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 9 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.
Cultivating Mindfulness One Breath at a Time
April 25 – 26 (Thursday – Friday)
with Barbara Wulf
Tuition: $95, plus meals and housing
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 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.
Midwest Diamond Approach Weekend
The Yellow Lataif: Gateway to Essence
April 26-28 (Friday-Sunday)
with Diamond Approach teachers: Kara Vangen and Kathleen Graham
All-inclusive cost: $315.00 (includes tuition, 2 nights lodging & 4 meals)
Please join us for an exploration of the Yellow Lataif.
Activation of the joy or yellow qualities invites a sense of adventure and playfulness into the process of exploring and discovering our true nature. It allows us to access the lightness and curiosity we need to guide our inner journey, illuminating what is real and authentic in us. This retreat is the 4th of an ongoing program on the lataif presented by Midwest Diamond Approach teachers in 2018-19. This weekend we will carefully explore the quality of being that connects us to our deeper inner nature through meditation, teaching and experiential exercises. The retreat begins on Friday night at 7 pm and ends on Sunday noon. Learn more. To register: email S. Johanna Seubert or call (715)267-5703.
Yoga Nidra 24
May 9-10 (Thursday-Friday)
with Patty Wack
Tuition: $95, plus meals & lodging
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 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.
“The mid-week, once-a-month yoga retreat is a wonderful idea! It’s a great break from everyday life. Everything is excellent. The Christine Center never disappoints.”–November 2018 retreat participant. Register here.
The Splendor of Recognition : Yoga and Its Many Facets
May 10-12 (Friday-Sunday)
with Iris Mickey
Tuition: $200, plus lodging and meals
Exploring the classical eight limbs of Yoga and the tantric philosophy of non-dualism, we will practice together to celebrate the aliveness of the spring season as a mirror of our own lives. Each day will consist of chanting, asana, mediation and Yoga Nidra.
Kabir & Rumi: The Path of Divine Love in Action
May 30 – June 2 (Thursday- Sunday)
with Andrew Harvey
Tuition: $275 before April 30, $325 after April 30, plus meals and lodging
Kabir and Rumi are among humanities two greatest mystical poets. Andrew Harvey has dedicated much of his life to Rumi and the last five years to his new translations of Kabir’s, “Turn Me to Gold.” Delving richly into the poetry and using it as a way to expand mind, heart and soul, Andrew Harvey will present the four stages of the path to divine embodiment both poets celebrate and will present three essential practices from the Christian and Sufi traditions. Register here.
Painting Your Soul Free
with S. Gabriele Uhlein, OSF, Ph.D.
June 6 – 9 (Friday – Sunday 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 Grief Retreat
Friday, June 7 – 9 (Friday-Sunday)
with Patricia Williams and Patricia Polski
Tuition: $150, plus meals and lodging. Commuters welcome.
Have you recently (or not so recently) experienced a loss and are still struggling with what happened? Do you feel like grief has overwhelmed you? Do think that after all this time you should be feeling better? Do you wonder where you can find support? These situations and questions are typical and normal when someone experiences loss. Loss of a loved-one, loss of a pet, loss of a job, loss of a dream and other losses that life throws at us can sometimes be unbearable. In talking about your struggles, receiving support and immersing yourself in a nature-filled, caring environment, you may discover ways to see things a little differently. Join us for a weekend of reflection and discovery. The program is presented by experienced grief group facilitators who will present topics for discussion and guide you through the weekend. Learn more. Register here.
Cultivating Mindfulness One Breath at a Time
June 12-13 (Wednesday-Thursday)
with Barbara Wulf
Tuition: $95, plus lodging and meals
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.
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 26-30 (Wednesday-Sunday)
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.
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. 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.
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.
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.
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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.