CONGREGATION FOCUSED OPPORTUNITIES FOR
SPIRITUAL WELLNESS & NOURISHMENT PROGRAMMING
OFFERED BY WELL FOR THE JOURNEY

Discovering the Gifts of the Enneagram
Who am I? This is a fundamental question for each of us, and we search for ways to respond authentically to it throughout the course of our lives. Various navigational tools can accompany us on our journey to answer this ultimate question. One of these is the Enneagram, which is a powerful and dynamic system of understanding human behavior from ancient times. It identifies nine distinct and fundamentally different patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting. Each of these nine basic personality types of human nature is found in each of us in a complex inter-relationship uniquely our own that helps guide us into our motivations, desires, behaviors, and habitual strategies. And, at a much deeper level, the Enneagram is a spiritual tool that provides a map to help us grow as individuals – to recognize our Essence and become our truest self.

Through this workshop, participants will gain insight into personal behaviors, motivations, habits, and fixations so as to live more freely from greater self-knowledge and enlightened awareness. This workshop is ideal for communities, teams, boards, and people who work together collaboratively.

Living Joyfully in Stressful Times
In our life journey as human beings, we frequently experience multiple sources of stress, particularly as we navigate the aging process and each threshold it includes. Oftentimes, within the midst of this process, we forget our perpetually available access to joy and opportunities to regularly experience awe and wonder. These encounters are intrinsically meaningful and can beneficially impact our experience of the ongoing difficulties, losses, and grief that accompany our life’s journey.

Whether offered as an introductory workshop or multi-part series, this program centers on exploring the spiritual and practical dimensions of joy and provides insight into how participants can cultivate it more fully, accessing it amidst life’s inevitable challenges, stresses, and transitions. Special consideration will also be given to how this can positively influence our human connections with others amidst divisive political/social climates in our country and the world. This workshop will provide participants with numerous ways to engage in this reality, including storytelling, personal reflection, group dialogue, and a few contemplative exercises. For deepening awareness of the possibilities of joy, awe, and wonder in daily life, excerpts from various sources will be made available, especially the award-winning Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Abrams, and the rich teachings of Br. David Steindl-Rast on the spiritual practice of gratitude for living more intentionally with joy.

Sound Soul Weaving (Sound Bath Program)
Be in the stillness with diverse, soothing sounds that will help guide you back to your inner sense of self. While being immersed within a sanctuary of sound, this experience provides many benefits to participants, including relaxation of the nervous system, which in turn aligns all the body’s systems. It also fosters an opportunity for participants to be able to listen with wonder to their voices and inner callings.

Whether you are sitting with grief, joy, peace, anxiety, or stress, or are searching for stillness in community with others, allow a sound bath meditation to aid you in finding rest, being restored, and releasing what doesn’t serve you, all while bringing you back to your center in a safe, collective space.

Yoga Nidra
Yoga Nidra is a guided meditation practice that helps to relax the mind and body by doing “nothing.” This ancient practice produces a profound state of relaxation just by listening and is both a deeply healing and restorative practice. Most individuals report feelings of enhanced well-being, calmness, and better sleep after each session. Many, too, can feel relaxed and energized.

One hour of Yoga Nidra is equal to four (4) hours of sleep. In this practice, as the mind slows down, our thoughts begin to move away from us. Yoga Nidra happens in the space between waking and sleeping. It’s like floating! You disengage from stress-producing thoughts, allowing the body, mind, and spirit to rest and heal naturally. Modern studies have validated the benefits of Yoga Nidra, showing that guided meditation is very effective in reducing anxiety, stress, and depression.

Resting comfortably in your own home or whatever environment you are occupying, the practice can be done lying down or in a seated position with your feet up. All you have to do to participate is to listen.

If you are new to meditation, have never tried it, or have been unsuccessful at meditation, we encourage you to give Yoga Nidra a try. You will be amazed at how easily you will achieve a meditative state.

In Search of Sanctuary
The word “sanctuary” typically evokes a sense of peace, shelter, and safety. It may remind us of a particular space where we have worshipped, a favorite bird sanctuary, or a place of refuge for those seeking a safe haven. Parker Palmer suggests that sanctuary is any space where we can regain our bearings, reclaim our souls, and heal our wounds. In troubled and depleting times, sanctuary is vitally essential for our spiritual wellbeing.

Sometimes sanctuaries are physical spaces, but it may also be found in the company of creation, the solace of a friend, the pages of a good book, or the depth of silence. In this program/retreat, we will search for the sanctuaries in our lives, reflect on their meaning and purpose, and consider how we might be sanctuary for others. This program is adaptable as a day or half-day retreat or as a shorter program. Based on the time preference, our search will be aided by contemplative spiritual practices, reflection, periods of silence, and sacred space for dialogue and sharing.

Introduction to Journaling
Journaling is a practice that allows us to connect with the deepest parts of ourselves and give them expression. It fosters reflection and contemplation and allows us to acknowledge and express the diversity of our emotions. It also provides an opportunity to capture your journey by identifying key moments and insights. Research shows that there are many benefits to journaling. It can boost your mood, enhance your sense of well-being, improve emotional intelligence and communication skills, and even boost memory and comprehension, to name just a few.

This workshop will offer opportunities to learn simple prompts for journal entries as well as tips and strategies for making journaling part of your regular routine and spiritual practice. Participants are encouraged to develop their approach to journaling, recognize the value in its practice, and enhance personal spirituality as well as relationships to themselves and each other. No previous writing or journaling experience is required.

Finding God in the Dark
Increase your comfort with the uncertainties of life by discovering ways to both navigate and appreciate the treasures of darkness in your personal life journey. This program encourages discovering God’s presence in new and nuanced ways as a means of making peace with and becoming more present to confusion, doubt, and the gift of faith on a deeper level. This workshop draws on Barbara Brown Taylor’s bestseller, Learning to Walk in the Dark, and engages participants in opportunities for personal reflection, storytelling, communal sharing, and other creative expressions/exercises.

Ancient Wisdom for Life Today: Journeying with the Mystics
Individuals who are called mystics are those whose relationship with God, connection with all living beings, selfless service, and compassionate action contribute to the healing of the world. Within this program, whether as a single session or series, participants will be invited to explore the diversity of life, spirit, and writings of these individuals throughout history and across myriad spiritual traditions, as each provides compelling wisdom and practical insights for living intentionally and deeply during contemporary times.

Contemplative Spiritual Practices
Explore the treasure trove of timeless and yet timely spiritual practices from the arc of Christian spirituality and various other faith/spiritual traditions while in community with others. This includes but is not limited to Journaling, Mindfulness Meditation, Lectio Divina (sacred reading), Visio Divina (divine seeing), Praying in Color, Nature Engagement, Embodied Movement, and Spiritual Pilgrimage. Each practice will be gently guided and tailored to the individuals engaging in it. This can be offered as a series or just a single program with a theme pertinent to the community or season, and/or as a sampling to experience different spiritual practices that nourish your soul and provide grounding, clarity, and joy.

Navigating Transitions: Confusion as Opportunity
The journey of life often presents individuals/communities with events and circumstances that force changes to their identity, whether that includes a health diagnosis, the death of a loved one, loss of relationships, or access to resources. The uncertainty and grief are often unwelcome and more than stressful. “Who am I if I am no longer in the state of identity I’ve lost?” is a query that emerges in the wake of such transitions. Thriving amid such experiences requires an understanding of the elements of transition (loss) and the choices that await us. This workshop explores empowering navigational tools to help you recognize and define your desires and needs while identifying ways to make the most of your journey through the final chapters of life.

Conscious & Contemplative Aging
This program is designed to offer hope and create deeper meaning while engaging with the stresses of aging and harvesting opportunities in aging to grow in wisdom, depth, and creativity. Whether offered as a single workshop or multi-part series, participants will be invited to explore self-limiting beliefs and assumptions about aging and how to make more conscious choices that flow from a contemplative perspective; develop self-compassion to cope more effectively with anxieties associated with aging; cultivate intentions for the aging process and its various journey markers; and, identify transformative practices to age more gracefully. This program has been developed by the Institute of Noetic Sciences (INS), and the Well’s facilitator has been certified through INS’s training program.

Transform Anxiety into Purposeful Living
Anxiety often signals that something within us is calling for attention—not just worry or a reaction to stress, but a sacred yearning for change, meaning, and alignment. We find ourselves living in an age where the headlines seem designed to inflame both our personal and collective fears, leaving us ungrounded and uncertain. Instead of suppressing or avoiding anxiety, what if we could listen to it as a messenger?

This program invites participants on a journey from understanding your unique anxiety patterns to embracing personalized practices and techniques for moving forward in life. This program is ideal for anyone seeking to not just manage anxiety, but to fundamentally shift their relationship with it—converting its energy into a catalyst for authentic, engaged living. Overall, participants will:

• Identify their personal anxiety—physical sensations, thought patterns, triggering situations—through guided self-assessment tools.
• Learn and practice techniques tailored to individual needs, including breathing and muscle relaxation exercises that reset the nervous system.
• Cultivate customized emotional and cognitive regulation strategies.
• Recognize specific behaviors and habits that inadvertently feed anxiety cycles and learn alternative responses.
• Create a personalized affirmation/prayer/spiritual practice and behavior change plan.

Some of the spiritual practices that will be introduced and practiced include:

• Mindful Breathing with Intention
• Connection to Spiritual Guidance
• Grounding Through Gratitude
• Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or Tapping
• Personal Affirmations and Behaviors

Join us to discover what resonates with your personal spiritual understanding, while accessing self-patience and compassion in the development of these life-giving practices. Whether you are navigating a life transition, managing chronic worry, or longing for deeper peace, this program offers a soulful path forward.

Unscripted Awakening – The Art of Embracing New Experiences with Joy
Could you use a little more joy in the midst of stressful times? Maybe a good laugh or two? Maybe some intentional time with a Certified Humor Professional could enable you to do just that!

We are creatures of habits – having many routines in our lives which help provide stability and efficiency. While these routines serve us well, they can also inhibit us from exploring new opportunities, growing and being curious. Step into a transformative time of self-discovery where you notice and calm your fears, build confidence, and deepen your spiritual path using applied improvisation, humor and visual creation. Through playful exercises, lighthearted interactions, and guided creative practices, participants will learn to be more curious and mindful.

No artistic or improvisation experience is necessary – just bring an open mind and a desire to connect with your inner child. By the end of the session, you will leave with practical tools to embrace uncertainty, channel your creative energy into your spiritual practice, and cultivate a joy-filled connection with yourself and others. By the close of this program, we guarantee your tummy will hurt and your spirit will dance!

Finding Joy in the Shadow of Loss
In our culture, grief is expected to be somber and isolating – a solitary burden that keeps us disconnected from our full humanity. These cultural expectations often prevent true healing and trap people in prolonged suffering. This workshop challenges these harmful norms by giving participants explicit permission to explore how humor and joy can serve as powerful coping mechanisms alongside their grief.

While grief can have devastating impacts on both body and spirit – creating chronic stress, depression, and physical illness – humor and joy offer a healthy counterbalance. They reduce stress hormones, lift our spirits, enhance recovery, and most importantly, connect us to one another during our most vulnerable times.
This meaningful program, facilitated by a Certified Humor Professional, provides a safe space where participants’ views and expectations regarding grief will be discussed in addition to the benefits of using humor as a coping mechanism for stress reduction and a bridge to healing. Quiet time for reflection and opportunities to share as participants feel led will also be included. Significant takeaways allow each individual to discover the humor that can be found in the absurdities of life, the healing that is possible through laughter and lightness, and how community can accelerate healing.

Sacred Circle Dance
Sacred circle dance is a collective dance experience that draws from ancient and traditional folk dances, many from Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Born from the earth, these dances connect us to the rhythms of the seasons and the cycles of life. Dancing simple steps to wonderful music and rhythms, both traditional and contemporary, we experience a sense of something greater than ourselves, as we create a deep sense of community and interconnection with each other and all life.

No dance experience is needed, as the dances are simple to moderately easy, and the dance steps are repetitive. Each dance is taught with patience and playfulness. The dances help bring us into balance and evoke joy, inspiration, insight, peace and healing. Content can be tailored to themes of interest. This program requires basic mobility, however, accommodations can be made for any participants who would like to dance while remaining seated.

Soul Care for the Caregiver Journey
This program provides some intentional time to be reaffirmed as a caregiver for someone with a long-term illness/condition (dementia, cancer, ALS, etc.) Utilizing a lens for understanding the spiritual or meaningful dimensions of the caregiver role, this program is tailored to uplift participants who may or may not provide direct care for their loved ones, but who are actively involved in their lives.

Topics that will be explored are intrinsic to the caregiver, especially compassion fatigue/burn-out/resilience, family dynamics, the necessity of self-care and grief work, and the diverse, complex emotions that accompany the caregiver journey.

• Compassion Fatigue & Burnout
• Naming Your Story as a Caregiver
• Grief work as Self Compassion
• Love Languages & Caregiving
• Others as requested.

Spiritual Wellness on Your Grief Journey
The concept of grieving the loss of loved ones as a journey allows human beings to understand the healing process in stages, with accompanying tasks and needs that are both universal and unique. Yet, there is a multitude of faces to grief and many ways of expressing it. Since the global pandemic, grieving as we once knew it has changed in innumerable ways. As we continue to embody this era of living, our experiences of loss — both as individuals and in communities — have been incredibly impacted. This compels us to recognize our emotions and reflect on our experiences to heal and move forward in empowered ways. And, in solidarity with each other, we can take steps toward openness to the powerful transformation these losses and our grief work can lead us to.

This program invites participants to gather for listening, dialogue, and other meaningful exercises as a means of ritually expressing grief. Various resources are offered to uplift participants on their journey as they consider their respective stories and navigate personal and communal landscapes of loss. Attention will also be given to some of the sacred tasks inherent to grieving the death of loved ones, as well as other significant changes and transitions. Please bring along a journal for use during the program.

Ending Well – Empowering Conversations About Death & Dying
The natural circle of life reminds us that we will not live forever. While our culture resists talking about the taboo topic of death, we can be empowered to live more fully through conversations, reflections, and making practical plans for death and dying. Whether experienced as an introductory workshop or as a multi-part series, this program is designed to cultivate peace and empowerment (within us and our loved ones), while letting go of fear.

Together in community, participants will explore stories and perspectives on death, contemplate the things that are uniquely important to them for living and dying well, and gain practical tools and steps to prepare themselves and their loved ones.

Through didactic sharing of information, personal reflection, and small group conversations, participants will:

• Become aware of the need to make choices about what is important to you as you face the final chapters,
• Feel more confident about guiding your loved ones in your desires,
• Have an action plan for conversations with loved ones and your medical team,
• Realize you are not alone, and
• Reduce fear and increase empowerment.

This program is designed for people in the second half of life, anyone with loved ones nearing the end of their life, and anyone who wishes to reduce their fear of death. Join us for this soul-nourishing program and leave empowered to live and die more fully and peacefully in this sacred season of life.

The Instrumentals of Your Life (Music & Storytelling)
This musical program offers an interactive and engaging presentation for delving into why some songs in history have become timeless. In community, participants will explore the purpose and inspiration behind traditional folk music, spirituals, and hymns, and while singing them together, understand more deeply why these songs move humanity physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And, through reflection and conversation, participants will also consider whether these songs served a practical purpose, what events might have inspired their composers, and why their melodies and lyrics continue to resonate today. Please bring a journal, as you may be pleasantly surprised by what images and feelings arise as you listen!

Book Discussions with Spiritual Texts
Book-oriented programs are a wonderful way of gathering people together to experience enlightening ideas, rich dialogue, and a community of perspectives. This program can be scheduled as a single offering or a series of sessions, which includes time for information to be presented, reflected upon, and engaged in through myriad contemplative/spiritual practices and creative exercises. An extensive range of spiritual texts and topics are available for study and discussion, including classics such as The Cloud of Unknowing and Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle to more contemporary works, such as Jane Goodall’s The Book of Hope, Macrina Wiederkehr’s Seven Sacred Pauses, and Caroline Oakes’ Practice the Pause. Literary texts from across the diversity of faith traditions and spiritual paths are welcome possibilities. This program can also be formatted to focus on a spiritual podcast series instead of a literary work.

Prayer Across the World’s Spiritual Traditions
“I believe that it is impossible to grasp all the different forms of prayer without great purity of heart and soul. There are as many forms of prayer as there are states of soul. A person prays in a certain manner when cheerful and in another when weighed down by sadness or a sense of hopelessness. When one is flourishing spiritually, prayer is different from when one is oppressed by the extent of one’s struggles.”  ~ John Cassian, 5th Century Christian Monk

The act of praying is something that we are hardwired for as spiritual beings on the human journey, and yet it often eludes our humanness because it is steeped in Divine Mystery. Join us for an exploration into the spiritual wilderness of prayer, where participants will have individual and communal opportunities to explore what, why, and how we pray in both the mundane and extraordinary moments of our lives. Throughout the program, whether experienced as a single offering or multi-part series, time will be dedicated to considering the multiple categories of prayer and each’s unique contributions to those who practice them. From an inclusive, broad perspective, participants will learn the history and culture surrounding various practices across the world’s spiritual traditions and be invited to engage in them for a deeper, meaningful experience.

Takeaways for those in attendance will include an embodied awareness and deeper appreciation for the gift of prayer in one’s spiritual life and a reverence for the spectrum of prayer practices that envelope the world and its multitude of religions and spiritual expressions today. Please bring along an open mind and heart for this journey!

The Civility Initiative: Living into a Conscious Life of Care and Compassion
Every day in our encounters and contacts with the world around us – with family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors, as well as in social media and news programs- we experience a gamut of actions, reactions, and responses. Some are positive and inspiring, and others are divisive, negative, and demoralizing. In recent years, we have witnessed and experienced this through racial unrest, overt and covert cultural biases, and the utilization of preconceived and intolerant attitudes and language in personal, political, and public arenas.

This lack of civility in our daily encounters is discouraging at the very least. Many of us find that our personal conversations can become divisive and break apart close friendships and family relationships. The purpose of this program is to search the depths of our own core values and to take a deep accounting of how we live these core beliefs in our day-to-day lives, as well as how they will influence our choice for a democratic society. It is about searching the depths of our very being to reflect the love and goodness of the Holy One who has called us into being and graced us to live on this earth.

Whether selected as a single session or multi-part series, participants will be invited to focus on core values that comprise living a life of civility. Time spent together will include brief presentations, reflective silence, and small group conversations as the question, “Who is the Holy One that I reflect to the world?” is pondered.

The Daring Way™
The Daring Way™ utilizes an in-depth and flexible curriculum to teach and integrate core competencies of courageous leadership based on the research of Dr. Brené Brown. The primary focus is understanding what “the power of vulnerability” means and why developing and practicing shame-resilience skills is vital for effective leadership that inspires courageous cultures. Our facilitator will work with leaders to design and create a unique, engaging, and transformative workshop or off-site retreat that meets your specific goals, objectives, and timeline.

Strengthening Emotional Intelligence
Leaders with high emotional intelligence can better understand and relate to team members and foster environments of trust, motivation, and collaboration. They can also effectively manage conflicts, provide constructive feedback, and create a positive work culture. As an EQ-i2.0 Certified Practitioner, our facilitator will collaborate with you to design an impactful workshop that educates and integrates the core competencies of the EQ-i2.0 model, providing actionable opportunities to communicate more effectively and navigate challenges with resilience. An EQ-i2.0 Leadership or Workplace Assessment and Report can be included.

Clarity is Kindness: How We Demonstrate Trust and Our Values
Trust and core values are the bedrock of high-performing teams and effective leadership. This engaging program blends The Daring Way™ and Emotional Intelligence models to help participants identify and cultivate behaviors that build trust and operationalize organizational values. Participants will walk away with clarity on how demonstrated trust and values enhance team dynamics, conflict resolution, feedback, communication, strategic visioning, and meeting daily goals. At the end of the workshop, participants will design an actionable plan to create an environment where trust and values thrive.

How Does the Power of Vulnerability Work – At Work?
Bestselling author Dr. Brené Brown revealed on a global scale that vulnerability is essential for courageous leadership. But cultivating vulnerability requires more than understanding the concept – it is about embodying the practice. In this transformative program based on Dr. Brown’s The Daring Way™ and Rising Strong™ curricula, you’ll move beyond intellectual understanding. Through an experiential approach, you’ll strengthen the mind-body connection to vulnerability, exploring how this powerful state lives within you and walk away with tangible skills to harness the power of vulnerability, enabling you to lead and work with greater courage, empathy, and authentic connection.

Spirit & Nature Practices
We are part of Nature, and Nature is our spiritual home. In living out those truths, how can we deepen our relationship with the rest of Nature? What everyday practices can help us sense and strengthen this kinship? How can we more readily perceive Spirit in Nature? Through outdoor, Nature-based, cooperative games, storytelling, play, observation, and other activities, we will begin to develop rituals, habits, practices, insights, and mindsets that will enrich that kinship and enliven our spiritual journeys. This workshop can be experienced as a 3-hour workshop or split into two 1.5-hour sessions.

Tree Speak: Learning and Reverencing the Life, Language, and Lessons of Trees
Have you often wished to connect with Nature on a deeper level? Responses to this question often reveal a frequently expressed desire shared among so many of us who have experienced the impact of social isolation and/or have usually been too busy to pause and immerse ourselves in the rhythms and lessons of the natural world around us. If this resonates with you, join us for a four-part series on the life cycle, language, and spiritual teachings of trees. In the spirit of cultivating a deeper care for Creation, the design of this program invites participants to gather once in each season to explore, connect, and reflect together.

During each gathering, some intentional time spent outdoors among the trees will be woven into an interactive dialogue around the assigned reading from forester and author Peter Wohlleben’s 2015 work, The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World. A season-specific ritual will also be facilitated during the program that incorporates the sacred energies of trees and the transformative cycles of the season.

This engaging program can be offered once in a preferred season or scheduled quarterly to be experienced in each of Nature’s four seasons.

Mindful Outdoor Experiences
In our society, we spend a lot of time inside and in front of a screen. Chances are good you are reading about this program on a screen within four walls right now. The term “nature deprived” is not just directed at our children.

We are part of creation, and our bodies and spirits instinctively crave a connection with nature. And, when we venture outside and intentionally connect with Mother Earth and the “more than human world” (non-human creation), it refreshes and renews our mind, body, and spirit. It doesn’t need to be a hike in the Grand Canyon or on the NCR Trail. It could be your back porch or a walk around the neighborhood.

This program is designed with this reality and possibilities in mind for those who are curious and/or desiring to mindfully reconnect or deepen their connection with nature. No prior experience needed. Participants must have moderate mobility and be capable of walking short distances.

SECONDARY STUDENT-FOCUSED SPIRITUAL WELLNESS & NOURISHMENT PROGRAMMING
OFFERED BY WELL FOR THE JOURNEY

Discovering the Gifts of the Enneagram
Who am I? This is a fundamental question for each of us, and we search for ways to respond authentically to it throughout the course of our lives. Various navigational tools can accompany us on our journey to answer this ultimate question. One of these is the Enneagram, which is a powerful and dynamic system of understanding human behavior from ancient times. It identifies nine distinct and fundamentally different patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting. Each of these nine basic personality types of human nature is found in each of us in a complex inter-relationship uniquely our own that helps guide us into our motivations, desires, behaviors, and habitual strategies. And, at a much deeper level, the Enneagram is a spiritual tool that provides a map to help us grow as individuals – to recognize our Essence and become our truest self.

Through this workshop, participants will gain insight into personal behaviors, motivations, habits, and fixations so as to live more freely from greater self-knowledge and enlightened awareness. This workshop is ideal for communities, teams, boards, and people who work together collaboratively.

Living Joyfully in Stressful Times
In our life journey as human beings, we frequently experience multiple sources of stress, particularly as we navigate the aging process and each threshold it includes. Oftentimes, within the midst of this process, we forget our perpetually available access to joy and opportunities to regularly experience awe and wonder. These encounters are intrinsically meaningful and can beneficially impact our experience of the ongoing difficulties, losses, and grief that accompany our life’s journey.

Whether offered as an introductory workshop or multi-part series, this program centers on exploring the spiritual and practical dimensions of joy and provides insight into how participants can cultivate it more fully, accessing it amidst life’s inevitable challenges, stresses, and transitions. Special consideration will also be given to how this can positively influence our human connections with others amidst divisive political/social climates in our country and the world. This workshop will provide participants with numerous ways to engage in this reality, including storytelling, personal reflection, group dialogue, and a few contemplative exercises. For deepening awareness of the possibilities of joy, awe, and wonder in daily life, excerpts from various sources will be made available, especially the award-winning Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Abrams, and the rich teachings of Br. David Steindl-Rast on the spiritual practice of gratitude for living more intentionally with joy.

Yoga Nidra
Yoga Nidra is a guided meditation practice that helps to relax the mind and body by doing “nothing.” This ancient practice produces a profound state of relaxation just by listening and is both a deeply healing and restorative practice. Most individuals report feelings of enhanced well-being, calmness, and better sleep after each session. Many, too, can feel relaxed and energized.

One hour of Yoga Nidra is equal to four (4) hours of sleep. In this practice, as the mind slows down, our thoughts begin to move away from us. Yoga Nidra happens in the space between waking and sleeping. It’s like floating! You disengage from stress-producing thoughts, allowing the body, mind, and spirit to rest and heal naturally. Modern studies have validated the benefits of Yoga Nidra, showing that guided meditation is very effective in reducing anxiety, stress, and depression.

Resting comfortably in your own home or whatever environment you are occupying, the practice can be done lying down or in a seated position with your feet up. All you have to do to participate is to listen.

If you are new to meditation, have never tried it, or have been unsuccessful at meditation, we encourage you to give Yoga Nidra a try. You will be amazed at how easily you will achieve a meditative state.

In Search of Sanctuary
The word “sanctuary” typically evokes a sense of peace, shelter, and safety. It may remind us of a particular space where we have worshipped, a favorite bird sanctuary, or a place of refuge for those seeking a safe haven. Parker Palmer suggests that sanctuary is any space where we can regain our bearings, reclaim our souls, and heal our wounds. In troubled and depleting times, sanctuary is vitally essential for our spiritual wellbeing.

Sometimes sanctuaries are physical spaces, but it may also be found in the company of creation, the solace of a friend, the pages of a good book, or the depth of silence. In this program/retreat, we will search for the sanctuaries in our lives, reflect on their meaning and purpose, and consider how we might be sanctuary for others. This program is adaptable as a day or half-day retreat or as a shorter program. Based on the time preference, our search will be aided by contemplative spiritual practices, reflection, periods of silence, and sacred space for dialogue and sharing.

Introduction to Journaling
Journaling is a practice that allows us to connect with the deepest parts of ourselves and give them expression. It fosters reflection and contemplation and allows us to acknowledge and express the diversity of our emotions. It also provides an opportunity to capture your journey by identifying key moments and insights. Research shows that there are many benefits to journaling. It can boost your mood, enhance your sense of well-being, improve emotional intelligence and communication skills, and even boost memory and comprehension, to name just a few.

This workshop will offer opportunities to learn simple prompts for journal entries as well as tips and strategies for making journaling part of your regular routine and spiritual practice. Participants are encouraged to develop their approach to journaling, recognize the value in its practice, and enhance personal spirituality as well as relationships to themselves and each other. No previous writing or journaling experience is required.

Finding God in the Dark
Increase your comfort with the uncertainties of life by discovering ways to both navigate and appreciate the treasures of darkness in your personal life journey. This program encourages discovering God’s presence in new and nuanced ways as a means of making peace with and becoming more present to confusion, doubt, and the gift of faith on a deeper level. This workshop draws on Barbara Brown Taylor’s bestseller, Learning to Walk in the Dark, and engages participants in opportunities for personal reflection, storytelling, communal sharing, and other creative expressions/exercises.

Ancient Wisdom for Life Today: Journeying with the Mystics
Individuals who are called mystics are those whose relationship with God, connection with all living beings, selfless service, and compassionate action contribute to the healing of the world. Within this program, whether as a single session or series, participants will be invited to explore the diversity of life, spirit, and writings of these individuals throughout history and across myriad spiritual traditions, as each provides compelling wisdom and practical insights for living intentionally and deeply during contemporary times.

Contemplative Spiritual Practices
Explore the treasure trove of timeless and yet timely spiritual practices from the arc of Christian spirituality and various other faith/spiritual traditions while in community with others. This includes but is not limited to Journaling, Mindfulness Meditation, Lectio Divina (sacred reading), Visio Divina (divine seeing), Praying in Color, Nature Engagement, Embodied Movement, and Spiritual Pilgrimage. Each practice will be gently guided and tailored to the individuals engaging in it. This can be offered as a series or just a single program with a theme pertinent to the community or season, and/or as a sampling to experience different spiritual practices that nourish your soul and provide grounding, clarity, and joy.

Navigating Transitions: Confusion as Opportunity
The journey of life often presents individuals/communities with events and circumstances that force changes to their identity, whether that includes a health diagnosis, the death of a loved one, loss of relationships, or access to resources. The uncertainty and grief are often unwelcome and more than stressful. “Who am I if I am no longer in the state of identity I’ve lost?” is a query that emerges in the wake of such transitions. Thriving amid such experiences requires an understanding of the elements of transition (loss) and the choices that await us. This workshop explores empowering navigational tools to help you recognize and define your desires and needs while identifying ways to make the most of your journey through the final chapters of life.

Transform Anxiety into Purposeful Living
Anxiety often signals that something within us is calling for attention—not just worry or a reaction to stress, but a sacred yearning for change, meaning, and alignment. We find ourselves living in an age where the headlines seem designed to inflame both our personal and collective fears, leaving us ungrounded and uncertain. Instead of suppressing or avoiding anxiety, what if we could listen to it as a messenger?

This program invites participants on a journey from understanding your unique anxiety patterns to embracing personalized practices and techniques for moving forward in life. This program is ideal for anyone seeking to not just manage anxiety, but to fundamentally shift their relationship with it—converting its energy into a catalyst for authentic, engaged living. Overall, participants will:

• Identify their personal anxiety—physical sensations, thought patterns, triggering situations—through guided self-assessment tools.
• Learn and practice techniques tailored to individual needs, including breathing and muscle relaxation exercises that reset the nervous system.
• Cultivate customized emotional and cognitive regulation strategies.
• Recognize specific behaviors and habits that inadvertently feed anxiety cycles and learn alternative responses.
• Create a personalized affirmation/prayer/spiritual practice and behavior change plan.

Some of the spiritual practices that will be introduced and practiced include:

• Mindful Breathing with Intention
• Connection to Spiritual Guidance
• Grounding Through Gratitude
• Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or Tapping
• Personal Affirmations and Behaviors

Join us to discover what resonates with your personal spiritual understanding, while accessing self-patience and compassion in the development of these life-giving practices. Whether you are navigating a life transition, managing chronic worry, or longing for deeper peace, this program offers a soulful path forward.

Unscripted Awakening – The Art of Embracing New Experiences with Joy
Could you use a little more joy in the midst of stressful times? Maybe a good laugh or two? Maybe some intentional time with a Certified Humor Professional could enable you to do just that!

We are creatures of habits – having many routines in our lives which help provide stability and efficiency. While these routines serve us well, they can also inhibit us from exploring new opportunities, growing and being curious. Step into a transformative time of self-discovery where you notice and calm your fears, build confidence, and deepen your spiritual path using applied improvisation, humor and visual creation. Through playful exercises, lighthearted interactions, and guided creative practices, participants will learn to be more curious and mindful.

No artistic or improvisation experience is necessary – just bring an open mind and a desire to connect with your inner child. By the end of the session, you will leave with practical tools to embrace uncertainty, channel your creative energy into your spiritual practice, and cultivate a joy-filled connection with yourself and others. By the close of this program, we guarantee your tummy will hurt and your spirit will dance!

Finding Joy in the Shadow of Loss
In our culture, grief is expected to be somber and isolating – a solitary burden that keeps us disconnected from our full humanity. These cultural expectations often prevent true healing and trap people in prolonged suffering. This workshop challenges these harmful norms by giving participants explicit permission to explore how humor and joy can serve as powerful coping mechanisms alongside their grief.

While grief can have devastating impacts on both body and spirit – creating chronic stress, depression, and physical illness – humor and joy offer a healthy counterbalance. They reduce stress hormones, lift our spirits, enhance recovery, and most importantly, connect us to one another during our most vulnerable times.
This meaningful program, facilitated by a Certified Humor Professional, provides a safe space where participants’ views and expectations regarding grief will be discussed in addition to the benefits of using humor as a coping mechanism for stress reduction and a bridge to healing. Quiet time for reflection and opportunities to share as participants feel led will also be included. Significant takeaways allow each individual to discover the humor that can be found in the absurdities of life, the healing that is possible through laughter and lightness, and how community can accelerate healing.

Spiritual Wellness on Your Grief Journey
The concept of grieving the loss of loved ones as a journey allows human beings to understand the healing process in stages, with accompanying tasks and needs that are both universal and unique. Yet, there is a multitude of faces to grief and many ways of expressing it. Since the global pandemic, grieving as we once knew it has changed in innumerable ways. As we continue to embody this era of living, our experiences of loss — both as individuals and in communities — have been incredibly impacted. This compels us to recognize our emotions and reflect on our experiences to heal and move forward in empowered ways. And, in solidarity with each other, we can take steps toward openness to the powerful transformation these losses and our grief work can lead us to.

This program invites participants to gather for listening, dialogue, and other meaningful exercises as a means of ritually expressing grief. Various resources are offered to uplift participants on their journey as they consider their respective stories and navigate personal and communal landscapes of loss. Attention will also be given to some of the sacred tasks inherent to grieving the death of loved ones, as well as other significant changes and transitions. Please bring along a journal for use during the program.

Ancient Myths and Their Wisdom for Contemporary Spiritual Seekers
“A myth… is a metaphor for a mystery beyond human comprehension. It is a comparison that helps us understand, by analogy, some aspects of our mysterious selves. A myth, in this way of thinking, is not an untruth but a way of reaching a profound truth.”  ~ Christopher Vogler

The word myth is saturated with numerous, sometimes negative connotations in contemporary times. Often, it is associated with being an untruth or a fabricated statement. Yet, this recent usage of the word ignores the rich, timeless value for which myths were originally conceived. Join us for this multi-part series that will explore some of the world’s prominent mythologies in their original light and the deep spiritual wisdom cradled within them.  Excerpts of myths will be gathered from the Egyptian, Greek, Chinese, Celtic, and Native American traditions amongst other cultures. Additional sources will include Michael Meade’s Awakening the Soul and his long-running podcast series, Living Myth.

As each mythological journey unfolds, there will be abundant opportunities to creatively experience these myths and connect with the parallels they offer to contemporary spiritual seekers and their journeys. Centralizing themes from each of the featured mythologies will be highlighted in each session of the series. While pertinent information related to respective myths will be provided, also woven throughout each session will be time for contemplative silence and meditation, journaling, personal reflection, and group discussion. Participants will emerge from the series with a timely and deepened awareness about the gifts and relevance of myths and the healing role they can serve in cultivating understanding and peace in our world today.

Book Discussions with Spiritual Text
Book-oriented programs are a wonderful way of gathering people together to experience enlightening ideas, rich dialogue, and a community of perspectives. This program can be scheduled as a single offering or a series of sessions, which includes time for information to be presented, reflected upon, and engaged in through myriad contemplative/spiritual practices and creative exercises. An extensive range of spiritual texts and topics are available for study and discussion, including classics such as The Cloud of Unknowing and Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle to more contemporary works, such as Jane Goodall’s The Book of Hope, Macrina Wiederkehr’s Seven Sacred Pauses, and Caroline Oakes’ Practice the Pause. Literary texts from across the diversity of faith traditions and spiritual paths are welcome possibilities. This program can also be formatted to focus on a spiritual podcast series instead of a literary work.

Prayer Across the World’s Spiritual Traditions
“I believe that it is impossible to grasp all the different forms of prayer without great purity of heart and soul. There are as many forms of prayer as there are states of soul. A person prays in a certain manner when cheerful and in another when weighed down by sadness or a sense of hopelessness. When one is flourishing spiritually, prayer is different from when one is oppressed by the extent of one’s struggles.”  ~ John Cassian, 5th Century Christian Monk

The act of praying is something that we are hardwired for as spiritual beings on the human journey, and yet it often eludes our humanness because it is steeped in Divine Mystery. Join us for an exploration into the spiritual wilderness of prayer, where participants will have individual and communal opportunities to explore what, why, and how we pray in both the mundane and extraordinary moments of our lives. Throughout the program, whether experienced as a single offering or multi-part series, time will be dedicated to considering the multiple categories of prayer and each’s unique contributions to those who practice them. From an inclusive, broad perspective, participants will learn the history and culture surrounding various practices across the world’s spiritual traditions and be invited to engage in them for a deeper, meaningful experience.

Takeaways for those in attendance will include an embodied awareness and deeper appreciation for the gift of prayer in one’s spiritual life and a reverence for the spectrum of prayer practices that envelope the world and its multitude of religions and spiritual expressions today. Please bring along an open mind and heart for this journey!

The Civility Initiative: Living into a Conscious Life of Care and Compassion
Every day in our encounters and contacts with the world around us – with family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors, as well as in social media and news programs- we experience a gamut of actions, reactions, and responses. Some are positive and inspiring, and others are divisive, negative, and demoralizing. In recent years, we have witnessed and experienced this through racial unrest, overt and covert cultural biases, and the utilization of preconceived and intolerant attitudes and language in personal, political, and public arenas.

This lack of civility in our daily encounters is discouraging at the very least. Many of us find that our personal conversations can become divisive and break apart close friendships and family relationships. The purpose of this program is to search the depths of our own core values and to take a deep accounting of how we live these core beliefs in our day-to-day lives, as well as how they will influence our choice for a democratic society. It is about searching the depths of our very being to reflect the love and goodness of the Holy One who has called us into being and graced us to live on this earth.

Whether selected as a single session or multi-part series, participants will be invited to focus on core values that comprise living a life of civility. Time spent together will include brief presentations, reflective silence, and small group conversations as the question, “Who is the Holy One that I reflect to the world?” is pondered.

Spirit & Nature Practices
We are part of Nature, and Nature is our spiritual home. In living out those truths, how can we deepen our relationship with the rest of Nature? What everyday practices can help us sense and strengthen this kinship? How can we more readily perceive Spirit in Nature? Through outdoor, Nature-based, cooperative games, storytelling, play, observation, and other activities, we will begin to develop rituals, habits, practices, insights, and mindsets that will enrich that kinship and enliven our spiritual journeys. This workshop can be experienced as a 3-hour workshop or split into two 1.5-hour sessions.

Tree Speak: Learning and Reverencing the Life, Language, and Lessons of Trees
Have you often wished to connect with Nature on a deeper level? Responses to this question often reveal a frequently expressed desire shared among so many of us who have experienced the impact of social isolation and/or have usually been too busy to pause and immerse ourselves in the rhythms and lessons of the natural world around us. If this resonates with you, join us for a four-part series on the life cycle, language, and spiritual teachings of trees. In the spirit of cultivating a deeper care for Creation, the design of this program invites participants to gather once in each season to explore, connect, and reflect together.

During each gathering, some intentional time spent outdoors among the trees will be woven into an interactive dialogue around the assigned reading from forester and author Peter Wohlleben’s 2015 work, The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World. A season-specific ritual will also be facilitated during the program that incorporates the sacred energies of trees and the transformative cycles of the season.

This engaging program can be offered once in a preferred season or scheduled quarterly to be experienced in each of Nature’s four seasons.

Mindful Outdoor Experiences
In our society, we spend a lot of time inside and in front of a screen. Chances are good you are reading about this program on a screen within four walls right now. The term “nature deprived” is not just directed at our children.

We are part of creation, and our bodies and spirits instinctively crave a connection with nature. And, when we venture outside and intentionally connect with Mother Earth and the “more than human world” (non-human creation), it refreshes and renews our mind, body, and spirit. It doesn’t need to be a hike in the Grand Canyon or on the NCR Trail. It could be your back porch or a walk around the neighborhood.

This program is designed with this reality and possibilities in mind for those who are curious and/or desiring to mindfully reconnect or deepen their connection with nature. No prior experience needed. Participants must have moderate mobility and be capable of walking short distances.