 about heartwisdom retreats:In Rumi's poem, "The Guest House", we are invited to welcome unexpected visitors, whether they be joys or sorrows, people or experiences into our lives with gratitude, "because each has been sent as a guide from beyond." Retreats provide an opportunity to befriend our visitors with the spaciousness of time apart from our daily routines. Welcoming your visitors as spiritual guides is a wonderful way to settle into the environment of a retreat and know that you are not alone. To gift yourself with a retreat is to find sanctuary for your soul and nourishment for your body and your spirit. A retreat brings healing, renewal and transformation to your life. Heartwisdom retreats are guided by Jean Lauer, who leads you on a journey exploring and befriending the visitors abiding in the guest house of your life. Retreats listed below are available to individuals, groups, organizations and churches. These may be brought to your organization or choice of site upon request. Retreats may also be designed to explore particular themes or "visitors" you want to get to know a little better.  This retreat will explore the “inhabitants” of our souls and make space for these “guests” to experience the warmth of welcome through creative responses to their presence within us. The guests we will welcome are all parts of ourselves that respond to life in various ways. Our feelings as we meet life’s experiences are the messengers or guests that we will seek to know on a more intimate level during the course of this weekend.
Rumi invites us to the fullness of "being human" in the poem, "The Guest House." Who are the guests knocking at the door of our hearts and asking for our attention today? What does it take to meet and greet the guests within us who bring significant messages to us as gifts? Together, we will slow down to recognize and invite them to come in for a visit. Our visit will offer them the blessings of compassionate and creative, authentic and meaningful meetings in the sanctuary of our hearts.
Every moment of our living is vibrant with invitation. Join us to explore the heart of hospitality that occurs in the willingness to welcome all. We will be playful and serious in our welcomings, as we engage in the following activities:
s Centering and silence, guided meditation and deep listening s Creating a warm and spacious environment to support awareness and connection s "Being with" our guests and one another through empathy, inquiry and lively, creative and authentic ways of expression s Getting to know our guests with creative processes which may include gesture, movement, words, and the creative process of making a creative representation of "sanctuary,” as we share in a sacred space for giving expression to the voice of each and every guest within s Offerings of gratitude for all of our celebrations and mournings as we return home again, touched and transformed by the gifts of each encounter
Art as Spiritual Journey: Contemplative Reflection & Creative ResponseIn these sessions participants are invited into creative expression as a conscious response to reflection exploring particular themes related to the spiritual journey. Participants expand the process with one another in optional sharing and response to each other's creativity. Sessions can be scheduled as half-day or as a full-day retreat experience. Blessing the Space Between Us: Meeting at the Thresholds of Our Lives Irish poet, author, and spiritual guide John O’Donohue inspired many seekers. His final book, “To Bless the Space Between Us” is a gift of blessings with encouragement for each of seven different crossings in our lives: "beginnings, desires, thresholds, homecomings, states of the heart, callings, and beyond endings." O’Donohue tells us that “when we are true to the call of experience, we are true to God.” This retreat offers spaciousness for slowing down to explore the truth of our experiences and listening to the voice of our souls at each of the thresholds. Each session includes time for remembering and reflection, interactive sharing with one another, and expressions of both the joyful celebrations and sorrowful mournings in our lives. |