Experience Spiritual Deepening
Unless otherwise noted, programs begin at 7 pm and end at noon.
Here is our August e-newsletter. Sign up for future issues here.
Holy Spirit, Mother Mary, the Saints and Me: Three Evenings of Exploration into Christian Meditation and Contemplative Prayer
August 14, 21 & 28 (Tuesday Evenings)
Annie Lea with Franciscan Sisters: Marge Zulaski and Gabriele Uhlein
Suggested donation: $10
Have you ever wondered if there is Christian contemplation for ordinary folks? Is there a foundation for mindfulness in Christianity? Did Jesus meditate? How can I? Hosted by Annie Lea, these three evenings are a lovely blend of practice and conversation ideal for all levels. Explore beginning meditation and gently deepen your prayer in a circle of shared contemplation in the natural sanctuary of the Christine Center. We will meditate, reflect and learn from each other! Register here.
Emotional Healing Using Buddhist Wisdom
August 17 – 19 (Friday-Sunday)
With Lama Yeshe
Our minds naturally turn toward healing and health just like our bodies do when sick or injured. This program will help us learn to encourage the natural healing process, develop healthier ways to look at ourselves and the world we live in. By connecting to our noble heart we encourage the healing process. A healthy mind experiences happiness, inner peace, love and contentment. It will include talks, discussion, sitting, walking and guided meditation and meditation instruction. Learn More Register here.
Yoga Nidra 24
August 21 – 22 (Tuesday-Wednesday)
With Ann Swanson E-RYT 200, RYT 500
Enjoy 24 hours of Restoration and Rejuvenation through the easiest yoga practice of all – simple, deep, natural rest! The Christine Center welcomes you to a monthly day designated for health, well-being, and ease. Each month, one of our featured instructors will offer a mid-week Yoga Nidra based program designed to help you experience quiet clarity and calm from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. Join us as we take a 24 hour “time out” from our busy lives to unwind one serene breath at a time. You may even choose to extend your stay and create your own customized personal retreat. Our woodland sanctuary awaits you! Learn More Register here.
The Art of Relaxation
August 24 – 26 (Friday-Sunday)
With Tracy Hart, CYT
Tuition sliding scale: $100 – $150, plus meals and lodging
Learn techniques to relax the mind, release the nervous system and develop an overall sense of peace and tranquility. Sessions will incorporate periods of yoga exercises, breath work, conscious relaxation, Yoga Nidra and seated meditation. It will also include a restorative yoga session with crystal singing bowls. There will be personal time to commune with nature or in the recuperative act of rest. Please bring a yoga mat and 2 firm blankets if possible. All levels welcome. Enjoy! Learn More Register here.
Speaking Peace: What You Say Next Can Change Your World
Enriching life through Compassionate Communication
August 24 – 26 (Friday-Sunday)
With Wade Britzius
In this workshop we will discover and practice the tools of Nonviolent Communication (NVC), developed by Marshall Rosenberg Ph.D. These simple but powerful concepts and practices are supporting people around the world, on many different paths, from all different cultures, to live out the life they are seeking. NVC points to the thinking, and especially the language that can shift our attention and our intention toward the universal as we move through the ups and downs of daily life. From this place, no matter what our path, we have increased capability to actualize our spiritual understanding. Learn More Register here.
Yoga Nidra 24
September 4 – 5 (Tuesday-Wednesday)
With Tracy Chipman, MA, CYT, AYS
Enjoy 24 hours of Restoration and Rejuvenation through the easiest yoga practice of all – simple, deep, natural rest! The Christine Center welcomes you to a monthly day designated for health, well-being, and ease.
Yoga Nidra, also known as ‘Yogic Sleep’ is an ancient practice that offers very deep rest. It is a systematic method, creating an experience of restful alertness allowing the physiology, the neurology and subconscious mind to sink into a deep wellspring of relaxation and rest. Please join Tracy in the sanctuary of the Christine Center for this delicious gift given to and received by your sweet self. Learn More Register here.
Andrea Russell Yoga
September 7 – 9 (Friday-Sunday)
With Andrea Russell
Going on retreat offers an opportunity to let down the stresses of life and deepen your yoga and meditation practices. In addition to alignment-based yoga classes and mindfulness meditation instruction, you will learn Ayurvedic lifestyle and practice recommendations to align harmoniously with the season, so your health and well-being may flourish. This retreat offers just enough time to come back home to yourself without having to travel far. All levels are welcome.
Click here for more information and to register.
Autumn’s Wisdom: A Restorative Yoga Retreat with Rev. Shannon Michael Pater, PsyD. E-RYT 500
September 12 – 14 (Wednesday-Friday)
The Vernal Equinox is one of the two brief moments of balance between the day and the night; it serves as the portal to Autumn, a season of depth, release and restoration. Even the red, orange and yellow colors of the leaves reflect the grounding of the root and lower chakras. The wisdom of the trees can guide us in letting go and composting the soil of our soul.
The Sanskrit linguistic stem for “yoga” is “union,” as in the re-union of our sacred core to The Sacred Core. In classic Hatha yoga, the foundation is a grounding in the Yamas: non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, conservation of vital energy, and non-hoarding. The Yamas are invitations to touch our core instead of the nothingness after which we frequently grope and grasp. Autumn is a perfect time to regroup and reground as we move into the rich spiritual soil of darkness.
In this retreat, participants will have the opportunity to:
- Explore the gifts of Autumn and the grounding of the Yamas in facilitated conversations;
- Use the generous landscape, intuitive painting studio, labyrinth and spiritual practices of the Christine Center;
- Integrate insights, questions and awakenings through a daily trauma-informed restorative yoga practice;
- Set a sankalpa (sacred intention) for the upcoming season at the end of the retreat.
Cultivating Mindfulness One Breath at a Time
September 13 – 14 (Thursday-Friday)
With Barbara Wulf, B.S.
Mindfulness can shift our experience, expand our awareness, and open us up to new approaches to life. In this workshop, learn techniques for bringing awareness and balance into your life while cultivating a sense of overall calm. Sessions include Sitting Meditation, Loving Kindness Meditation, Gentle Mindful Movement, Walking Meditation (outside), and Mindful Rest Yoga, a form of deep, restful yogic sleep.
There will be group dialogue and time to commune with nature in the peaceful setting of the Christine Center grounds. Learn More Register here.
Change, Chaos and Contentment
September 17 – 19 (Monday-Wednesday)
With Lama Yeshe
The Buddha often talked about impermanence, that everything is constantly changing. We know the good times don’t last and our bodies don’t either. However the bad times also don’t last and because of impermanence we can grow and change. Appreciation and gratitude, love and compassion, and wisdom help us develop contentment in spite of the chaos. This program will explore the ideas and methods found in Buddhism that will lead to experiencing more satisfaction and contentment in life. It will include talks, discussion, sitting, walking and guided meditation plus meditation instruction. Hearing about contentment is good. Experiencing it through hearing, contemplation and meditation is better. There will be an opportunity to have an optional private audience with Lama Yeshe. Learn More Register here.
Exploring Dreams with Jungian Analyst, S. Marge Zulaski, OSF
September 17 – 19 (Monday-Wednesday)
Tuition: Early Bird Rate! $150 until September 10th or $200 after the 10th, plus lodging and meals
Join Marge for an experiential practice of exploring dreams with a Jungian emphasis on learning from the symbols and images of your dreams. To prepare for these days write down all you can remember about a dream and bring a few dreams with you. Together, we will engage with dreams to access inner guidance and to become conscious of where life energy is blocked and where life energy wants to go. We will begin with exercises for remembering and recording your dreams. Register here.
Save the Date! Register early – spaces fill quickly!
St Hildegard Lives! A Festival of 21st Century Greening Inspiration
September 21 – 23 (Friday-Sunday)
With S. Gabriele Uhlein, OSF, PhD and Hilde-friends
Tuition: $250, plus meals and lodging. Early bird rate $200 through August 30th.
Come! Taste spices, sample spelt, hear music, see beauty, know God, sing! We’ll do all these Hilde-things! Let St. Hildegard challenge your soul to find its greening expression and allow her profound insights to fortify your own soul-path. Discover fresh, exhilarating ways in which the vibrant light of the 12th century St. Hildegard can nourish and sustain a 21st century mystic clarity. With select guests, S. Gabriele will explore the creative zest that continues to animate teachers and healers, herbalists and spice-sellers, artists and writers. They share their stories and creations to inspire our own spiritual experience and personal Hildegard-greening! Register here.
Aging into Higher Consciousness
September 25 – 27 (Tuesday-Thursday)
With Delmarie Gibney, FSPA and Lucia Leck, M.Ed.
Join us in exploring aging as nature’s way of luring us deep into the discovery of who we are, bringing us to the pinnacle of our personal and spiritual development. Hosted close to the time of the spring and fall equinoxes, when life is either budding forth or being harvested, we focus on our own aging process. We look back at who we have been or forward to who we are becoming. Learn More Register here.
Midwest Diamond Approach Weekend
The Lataif: Gateways to Essence
October 5 – 7 (Friday-Sunday)
With Kara Vangen, MSW, and Kathleen Graham, RN, MS
All-inclusive cost: $315.00 (includes tuition, 2 nights lodging & 4 meals)
The Diamond Approach is a path of spiritual realization characterized by sincere inquiry into one’s own experience and fueled by love of truth. This retreat is the first of a series on the various lataif, which are centers of subtle physiology.
Activation of the Red lataifa or Essential Strength allows an inner aliveness which connects us to our love of life. It carries the sacred impulse of “I can” which increases our capacity to expand with courage and strength in life and on our spiritual journey.
This weekend includes meditation, teachings, inquiry and experiential exercises.
For more information and to register: Johanna Seubert, FSPA, at j.seubert@tds.net or 715.267.5703.
Myofascial Release Weekend with Laramee Paradise, CMT
October 5 – 7 (Friday-Sunday)
Discover steps toward your potential as a MFR therapist. You must have taken at least one seminar by John F. Barnes, PT. Contact Laramee at 612.232.4669 before registering through the Christine Center. Register here.
Opening to Pure Awareness: a Foundational Retreat
October 7 – 14 (Sunday-Sunday)
The simplicity, peace, and power of our true nature are often clouded over by habitual patterns of thought, emotion, and perception. Recognition of this nature, and cultivation of dwelling in it, is the heart of meditation in the essence traditions of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. As clouds obscure the openness of the sky and the radiance of the sun, our habits of identifying with our personal experience cloud over the pure awareness that is our true nature.
The Buddhist path for cultivating the conditions for recognition and stabilization of this awareness is a science of the mind. The Theravada teachings of the mindfulness meditation tradition will provide a basis for the teachings in this retreat, while the heart of the retreat will draw primarily on the Indo-Tibetan essence traditions that point directly to the mind’s nature. By emphasizing concentration early in the retreat, we can use the stability of the mind to explore how the mind constructs inner and outer experience.
This retreat will include guided meditations, group discussion of meditation experience, and individualized instruction within the group setting. The group discussion allows participants to learn from each other. Learn More
Intuitive Painting: Rediscover Joy
October 11 – 14 (Thursday-Sunday | 10 am – 5 pm daily)
Tuition: $60 a day / $30 for half days (all materials included, meals and lodging are additional)
Commuters welcome! Bring a bag lunch or purchase a delicious vegetarian meal for $16.
Brush, paper! GO!
Large sheets of vellum paper and 24 open paint pots of gorgeous colors await!
Experience a fun and supportive community of happy painters. Come with a friend! No previous art skill is required; bring a sense of play, adventure, and openness.
Each day includes two studio sessions with S. Gabe and an evening optional conversation circle. If you have ever felt blocked and uninspired, these days are the perfect remedy!
Painting from intuition brings freedom and restores creative zest. Dare to enter a marvelous “judgement-free zone” for discovering possibilities and breaking through limiting blocks old patterns that can invigorate all aspects of life. Just wait till you see the studio walls! Register here.
Writing Your Spiritual Journey with Joanne Nelson
October 26 – 28 (Friday-Sunday)
Tuition: $175 (meals and lodging are additional)
We all approach our spirituality—that link between the sacred and ourselves—in unique ways. Join in community to honor and explore your connection to the sacred and to the self through writing. Engage in guided written exercises developed by Joanne and other authors designed to help you explore your spiritual path, inspire your creative journey, and generate successful narratives and poetry. Give a written voice to your own spiritual story and leave with specific tools and strategies developed to make deepening your spirituality through writing easy to continue after our program.
Whether you are a seasoned writer or just beginning to play with words on the page, you will grow from this innovative retreat filled with unique writing prompts, mindfulness opportunities, and focused instruction appropriate to all genres of writing and levels of spiritual practice. Time will be available for writing in silence as well as for optional sharing in a safe and supportive community. All writing will be considered private and only shared with the community if desired. Register here.
Celebrating St. Clare of Assisi
October 26 – 28 (Friday evening to Sunday mid-day)
With S. Gabriele Uhlein, OSF, PhD
Tuition: EARLY BIRD RATE! $175 until September 30th or $200 after that date (meals and lodging are additional)
Commuters are welcome!
Using two of the Christine Center’s treasured Franciscan icons, The Tavola of St. Clare and the San Damiano Crucifix, S. Gabriele will share how the 13th century Saint Clare can inspire in us a contemplative depth of soul so needed in our world today.
Defying both social prohibitions and no less than 4 popes, St. Clare dared to write her own way of life (the first ever!). She invited women into a sisterhood of equals to love God, to serve God, and to deeply care for one another’s souls.
We will explore the world of St. Francis and St Clare, pray together as the early Franciscans did, and take time to reflect and journal on the stunning reality of God’s beauty and unconditional love.
If you love Italy, luminous souls and amazing spiritual journeys, this weekend is for you! Register here.
A Soul Retreat with Robert Sardello
November 1 – 5 (Thursday evening through Monday mid-day)
Tuition: Early Bird Rate! $300 until October 1st or $350 after the 1st (meals and lodging are additional)
We are honored to host Robert Sardello in this premier retreat experience. Join Sister Gabriele Uhlein, OSF, and others of the Christine Center community for 5 days of contemplative practice and experiential Earth-conscious soul deepening. Joanna Macy calls it participating in the Great Turning. Thomas Berry calls it the Great Work. Andrew Harvey names it Active Hope.
Soul-work is now Earth-size. The spiritual deepening emergent in our time is a kind of transfigured incarnation, able to “suffer” planetary heart-break, and to willingly pursue a high spirituality of humbly, and profoundly “mattering”. With Robert Sardello as guide, join us in the evolution of a contemporary indigenous consciousness and vibrant heartfulness. Practice with us, fresh ways to live compassionate Earth-Soul presence. Register here.
2018 Uplift Yoga Retreat: Spiraling In-to Ourselves, and Out-to the World
November 16 – 18 (Friday 5 pm – Sunday 1 pm)
With Kate Karshna and Angela Coffee
All-inclusive cost: $272 – $348 (depending on lodging)
To register, please contact Kate at upliftyoga@gmail.com by Nov. 3rd.
Kate and Angela invite you to join us for the 9th Annual Uplift Yoga Retreat!
We will explore our interactions with ourselves, each other and nature through the lens of the Pancha Maya Model of yoga. Pancha Maya, or 5 sheaths, represents the 5 layers or aspects of our human experience: physical, energetic, mental, wisdom and bliss.
Our practices will spiral through all aspects of our being, using movement, sound, silence, visualization, and meditation. We will take time for self-care and tap into our inner wisdom and the shared wisdom of the group.
This retreat is intended for everyone, at any stage of yoga practice. Learn More.
The Heart of Self-Love with Dawn Morningstar
November 16 – 18 (Friday-Sunday)
Tuition: sliding fee $150 to $195 (meals and lodging are additional)
Autumn is a time for change, mystery, and comfort. Imagine feeling renewed love for yourself during this sacred weekend. You’ll learn the unique Venerable Women method to love yourself and live your highest and best life—which uplifts and blesses the lives of others on your path. Unlock the mystery of your empowered self in a nurturing, loving, and inspiring weekend with Dawn Morningstar, Venerable Women founder and award-winning author of “Venerable Women: Transform Ourselves, Transform the World.”
When you feel empowered (power within and with others, not power over), you open the door to live fully and joyfully. In this loving gathering, you will learn a simple and meaningful practice to empower yourself in all situations. You’ll learn how to stop relying on others for your happiness and wholeness—and become one who lives in authentic, grounded love. Learn More. Register here.
Midwest Diamond Approach Weekend
The Lataif: Gateways to Essence
November 23 – 25 (Friday-Sunday)
With Timothy Bernhard and Johanna Seubert FSPA
All-inclusive cost: $315.00 (includes tuition, 2 nights lodging & 4 meals)
The lataif are centers of subtle physiology. Activation of the Compassion or Green latifa gives us access to our loving kindness and compassion and reveals the mystery of having an open heart. This ongoing program on the lataif is presented by Midwest Diamond Approach teachers. The Diamond Approach is a path of spiritual realization characterized by sincere inquiry into one’s experience, fueled by the love of truth. This Midwest Diamond Approach retreat offers:
- a unique understanding of psychological and timeless spiritual wisdom.
- awareness and direct personal experience of a doorway to our being.
- support for one’s inner journey, and living in the world with loving kindness and
The weekend includes meditations, teachings, movement, and experiential exercises. The retreat begins on Friday night at 7:00 and ends on Sunday noon.
For more information and to register: S. Johanna Seubert at j.seubert@tds.net or 715.267.5703.
Mandala Weekend with Gabriele Uhlein OSF, PhD
November 23 – 25 (Friday-Sunday | 10 am – 5 pm daily)
Tuition: $60 a day / $30 for half days (all materials included, meals and lodging are additional)
Commuters Welcome! Bring a bag lunch or purchase a delicious vegetarian meal for $16.
Learn how to make Mandalas and discover creativity, relaxation and meditation.
Relax, refresh and reflect as your hands create circles of beauty and light.
Sister Gabriele provides guidance and introduces how to use mandala making as a form of prayer and meditation. No previous drawing or art experience is necessary. We will use artist grade colored pencils and watercolors. All materials are provided. Mandalas make wonderful personal keepsakes to honor special occasions and lovely one-of-a-kind gifts. Register here.
Andrea Russell Yoga
November 30 – December 2 (Friday-Sunday)
With Andrea Russell
Going on retreat offers an opportunity to let down the stresses of life and deepen your yoga and meditation practices. In addition to alignment-based yoga classes and mindfulness meditation instruction, you will learn Ayurvedic lifestyle and practice recommendations to align harmoniously with the season, so your health and well-being may flourish. This retreat offers just enough time to come back home to yourself without having to travel far. All levels are welcome.
Click here for more information and to register.
Bead-Making Open Studio
December 3 – 5 (Monday-Wednesday | 10 am – 4 pm daily)
With S. Gabriele Uhlein, OSF, PhD
Tuition: $60 a day / $30 for half days (all materials included, lodging and meals are additional)
Commuters Welcome! Bring a bag lunch or purchase a delicious vegetarian meal for $16.
Design a custom set of prayer beads. Make two! Gift them or keep them! Join S. Gabe and her bead-making friends in making Contemplation Cords.You will learn basic beading techniques and the amazing history of prayer beads as contemplation and prayer tools. The daily tuition includes materials for two sets of beads. Materials for additional completed prayer beads can be purchased for $20 each. Perfect for creating personalized one-of-a-kind gifts. (Limited to 10 participants.) Register here.
Sound and Silence
December 14 – 16 (Friday-Sunday)
With Wendy Kohlhaas and Sheila Nolte
Tuition: $150 (lodging and meals are additional)
Two practices based on praying from the heart frame this retreat. Sounds produced by gemstone crystal and Tibetan bowls help purify and raise the vibration of the body. The pure sound helps you release aches and tensions of a lifetime. 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.
New Year’s Retreat
December 27–January 1 (Thursday evening – Tuesday mid-day)
With Sisters Gabriele Uhlein, OSF, PhD, and Marge Zulaski, OSF, PsyD
Tuition: Sliding scale $250-$450 (meals and lodging are additional)
Sign up for fewer days at a sliding scale rate of $50-$90 per day.
Wrap yourself in winter’s stillness. 6 days and 5 nights to restore and hearten soul amid the challenge of our times. Join in the signature Christine Center rhythm of meditation.
Experience daily offerings of reflection and conscious conversation to bless and release 2018.
Let our snow-clad woodland and luminous night sky inspire you.
On New Year’s Eve there is a splendid candlelight ritual to welcome 2019 followed by a festive social.
New Year’s morning features a celebration of intention and blessing for the year ahead.
Let stillness call you! Come for the days you can! Register here.
January 3 – 6, 2019 (Thursday – Sunday)
With Kali Higgins
Winter is the time to slow down, restore and reflect. It is the season where we incubate our deepest dreams. Retreat in community with inspiring and like-minded people at the beautiful Christine Center. Together we will tap into winter’s energy and wisdom, while also offering plenty of time to rest and reflect in solitude. Over the weekend you can expect to reconnect to what matters most to you and begin crafting your dream/vision for the New Year ahead. Leave feeling restored with the support of gentle yoga, meditation, creative and healing activities and non-activities to nourish the soul. Register here.
Grief, Loss and Resilience
January 14 – 16, 2019 (Monday-Wednesday)
With Lama Yeshe
The Buddha taught that there are four endings: all meetings end in parting, all births end in death, all gain ends in loss and all rising ends in a fall. With this knowledge comes the understanding that now is the time to prepare for these unavoidable events. This program will explore mindfulness, loving-kindness, and wisdom as ways of preparing for grief, loss and separation and gaining wisdom and comfort after experiencing any of these endings. We don’t need to feel helpless as there is much that can be done. Learn More. Register here.
The Resonant Soul: Tao in The Winter
January 25 – 27, 2019 (Friday-Sunday)
With Ronald E. Moor
Five hundred years before Christ, the legendary Chinese sage Lao Tzu composed a poetic and profound text known as the Tao Te Ching. It’s eighty-one short wisdom sayings come down to us with an uncommon elegance that crystalize a deep feminine philosophy on such perennial matters as power, happiness, and the source of meaning. Written down at a time of great chaos in ancient China, it is gaining wider recognition in our own time of challenge.
We will begin with the origins of The Tao as it was initially expressed in its sister book, The I Ching, that dates back to around 3,000 BCE. Of the same linage, both cannons, or “Ching” in Chinese, spring from the mystery beyond the mystery. After learning the mythic story of how the text of The Tao came to be, we will then explore several of the core verses, reading, discussing, and contemplating. We will bring each verse we encounter into a time of silent meditation so that the meaning of the text resonates more fully. 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.