Self-Guided Retreats for Diving Deeper at Your Own Pace

Contemplative at Home retreats are designed for anyone who is interested in going to a deeper place in themselves, in prayer, and in intimacy with God.

When I plan the retreats I imagine someone who may have been around Christianity for a long time but is ready for something new, something more or something different. Perhaps you’re after a richer prayer experience, a broader understanding of faith, or a sympathetic place to sit with their questions, doubts, pain or disappointments.

These retreats are also for people who want to explore how to get faith out of the head and into the body, into the creative, intuitive heart-centre.  And for those who want to experientially explore the mystical traditions of our faith, and a wide variety of creative approaches to prayer.

The Wellbeing events draw on the same roots but are developed with people of any and no particular faith persuasion in mind.

A bit of both! Please note on each listing whether it specifies  in-person in Warwickshire, UK, or online. The online sessions are delivered via Zoom.

Again – both.

Monthly Mini-Retreats are shared together, live on Zoom at the listed time, and the recordings are then available for one month for all who have registered.

Retreats in Daily Life for Group Spiritual Direction are not recorded, and are only for those participating in the live calls.

Self-Guided retreats use material that is pre-recorded.

This is probably two questions, which I will address very briefly,

Firstly : as a Christian, are you spiritually comfortable practicing yoga?

Personally, I have found the practice of yoga helps me to both regulate my nervous system and to become more deeply present to myself - body, mind and spirit. In both of these ways, the practice of yoga escorts me to the spiritual parts of myself, where I find with great clarity, my devotion to Christ. Having spent years practicing yoga, and some years avoiding yoga because of the attitudes of some of my fellow Christian believers, I am now comfortable in my lived experience: that yoga practice brings me into closer awareness of and communion with God.

My understanding of yoga is that it does indeed have spiritual dimensions, but rather than being in the service of one particular religion, it offers approaches which will help a practitioner of any religion to deepen and intensify their own devotion to God. This is put forward in the book Inside the Yoga Sutras by Jaganath Carrera, and rings true with my own experience.

And secondly: is the combination of yoga and Christianity an act of cultural appropriation?

I personally feel that this depends on the spirit or heart with which yoga is practiced. Whilst I could never learn, understand or name the thousands of generations of people who developed and brought forward the wisdom and practice of yoga as we know it today, I do engage in yoga asana with reverence and gratitude for all that they saw and understood.

In this spirit, I engage in and teach the practice of yoga asanas (body postures), pranayama (breath techniques), and at times reflect on the wisdom of the yoga sutras, for the purpose of deepening my communion and union with the triune God as revealed in the Bible.

For more, see Christians Practicing Yoga or check out this reflection by Carl McColman.

All of my retreats include a variety of creative and embodied approaches to prayer, and will include some guidance through awareness of breath.

At Mini-Retreats and Wellbeing Events you will find on-the-mat yoga, but it usually doesn’t show up in other retreats unless it is explicitly advertised as such.

Yes! I can host individuals with references on retreat in our barn in Warwickshire for any length of time from a few hours, up to eight days. I can also host small groups on retreat for a day (up to 12 people) or a weekend (up to 4 people).

I’d also be happy to discuss hosting a retreat or session for your group at your location or via Zoom.

Please contact me with as much detail as possible about what you’re looking for, and when.