Spiritual Practices for Troubled Times
an online retreat
beginning
Wednesday, June 4, 2025
Seven themes, seven practices, seven weeks.
Spiritual practices involve the mind and heart and soul.
Spiritual practices are also, always, bodily practices.
Do you have a regular spiritual practice, whether it is explicitly religious or not?
If you do, how does it involve your body? Your mind? Your heart and soul? Is it regular or occasional? Daily? Weekly? Monthly?
Does it nourish and strengthen you? Does it offer you stability? Does it give you a measure of peace?
Do you practice it alone or in community, or perhaps both?
How does it help you meet the challenges we are facing today?
These are not "should" or "ought" questions.
They are just "is" questions.
Do you need support and strength in these difficult times? Read on.
We live in troubled times. You know that. Ours are times, in this country and others, of political and social divisions, changes, and stresses. Economic stresses, too. Cultural and relational challenges. Changes in the climate, in the earth and waters and skies. Often accompanied by fear, worry, anxiety. By grief, anger. By yearning. By greater attentiveness to small, present daily realities and activities. By resolve and by slivers or glimmers of hope.
Spiritual practices. Many of the practices we will learn or re-learn during this retreat are appropriate to any season, troubled or peaceful. You may already have practiced them, or you may want to experiment with them for the first time. Some appear in our religious traditions; others are less obviously present in them or have been lost or forgotten. Some are so basic that, explicitly religious or not, explicitly spiritual or not, you may not have thought of them as spiritual practices.
Spiritual practice isn't magic. It requires... practice. It is also ordinary and accessible, as you practice step by step. And as you practice, it usually helps to have support, guidance, and some good company.
What
Spiritual practice isn't magic. It requires... practice. It is also ordinary and accessible, as you practice step by step. And as you practice, it usually helps to have support, guidance, and some good company.
What
Seven themes, seven practices, seven weeks.
We will practice them with one theme a week in this online retreat, with one major introductory post every Wednesday.
STOP
BREATHE
MOVE
GAZE
MAKE
READ
JOIN
The themes are deceptively simple. They are practices or clusters of practices. They are basic building blocks of your day and week.
You'll get to try them, to ask questions about them, to share past and present experiences of them if you want to share, or to stay silent on the blog while you try them out. The blog format will anchor you with its structure and schedule and also offer you some flexibility with its check-in-night-or-day format.
I will be facilitating but also practicing and walking with you. We'll do this together.
I will be facilitating but also practicing and walking with you. We'll do this together.
Join us! It will be fun, it will be healing, it will be a little challenging --but gently-- and it will be a learning experience.
It will also offer you some company, in this online community, so that you remember that you are not alone: not alone in your worries, not alone in your concern for your immediate and broader communities, not alone in your small but important pieces of action and activism, not alone in your Sabbath times and breathing times, not alone in your times of peace and not alone in your times of confusion.
Whether you need spiritual support to help you survive or to fuel resistance and protest or both --or for some other reason-- you are welcome to our retreat.
When/duration
Seven weeks, seven practices.
Each retreat week begins on a Wednesday. So the weeks begin on
Wednesday, June 4
Each retreat week begins on a Wednesday. So the weeks begin on
Wednesday, June 4
... June 11
... June 18
... June 25
... July 2
... July 9 and
... July 16
Following that Wednesday theme-setting and basic practice, every day or two for the full week (Wednesday to Tuesday), there will be different examples of the practice of the week from various cultural, religious, and spiritual contexts -- with a reminder of the week's theme to keep us steady.
Where and how
This online retreat takes place on a members-only blog.
This means the blog is accessible only to people who have registered and signed onto the blog. It will be private and will not be searchable on the internet. Conversations (taking place in the comments section of the blog posts) will be among participants only and closed to all other persons.
You'll sign onto the blog once (I will send you easy directions once you have registered) and the blog will recognize you after that whenever you click its home page url.
As I mentioned above, the blog format will anchor you with its structure and schedule and also offer you some flexibility with its check-in-night-or-day format.
Wednesday to Tuesday: one theme per week, with one practice or cluster of practices. Check in every Wednesday, and every day or two in between one Wednesday and the next, according to your needs.
It won't be burdensome -- no long readings, no strict schedule except for that first weekly check-in every Wednesday, and even that gives you a 24-hour window.
You'll receive new energy and hope from the retreat community and its shared practices.
No weekend check-ins are required, so you can still run off to the mountains or the shore in this summer season (or winter season if you're in the southern hemisphere). There will be offerings on the retreat blog on weekends in keeping with the week's theme, so you can practice on weekends, but you can pick the time that works for you.
Seven weeks: Think of this as steady summer refreshment or nourishment in small doses.
You check into the retreat blog
---every Wednesday for each new theme and
---every day or two during the Wednesday-to-Tuesday week, but on your own time, and the retreat blog will give you a reminder, an example, a new way of understanding or enacting the practice of the week.
Stay with the retreat's rhythm: It will be most beneficial that way. But if the seven weeks in a row become a problem and if you find you need to take a break after four or five weeks, please do so, and let me know how long a break you want and when you plan to return. (Say, you need to take a break for a two-week vacation that begins on the July 4 weekend, or for care for a loved one recovering from surgery for a week.) If you take such a break, I will leave the retreat blog open for you beyond July 22 (the last day of the seven consecutive weeks) so that you can pick up the retreat again. But do let me know so I don't log you off the retreat blog on July 23!
REGISTER HERE
Click the word "here" above and once the link takes you to the registration/payment page, pick one of the three options: regular, benefactor, or hardship.
If you are in tough straits financially and cannot afford even the hardship rate, please write me and we will arrange for a scholarship. Don't let your lack of money prevent you from seeking spiritual support and nourishment here.
If on the other hand you are able to register at the benefactor level, you can help make financial assistance possible and keep the online retreats coming. Thank you!
If you are in tough straits financially and cannot afford even the hardship rate, please write me and we will arrange for a scholarship. Don't let your lack of money prevent you from seeking spiritual support and nourishment here.
If on the other hand you are able to register at the benefactor level, you can help make financial assistance possible and keep the online retreats coming. Thank you!
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| Idaho Road (c) JCR 2011 |
More FAQ...
Do I have to talk to other people on this bloggy retreat? I'm a very private person.
See the answer to the next question.
Can I get some support here? I want some company.
This online retreat offers you a choice; it is up to you to find your preferred balance between the solitary and the communal, between privacy and solidarity.
You can and may remain private and just read the blog and use the spiritual practices and meditations on your own. Nobody will force you to speak or disclose who you are.
Or you can and may take part in conversation with other participants. Conversation takes place in writing, through the comments feature on the blog posts.
Please be prepared to observe confidentiality and to respect other participants' diverse experiences and outlooks.
Use the retreat according to your personality and your circumstances. The online retreat is like a room in which you are welcome to sit in the company of others and to be either visible or invisible.
What, no Zoom?
Because this is a meditative experience and requires time for pondering and practicing, and because participants will be from different time zones, the best format for this offering is a blog.
If you find that you need a live check-in on a particular theme of the retreat, write me and if at least three people request this on any given theme-of-the-week, we'll use a Doodle calendar to schedule a Zoom appointment.
If you find that you need a live check-in on a particular theme of the retreat, write me and if at least three people request this on any given theme-of-the-week, we'll use a Doodle calendar to schedule a Zoom appointment.
