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, in hopes 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 November or December and would like to have it listed here, please email the information as shown below to editor@theabbey.us 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
Metanoia Journey’s Sunday In-Person Contemplative Gathering
Dates and Times: Sunday, Nov. 2, 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.
The Science of Transformation: An Experiential Integration Day of Hope-filled Practice (from Contemplative Outreach of Colorado)
Dates and Times: Saturday, Nov. 8, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: In person $120; Online $65
Frequency: One-time event
Duration: 6 hours
Format: In person and Online
Recording Available: Yes
Description: These times call for a need to unify the seeds of contemplative practice–to return to our fundamental essence and realize our shared human purpose as conscious transmitters of faith, hope and love. In the words of Bede Griffiths, we can learn to “join the growing Christ.”
Jonathan’s presentation style includes teaching, practice and unifying the power of gathered intention. His themes focus on the importance of surrender, community, service, silence and the practice of learning to directly sense the inner body, or inner-man as St. Paul refers to it. Learning to sense the inner body gives us a physiological rootedness where we can stand in a strong, compassionate witnessing presence amid polarization.
Together we will engage prayer exercises that imprint both Jesus’ recollected presence and self-emptying nature more deeply into our being. Most spiritual traditions have tended to emphasize one or the other: enstatic practices (service through conscious presence) or ecstatic practices (service as self-giving) but not both. The integration of the two supports our collective awakening in becoming people who can change the events of our world from the inside-out without our attention getting hi-jacked by manufactured desire.
We offer this day of experiential integration and hope-filled practice on behalf of all beings throughout creation and to bring spiritual healing to our lives and, by God’s grace, to this precious planet.About Jonathan Steele:
Jonathan L. Steele, M.A., is a retreat leader, spiritual teacher and companion on the spiritual journey. His work draws deeply upon the transmission of the Christian Wisdom lineage and the Christian Contemplative and Inner-Traditions. In addition to his lived integration through contemplative practice, study and service, he leans on the works of Thomas Keating, Cynthia Bourgeault, Valentin Tomberg, G.I. Gurdjieff and J.G. Bennett. Jonathan currently serves as the Devotional Minister at the Church of Conscious Harmony, a Contemplative Christian Community in Austin, TX.
Comments: This is led by the new Devotional Minister at the Church of Conscious Harmony in Austin, TX. He is in the Wisdom Tradition of Cynthia Bourgeault, one of our favorite spiritual teachers.
Contemplative Enneagram Summit – Waking Up Whole: Personality, Presence, and the Inner Journey of Beccoming (from the Closer than Breath)
Dates and Times: Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 8 – 9, Various times
Registration: Open
Cost: Suggested Standard $119, Pay it Forward $149, Reduced $99 (scholarships available)
Frequency: One-time event
Duration: 1 Weekend
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes
Description: The Contemplative Enneagram Summit invites you to embrace your wholeness: personality + presence, ego + essence, psyche + spirit.
What you’ll experience:
* Enneagram teachings from a contemplative lens to illuminate the inner journey
* Guided meditation & Centering Prayer to ground insight in your body & spirit
* Live interactive Q & A with seasoned contemplative teachers
* Shared silence throughout the weekend, allowing stillness to do its quiet work
* Global community connection with fellow spiritual seekers
Attend from anywhere – join us live online or watch later with full recordings.
Comments: We have enjoyed participating in offerings from Closer than Breath. This event brings their signature depth to the to the Enneagram. This is the first Enneagram program they have offered. There is a variety of speakers as well as a bonus presentation on Friday evening prior to the start of the summit on Saturday.
Refuge: Holiday Grief Relief with Mirabai Starr (from Wild Heart)
Dates and Times: Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 8 – 9; 1 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: Free
Frequency: One-time event
Duration: 1 hr, 15 min. for 2 days
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes
Description: For those of us experiencing the ache of loss, the holiday season can be brutal. We are acutely aware of the empty place at the table. The suffering of those in active war zones breaks our hearts every day. While society is urging us to buy more and more stuff, our souls may be beckoning us to turn inward, against the tide. We need space to grieve. You are invited to grieve in community. Know that there is a refuge for your broken heart, for your lonely heart, for your beautiful tender heart. The holy land of your broken-open heart has been your true home all along.
Comments: Mirabai Starr is a trusted guide through the spirituality of grief and we have enjoyed her writings on a number of topics. This can be a wonderful resource for anyone facing the holidays through a lens of grief.
Actualizing Unfaltering Engaged Practice In Our Time – BRIDGING with Tara Brach (from Upaya)
Dates and Times: Sunday, November 9, noon – 1:30
Registration: Open
Cost: Free, donation requested
Frequency: One-time event (part of the Awareness in Action series)
Duration: 1.5 hours
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes
Description: Join us in the continued commitment to social and environmental engagement and justice in this very complex time, to exploring the roots of structural violence in our social systems, and to engaging in the world in a courageous way based on contemplative practice and views that actualize non-separateness, interbeing, equity, compassion, justice, integrity, courage, dignity, and unshakable awareness.
This monthly series is stewarded by Roshi Joan Halifax, Sensei Kodo Roen, and Sensei Wendy Dainin Lau.
The faculty for this series includes: Jon Kabat-Zinn, Christiana Figueres, Ruth King, Valerie Brown, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Father Greg Boyle, Terry Tempest Williams, Konda Mason, Rebecca Solnit, Father John Dear, Guo Gu, Tara Brach, Frank Ostaseski, Sharon Salzberg, Roshi Joan, and Senseis Kodo Roen and Dainin Lau.
The focus is on recognizing and ending violence in relation to addressing the roots of war/genocide, racism, climate suffering, economics of exploitation and extraction, othering, and our own delusion that we are separate from any being or thing.
Each Zoom session will include a special introduction, teaching, community reflections, and the dedication of merit and Bodhisattva Vows. These sessions are offered freely, but donations are appreciated.
Comments: Tara Brach is a meditation teacher, psychologist and author of several books including international bestselling Radical Acceptance, Radical Compassion and Trusting the Gold. Her popular weekly podcast on emotional healing and spiritual awakening is downloaded 3 million times a month.
Drinking from a Deeper Well: Poetry, Zen, and the Art of Living in an Anxious and Restless World (from David Whyte and Henry Shukman)
Dates and Times: Saturday, Nov. 15, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: $45
Frequency: One-time event
Duration: 3 hours
Format: Online/Livestream
Recording Available: No, livestream only
Description: Join David Whyte and Henry Shukman for an intensive morning experience, drinking from deeper and more enlivening sources in the poetic and Zen traditions than we might find at the anxious surfaces of our busy lives.
The still point we find in the depths of the well is a place not of stasis and inaction but a source of essential movement where we come to understand our central relational responsibilities int he world and find the courage to stand by them. Through a combination of enlivening poetry and Zen’s approach to stillness, this morning workshop will explore the contemplative foundation of courage and compassion, and the energetic sources where we are able to rest and then renew our commitments in the world.
Comments: Both Whyte and Shukman are poets. We’ve found Shukman to be a gentle and insightful teacher with a strong background in Zen practice. We’ve enjoyed programs with each of them in the past and are eager to see them teach together.
Waking Up to More: A Conversation with Jan Richardson (from Eremos)
Dates and Times: Wednesday, Nov. 19, 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: $45
Frequency: One-time event
Duration: 1.5 hours
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes – for 30 days
Description: “This blessing wants to sit alongside you and keep vigil with you. This blessing wishes to wait with you.” ― Jan Richardson, from Blessing for Waking in Circle of Grace
As Christians prepare for the season of Advent and we all anticipate the holidays, we invite you to step back for an evening with Jan Richardson to imagine how you can be present to the gifts of this season after a year filled with chaos.
Working with several of her blessings, we’ll explore how we can remember we do not walk alone and invite in a deeper awareness of the presence of the Divine this season.
Come nourish your spirit as author Jan Richardson invites you to wake up to more.
Comments: We like Jan Richardson’s work a lot and are eager to participate in this and hear her in person. We like the flexibility that it’s online and the recording is available to participants for 30 days.
Jan Richardson is an artist, writer, and ordained minister in the United Methodist Church. She serves as director of The Wellspring Studio, LLC, and has traveled widely as a retreat leader and conference speaker. With work described by the Chicago Tribune as “breathtaking,” she has attracted an international audience drawn to the spaces of welcome, imagination, and solace that she creates with her words and her art. Jan’s books include The Cure for Sorrow, Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings, Night Visions, In the Sanctuary of Women, and her latest release, Sparrow: A Book of Life and Death and Life. She makes her home in Florida.
Mary Magdalene: Apostle, Beloved, and Wise Alchemist, with Heather Ruce (from The Contemplative Society)
Dates and Times: Saturday, Nov. 22, Noon – 2 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: $100, $75, $50, $25, $0 Pay as you are able
Frequency: Monthly
Duration: 2 hours
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes
Description: Offered by The Centre for Spiritual Renewal, this retreat series with Heather Ruce, will explore the teachings and themes from Cynthia Bourgeault’s book “The Meaning of Mary Magdalene: Discovering the Woman at the Heart of Christianity.” Each retreat session will focus on one of the three parts from her book blending a time of teaching, embodied practice, interactive reflection—encouraging you to bring your own questions, intuitions, and self-concept models into creative encounter with Mary Magdalene’s legacy—and time for sharing what arises.
Comments: We recommend the book and this mini-retreat series is led by Heather Ruce, whose programs we have enjoyed. Ruce is a Wisdom Spiritual Director and longtime student of the Christian Wisdom tradition and Cynthia Bourgeault.
Gratefulness and Generosity with Roshi Joan Halifax and Frank Ostaseski (from Upaya Zen Center)
Dates and Times: Saturday, Nov. 23, Noon – 1:30 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: Free (donations requested)
Frequency: One-time event
Duration: 1.5 hours
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes
Description: Gratefulness is not simply a response to life’s blessings. It is a cultivated attitude of heart and mind, a natural expression of generosity, a way that we share love and joy. Gratefulness fosters a spirit of belonging and nourishes positive social and cultural change.
In this special program, Roshi Joan and Frank Ostaseski will guide us through the power and gift of gratefulness through teachings, meditation, and exploration with our community.
Comments: We find these two teachers great individually but feel they are exponentially better when they teach together. We’ve participated in the past and have found this to be a heart-opening experience.
Contemplative Activism in Challenging Times: An Online Retreat with Cynthia Bourgeault (from The Contemplative Society)
Dates and Times: Saturday, Nov. 29, 8 a.m. – 10 a.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: $60, or Pay from the Heart
Frequency: One-time event
Duration: 2 hours
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes
Description: This online live teaching time with Cynthia embraces the sacred calling to be “Contemplatives with grit!”
As our world and planetary systems reel in the grip of what many sense to be a thickening pandemic of evil, the Wisdom perspective is urgently needed. We believe that only from this broader cosmic and integrative perspective can sufficient leverage be found to work effectively with the escalating disintegration—political, cultural, ecological, spiritual—so apparent in our own times.
Contemplatives of all spiritual pathways are invited to join together for this online teaching. Cynthia will draw from spiritual and psychological sources to show us how to strengthen our inner resources and deepen our commitment. In particular, she will revisit the concept of ‘holy obedience’ found in the teaching of Quaker mystic Thomas Kelly, who nearly 100 years ago stepped up out of his Quaker conscience to speak truth to power.
We invite you to attend this gathering together with others in your contemplative community. TCS will be providing a series of reflection questions for small groups to address “in real life” after the Zoom gathering.
Comments: Cynthia Bourgeault is one of our favorite teachers and this presentation, to us, looks like just what we need in the current moment. We like that there are reflection questions for small groups who choose to watch together.
Give Me a Word: An Ancient Practice to Guide Your Year
Dates and Times: Sunday, Nov. 30, – Tuesday, Jan. 6, 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: $140 standard fee ($180 sponsorship fee; $100 reduced fee)
Frequency: Daily
Duration: 1.5 hours/day
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes, you have lifetime access to all online programs.
Description: A companion retreat to the book of the same title. A key phrase, repeated often in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, is “Give me a word.” When a seeker went out to the wilderness to approach one of the ammas or abbas and said, “Give me a word,” they were not asking for a command or solution. They were opening their hearts to a communication which would slowly transform their lives.
The retreat begins with a live Zoom gathering led by Christine Valters Paintner, which will include teaching, meditation, ritual, and reflection. She will be accompanied by Richard Bruxvoort Colligan who will offer the gift of his own soulful music and reflections.
The rest of the retreat is asynchronous which means each day a new creative practice or meditation is posted to our online retreat platform to help you listen for your word, receive your word, or carry your word forward into the world. Five-plus weeks allows a slow process of unfolding and receiving, not rushing through or grasping. You are invited to attune yourself to a different way of being in the world.
We will also have a vibrant facilitated forum as a place for you to share your discoveries, noticings, and questions, with with Christine Valters Paintner, Aisling Richmond, Carmen Acevedo Butcher, Claudia Love Mair, Dena Jennings, Jamie Marich, Jo-ed Tome, John Valters Paintner, Melinda Thomas, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, and Simon de Voil.
It is highly recommended to order a copy of Christine Valters Paintner’s book Give Me a Word to have the text version of all the materials.
Comments: This is a program based on the new book by Christine Valters Paintner, the founder and Abbess of Abbey of the Arts. We’ve followed Abbey of the Arts for some time and enjoy their offerings. This is a series, self-directed except for the initial live Zoom event. We like that you get lifetime access to every program you attend.
Mindful Mondays (from the Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing)
Dates and Times: Monday afternoons, Noon – 1 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: Free
Frequency: Weekly
Duration: 1 hour
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes, for 1 week after each session
Description: Join the Earl. E Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing for an informal hour of gentle movement and guided meditation. Our experienced facilitators will guide you through a series of mindful movement and meditations that will leave you feeling rejuvenated. No prior experience or special clothing is necessary.
We rotate through various modalities of gentle, mindful movement. Please check the Mindful Monday’s registration webpage to learn the specific mindful movement planned for each week’s session. Prior to each session, as best you can, you may wish to secure a space that will accommodate mindful movement and where you won’t be easily interrupted for the duration of the hour-long session
Comments: This is a new offering to us. We saw a forest meditation video produced by this group, found their website, and thought this would be interesting to explore.
Fall Programs from Parker Palmer’s Center for Courage and Renewal
Dates and Times: Current Program Calendar includes monthly offerings through February 2026
Registration: Open
Cost: Varies
Frequency: Varies
Duration: Varies
Format: Online and In person programs are listed
Recordings Available: Yes
Description: Visit our program calendar to find a full slate of programs and retreats that can help you build the courage to live more authentically, expand your capacity to listen, strengthen your ability to build trustworthy relationships, and renew your passion for your life’s work.
Comments: We are fans of Parker Palmer’s writing and speaking. The Center for Courage and Renewal was founded by him and includes a wide variety of programming topics and experiences. Too many to list individually–so we linked to the entire calendar for your to peruse.
December
Ancestry and the Earth: An Advent Eco-Spiritual Retreat (from the Oblate School of Theology)
Dates and Times: Tues, Weds, and Thurs, Dec. 2 – 4, 6:30 p.m.
Registration: Open (limited number of tickets available)
Cost: $60 (+ processing fees), 3 sessions included
Frequency: Daily
Duration: 1 hr/day for 3 days
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes
Description: As the season of Advent draws us into the mystery of origins—of our faith, our world, and our calling—this retreat invites us to deepen our ecological awareness through the lens of ancestry. In our modern age, many of us experience a fragmented relationship with the earth. Yet our ancestors—biological, cultural, and spiritual—often held a deeper, more integrated understanding of the sacredness of creation.
Over three evenings, participants will explore how ancestral wisdom can inform our spiritual lives, ecological consciousness, and responsibility to future generations. Guided by reflection, prayer, and shared conversation, we will seek to reconnect with the earth through the practice of remembering those who came before us—and embracing our own role as future ancestors.
December 2 – Session 1: Invoking Our Ancestors
December 3 – Session 2: Learning from Our Ancestors
December 4 – Session 3: Becoming Ancestors, Ourselves
Comments: The speaker, Nicholas Collura, has led programs at the Oblate School before. This offering seems like a fresh angle on Advent. The format seems do-able with one-hour sessions each evening for three days.
The Christian Mutation: Why God Cannot be Static, with Ilia Delio (from The Center for Christogenesis)
Dates and Times: Thursday, Dec. 4, 4 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: $30
Frequency: Oone-time event
Duration: 1.5 hours
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes
Description: Our communities are hemorrhaging. Racism persists. Gun violence claims the innocent. Immigrants are scapegoated. Nationalism wraps itself in the flag and claims the name of Christ. If religion is, as Tillich argued, the substance of culture, then our cultural substance is corrupted. But the question is more urgent than diagnosis: What if Christianity abandoned its political vocation at the very beginning? What if, in the early centuries, we traded the revolutionary God of Jesus for a philosophical abstraction—a timeless, immutable, apolitical principle governing us from a distance?
This talk will ask: Who is the God of Jesus of Nazareth, the God who transformed human consciousness through radical mutuality, vulnerability, and love? Sr. Ilia will discuss how this God is fundamentally relational, genuinely becoming, and deeply embedded in the world’s suffering and creativity—offering us a path beyond both religious nationalism and secular despair. She will then turn to Teilhard de Chardin’s notion of love as the evolutionary force through which God emerges within creation, and through which a genuinely new political order might yet be born.
Comments: Not only is Ilia Delio a theologian but she is a scientist as well, and a scholar of Teilhard de Chardin. We always enjoy her style and humor with such big topics. As smart as she is, her presentations are accessible to anyone.
Alive to Hope: An Advent Mini-Retreat with Joe Barry (from Eremos)
Dates and Times: Saturday, Dec. 9, 9:30 a.m. – noon
Registration: Open
Cost: $50
Frequency: One-time event
Duration: 2.5 hours
Format: In-person only, at Abiding Love Lutheran Church, Austin, TX
Recording Available: N/A
Description: The gospel nativity stories depict humanity experiencing its own weakness, fear and despair in a world filled with uncertainty. Yet, God breaks through in the most ordinary ways to instill courage and hope and give strength to our biblical forbears.
As we enter into another Advent what is the whisper of your heart saying to you? How is the ordinary revealing the extraordinary in our lives?
Using silent reflection and conversation, you are invited to contemplate Advent’s invitation to quiet your mind, awaken to God’s presence, and come more alive to hope.
Comments: We’ve heard Joe Barry speak at Seton Cove and are familiar with his format for events. This is a wonderful opportunity for an in-person event here in Austin. The location, Abiding Love Lutheran Church, is a nice setting, easy to get to with plenty of parking.
Joe Barry, MA, is a retreat leader, spiritual director, and facilitator. His Spiritual Formation ministry extends to higher education, healthcare, and congregational settings. Joe holds an MA in Applied Behavioral Sciences from City University of Seattle, Washington, and BA in Theology from the University of Notre Dame. He is a certified Master Practitioner for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Enneagram Facilitator, and holds a Certificate in the Foundations of NeuroLeadership from the NeuroLeadership Institute.
Poetry for These Times Winter Session: Waiting in the Dark for What Comes Next, With Beverly Voss (from Eremos)
Dates and Times: Tuesday, Dec. 9, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: $25
Frequency: One-time event
Duration: 2 hours
Format: Zoom
Recording Available: Yes
Description: As many grapple with the upheaval in the world, personal challenges, and any anxiety about what the arrival of 2026 will bring, we are now experiencing the longest nights of the year.
How can we lean into this time of darkness? How can it support us in reaching moments of peaceful presence?
Join Beverly Voss for an evening of exploring Waiting in the Dark for What Comes Next through a curated selection of poems. Then let their inspiration fuel your own poetry writing and sharing in small groups. Whether you share or not, you’re sure to be inspired by the poetry and each other and leave with more hope and less anxiety about the future.
No experience reading or writing poetry is needed. Sharing is always optional!
Comments: While we’re not familiar with this poet, the Eremos poetry programs have been good in our experience. WIth this offering, we also like the usual things about Eremos programming–high quality, online, and affordable.
Honoring Winter: A Time for Deep Rest & Reflection (from the Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing)
Dates and Times: Tuesday, Dec. 9, Noon – 1 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: Free
Frequency: One-time event
Duration: 1 hour
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes
Description: As the natural world enters a quiet state of dormancy during the winter months, there is a corresponding invitation for us to slow down and focus inward as well. During this experiential webinar, you’ll have the opportunity to explore practices that awaken the senses, soothe the nervous system, and open the heart. We invite you to honor the season of winter by tapping into deep rest and reflection with live musical meditation, breathwork, and mindful movement.
No experience is necessary, and you may participate as much or as little as you’d like. We recommend having something to write with and write on nearby for optional journal reflection time. If possible, you may wish to find a quiet space without distractions and have somewhere comfortable to sit or lie down.
Whether you’re seeking rest, renewal, or inspiration, this session will offer a space of rejuvenation to attune to your inner energy and the natural world.
Participants will be off camera and muted.
Comments: The Bakken Center is new to us, but this looks like an enriching, experiential, and accessible presentation. We like that participants are off-camera and muted so that participation can feel less intimidating in some ways. It’s a nice lunchtime break for an hour. Also, we like that it’s free.
Advent Centering Prayer Retreat (from Metanoia Journey)
Dates and Times: Saturday, Dec. 13, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Registration: Open (space still available at publication time)
Cost: $50 suggested (scholarships available)
Frequency: one-time event
Duration: 6 hours (one day)
Format: In-person at Five Oak Ranch, Austin, TX
Recording Available: N/A
Description: Centering Prayer is a foundational contemplative practice of our community. One’s participation in one-day, as well as multi-day Centering Prayer retreats, helps to deepen one’s spiritual practice.
This will be an opportunity, right before the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, to disconnect for a day in silence and solitude.
We are excited to host our one day meditation and silent retreat at Five Oak Ranch, in south Austin off of 45 and MoPac. This is close to the city, yet provides a beautiful, quiet escape from city activity.
We will provide lunch as part of the event. As part of the sign-up process, there are some questions concerning any dietary restrictions, requirements and requests.
A final agenda will be provided before the event, but we envision the day looking something like this:
- Welcome/Greeting
- Centering Prayer / Meditation period
- Periods of silence and solitude
- Lunch (in silence)
- Centering Prayer / Meditation period
- Closing comments
Comments: We like how they have formatted similar programs in the past. The location, Five Oak Ranch, is lovely. There is time to enjoy the setting, a meal is provided, and it will be a day where there is plenty of silence.
Blessings in the Night: Winter Solstice 2025, with Diana Amorde (from Eremos)
Dates and Times: Saturday, Dec. 20, 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: Free
Frequency: One-time event
Duration: 1 hour
Format: Zoom
Recording Available: Yes
Description: We invite you to step back from the challenges of the holiday season to embrace the gifts of the longest night of the year. Join us for an hour of reflection and conversation to support you in honoring the gifts of the night. Leave with a greater sense of peace and an expanded capacity to welcome in the blessings of the season.
Comments: We like the flexibility of an online observance of the Winter Solstice, which allows participation pretty much regardless of how bad holiday traffic is! This opportunity to tune in from wherever you are for a quiet observance of this ancient tradition.
Ongoing
You’re Not the Only One (from Eremos)
Dates and Times: Weekly on Mondays, 7 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: Free
Frequency: Weekly
Duration: 1 hour
Format: Zoom
Recording Available: No
Description: Join us weekly (or as often as you desire) to share how you’re feeling right now about life, what’s unfolding in the world, or whatever you need to speak into the circle.
No fixing, no ranting, no trying to make it better.
Just listening attentively to each other in support and always closing our time together with what gives us hope or what we’re grateful for.
Comments: We’ve met this leader (as a participant) in past programs and have found her to be very thoughtful in her sharing. This looks like an enriching ongoing group.
Meditation Resources for those New to Meditation (from Tara Brach)
Dates and Times: Self-directed, flexible
Registration: N/A – this is a collection of resources
Cost: Free
Frequency: Self-directed
Duration: Varies
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes
Description: You are embarking on a journey that can deeply transform and enrich your life. The most important thing to remember is to approach practice with a friendly, curious, non-judgmental attitude.
There’s no one style of meditation that is “best” or fits all people. We’ve offered you some basic practices below that you can explore to see which serve you well. You might end up with two or three that you use regularly as you establish a practice. Over the weeks and months you’ll internalize the instructions and probably practice more and more regularly without the guided meditation. But at times, you’ll find they will help in gathering your attention.
Resources for those new to meditation or if you’d like a refresher:
Beginner’s Meditation Kit – a introductory mini-course
Mindfulness Daily – a free 40-day online course to help to establish a mindfulness meditation practice
How to Meditate FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
How to Meditate (PDF)
Comments: This is a wonderful introduction to (or refresher for) establishing a meditation practice. A well-known and respected meditation teacher, Tara Brach’s teachings blend Western psychology and Eastern spiritual practices, mindful attention to our inner life, and a full, compassionate engagement with our world. The result is a distinctive voice in Western Buddhism, one that offers a wise and caring approach to freeing ourselves and society from suffering. To learn more about her training, background, and leadership, click here.
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: Tuesdays, 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 currently reading Practice the Pause. 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.
The Welcoming Prayer – Videos (from Contemplative Outreach)
Dates and Times: Always available
Registration: N/A
Cost: Free
Frequency: N/A
Duration: Varies, from 5 minutes to 1 hour, most are about 30 minutes
Format: YouTube
Recording Available: Yes
Description: A collection of videos on the Welcoming Prayer (34 videos). There was a series of 8 videos which are part of a larger curriculum for a self-guided online course on this practice, “Embracing Living: The Welcoming Prayer,” which is offered by Contemplative Outreach in conjunction with Spirituality & Practice).
Comments: We regularly enjoy offerings from Contemplative Outreach and are always eager to learn more about The Welcoming Prayer. Some of the 34 videos linked here are from early in the Pandemic (when we were all trying to figure out how to be in community when we couldn’t meet in person), and some videos are more recent.
The Tears of Things: Integrating the Prophetic Path (from The Center for Action and Contemplation)
Dates and Times: Self-paced
Registration: Open
Cost: $100 (or $80 or $60, based on financial circumstances)
Frequency: Self-paced with 9 prophetic themes)
Duration: Varies
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes
Description: A self-guided online course based on Richard Rohr’s new book, “The Tears of Things.” Explore the wisdom of prophets from ancient times to modern day, and discover how we can transform our anger into compassion in our modern “age of outrage.”
“The Tears of Things: Integrating the Prophetic Path” will lead you on a journey from righteous anger at injustice, through grief for the world’s suffering, and—for those committed to the path—finally to grace-filled love for everyone and everything.
Students will explore themes from “The Tears of Things,” like radical grace, collective evil, and the alchemy of tears. Discover deeper meaning in the Hebrew prophets and find inspiration from today’s truth-tellers like Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day, Etty Hillesum, Howard Thurman, Joanna Macy, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Oscar Romero.
This self-guided course offers a flexible online learning experience to explore prophetic themes from the sacred space of your home. You can enroll anytime and access all course materials through CAC Connect, our new online learning platform. Engage with the material in a space that’s safe for questions and deepen your understanding alongside fellow seekers.
Comments: We’ve previously enjoyed many offerings from the CAC and Richard Rohr. This offering is an online, self-paced program based on his new book, but we are not sure if he is speaking in it. There doesn’t appear to be a live portion of this course and we are not sure if there is online interaction (though they usually do offer that).