Are you or your community seeking a spiritual retreat experience during the COVID-19 pandemic?

“Social distancing” has shut down many retreat centers and is keeping spiritual communities apart, but it doesn’t have to be that way. I’ve been leading virtual spiritual retreats via platforms like Zoom and would be glad to lead one for you and your community.

For example, I’ve developed a retreat day called Psalming Our Disorientation, which offers multiple opportunities for participants to write their way into God’s presence by creating their own psalms of disorientation and sharing them compassionately with one another. I’ve also developed a new Advent retreat day entitled Stories of Disorientation: Mary and Joseph in a New Light. I’m also happy to create a custom virtual retreat day on the theme or topic of your choosing.

To discuss how I can support your community with a virtual online retreat, EMAIL ME TO LEARN MORE.

Online spiritual retreats are created to grow your sacred roots and support your ministry and service.

Are you familiar with the idea of a spiritual retreat, but there isn’t a retreat center near you? Do you want to experience a retreat, but don’t have the time or funds for a traditional retreat? If so, an Online Spiritual Retreat could be the answer.

What are Online Spiritual Retreats?

Online retreats allow you to experience the powerful elements that make up a traditional retreat without the need to travel or set aside entire days. Online spiritual retreats include powerful teachings and guided meditations, thoughtful reflection questions, meaningful optional activities for deeper exploration, and the opportunity for community discussion with your fellow retreatants and me, your retreat leader.

My inaugural Online Spiritual Retreat offerings

My first series of online retreats offer you the chance to deepen your understanding of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus through the eyes of those who first witnessed those events. Drawing from Christian scripture, Hebrew tradition, Biblical scholarship, and historical research, and further enhanced with prayer and creatively imagined dialogue, each retreat will focus on the experience of specific biblical characters whose encounters with God, through Jesus, transformed their own lives and spiritual journeys.

The first online retreat is The Incarnation of Jesus through the Eyes of Others.

In this retreat, you will walk in the sandals of people who witnessed Jesus’ coming into the world. You will imagine what they might have seen, feel what they could have felt, and gain fresh perspective on biblical stories that have shaped the Christian tradition.

Each session of the retreat includes:
• an audio podcast story/meditation,
• reflection questions,
• an additional offering to enrich your experience (music, images, articles), and
• the opportunity to discuss your thoughts and experiences with other retreatants.

REGISTER FOR THIS ONLINE RETREAT

What others have said about this retreat

“The retreat offers a way to enter more deeply into the story of Advent/Christmas, to put yourself in the story and consider what it might have been like to be one of the ‘characters’ in the story.”

“The people came alive through the meditations in a way I had not experienced before.”

“This is not something I would have done on my own, Shirin, and you were a wonderful guide. I felt safe and your responses always felt attuned and kindly offered.”

At your pace, in your place

All material for each retreat will be available to you from the moment the retreat opens. This provides you with maximum flexibility in tailoring your retreat around your own schedule. You might choose to set aside a weekend and “take” the entire retreat at once, perhaps at a nearby B&B or in a hotel room, or in a guest room or secluded nook of your own house. If you choose a weekly rhythm for your participation, I suggest setting aside an hour or so, once a week, in a place where you can be by yourself, to experience the podcast meditation and spend time with the reflection questions. Ponder what arises within you, and what you might wish to share with other retreat participants. Read and respond to what others have contributed to the conversation.

Additional opportunities

If you are a member of a spiritual small group, you may wish to gather such a group together for your online retreat experience. Your group members might each experience the podcast meditations and reflect on the questions in your own place, at your own pace, then gather each week for group discussion and reflection. Or you might set aside an evening or Saturday morning where you do the entire week’s meditation, reflection, and discussion together at the same time.

These online spiritual retreats also offer an optional opportunity for one-with-one spiritual guidance sessions with me, your retreat leader, via Skype, FaceTime, or phone. This gives you the chance to take your retreat experience to an even deeper and more personalized level.

EMAIL TO LEARN MORE