Three pop-up Advent-Christmas retreats on Zoom

You've heard of, or bought food from, pop-up stores or food trucks. How about a pop-up retreat?

This year, 2025, I didn't offer an on-blog retreat for the duration of Advent as I had in the past. I am, however, offering three pop-up retreats during the end of Advent and the beginning of the Christmas season. 

These are short, online on Zoom, one-time retreats.

You can and may sign up for one, for two, or for all three.

Their common denominator is that each offers an oasis of calm and comfort.

The retreats do, however, have different themes:

 

1.  Thursday, December 18, 7:30 pm Eastern Time (6:30 Central Time, etc.)                                                                                  
                Winter Grieving and Grief  * 

*Please note: This is not a therapy group and is not a substitute for professional clinical help. I am an experienced retreat leader, spiritual director, and group facilitator with five decades of experience in pastoral care, but I am not a licensed psychotherapist. Sometimes grief is complicated and can lead to or coexist with depression and other challenges in mental and emotional health --and with some physical symptoms. Do not hesitate to seek professional psychological help if you need it.

 2.  Monday, December 22, 7:30 pm Eastern Time (6:30 Central Time, etc.): 

        
            Calming Down for Christmas

3.  Friday, December 26, 4:00 pm (1:00 Central Time, etc.): 

       

             Meditations in Darkness and Light

Each retreat lasts for two hours. (You'd be surprised how fast two hours can go, even when the theme of the retreat is related to slowing down!)

Each two-hour retreat will include gently guided mindful breathing, some music, visual art, and poetic words for meditation, and some conversation. There will be a brief stretch break halfway through each session. 

All religious, spiritual, or non-religious orientations are welcome. Bring your own heart and experience.

 

credit: Harvard Health Publishing  HMS

Registration and payment information are below.

Please note that there are three fee options: regular, benefactor, and budget. Please write me, Jane Redmont, if you are in a situation of economic hardship and need a freebie: it's Christmas, and everyone deserves spiritual support.

Winter Grieving and Grief, Thursday December 18, 7:30 pm Eastern: 

Click here for payment options and payment

Calming Down for Christmas, Monday December 22, 7:30 pm Eastern:
Click here for payment options and payment.

Meditations in Darkness and Light, Friday December 26, 4:30 pm Eastern:
Click here for payment options and payment.

Spiritual Practices for Troubled Times: an online retreat

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

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.

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

                            ... 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.

When/how often

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!

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.

Coming soon in June! Spiritual Practices for Troubled Times

Watch this space 

for an announcement of our next online retreat

Spiritual Practices 

for Troubled Times

Something we all need.

I'll be facilitating the retreat

 as well as 

journeying and practicing with you.

 

Beginning the week of June 1, 2025.

Cosmos through fence, August 2021 (c) JCR

September, online: 1) Howard Thurman: nine days of insights and practices 2) Grieving and grief: three weeks of companionship

REMINDER

Click titles below for details and registration.

 

 

 

Meditations with Howard Thurman

September 10-18, 202
9 days in a row, 20 minutes a day, on your own time 

on a blog accessible only to retreatants

Grieving and Grief: Three Weeks of Companionship 

September 16, 23, 30, 2024
three Monday evenings, two hours each

on Zoom

 

 

 

 

sliding scale

confidential

supportive, gentle, insightful

THE RETURN OF THE ONLINE RETREATS: August and September 2024

Short retreats, long retreats, 

    individual support, group support, 

        explicit spiritual or religious content, no specific religious content -- 

Take your pick!

Some of the retreats are online on Zoom and one is online on a private blog. 

All retreat conversations are confidential.

As always, we offer a sliding scale.

Click below for details and registration.

Grieving and Grief: Three Weeks of Companionship 

(September 16, 23, 30 on Zoom)

Meditations with Howard Thurman: A Choice of Online Retreats 

(August 16 in the morning or August 19 in the evening on Zoom; or nine days online on a blog, September 10-18)

 

Grieving and Grief: Three Weeks of Companionship (September 2024, weekly on Zoom)

 Grieving and Grief: Three Weeks of Companionship

An online retreat and community of support

Three successive Mondays

on Zoom

September 16, 23, and 30

 

7:30 p.m. Eastern Time*

(4:30 pm Pacific, etc.)

 

 

credit: Harvard Health Publishing  HMS

 

We all live with grief. Grief has many sources; the death of loved ones --a parent, a child, a friend, a sibling, an animal companion--, pregnancy loss, the break-up of a relationship, emigration, estrangement, leaving a job, losing a job, finding oneself with an empty nest, losing a limb, saying goodbye. Sometimes grief is mingled with other emotions and states of mind: always loss, but also anger, guilt, regret, relief.

Sometimes we experience our grief intensely. Sometimes it is muted. Sometimes we have to identify, remember, or excavate it from where it has been hidden.

Grief is a state of being. It can feel like an object. At other times what we become aware of is grieving -- the reality that grief is a process, a journey, an ongoing path. 

 

Grief is a deeply personal experience. It can also be a collective reality.

 

Käthe Kollwitz, Lament (1938-41)

In this series of online gatherings, we will gently walk and dwell together to name our grief and our grieving, to tell stories of loss, to honor memories, to mourn or rebuild spiritual practices, to notice hints of new life.

Each two-hour session will include a beginning with mindful breathing, conversation, some music and visual art for meditation, and a spiritual exercise such as writing or drawing. (No artistic expertise is necessary!) Yes, there will be a stretch break halfway through each session. All religious, spiritual, or non-religious orientations are welcome. Bring your own heart and experience.

Participants should be committed to observing confidentiality.

Registration and payment information are below.

Please note: This is not a therapy group and is not a substitute for professional clinical help. I am an experienced retreat leader, spiritual director, and group facilitator with five decades of experience in pastoral care, but I am not a licensed psychotherapist. Sometimes grief is complicated and can lead to or coexist with depression and other challenges in mental and emotional health --and with some physical symptoms. Do not hesitate to seek professional help if you need it. 

 

Note that there are three fee options: regular, benefactor, and hardship. Please write me, Jane Redmont, if even the hardship fee is too much, and we can arrange for partial or full scholarship. The benefactor rate helps make scholarships available.

 
* This group meets on Mondays at 7:30 pm Eastern Time (4:30 Pacific Time). If you cannot make it in the evening, but would prefer a daytime group, please let me know via email; if there is enough interest, I can make a second group on Mondays at 11:00 a.m. Eastern (8:00 a.m. Pacific).

Grieving and Grief Zoom group - Sept. 16, 23, and 30, 2024

Regular rate $150.00 USD Benefactor rate $300.00 USD Hardship rate $90.00 USD

Message (optional):

 

 

(c) Jane Redmont

  

In August and September, we are also offering online retreats inspired by the wisdom of Howard Thurman. See here for details.