By Melanie P. Moore, et al.
Each month, we publish a listing of upcoming contemplative and spiritual opportunities recommended by folks here at The Abbey. Many of us have floundered around in the past looking for community and deep engagement with other pilgrims on the spiritual path. Here we share a curated list of what we are finding, hoping you might find some of it helpful on your journey. We’ve included a Comments section with each listing detailing what we as participants have liked. If you know of something coming up in December or January and would like to have it listed here, please email the information as shown below to [email protected] by November 18 to be included in the post at the beginning of December. Please note that all times are listed in Central Time.
November
Help From the Ancestors (from Abwoon Network)
Dates and Times: Saturday, Nov. 2, Noon – 3 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: Freewill donation of any amount
Frequency: One-time event
Duration: 3 hours
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes
Description: A three-hour webinar for All Saints Day, Samhain, and the Day of the Dead on the themes of prayer, supplication, and connecting to the rightly-guided ancestors, guides, and teachers who have passed. Chant, meditation, body prayer, reflection from the Sufi, Aramaic Jesus, and world wisdom traditions. At a very challenging time in the world, we will open ourselves to bring through the light and help needed, beyond our personal preferences. “Use us for the Purpose that Thy Wisdom Chooseth” (Hazrat Inayat Khan).
Comments: One of the facilitators for this is Neil Douglas Klotz, author of Revelations of the Aramaic Jesus. We enjoyed his book and like his YouTube presentations. This event, a blend of traditions and practices, looks appealing to us.
Integrating Mind, Body, and Spirit with Centering Prayer (from Contemplative Outreach Colorado)
Dates and Times: Saturday, Nov. 2, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: $55 (scholarships available)
Frequency: One-time event
Duration: 3 hours
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes
Description: Led by Dr. Christine (Travers) O’Brien and Eric Peter, this session provides you with practical exercises to augment your centering prayer practice and maintain a reservoir of connection to oneself and the divine indwelling. Simple routines proven to calm the nervous system and focus on the heart can release past hurts and traumas that may exist beyond our awareness. You don’t necessarily have to re-live these events, or talk about them, to release them. Christine and Eric will explain the science of how and why these practices work. Then, we will perform them together so you will leave with practical techniques to help slow your reactionary false-self programs.
You will learn:
* Vestibule practices to use before your centering prayer sit that may deepen your experience
* About post-traumatic growth
* Active practices to integrate into your day to regain your center
* How to achieve heart coherence and why it leads to inner security and stability
Comments: We have not heard the presenters, but have attended other Center for Contemplative Living events and have found them meaningful. We are intrigued by the bodily practices to integrate into active lives outside of the prayer times and the “vestibule” practices that may be helpful in deepening experience in the prayer times. We are also interested in the perspective the presenters might offer given their experience working with veterans and trauma survivors.
Interfaith Healing Practices: Tools to Inspire Hope Amid Chaos (from The Theosophical Society in America)
Dates and Times: Saturday, Nov. 2, Noon – 3 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: $40
Frequency: One-time event
Duration: 3 hours
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes, for two weeks following event
Description: We live in a time of deep social, political, and spiritual division, and it’s easy to feel hopeless with the constant news and social media. But there’s hope! Mystics throughout the ages have provided inspirational teachings and practical tools to heal our hearts and society from within.
In this interactive workshop, we will explore the Christian mystical practice of Centering Prayer to find inner peace and healing. We’ll also practice Buddhist techniques like Loving Kindness and Tonglen meditation to grow our capacity for love and compassion. These powerful practices can transform both ourselves and the world.
Mystics from all traditions teach that we hold God’s compassion and power within us, allowing us to embody the light and love that can change the world. Join us for a transformative workshop that explores timeless practices and insights from history’s greatest spiritual guides.
Comments: While we’ve not participated in programs from this group before, we are familiar with the program speaker, Carl McColman, and we like his books, presentations, and other writing.
Gathering Dharma Series – The Eight Realizations: The Path to Liberation for All with Roshi Joan Halifax
Dates and Times: Monthly on Sundays, Noon – 1:30 p.m.; November 3, December 22
Registration: Open
Cost: Donation suggested
Frequency: Monthly
Duration: 1.5 hours
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes
Description: “Gathering Dharma” is about compassion, connection and collective action. It is a time to explore social and environmental engagement and to affirm our vows in a time of great challenge on our earth. During the morning, we will touch into practice, learn together, and open to inquiry.
For each morning program, there will be a Resource Page, and the Zoom video of the morning session will be posted on the Resource Page shortly after the session. We ask that you register for each Sunday you wish to attend, and you will be sent a Zoom link for the gathering and have access to the unique Resource Page. Recordings of the session will be accessible in perpetuity.
Comments: We like Roshi Joan Halifax as well as several of the other leaders who are participating, including Frank Ostaseski and think this series would be a great way to explore compassion, connection, and collective action.
Metanoia Journey’s Sunday In-Person Contemplative Gathering
Dates and Times: Sunday, Nov. 3, 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Registration: Not required
Cost: Free
Frequency: Monthly
Duration: 1.5 hours
Format: In person at The Seminary of the Southwest’s Christ Chapel 501 E 32nd St., Austin, TX
Recording Available: N/A
Description: The format of this gathering will include 20 minutes of Centering Prayer, a scripture reading from the sacred texts, a “message” offered by the ministers or guest speakers, community communion, and contemplative music. We invite anyone who wants to participate in performing a role to let us know. Otherwise, just come, rest in God, and receive.
This is a “contemplative service,” with 20 minutes of silent, meditative prayer. For those that attend that have not practiced Centering Prayer before, we have a copy of the brief Guidelines to practice the prayer available at the entry to the Chapel for people to follow along.
At this time, we do not have an area for children to gather separately or have a children’s ministry. Older children are certainly welcome if they can rest in silence during that time.
Comments: This is an opportunity to connect with other contemplative practitioners in person in Austin. While these are primarily Christian contemplative services, all are welcome.
Embracing Life: The Welcoming Prayer (from Spirituality and Practice, with presenters from Contemplative Outreach)
Dates and Times: Monday, Nov. 4 – Friday, Nov. 9; Dates and times vary.
Registration: Open
Cost: $75 (partial scholarships available)
Frequency: Self-paced
Duration: One month
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes
Description: This e-course is an updated version of one previously offered through Spirituality & Practice. This new one is facilitated by Mary Dwyer, Dave Dierig, Cherry Haisten, Mary Lapham, Jim McElroy, Logan Jones.
Join us to learn, deepen, or renew this practical and profound prayer. The more we experience the Welcoming Prayer, the more we realize how much we need it. Repeated practice opens us more deeply to God’s healing and transformation; unites body, mind and spirit; and takes us beneath the surface of our lives into a deeper consent in the very fiber of our being.
This e-course includes these components:
* E-Course facilitators addressing your questions and comments in the online Practice Circle
Videos covering the essentials including the method of the Welcoming Prayer and key underpinnings of the practice
* 12 emails (sent Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week), reviewing core teachings and supporting practices. Monday and Wednesday emails explore key topics further. Friday emails answer frequently asked questions.
* Step-by-step instructions on the Welcoming Prayer with a guided audio version to assist your practice.
* A one-hour live Zoom call (also recorded) featuring the e-course leaders from Contemplative Outreach
* Mini-practices to root the Welcoming Prayer in your daily life
Comments: This is a panel of people who are experienced in the Welcoming Prayer. We have heard several of the speakers before. We think this would be a great opportunity to have an immersion experience with the everyday practice of the Welcoming Prayer.
A Matter of Life and Death: The Everyday Art of Saying Hello or Saying Goodbye, with David Whyte
Dates and Times: Sundays, Nov. 10, 17, 24, Noon – 1:15 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: $65
Frequency: Weekly for 3 weeks
Duration: 1.25 hours
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes
Description: According to David Whyte, “A Matter of Life and Death is a title that allows me the excuse to work with all the things that are so important to us, but that often lie beneath the immobility of our every day habits and little addictions, waiting to be touched, brought to life and then brought out into a waiting world. One of the most difficult gifts a human being can give themselves is the self-permission to pursue a life they have intuited might be possible for themselves, but where they have not dared to grant themselves a real beginning.”
Join David Whyte for Three Sundays in November to look at the way we can practice that every day art and find a way into a future we might have only secretly desired.
Comments: We like David Whyte’s work and this series, in addition to being moderately priced, seems like a terrific opportunity for self reflection and exploration.
Staying Present, Moving Forward (from Eremos)
Dates and Times: Thursday, Nov. 14, 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: $40
Frequency: One-time event
Duration: 1.5 hours
Format: Zoom
Recording Available: No
Description: This program is a conversation with Rev. Dr. David Zuniga, as he weaves wisdom from the Zen Buddhist tradition with his experience as a clinical psychologist to support us in guiding ourselves back to the present moment in order move forward in life with more joy, grace, and ease.
You’ll leave this evening with:
* A better understanding of why staying present can be so challenging.
* More compassion for yourself and others when you find yourself sabotaging opportunities to be fully present in your body.
* Some practices or tools you can use when you feel yourself anxious, numb, or lost in nostalgia for the way things used to be.
* A reminder of why it’s worth coming back to the present again and again!
Comments: We like presentations we’ve seen from David Zuniga in the past. This event seems timely for helping navigate the aftermath of November elections in the U.S.
Ongoing
Contemplative Chant
Dates and Times: Wednesdays at 4 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: Free
Frequency: Ongoing
Duration: 30 minutes
Format: Online
Recording Available: No
Description: 30 minutes of contemplative chant from Wisdom Waypoints, with chants led by Susan Latimer and Elizabeth Combs. Chanting is a wonderful practice for bringing both the Moving Center (body, breath, tone) and the Emotional Center (open heart) online. It is a spiritual practice that opens our hearts, nourishes our nervous systems, prepares us for prayer and meditation as a bridge into stillness, and connects us to our innate joy, courage, steadfastness, peace, beauty, truth and goodness. In times of great uncertainty and change, we find chant to be one of the things that most grounds us. These sessions draw chants from Wisdom Schools, various spiritual and religious traditions, sacred texts, old hymns and poetry. Because of the limitations of synching sound on Zoom, all participants are muted except for the one leading. This allows everyone to chant along in their own space. (Great if you are shy about sharing your voice! Fun if you like to try harmonies!)
Comments: Some of us join this contemplative chant weekly and enjoy it very much. We find it a wonderful contemplative practice. Wisdom Waypoints is the wisdom community started by Cynthia Bourgeault, one of our favorite wisdom teachers. Note that this is a small and warm group of regular participants. Therefore, it can be more difficult to participate anonymously.
The Abbey Tuesday Morning Meditation
Dates and Times: Tuesdays at 8 a.m. (Meditation at 8 a.m., optional discussion at 8:30 a.m.)
Registration: Open
Cost: Free
Frequency: Weekly
Duration: Ongoing
Format: Zoom
Recording Available: No
Description: A 20-minute sit, followed by a brief reading and discussion.
Comments: Of course we love this meditation group! It’s The Abbey, our own contemplative community.
The Abbey Spiritual Discussion Group
Dates and Times: Thursdays, 5 p.m.
Registration: Not required
Cost: Free
Frequency: Weekly
Duration: 1 hour
Format: Zoom
Recording Available: No
Description: This group reads books to deepen our spiritual lives and to build community among participants. Newcomers are welcome to join the group anytime. Register on The Abbey website and we will send you a Zoom link.
Comments: The group is starting a new book this month (October), Barbara Brown Taylor’s An Altar in the World. We enjoy this group and the lively discussion both in small-group breakout rooms and with the whole group.
Word of the Week
Dates and Times: Emails sent on Sundays, meets each Tuesday at 8 a.m. and Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Registration: Sign up for weekly emails here.
Cost: Free annual subscription (with recommended donation of $95/yr)
Frequency: Weekly, per above
Duration: One hour
Format: Zoom – link is sent weekly in the email on Sunday
Recording Available: No
Description: A beautiful email is sent on Sundays with the reading of Lectio Divina that will be done. There is a sit and then the Lectio Divina.
Comments: We like this because it’s a chance to revisit the reading for the week—and they always include beautiful artwork (it’s Lectio and Visio Divina!). We like the sense of community. It’s a pretty stable group and there’s a chance to share. We also like the balance of it—they are very mindful of the time, it’s just an hour. There’s a rhythm of it that we like. We read the emails each week and appreciate having the email in advance to sit with it a little before the group reading. There are also opportunities to interact online with the group during the week. We will note that it can be difficult to find the link for the Zoom in the weekly email; it is also spelled out here—the third bullet has link to the zoom with poorly brown highlighted “Click on this link,” but it also provides the zoom code and passcode in the email.
Wisdom Waypoints Daily Centering Prayer/Meditation
Dates and Times: Monday – Friday 9:30 a.m.; Monday/Wednesday/Sunday 6 p.m.; Saturday 10:30 a.m.
Registration: No registration required, join via website
Cost: Free
Frequency: Daily, per above
Duration: 30 minutes
Format: Zoom
Recording Available: No
Description: A collective wisdom pause for “Silence and Stillness.” Wisdom members lead each sit with a brief reading, chant, and meditation/stillness.
Comments: We like this because it is a way to maintain our personal practice alongside others with the degree of anonymity (or not) with which we are each comfortable. Wisdom Waypoints is a part of Cynthia Bourgeault’s network of teaching and practice resources.