Monday – Friday

8:45am & 5:00pm Central

Hosted by Sister Johanna & the Christine Center Residential Community

Discover the profound stillness and clarity that daily meditation can bring to your life. Our sessions, offered each day, create a nurturing space for inner reflection, mindful presence, and spiritual connection. Whether you are a seasoned practitioner or new to meditation, these gatherings provide gentle guidance and community support to deepen your practice. On the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays, a reflective open discussion follows the morning session, inviting you to explore your experience with others in a spirit of shared inquiry.

Offered as a gift to our community.

Sundays, 9am Central

Facilitated by: Sara Neall

Join us each Sunday to explore LovingKindness practices from the Buddhist traditions. The qualities of kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity help us to live in this world with courage, be a true friend to ourselves and others, and connect us back to an inner abiding that is a true refuge.

Join us as often as you like – simply register for each session you’d like to attend.

Third Thursday of Each Month

7:00pm–8:30pm Central

with Paul Norton and Nancy Newman

Join us at the Death Café, an open forum dedicated to discussing end-of-life issues in a supportive and respectful environment. This gathering provides a unique opportunity to explore topics often considered difficult to approach, within community and understanding.

The evening begins with a short meditation, followed by a brief reading to inspire reflection. Participants are then invited to engage in open sharing. Personal stories, thoughts, and questions are welcomed.

Offered at no cost. Donations appreciated.

November 1-3, 2026

with Joanne Nelson

The second half of life is not defined by a particular age. Rather, it begins in a moment brought about by all manner of life-changing circumstances – a time when we recognize the need to reconsider who we are apart from occupations, daily duties, and our past.

Through writing, discussion, creative play, and mindfulness exercises, we’ll create our own unique paths and gently uncover the transformative possibilities inherent in times of deep change.

A Four-Week Reflection Series on Growing Older with Grace, Gratitude, and Purpose

Nov 2, 9, 16, and 23, 2026

Mondays at 11am Central

Facilitated by Chris Flynn

In The Gift of Years, Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister invites us to reconsider what it means to grow older – not as a season of diminishment, but as a time of freedom, wisdom, creativity, reflection, and spiritual depth.

During this four-week online book study, we will reflect on how the later years can open us to greater gratitude, authenticity, and a fuller way of living in the present moment.

Whether you are approaching elderhood or have been walking this path for many years, you are warmly welcome.

November 11-15, 2026

with Jean Werremeyer and Brita Rekve

There are times in life when the familiar ways of understanding ourselves no longer seem sufficient. Through intuitive painting, the blank page becomes a threshold – a place to encounter what may not yet have words.

What unfolds may reveal something about your inner life and help cultivate a relationship with the source from which the painting comes – the place within that knows, senses, imagines, responds, and creates before the rational mind has figured everything out.

This retreat offers a sustained creative immersion in presence, surrender, discernment, courage, and trust as you follow what emerges, loosen the need to control the journey, and discover a way of being that is more deeply your own.

November 13-15, 2026

with Kate Karshna

Autumn can provoke a feeling of wanting to start something new. Do you feel it?

Throughout our lives, we move through continuous cycles of beginnings, middles, and endings. This retreat offers space to explore the areas of life where new growth is emerging and to honor what has ended to create space for the new.

Through yoga, labyrinth, sound, silence, movement, stillness, community, solitude, and nature, you’ll explore your inner landscape, bring intention to what you are cultivating, and welcome the possibilities of a new chapter.

Third Thursday of Each Month

November 19, 2026

7pm–8:30pm Central

With Paul Norton and Nancy Newman

Offered at no cost. Donations appreciated!

Join us at the Death Café, an open forum dedicated to discussing end-of-life issues in a supportive and respectful environment. This gathering provides a unique opportunity to explore topics often considered difficult to approach, within community and understanding.

The evening begins with a short meditation, followed by a brief reading to inspire reflection. Participants are then invited to engage in open sharing. Personal stories, thoughts, and questions are welcomed.

November 20-22, 2026

with Ron Moor

Enter into a weekend of silence, stillness, meditation, and contemplation through the practice of Centering Prayer. Inspired by the deep roots of Christian contemplation, this retreat invites you to slow down, commune with the Deep Self, and become more present and responsive to the knowing heart through meditation, shared exploration, and a special sound journey with sacred instruments.

Designed for those beginning a meditative practice or seeking to deepen an existing one, this retreat welcomes pilgrims of all faith traditions, or none.

November 24, 2026

6:30-7:30pm Central

with Barb Woolley

Beaver Moon
In community, let us manifest in our “BEING” the world our hearts know is possible.

This full moon is in Constellation Gemini. Energies return to a faster pace. It will be a highly productive, albeit busy time. Pause when needed.

The 2026 moon meditations invite a monthly sacred virtual sanctuary. Together we enter the Great Silence, offering one another quiet Presence, and letting Soul shine like the brightest moon.

November 25-27, 2026

with the Christine Center Community

Join us for our annual Gratitude Gathering, a homey retreat that invites you to rest, reflect, and share in the spirit of thankfulness. Rather than structured programming, this retreat offers spacious time for quiet contemplation, nourishing community connection, and simple practices that honor gratitude in everyday life.

Together, we create a gentle rhythm of shared supper, meditation, and moments of reflection–allowing gratitude to naturally unfold in both the small and meaningful moments.

Suppers included.

December 3-6, 2026

with Kara Vangen, Jim Lockridge, and Kathleen Graham

What would it be like to know – deeply and directly – that your personal value does not depend on what you accomplish, how others see you, or how well you measure up? We often look outside ourselves for confirmation that we are worthwhile, allowing a sense of deficiency to shape how we see ourselves and live our lives.

Through inquiry and experiential exploration, you’re invited to discover the intrinsic value inherent in your very Being – a value that does not have to be earned or established. Explore how your usual ideas about yourself may obscure this Essential Value and what becomes possible as you begin to recognize it directly.

December 4-6, 2026

with Andrea Russell

Going on retreat offers an opportunity to let down the stresses of life and deepen your
yoga and meditation practices.

This retreat will allow you to unplug and remember what is really important to you. You will get the time you need for yoga, meditation, and introspection so that you can reset and come home to yourself.

You will also learn Ayurvedic recommendations to align harmoniously with the season, so your health and well-being may flourish.

December 11-13, 2026

with the Christine Center Community

Let the early winter forest hold the edges of your days while you walk, rest, pray, create, or sit in stillness. There are times when something in us knows it is time to step away – to enter the woods, quiet the noise, and make room for what has been waiting beneath the surface.

And when you long for connection, there is community here too – through shared practices, creative spaces, conversation, and opportunities to gather. Here, there is nothing you need to accomplish. Just time, space, connection (when you want it), and the invitation into stillness.

Option to add additional retreat days to this weekend at 50% off lodging. 

December 11-13, 2026

with Julie Trombley

Cancer changes more than the body. Many women find themselves living in survival mode long after appointments slow down – feeling anxious, exhausted, disconnected, or unsure how to rest anymore. This retreat offers a gentle, supportive environment to slow down, tend to the nervous system, and experience the healing power of rest and connection.

Through mindfulness practices, nervous system regulation tools, gentle movement, meditation, and meaningful connection with others who understand this path, you’re invited to reconnect with yourself and find greater steadiness. There is no fixing, no forcing, and no expectation to share more than feels comfortable. Each activity is an invitation, with space to honor your own energy and capacity.

Upper Midwest Wake Up Winter Solstice Retreat for Young Adults

December 17-20, 2026

with Blooming Heart Wake Up Sangha, Wake Up Mindfulness Community of Milwaukee, and Madison Wake up Sangha

Gather with young adults ages 18–39 for a Winter Solstice retreat inspired by the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and the global Wake Up movement. Together, we will honor the solstice and explore what it means to winter together – finding creativity, connection, and belonging in the deep stillness of the season.

Through dharma talks, guided mindfulness practices, deep listening circles, creative expression, and solstice-inspired ceremonies, this retreat offers space for intentional reflection and community.

December 23, 2026

6:30-7:30pm Central

with Barb Woolley

Cold Moon
In community, let us manifest in our “BEING” the world our hearts know is possible.

This full moon is in Constellation cancer. Its energies are positive for emotional well-being and the priority is on home and family.

The 2026 moon meditations invite a monthly sacred virtual sanctuary. Together we enter the Great Silence, offering one another quiet Presence, and letting Soul shine like the brightest moon.

December 24-27, 2026

with the Christine Center Community

We welcome you to our annual Christmas retreat, a quiet and sacred time to honor the season.

This retreat offers a spiritual home with space for reflection, community connection, and simple practices that celebrate themes of birth, light, and renewal.

With time for contemplation, shared supper, and gentle gatherings, we embrace the heart of Christmas as an inner journey as well as a shared experience of peace and presence.

Suppers included.

The Gifts We Bring

January 1-3, 2027

Guests and community members are invited to sign up to offer a time of practice and to join in offerings led by others throughout the weekend.

Begin the new year with rest, reflection, and connection in the peaceful winter setting of the Christine Center. This special private retreat weekend invites you into a community-created experience shaped by the gifts and practices of those gathered. Share in offerings led by others while enjoying the freedom to follow your own rhythm, with time for meditation, woodland walks, creative expression, or simply resting. Whether you’re continuing your stay after our holiday retreats or arriving for the weekend, you’ll find space for both meaningful connection and quiet reflection.

January 4 – February 22, 2027

Mondays at 11am Central

Facilitated by Chris Flynn

There are seasons in every life when the pace naturally slows – times of change, uncertainty, grief, healing, waiting, or simply a longing to step away from the constant pressure to keep moving.

Inspired by Katherine May’s Wintering, this eight-week online book study invites you to explore resilience, solitude, belonging, creativity, community, and the quiet wisdom that can emerge when we stop resisting life’s natural rhythms.

Gather in a welcoming circle to reflect, share experiences, and listen deeply to yourself and one another.

January 11–February 15, 2027

Mondays at 6:30pm Central

Facilitated by Joanne Nelson

What does it mean to flourish – not simply to get through the days, but to live with a deep sense of aliveness, purpose, and possibility? In this six-week book circle, explore Born to Flourish as an invitation to look more deeply at who you are and how you become most fully yourself.

Each week, we’ll explore a different dimension of flourishing – including awareness, connection, insight, and purpose – practicing new skills while celebrating the ways we are already flourishing. Come ready to read, reflect, and share as we discover our own ways to thrive in all seasons of our lives.

February 19-21, 2027

with Margaret Berg and Jason Isenberg

A heartfelt opportunity for couples to deepen connection and rediscover each other. This retreat explores how old childhood needs and lost parts of ourselves may seek healing through our partner. By bringing these hidden patterns into the light, couples can begin to transform conflict into a path of growth and deeper love.

You’ll learn tools for more meaningful communication while sharing laughter, movement, reflection, and celebration. The workshop invites you to understand conflict as “growth trying to happen,” grow compassion and self-awareness, and reimagine your relationship with a renewed sense of closeness and a more conscious, attuned way of being together.