Hurry Up and Slow Down: mindfulness retreat begins --online-- July 31, 2017

Hurry Up and Slow Down:

an online retreat

July 31-September 10, 2017

What, when, where, how

* A 6-week online retreat. 

* Begins July 31.

* At home, on a break at work, in your daily life, at any time, day or night, 15-20 minutes every day or two.

* Simple, accessible, gently focused on practice, with ancient and new wisdom to support and inspire you.

* Each week of the retreat has an anchoring theme:

mindfulness

breath
place

time
community

earth

* Suitable for those who consider themselves spiritual, but not religious, as well as for people who are religiously affiliated.

* If you think you don't have time for "Hurry Up and Slow Down," you're exactly the person who will benefit from it.

[In the fall a few years ago], when I felt as if I had NO TIME, and I mean NONE, to do anything, because I was so busy, I signed up for this retreat. What a big gift I gave myself... Having some focused time to replenish my spirit was great. Highly recommended!

--Fran Rossi Szpylczyn, New York

The "Hurry Up and Slow Down" retreat was one of the most valuable I have ever experienced, because it encourages the participants to take nuggets of time on a regular basis for guided reflection and renewal, rather than trying to devote a whole weekend or several evenings to the pursuit. It's well done and well worth the time commitment as well as the money.

--Joanne Fisher, Michigan

* Easy registration via secure PayPal link, which takes credit and debit cards in addition to PayPal. Note: You don't have to have your own PayPal account to use this online payment method. (If you prefer paying by check, please e-mail me.)

Some discounts are available for those in financial hardship. Talk to me.
The benefactor rate helps offset costs and makes scholarship aid possible.

Register here!

Retreat fee (choose one)

Regular rate $145.00 USD Benefactor rate $200.00 USD Discount rate $105.00 USD Hardship rate $90.00 USD

Payment is non-refundable and due upon registration.

More details below the picture.

Front Beach, Rockport, Massachusetts
(c) Jane Redmont 2013

Hurry Up and Slow Down is a spiritual retreat accompanying your daily life. It offers guidance, but it is not an academic class with a lot of reading. Its focus is the "how" of living every day mindfully and reverently, in a way that suits our own circumstances and takes into account how busy we are. The weekly themes are rich and basic:

* mindfulness * breath * place *
* time * community * earth *

These themes can be building blocks of spiritual practice, whether we are religiously affiliated or not.

Every week, with the theme of the week, will include four components, offered each Sunday and accompanying you throughout the week:

1. Awareness of the week's theme:

Taking stock, naming, asking and answering questions, doing a little writing (or drawing if we are more visually inclined).

2. Inspiration:

A short reading, an image, an insight, a bit of wisdom about the theme for us to ponder during the week.

3. Practice:

An exercise related to the week's theme, a concrete how-to that we can incorporate into our daily life throughout the week.

4. Tradition(s):

Some insights into the week's theme from the experience and wisdom of more than one religious or wisdom tradition. We are not the first to grapple with the themes of our retreat and we are not alone.

Spirituality and Social Media: Online Mindfulness Retreat Begins July 12!

Thich Nhat Hanh

Spirituality and Social Media

an online retreat with

mindfulness practice and conversation

July 12 - August 2, 2017

Spirituality --whether we follow a religious path related to a particular historical community or a less institutionalized wisdom path-- is about everyday life. It involves our minds and hearts but also our bodies and the spaces and times in which we live. Spirituality is not just what we believe but even more, what we practice.

For many of us, social media (interactive internet-based platforms and programs like blogging, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) are a part of daily life now.

--How does our use of social media fit into our spiritual path?
----Can social media help our spiritual practice?
------Is it a challenge, a hindrance, or both? How so?
--------Do we need to develop spiritual practices for our online lives?

mindfulness
rhythms of online and offline times
modes of conversation
impulse control
self-care and care for others
raising energy for justice
meditative moments
(Yes, we can call all these "health and wellness practices" too.)

----How can we better navigate conversation and conflict online?
-------How is social media a vehicle for spiritual wisdom and community?
-----------What does a mindful way of interacting on and with social media look like for me, for you, in our particular life pilgrimage, at this time?

These questions are among the queries (as Quakers might call them) accompanying us on our online retreat.

Our task and challenge
will be to approach these queries mindfully,
without harsh self-judgment or
judgment of others
but with a commitment to make life-giving choices
as we navigate social media every day.

What, when, where

* An online three-week  retreat-and-reflection experience  beginning Wednesday, July 12.

* Simple and accessible:

online check-in every two days
a three-week commitment, July 12-August 2
spiritual exercises relevant to your life online and offline
for persons of any or no religious or spiritual background

* At home, on a break at work, in a coffee shop, on vacation, in your daily life: reflect on the retreat materials in a way that suits your schedule.

* Spiritual refreshment, nurture, and challenge.

* You'll need 10 to 20 minutes a day of focused time and a computer or tablet with internet access.

* Easy registration via PayPal secure link, which takes credit and debit cards in addition to PayPal. Note: You don't have to have your own PayPal account to use this online payment method. (If you prefer paying by check, please e-mail me.)

Some discounts are available for those in financial hardship. Talk to me. The benefactor rate helps offset costs and makes scholarship aid possible.

Register here!

Retreat fee (choose one)

Regular rate $125.00 USD Benefactor rate $200.00 USD Discount rate $95.00 USD Hardship rate $75.00 USD

An online retreat? How does that work?

* The retreat offers resources and spiritual exercises every other day, along with other resources (some words of wisdom, some images to nourish you visually, and a little music to feed the soul) online on a blog. More specifically, a closed blog.

* What's a closed blog? It's a blog like this, but it is not public: it is open only to those whom the blog owner-administrator (that's me) has signed in. In other words, it is not open to anybody wandering around the internet. It is not "searchable": random web surfers will not be able to view either the blog or our conversations in the comments.

* Once you register, I will send instructions for the one-time-only sign-in mechanism. After you first sign on to the retreat blog, the blog will always recognize you.

More information about the retreat

* Every two days we will check in with the retreat and with each other (briefly if we wish, more if we prefer).

* Every other check-in (i.e. every four days) we will focus on mindfulness in our social media practices.

* In the "in-between" check-ins (i.e. every four days) we will reflect and converse about other themes related to spirituality and social media.

In addition to spiritual practice in our social media lives, which will be a steady thread throughout our three weeks together, we will look at social media as facilitator of spiritual growth (you can replace "spiritual growth" with "faith" or "following the Way" or the word or phrase that better suits your religious or spiritual affiliation), as challenge to spiritual growth, and as opportunity for spiritual growth, and we will also explore social media as "content provider," as educational and aesthetic resource.

Reminder: 
The full list of our summer 2017 online offerings is here.