is crafted and presented by , a Yoga-based Creative Studio on unceded Tongva land in Santa Monica, California in partnership with , a Yoga-inspired plant-based frozen yogurt shop with locations throughout Los Angeles.

This series of Abundant Universe pop-up restaurants began with a Garden Party in a local in the Pico neighborhood of Santa Monica where we brought community together to share Gratitude for Mother Earth through gardening, mindful breath meditation, collective dreaming and sharing healthy, tasty food picked directly from the garden.

With a vision for World Peace that includes a harmonious balance between technological advancement and global ecological equilibrium where all folks have peaceful housing, healthy food, holistic healthcare and are empowered to create from their souls, we are grateful to be in alignment with and bringing together Art, Science & Spirituality to address our world's most pressing challenges. We are grateful to our many elders, teachers, ancestors, spirit guides and communities around the globe holding us up so we may serve people and planet for justice, peace, love and joy all together.

RSVP

RSVP suggested so we have a better idea of how much food to prepare, though not required. Feel free to come to the restaurant and enjoy!

PICO ROOTS STORY

Master Nataraj G at Pico Roots Revolutionary Garden, 16 Feb 2022.

This journey began in the Pico neighborhood at the beginning of 2021 when we started sharing our Healing & Art practice with the community in Virginia Avenue Park. Around the corner from the park, at Pico & 20th, we gardened with local community in a space next to Eddie's Liquor Shop. The garden was grounded in principles of decolonization, regenerative agriculture and energetic healing with regular meditations and Reiki energy shared with the plants and amongst the community. We learned much from how the garden grows in concert with the Sun, Moon and all the elements. We were gifted with beautiful dreams and visions to see us through the suffering and violence in our world to more peaceful, loving and joyful states of being. These dreams and visions informed stories, rhythms and songs we wrote and played during this intense time of growth.

Between 2021 and 2024, we navigated multifarious corporate forces to save our garden from destruction, shifting it a few blocks away, just north of Virginia Avenue Park. The new garden space was then challenged by efforts to turn it into a parking lot and was temporarily shut down. After a confluence of city policy changes, community organizing and fundraising to secure the necessary resources and insurances for the property, the garden was brought back and better than ever. It now serves as a communal space to enjoy and learn about plants, gardening, healthy eating and share good energy and good food, especially for community that does not have regular access to healthy food, housing and healthcare.

We are currently seeking partners to help develop and tell this story that can empower individuals and communities to safeguard sacred spaces to grow food, deepen spiritual and creative practices, learn more about regenerating and re-wilding the lands we call home while supporting the wellbeing of the community. This story weaves together experiences of living with sovereignty, displacement, practicing decolonization, land rights, learning how to improve mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health through right relationship with the land and community all while navigating the various forces in our world that would rather see parking lots and greater consumption of oil instead of gardens that support healthy ecosystems and communities. The nondual aspects of our spiritual and creative practices grew significantly during this time to hold, understand and have compassion for our experience and the various opposing forces influencing our life -- particularly useful to stay steady and balanced through much strife in our world.

If you are interested in developing this story together, please email us at [email protected] or come through to Thursday's Abundant Universe offering.

With Love & Gratitude,

Nataraj Gaurav Cedric Bhatnagar (we/they/he pronouns) [email protected]

Master Nataraj G Healing & Art https://natarajg.space

Host or Publisher Master Nataraj G Healing & Art