Coming soon: online opportunities for exploring, learning and experiencing here.
Unless otherwise noted, programs begin at 7 pm and end at noon.
Here is our April 24 e-newsletter. Sign up for future issues here.
Please note that the Christine Center does not offer either health care or psychotherapy. We offer opportunities for spiritual deepening and exploration, as well as personal restoration and peace.
Peaceful Presence through Movement, Mindfulness, and Breath
June 12-13 (11am Wednesday-11am Thursday)
with Tracy Chipman
Tuition: $95, plus lodging and meals
Being mindful, we create space for shifting our experiences, expanding our awareness, and opening to life. In this workshop, we explore tools for bringing awareness and joy to our lives while allowing calm and balance to unfold in our experience. This program will include seated meditation in a variety of techniques, gentle movement and stretching, walking meditation, and Yoga Nidra, a form of deep, restful yogic sleep.
Also in the program will be circle sharing, dialogue, and time to immerse in the peace and stillness of nature, around the beautiful Christine Center grounds. Register here.
The Diamond Approach to Inner Work, GROUP III
An ongoing International Program
June 13-16 (Thursday-Sunday)
with Neal Carbon and Johanna Seubert, FSPA
assisted by Timothy Bernhard and Jim Lockridge
The Diamond Approach is a path of spiritual realization characterized by sincere inquiry into one’s experience, fueled by the love of truth. The immediate contact with the truth of our experience allows the unfolding of our Soul to reach increasingly deeper levels of truth. Our work includes meditation, teaching, movement, and experiential exercises.
Midwest Group III is accepting new students for the Diamond Approach to Inner Work. For more information and to register, contact Johanna Seubert at j.seubert@tds.net or 715-267-5703.
Upside and Down: Exploring Perspective Through Writing and Yoga
with Joanne Nelson and Sabré Page
June 17–20 (Monday-Thursday)
Tuition: $275, plus housing and meals
Through yoga we open ourselves to possibility. Our bodies stretch and grow strong, our spirits are deepened, and our minds relax and renew. When the body, spirit, and mind are united, amazing things happen. Integrating writing experiences with a yoga practice enriches and enlivens the opportunities for creative growth.
Looking at everything in a new way—right side up, upside down, or sideways will be our theme. We will practice a variety of yoga poses and writing techniques designed to help us view ourselves and our writing from new perspectives. Combining these modalities allows the inner and outer world to be explored through a different lens as we experiment, play, deepen, and grow.
Whether you are a seasoned yogi and writer, or just beginning to explore, you will grow from from this innovative workshop filled with techniques that can be applied to all levels of practice and all genres of writing. Time will be available for writing in silence as well as for optional sharing in a safe and supportive community.
Participants will return home with a greater awareness of how writing enhances a yoga practice as well as how a yoga practice enhances creativity.
Heal Your Emotional Triggers, Heal Your Relationships:
Heal What Hurts Retreat
June 21-23, 2019 (Friday – Sunday)
with Maria Toso, E-RYT 500
Tuition: $450, plus meals and lodging
To effectively address your emotional triggers and make room for a new way of responding, you need time away from the go-go-go of daily life. Join Maria Toso for a magical weekend of deep inner healing. With the tools of therapeutic yoga, heal-what-hurts-meditations, journaling and sharing, you will uncover the source of your emotional triggers and open up to a new chapter of your life.
During this retreat, you will become familiar with the intricate facets of your emotional triggers:
You will learn:
• To recognize your body as your roadmap to the source of your triggers
• To hold off on blaming the person or event that triggers you and instead embrace it as an opportunity for self-exploration
• To feel when it’s right for you to stay or take space from a situation
• To identify ways of skillful coping when you are triggered
• To slow down and take time with yourself: “Something in me feels that” – gradually separating out from the felt sensation that is acting up
• To uncover the unconscious script(s) operating from inside of you
• To change the script which will gradually change your life
For more information on this retreat and to register, please visit here.
The Circle of Womanhood
June 26 – June 30 (Wednesday – Sunday)
With Uma Dinsmore-Tuli, PhD, Author of Yoni Shakti, Chanti Tacoronte-Perez, MA, E-RYT 500 of Yantra Wisdom and Yoli Maya Yeh, MA
Hosted by: Amala School of Yoga
Tuition: $510 Early Bird (April 31st and earlier) $540 Late Bird (May 1 and onward) plus meals & lodging
Women of all ages are welcome to come and experience the presence of the Wisdom Goddesses through movement and stillness, breath and voice, yantra and kirtan, meditations and presentations, sharing and solitude: all in re-connection with nature. Through these practices, we welcome all that arises in our female bodies, hearts and psyches, and celebrate what we learn from the wisdom and power of our life experiences.
For information or to register go to:
https://amalaschoolofyoga.com/womens-retreat/
Circles of Grace: The Art of Mandala Blessings
July 5 -7, 2019
(Friday – Sunday 10 am – 5 pm)
with S. Gabriele Uhlein, OSF, PH.D.
Tuition: $40 full day, $20 half-days plus meals and lodging. Commuters welcome!
$10 one-time materials fee.
For a fresh and fun way to pray and bless, this weekend offers three days of contemplative creativity and meditation. Take time to make something beautiful. Using the sacred form of circle and mandala, we will learn blessing-making and intention-holding. With S. Gabriele as guide, these days are a wonderful opportunity to create a gift for a friend or a personal piece to nurture your soul. Come for all three days or just one. No previous art experience is needed, and all artist-grade materials are provided. Register here.
Sound and Silence
July 19 – July 21 (Friday-Sunday)
With Wendy Kohlhaas, and Sheila Nolte
Tuition: $150 plus meals & lodging
Two practices, each based on praying from the heart, frame this retreat. First, sounds produced by gemstone crystal and Tibetan bowls help purify and raise the vibration of the body. This pure sound helps you release aches and tensions of a lifetime. Second, sacred singing, mantras, toning and giving voice can move us toward higher states of well-being. Learn and practice simple chants to pray when there are no words. Each tone makes its journey into deep places within the soul and aligns us with divine harmony. Register here.
Ancestral Impressions: Exploring Your Ancestry Through Creativity, Imagery, and Intuition
July 22-25 (Monday-Thursday)
with Audrey Chowdhury
Tuition: $375, plus meals and housing
Your ancestors are a tremendous resource for you, and they are just waiting for you to ask them for guidance and information about who and where you come from. Your ancestors also love to speak through creative processes. During our time together, we will be tapping into this great well of wisdom and experience through processes that use your creative imagination. We will travel to the ancestral realm using guided imagery, SoulCollage®, mandala creating, intuitive art processes and intuitive writing. You will learn about the four realms of ancestral memory and explore your heritage through these portals. We will take movement breaks to help integrate our experience and have time to take advantage of the beautiful natural surroundings at the Christine Center. We will be nourished and supported by delicious community meals prepared by loving chefs at the center. You will also have time and opportunity to take advantage of the resources the Christine offers for contemplation, reflection, rest, and play. Learn more. Register here.
Meditation: Taming the Mind, Unlocking the Heart
July 26-28 (Friday-Sunday)
with Lama Yeshe
Tuition $150
The foundation practice the Buddha taught is meditation. It is a way to tame our minds so they behave better. There is a big difference between being impulsive and spontaneous. Impulses have elements of selfishness, fear and habit; spontaneity comes from our inherent wisdom, love and compassion. We start by increasing our ability to stay focused so we are distracted less by fear, wild thoughts, impulses and the chaos of daily life. This is achieved by meditating on an object, usually the breath. We all have a noble heart full of wisdom, love and compassion. There is another type of meditation we will learn during this retreat that will aid in releasing these wonderful qualities of our noble heart. This type of meditation is called taking and sending, Tonglen in Tibetan. Participants will have the opportunity to meet individually with Lama Yeshe during the retreat. Learn More Register here.
Writing to Wake the Soul: cultivating curiosity
July 26-31 (Friday–Wednesday)
with author Karen Hering
Tuition: $295 before June 26; $325 after; plus meals and lodging
Creativity – on the page and in our lives – begins with curiosity, the posture of an open heart and mind. How do we keep our curiosity alive and well in these times of so much closed thinking? This retreat, designed for writers of fiction, memoir, poetry and other forms, is an invitation to cultivate curiosity in your own writing. We’ll explore practices and tools that can open our hearts and minds as writers and awaken the healing power of words and story for us and for our readers.
Karen Hering, author of Writing to Wake the Soul: Opening the Sacred Conversation Within, will lead this writing retreat for both experienced and emerging writers. The retreat includes: personal time for your own writing projects; optional daily guided writing sessions on themes of cultivating wonder, creativity and wholeness; gentle qigong and tai ji to listen to your body; and community meals and daily circles for abundant conversation, insight and laughter in creative exchanges with writing friends, new and old.
Together, we’ll share the gifts and challenges of the writing life, supported by the Christine Center’s generous hospitality, delicious and nourishing meals, peaceful natural setting, and opportunities for silent meditation and spiritual direction or unleashing creativity in the arts studio. Learn more. Register here.
Coming Back Home- Finding Our Way Back to Self with Meditation and Qi Gong
August 1 – August 4 (Thursday – Sunday)
With Trish Johnson & Paul Stern
Tuition: $195 before July 1, $235 after July 1, plus meals & lodging
This Zen-based meditation and qi gong retreat will use breath, through movement and stillness as the thread for building a deepened awareness of the dynamic ways we show up for ourselves in our daily lives. We will explore how our connection to breath gives us access to unfolding of each moment and offers an opportunity to connect with ourselves, others and all experiences. With space and time for this exploration, we are able to get out of our heads and into the entirety of life right in front of ourselves as we unfold into the flow of living.
Meditation practice will include both sitting and walking practices and will take place both indoors and outdoors at the beautiful Christine Center. Guided meditation practices will be conducted at the beginning of the retreat and throughout and so no prior meditation experience is necessary. Register here.
A Summer Retreat in the North Woods ~ Sponsored by the Mindfulness Community of Milwaukee
Transformation and Healing
The Four Foundations of Mindfulness
The dates of this retreat are from the evening of Sunday, August 4 (dinner will be served at 5:00 pm and retreat proper starts at 7:00 pm) through the afternoon of Friday, August 9, 2019 (after lunch, 1:30 pm), at the Christine Center, Willard, Wisconsin. The members of the Mindfulness Community of Milwaukee are happy to provide this retreat. We are all practitioners in the tradition of the Vietnamese monk, Thich Nhat Hanh. The retreat will follow formats similar to ones that Thich Nhat Hanh has led previously. There will be time for meditation, dharma talks, discussion groups, as well as bodywork and outdoor walking.
The price for the retreat is $310 to $525, depending on the accommodations, and includes all meals. For more information or to register, please contact the Mindfulness Community of Milwaukee, 1922 East Park Pl., Milwaukee, WI 53211. For retreat information or questions, email: retreatregistration@milwaukeemindfulness.com.
Intuitive Painting
with S. Gabriele Uhlein, OSF, Ph.D.
August 13-15 (Tuesday – Thursday, 10 am – 5 pm)
Tuition: $40 full day, $20 half-days plus meals and lodging. {Commuters welcome!
$10 one-time materials fee.
Join S. Gabriele in a judgement-free creativity adventure! No matter your experience with paint and brush, these three days can set your soul free! Designed to break through limits, judgement and hesitation, these days are for rediscovering the joy of simple creativity. If you feel stuck, creatively blocked, limited by “coloring within the lines”, here you will discover fresh freedom putting paint on paper. Your soul will thank you! We use large sheets of lovely vellum paper and lush, non-toxic tempera paint. Register here.
The Trees Our Teachers: A Woodland Retreat discovering natural altar and mandala-making
August 16 – 18 (Friday – Sunday)
With S. Gabriele Uhlein, OSF, Ph.D.
7:00 pm Friday evening – Sunday Mid-day
Tuition: Sliding Scale $100 — $150, plus meals and lodging.
Hosted by S. Gabriele, spend a weekend in woodland communion. Honoring our Teacher-trees, recognizing Companion-creatures and meeting Soul-kin will be our practice. Using what the woodland offers us, we will hold sacred space among the trees and enjoy the making of natural altars and prayer circles. Twigs, mosses, seeds and acorns have never been more beautiful! Bring gardening gloves and a camera. Woods-worthy clothing and shoes are recommended. Register here.
Wake Up the Writer Within
with Joanne Nelson
August 16-18 (Friday–Sunday)
Tuition: $175, plus lodging and meals
Discover how to awaken and transform your creativity through writing prompts and awareness practices. You’ll have time to relax while learning to combine the art of paying close attention with writing that deepens every experience. Give your true voice space to roam and reawaken your intuitive self through guided exercises, discussion, and reflection.
Appropriate for beginning writers as well as those with more experience, all that is necessary is the curiosity to listen deeply to yourself, the desire to pay close attention to all that is around you, and a willingness to explore your imagination. We’ll utilize techniques proven to enhance creativity, create opportunities to gain insights, and take time to write in a safe and nurturing environment. Any sharing of class writing is completely optional. Learn more. Register here.
BEGINNER’S EYE: Contemplative Photography a refreshing way to cultivate clear seeing
With Tom Roberts
August 16 – August 18 (Friday – Sunday)
Tuition $150, plus meals & lodging
This retreat is about discovering a way of using the photographic medium to deepen your spiritual journey by opening your senses to the way you relate to the world. It is not about what you see, rather how you see. This program is a delightful blend of mindfulness, contemplation, photography and Haiku. Beginner’s Eye is based on the Zen notion of “beginners mind.” An open and spacious place when you are completely receptive, fearless and totally available to the moment. A pure, clear seeing awareness where everything is fresh and new.
The intent of Beginner’s Eye is for us to discover the fascination and beauty inherent the small and deceptively trivial patterns, colors, and textures that exist in the world and which constantly surround us. As you open yourselves to the things around you without biases, filters and fears that often cloud the mind, your experience and connection to your day-to-day moments becomes more rich and joyous.
No photographic experience is necessary, nor is fancy camera equipment….cell phone cameras are completely acceptable! Really! Register here.
Storyscape- Words & Voice for Your Story
August 23 – August 25 (Friday – Sunday)
With Elizabeth Turner
Tuition: $170, plus meals & lodging
Are you an alive, passionate and awakened person? Are you looking to in healthy ways to yourself, others and a benevolent spiritual dimension? This is your invitation to come away and give yourself a gift of time and space. Your body will benefit: lower blood pressure, lower resting heart rate, higher white cell count, reduced measured stress response levels, higher rate of resiliency, and a calming dose of brain chemicals (empathetic connection). This is evidenced-based research linked to the practice of journal writing and story sharing.
If you want to awaken your authentic voice and the story it has to speak; if you want to cease spinning small stories into false gold and own the landscape of your story; set aside time for this retreat. One way you overcome is through the words of your story. Your story heals and restores yourself… and others.
Bring a journal, favorite writing tools, comfortable clothes, blanket/pillow and an expectant heart! $170 covers the cost of the class, handouts and a creative takeaway. Register here.
The Diamond Approach to Inner Work
An ongoing International Program
August 29 – September 1 (Thursday – Sunday)
With Carol & Neal Carbon
The Diamond Approach is a path of spiritual realization characterized by sincere inquiry into one’s experience, fueled by the love of truth. The immediate contact with the truth of our experience allows the unfolding of our Soul to reach increasingly deeper levels of truth. Our work includes meditation, teaching, movement, and experiential exercise. Carol and Neil Carbon are senior Diamond Approach teachers and lead groups around the country.
The Ridhwan School is now accepting new students for the Diamond Approach to Inner Work: Midwest Group 3, which meets at the Christine Center. For more information and to register, contact Johanna Seubert at j.seubert@tds.net or 715-267-7507.
The Naad: Sacred Sounds of Kundalini Yoga
September 30 – October 6 (Monday-Sunday)
with Sat Purkh and Abhai Raj
Tuition: Sliding Scale $475-$675
Naad Yoga is as old as the first impulse of creation. The universe began with sound — the word — and that same vibration lives within every cell of your body: Ang Sang Wahe Guru. We’ll experience the key components of the Naad: listening and expanding the definition of harmony, silence and the still point (shuniya), anaahad or unstruck sound and the song of the soul, the human body as an instrument, and vibration as the key to transformation within the practice of Kundalini Yoga and meditation. Come join us as we practice the art and science of The Naad: Sacred Sounds of Kundalini Yoga. Learn more. Register here.
You Can Experience This Too
The staff has been incredibly kind. Everyone has gone out of their way to be of service. I could not ask for a more loving environment. David B.
The staff were so warm and welcoming. I felt completely comfortable right away. Judy M.
The energy at the Center is so calm, soothing, and peaceful. Everyone is so kind and helpful. I felt safe and cared for by ALL the staff. Laurie R.
The staff was so helpful and friendly. They took care of my special diet with excellence. Spruce K.