Nurturing Silence Retreat: The Zen of Rest

October 22-23, 2021

“If you’re silent, you can hear the forest breathe, the holy hush of the tree’s limb.” Felicia Morrell

Take time out to relax, slow down and savor life exactly as it is. Rest your body, quiet your mind, and listen to those sparks of inspiration that arise when you take time to nurture a quiet listening presence. In this retreat, you’ll have time to let silence seep into the depths of your being, learning core practices to help sustain awareness while sitting, moving, walking, eating, working, resting, or whatever you’re doing. Guided in practices that cultivate inner silence, while in your own space for a full weekend, you’ll emerge feeling revitalized with new insights and practices to take into your everyday life.

Your Nurturing Silence Team:

Lana Cullis, Debra Donohue, Patti Beer, Jeri Mortimore, Barbara Rose, Jodie Capling, Rhonda Clarke and Lisa Neudorf.

Friday October 22 (all times are pacific time)

5:00 Community Dinner - Join when you can! – Debra

Think back to the last time you attended an in-person event... maybe quite awhile ago! Remember what the first few moments were like? Maybe you didn’t know anyone, and it felt a bit awkward to say hello, maybe you knew lots of people and you were excited to hug and chat! Hopefully, you made a few new friends and made it past that first session feeling excited for the rest of the event. That’s the experience we are going to host for you on Friday! And we will need your help! If you already had dinner, maybe bring your dessert, or perhaps you just ended your last video call for work at 5pm and will join us from your kitchen as you cook!

6:15 Welcome and Intro to Silent Practices – Jeri Mortimore

7:30 Bedtime Story: The Other Way To Listen

Find a comfy place to sit or lie down and revisit a time when bedtime stories were read to you.

Saturday October 23

7:45 Zoom opens, log in now

8:00 A Gentle Zen Yoga Practice - Barbara Rose

9:45 Sitting and Walking Meditation – Barbara Rose

11:30 Guidance for Practicing On Our Own: Lana Cullis

12:00 Mindful meal prep and eating meditation – Lisa Neudorf

Mindfully prepare to eat your lunch with this short meditation and instructions.

1:00 Writing into Silence – Lana Cullis

Writing offers the opportunity to capture and preserve fleeting encounters with our own deep wisdom. The practices of Zen help us to slow down, be still and be present. Zen brings about a state of calm attentiveness so one can be guided by intuition. With intention, silence can become a vessel for reflection and discernment. During this session, we will contemplate our deepest soul whispers and play with ways to write about our experiences from within silence.

For this session come with a notebook and pen, or another favorite writing device. No writing experience is necessary.

2:30 Open time for Practices of Rest and Healing - Patti Beer

We will be exploring the power of water, forests, and gardens in this rest and healing session, taking in all that truly is. Approaching this with all our senses and a childlike fascination may have us perceiving these everyday wonders in a different way.

After some story sharing, we will be wilding in our own way. Give a bit of thought ahead to what is around that you would like to interact with. Will you walk to a nearby body of water? Mindfully putter around your yard? Have an all-senses bath or shower? Sit by a fountain or bird bath? Set up a lovely footbath on a big towel and a frosty glass of ice water near your favourite chair? Hug a tree or sit in an open meadow? We have allowed plenty of time and you can spend the whole time in this if you wish.

Are there small wild things calling to you? We suggest you consider spending some of this time with mindful art. Some natural things you find in your yard or neighbourhood can be integrated – leaves, pinecones. Or feel free to pull out some beloved art supplies or an instrument or other creative impulses and see what springs from the senses released!

4:30 Breathe and Stretch – Rhonda Clarke

For the 20 minutes during the Zen of Rest Retreat, Rhonda will gently guide you through breathing techniques as well as fluid stretches to release tension.

4:50 Re-join Zoom

5:00 Mindful meal prep and eating meditation – Lisa Neudorf

Mindfully prepare to eat your evening meal with this short meditation and instructions.

6:00 Listening Circles – Debra Donohue

Our Listening Circles will give you a chance to hear and share wisdom from our personal experiences in silence and bask in the support of community.

7:00 Yoga Nidra – Jodie Capling

Break the cycle of tension and fatigue, regain health and vitality, and reconnect to your soul’s calling, through the practice of Yoga Nidra. Begin with a few gentle stretches and breathing techniques to help release tension, then experience a full 40-minute Yoga Nidra practice, a sleep-based, conscious relaxation and meditation practice done in a lying down position. You will leave your busy outer life behind, and enter your inner world, and a relaxed, subconscious state of mind, where healing truly begins.

8:00 Bedtime Ice Jam story – Lana Cullis

Drift away as you are transported to the North in the Ice Jam Story

See you March 4-6, 2022, for the Nurturing Spirit Retreat: Writing into the Sacred.

Debra Donohue

Debra Donohue is the Creating Connection Director for Western Canada and has directed many retreats, conferences, and events over the past 12 years - all of which were in-person until 2020. This year Debra moved her events online and she is thrilled with the response. She has worked with children from 3-years old to 98 and is passionate about getting people together to play, sing, meditate, walk, talk, learn, and share meals. Debra’s background in acting and performance has been an asset in helping her create these experiences. You can join Debra weekly online where she is the producer and host of ‘An Afternoon of Nurturing Spirit’ and ‘Coffee and Conversation’.

Lana Cullis

Bio: Lana Cullis identifies as “Northern” and is grateful to acknowledge her location on unceded Coast Salish traditional territory, also known as Vancouver, British Columbia. She has long worked as a change advocate , and is currently a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor. Her writing draws on waking dreams, voices, and visions that reveal the tender places where human truth, individuality, and courage intersect.

Jeri Mortimore

Jeri Mortimore has been meditating for about three years and journaling for about fifty. She's a writer by temperament and earns her living fundraising for a behavioral health treatment center in Washington State.

Patti Beer

Patti gently pushes our group towards the science of meditation and positive effects from the natural world. Her unique perspective comes from having spent her career as an animal care specialist. From a young age she has been fascinated with nature and it plays a central role in her life.

She is a senior aquarium biologist for the Vancouver Aquarium in the role of Jill-of-all-trades at a satellite exhibit at the Vancouver International Airport YVR.

Working with the Burrowing Owl Conservation Society of BC for almost 30 years in a volunteer capacity, SCUBA diver – exploring many underwater locations around the world, sitting in a tree as sanctuary through her childhood for much of her time in a family of 9, have all created a situation where creatures and nature wrapped Patti up in a way that couldn’t be denied.

She advocates for climate action, sustainability, circularity and much more in her spare time. What the human body does when meditating, forest bathing or spending time with water is infinitely fascinating for her. The mindfulness created at our retreats weave all of this together for Patti. She loves playing a role where her perspective can round out the experiences we plan and share in this wonderful group dedicated to helping you find stillness and connection.

Jodie Capling

Jodie’s path in yoga has gone through many phases, types of practices and different focuses. Through her training and subsequent volunteering, she discovered the joy of sharing yoga.

She embraces peoples’ differences and enjoys helping them discover themselves, their neutral alignment, and their strengths. She loves the empowerment that comes from learning more about one’s own body, mind, and spirit.

After encountering yoga Nidra, (which brought out the most relaxed, wonderful feeling version of herself) Jodie leaped at the opportunity to learn more about yoga Nidra and how to share it through her teaching. She has taken two different yoga Nidra teacher trainings and is passionate about the practice and sharing it!

Rhonda Clarke

Breathing is the fundamental auto response to life. However, conscious breathing is the most powerful healer on this planet. As Hatha Yoga Pradapika says "The Mind is the King of the Senses, but the Breath is the King of the Mind". Rhonda has taught breathing with movement for over 30 years. She studied Leonard Orr's Rebirthing system and integrated this practice into her client sessions Globally in SE Asia, Russia, Australia, US and Canada. She created her own system called alivEmotion movement meditation that focuses on breath with music and movement. Rhonda has also taught all forms of stretching, floor exercises, and was a Brown Belt instructor for the Nia Technique before starting alivEmotion.

With Barbara Rose and Lisa Neudorf

Nurturing Silence: The Zen of Rest

October 22-23

All times are pacific time

Friday October 22

5:00 Community Dinner - Join when you can! – Debra Donohue

6:15 Welcome and Introduction to “The Zen of Rest” and Silent Practices – Jeri Mortimore

7:30 Bedtime Story: The Other Way To Listen – Debra Donohue

Saturday October 23

7:45 Zoom opens, log in now

8:00 A Gentle Zen Yoga Practice – Barbara Rose

9:45 Sitting and Walking Meditation – Barbara Rose

11:30 Guidance for Practicing On Our Own: Lana Cullis

12:00 Mindful meal prep and eating meditation – Lisa Neudorf

1:00 Writing into Silence (or out of) – Lana Cullis

2:30 Practices of Rest and Healing – Patti Beer

4:30 Breathe and Stretch – Optional

4:50 Re-join Zoom

5:00 Mindful meal prep and eating meditation – Lisa Neudorf

6:00 Listening Circles – Debra Donohue

7:00 Yoga Nidra - Jodi Capling

8:00 Bedtime Story: The Ice Jam – Lana Cullis

Goodnight and see you March 4-6, 2022, for the Nurturing Spirit Retreat: Writing into the Sacred.

Nurturing Spirit Retreat - Online