THIS PAGE CONSTANTLY EVOLVES
as events are advertised and newly published books are added:
Please check back again every few weeks
as events are advertised and newly published books are added:
Please check back again every few weeks
Please scroll down the page to access all the things listed below.
At the top of the page you'll find residential retreats advertised for 2021.
As of 21st January, it's possible that none will be able to run until May, given the latest scientific advice about re-opening the hospitality industry under Covid-19.
As of 21st January, it's possible that none will be able to run until May, given the latest scientific advice about re-opening the hospitality industry under Covid-19.
Then you'll find info about on line events live-streamed on specific dates.
Many are free or suggest a small or discretionary donation.
Many are free or suggest a small or discretionary donation.
Lower down you'll find a some recent books about silence and meditation. These including the Frankie the Still Fox - a book teaching meditation to young children - and many more by established and emerging authors in this area.
Further down the page you'll find the 2021 pogrammes of events and retreats for several
organisations that support developing a spiritual discipline of silence in different ways.
organisations that support developing a spiritual discipline of silence in different ways.
Please note that, given Covid-19 circumstances, some details about events below may change at short notice.
Coronavirus:
Resources for these uncertain times
On the Resources menu tab you'll find a tab taking you to resources specifically for Covid-19. This includes a collection of over
50 poems that can speak to us in the current situation.
There are also tips on retreats at home as well as for dealing with family tensions when living with family all day, every day, along with a variety of other resources to help in the pandemic.
50 poems that can speak to us in the current situation.
There are also tips on retreats at home as well as for dealing with family tensions when living with family all day, every day, along with a variety of other resources to help in the pandemic.
Face-to-face events and Residential Retreats
A small number of retreats are now beginning to be advertised, with very limited numbers of participants to allow for social distancing . Other retreat centres are offering accommodation but using laptops for accessing content.
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To read: Former Belgian Prime Minister and President of the European Council on Meditation
A transcript of a talk by Belgian politician, Herman van Rompuy during an online seminar for WCCM Belgium on 6th March, 2021. As a meditator, he says: “Meditating on meditation, I would like to offer a few thoughts on why meditation has a place in today’s society. It is at odds with the spirit of the times. ... We become more empathetic towards our fellow human beings." |
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Residential retreats:
weekend, 4 6, 8 and 30 day retreats St Bueno's, Flintshire, Wales Availability from early October. New dates being added. St Bueno's have resumed residential Retreats. Some will be fully guided Ignatian Guided Retreats (IGR's), from weekend retreats to the full 30 days Ignatian Exercises. Other different retreats, from walking to art, are also planned. Early booking is advised. Their programme listings also include ON LINE retreats. |
Cost: from £130 but
bursaries are available |
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Residential Retreats 2021:
IGR's, Centering Prayer and more! The House of Prayer, East Molesey, KT8 0PB This well-loved retreat centre already has a variety of residential retreats planned throughout 2021, from mid week or weekend IGR's to 5 or 8 day more intensive silent retreats. Retreats will have socially distanced procedures in place. As few places are booking yet demand is likely to be high, so book early! Some retreats are listed below. Click the button for their full 2021 programme. |
Cost: £180-£630
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Weekday Individually Guided Retreat:
Longing for God Monday 6th - Friday 10th September East Molesey House of Prayer, led by the House of Prayer Team This retreat provides an opportunity to step aside from the busyness of everyday life and spend time in quiet prayer and reflection. A retreat guide will be available for daily individual meetings to accompany you through the retreat. It is a time of listening to God who is present in the experiences of prayer and daily living. |
Cost: £360
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Midweek residential retreat:
Living the Contemplative Life: What Gets in the Way? Tues 21st-Thurs 23rd September, led by Jill Benet Drawing on the work of Thomas Keating OCSO, Trappist monk and founder of the Centering Prayer movement, and the work of Rev Dr Cynthia Bourgeault, wisdom teacher and hermit, we shall consider whether there is more than meets the eye in the obstacles we encounter in our contemplative prayer practice. |
Cost: £180
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8 day Centering Prayer Intensive Retreat:
That We May Be One Sun 31st October-Sun 7th November, led by Jill Benet at House of Prayer, East Molesey KT8 0PB Be immersed in up to three hours of Centering Prayer each day. Time outside meetings is held in silence, with time for personal reflection, contemplative liturgy and Lectio Divina. We will draw on material for reflection from Thomas Keating’s work, including videos and writings. For those who have attended an Introductory Workshop and who have practised Centering Prayer for at least six months. |
Cost: £630
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Weekend Retreat:
Silence Fri 19th -Sun 21st November, led by Jill Benet, East Molesey KT8 0PB Silence is necessary for our wellbeing and spiritual needs or progress. Drawing form the writigns of Thomas Keating, Cynthia Bourgeault, Raimon Panikkar and Robert Sardello, on this weekend we'll explore “Silence”, its practical nature and how it profoundly penetrates our lives. There will be extended periods of Centering Prayer, silence and time for private reflection. |
Cost: £180
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8 day Pilgrimage Retreat:
Contemplative Journey to the Holy Land with Fr Laurence Freeman, Director of WCCM 17th-24th February, 2022 Life is a pilgrimage – as every meditator comes to discover through their inner journey. In going to the Holy Land as contemplative pilgrims we are strengthened in understanding life’s purpose. And so, we come to see our personal journey with deeper gratitude and wonder. To walk and to pray in the places where Jesus lived his human pilgrimage is a blessing and privilege. |
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On line retreats & other web events in 2021
As new event details are available these will appear below.
Please check back every week or so for new listings as
2021 plans are gradually emerging as organisations and
retreat centres work out how to operate in Covid.
2021 plans are gradually emerging as organisations and
retreat centres work out how to operate in Covid.
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On line Ignatian Guided Retreats 2021:
weekend, 4,6 and 8 day retreats from St Beuno's Centre, Flintshire Availability from early October. New date being added. Each retreatant has their own retreat guide whom you'll meet each day via Zoom, to help you to reflect and discern. Online retreats run in parallel with those taking place at St Beuno’s. They are based on the Spiritual Exercises of the Ignatian tradition. They begin with an introductory zoom meeting with your director to agree times for individual meetings which will begin the following day. |
Cost: (bursaries available)
4 day £100; 6 day: £150; 8 day: £200 |
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On line Silent Retreats throughout 2021:
Silent Individually Guided 4, 6 or 8 day Retreats Led by team members of the St Bede's Pastoral Centre, York Any dates where there is capacity to accommodate within programme. For those who have previously experience of extended times of silent prayer. Be guided through a silent individually guided retreat. Retreatants will need to remain undisturbed and in silence for the full length of the retreat and have access to an internet connection for the daily spiritual accompaniment meeting. Cost: £25 per day Please email St Bede's office for more information. |
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On line retreat series: WCCM
A series of 8 retreats, from January to November 2021 An opportunity to meet with people from all over the world to deepen your understanding of Christian Meditation (as taught by WCCM). This series of 8 thematically-linked retreats over the year highlights WCCM communities across the world: from Asia to Europe. It will address areas including The Brick Wall of the Ego; Breakthrough; Gradual Enlightenment; Living Life Anew; The Forces of the Unconscious and Strengthening the Muscle of Attention. |
Cost:
€80 min - €320 |
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On line conversation, first of four:
A Contemplative Approach to Life Beverly Lanzetta, with hosts New Monasticism Ireland Wednesday 15th Sept, 7-8pm (plus three more sessions, dates tbc) Renowned for her commitment to theological openness and spiritual nonviolence, Lanzetta is a theologian, contemplative scholar, interfaith Chaplain and teacher who has published numerous books about contemplative universal spirituality and New Monasticism. More details and dates to follow. |
Cost: £5
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Global on line conference: The final CONSPIRE
Me/Us/The World: Living Inside God's Great Story 24th-26th September The last of seven Conspire conferences, hosted by Richard Rohr with teaching from faculty members of the Centre for Action and Contemplation, will unite Richard Rohr’s seven themes of alternative orthodoxy in an exploration of the Great Story Line connecting our little lives to the One Great Life. We cannot think ourselves into a new way of living; rather, we must live ourselves into a new way of thinking. Discover your place amongst contemplatives committed to the intentional work of personal transformation, embodied practice and engaged living — the manifesting dynamism of God’s love in the world. |
Cost: £TBC, more details to follow
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On line, weekly course:
An Introduction to Deep Abiding Prayer Tuesdays, 7.30-8.30pm, 14th Sept to 12th Oct, with Petra Griffiths Deep Abiding Prayer approaches contemplative prayer of the heart as a spiritual practice occurring in silence, and also as an awareness and a way of being while in the midst of everyday life activities and encounters. It aims to awaken awareness of life’s inter-connective oneness; to live, love, lead, and serve as instruments of healing peace; and to embody an engaged citizenship, moral courage, civic and social responsibility. |
Cost: donations
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On line retreat:
Beyond Words, Beyond Dualities 14th-16th October, with Liz Watson, WCCM When we spend time regularly in the silence beyond words we begin to see the world differently. Oppositions between good and bad, right and wrong, divinity and humanity, action and contemplation, body and mind become increasingly inadequate concepts to guide our daily living and relating. The retreat will revolve around meditation practice, shared silence and reflections on the theme, yoga. |
Cost: donations
of €50-120 (euros) |
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On line evening Quaker meeting & discussion:
Drawing Silence In Art 7pm, Thursday 2nd December, with Kiera Faber This evening is part of on ongoing series of Quaker Meeting followed by 'Creative Conversation'. Hosted by the Nontheist Friends Network, it is open to anyone - theists and non-theists alike! Each meeting shines a light into a different traditions of the kaleidoscope of Quakerism and its silence. For other events in the monthly series, see nontheist-quakers.org.uk/ |
Cost: free
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Weekly, on line session from WCCM
Breathing for Meditators Every Thursday, 9-10am, UK time, with Lucy Barnes on Zoom - Meeting ID: 621 042 7417 Passcode: 402407 A morning sequence of breathing exercises to support your meditation practice with Lucy Barnes, a long-term Christian meditatior, ballet dancer & yoga teacher. Donations welcome: meditatio@wccm.org |
Cost: donations
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New or recent books on silence & meditation
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New book: published June 2021
Contemplative Leaders: Personal Reflections by Members of the Bonnevaux Business Meditation Group A collection of personal reflections from leaders in the fields of business, public service, education, healthcare and other professions, who meditate. Each unique story tells of the challenges facing leaders today and how they are led through these challenges and uncertainties in the practice of meditation. |
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New book: published February 2021
Conversations with Silence: Rosetta Stone of the Soul by Sally Longley This is the next book for the Silence Reading Group, from September 2021. For more info about joining the Silence Reading Group, please email. Sally Longley, pastor, retreat leader and former president of the Australian Network for Spiritual Direction, invites you to tune the eyes and ears of your heart to the cadences of silence. It takes you to the Rosetta Stone of an ancient, forgotten language that some call God, or the soul. Immerse yourself in the silent realm of mystics, musicians, poets, and pilgrims as companions to explore the nuanced vocabulary of the worlds of silences. |
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New book about meditation for Children: May 2020
Frankie the Still Fox by Ernie Christie & Mary Hosking In this book children make friends with Frankie and learn meditation along the way. It begins, "When you turn the pages of this book you will learn how to become still and silent. Even when the world around you is so noisy and busy and distracted, you, like Frankie, can choose another way of being and learn to be attentive. By being still, really still and being silent, really silent, you will learn to just 'BE'. " Cost: $14.00 (US dollars), including shipping to the UK, or $18.75 outside the UK. |
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Out in paperback from 18th December, 2020 at routledge.com
Women Choosing Silence: Relationality and Transformation in Spiritual Practice by Alison Woolley This book discusses Alison Woolley's research findings about the role, value and impact of chose practices of silence in the faith lives of contemporary Christian women. Based in her in-depth interviews with 20 women in the UK, it explores how their engagement in silence-based prayer brings about transformation in the women's relationships with God, with themselves and with others. Also available in hardback and ebook formats. |
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New book: published 2020
God is All in All: The Evolution of the Contemplative Christian Spiritual Journey by Thomas Keating In July 2018, approaching the end of his life, Fr. Thomas gave permission for the editors to publish in book form a keynote talk that he gave at the 2012 Annual Conference of Contemplative Outreach in Snowmass, Colorado. It addresses the infinite compassion and the mercy of God; the three stages of the transformational spiritual journey; the new cosmology, human nature, science and their relationship to spirituality; the message of the cross for our times; and the meaning of redemption. |
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New book, published June, 2019
Mindful Silence: The Heart of Christian Contemplation by Phileena Heuertz The hallmarks of contemplative spirituality — solitude, silence, and stillness — have never been more important for our fast-paced society. Filled with insights and wisdom from personal experiences, Phileena Heuertz introduces us to themes and teachers of contemplative spirituality, as well as several prayer practices, and invites us to greater healing and wholeness by learning to practice faith through prayer. |
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New book, Sept 2019. Chapters by:
Richard Rohr, Thomas Keating, Sarah Bachelard, Phileena Heuertz & more Contemplation and Community: A Gathering of Fresh Voices for a Living Tradition This collection brings together the diverse voices who have emerged as new leaders of the contemplative movement. Exploring a multitude of themes, such as silence, imagination, meditation, embodiment, community and social action, this volume introduces the new voices who reflect globally on the gifts, challenges, differences and commonalities of Christian contemplation today for communities and people of faith. |
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New book, published May 2019: Searching for a Silent God
by Sarah Parkinson Following a bereavement, Sarah found herself searching for a God who no longer seemed to be there. Through prayer, exploration and spiritual direction, gradually her relationship with God grew into one that was more profound and mature. Searching for a Silent God, combines autobiographical reflection with poetry written during her experience of divine silence, enabling others to engage with their spirituality in a new and different way. |
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New book: published March 2019
Giving Up without Giving Up: Meditation and Depressions by Jim Green Drawing on extensive experience of meditation within Christian and Buddhist contemplative traditions, as well as his own times of personal loss and bewilderment, Jim Green offers a moving account of how this wisdom practice can accompany those who make 'the gentle pilgrimage of recovery'. Guiding readers through 'the invention of depression' in the mid-twentieth century, he questions the increasing tendency to medicalise human suffering. |
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Latest book by Martin Laird, OSA:
An Ocean of Light: Contemplation, Transformation, and Liberation This is Laird's third book about a spiritual discipline of silence. It is aimed at those already well-established in a daily practice of silence and is full of wonderful wisdom. I love this sentence from the end of page 55: "Our created, creative identity flows from and is consummated by the eternal splendour of the ineffable, divinizing humanity of the mystery of God in Christ." I recommend it! |
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Silence Clinic
with Alison Woolley, Director, Seeds of Silence Next Silence Clinic: Wednesday 24th February , 7.30-9pm. Now running on Zoom: please email for Zoom link Are you curious about silence? Is silence already an intentional part of your prayer life, but leaves you with more questions than answers? Would you like an opportunity to talk about the difficulties and challenges of sustaining silence-based prayer? Or maybe you rarely have opportunities for more extended periods of silence-based prayer with others? If so, come to the next Silence Clinic: now running on Zoom. Find more info and the five other 2020 Silence Clinic dates by clicking the info button. Please email Seeds of Silence if you plan to come so we know numbers. Thanks. |
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New film release, Autumn, 2020:
Day of a Stranger A film about Thomas Merton by director, Cassidy Hall. An intimate film about the final years of the Trappist monk, Thomas Merton, from 1965 until his untimely death in 1968. Interweaving meditative images of his hermitage at Gethsemani Abbey with selected material from over 150 hours of rarely heard audio recordings that Merton made in the space. |
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Now running via Zoom:
Please email via contact page for Zoom link Silence Book Group in Bradford Next evening: TBC, February 2021, 7.30pm, on Zoom. We meet every 6-8 weeks to discuss our slow reading through two books about silence based prayer and meditation; a chapter of each between meetings. Each book group meeting also includes 20 minutes of shared silence. |
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Praying without Words
7.30pm Thursday evenings, monthly at Whirlow Spirituality Centre, Sheffield This group will explore questions such as 'am I doing this right?', 'nothing is happening, why bother?', 'how can I stop my thoughts?' and provides opportunity to practise and share in our journeys. Open to people with all levels of experience and all faiths or none. |
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Silence Retreat Programme 2020:
House of Prayer, Kingston-upon-Thames The House of Prayer is a space for prayer and meditation run by the Sisters of the Christian Retreat. As well as providing a tranquil environment close to London, the House of Prayer has a program of silence-based retreats, courses and regular groups to help people on their spiritual journey. Click button to see their retreats programme. |
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The Meditatio Centre Programme, 2020
The Meditatio Centre is part of the outreach of the World Community for Christian Meditation. Inspired by the vision of the Benedictine monk, John Main, it seeks to teach meditation to help restore the contemplative dimension of life. The Meditatio Centre shares the fruits of meditation with the wider world and directs its wisdom towards the crises of our time with wide-ranging programmes addressing education, interfaith, mental health and social justice. |
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St Beuno's Centre, North Wales,
Retreats Programme for 2020 Guided silent retreats from a few days to the full classic 30 day Ignatian retreat in the gorgeous surroundings of North Wales. Self-guided retreats also available. Includes twice yearly special 'Budget Retreats: £220 for 6 days and £90 for 3 days for those under 30. Priority given to young and those on low incomes. April & July budget retreats have places available, but book soon! |
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THIS PAGE WILL CONSTANTLY EVOLVE:
Please check back again every few weeks
Please check back again every few weeks
If there are events - local to Bradford or elsewhere in the UK- that
you think it would be good to link to from this page,
please use the Seeds of Silence contact page to suggest this.
Thank you
you think it would be good to link to from this page,
please use the Seeds of Silence contact page to suggest this.
Thank you