FALL SESSION: Dates to be Announced in April 2010
* Each Class Section will be Limited to 20 Participants*
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DESCRIPTION:
This online class cultivates an awareness of the cycles and rhythms of the earth to support discernment. Monastic spirituality nurtures our ability to be present to the gifts and questions each moment offers to us. The rise and fall of each breath, day, week, month, year, and the overall rise and fall of our lives offer wisdom and insight for discerning what it is the particular season for right now. Drawing from the wisdom of sacred texts, mystics, saints, and poets along with ancient prayer practices and guided encounters in nature, we will bring the gifts of seasonal awareness to the questions we have about where to put energy in our lives.
Are in a place of seeking a new direction in your life?
Are you seeking a more organic approach to your discernment practice?
Do you long to make seasonal rhythms a more conscious dimension of your life?
Consider joining an online community to support you in your process and deepen your experience of each moment’s gift and unique invitation. The class includes weekly lessons, suggestions for creative expression, reflection questions, guided meditation podcasts, daily emails, and an online discussion forum.
HOW THE COURSE WORKS:
• Monday of each week – beginning on (date to be announced) – I will send out an email with a PDF of the week’s reflection, a suggestion for creative expression through visual art and writing, and questions to ponder (Weeks 1, 3, and 5 will include a podcast with a guided meditation connected to the week’s theme).
• By Wednesday of that week you will post a response to the week’s theme at our private group forum. You will also post photos during the week. This will be a safe place for exploration and the focus of the photography you create is on an authentic expression of your soul rather than a beautiful product. We will respond to each other’s work in ways that illuminate the impact and inner meaning of an image on our own hearts and minds.
• During the week you are strongly encouraged to engage each other in conversation, respond and support each other, and offer your own reflections to the great pool of wisdom we will be diving into collectively. I will be checking in regularly to also respond and support you in your process.
• Each day you will also receive a brief email with a quote, image, and question to inspire and encourage you along the creative and contemplative journey.
• Our discussion forum will happen on Ning.com – login details will be sent following registration, prior to the start of the class.
WHAT IS INCLUDED:
- Weekly written reflection including a suggestion for creative expression, spiritual practice, and questions to ponder
- Daily quotes sent by email with images and questions for inspiration and encouragement
- A podcast every other week (three in total) with guided meditations
- A private discussion forum for conversation, support, and sharing of images
YOUR COMMITMENT:
• Daily practice of Art-Making, Writing, and Reflection
• Journaling Response each week
• Posting your images and responses to each other in the discussion forum
• Support of one another in engaging in the discernment process
WHAT YOU NEED BEFORE THE CLASS BEGINS:
1. Register for one or both classes online. (checks also happily accepted)
2. A commitment to yourself and your creative process (the amount of time you spend will vary with your energy and availability, but please plan on dedicating 20-45 minutes a day for this process plus a longer block of time once a week)
3. Computer with email access and a free Ning account (details will be sent after registration)
SESSIONS OUTLINE:
*Week One: The Four Moments of the Breath
*Week Two: Rhythms of the Day (Hours & Tides)
*Week Three: Sabbath Rhythms (Weekly Cycles)
*Week Four: Lunar Cycles and Calendars (Waxing & Waning Monthly)
*Week Five: Seasons of the Year – The Invitations of Spring, Summer, Autumn, & Winter – and Liturgical Rhythms
*Week Six: Seasons of a Lifetime
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COSTS & PAYMENT:
Registration fees and payment options will be posted in March 2010
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To pay by check please mail payment to: Abbey of the Arts, PO Box 23160, Seattle, WA 98102 (send me an email at Christine@AbbeyoftheArts.com to let me know to expect your registration)
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REFUND POLICY:
Refunds available up to one week prior to the course start date minus a $25 administrative fee.
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YOUR CONTEMPLATIVE GUIDE FOR THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE SEASONS:
Christine Valters Paintner is a teacher, writer, photographer, retreat facilitator, and spiritual director. She has been a Benedictine Oblate with St. Placid Priory for six years. As an Oblate she has made a commitment as a lay person to live out monastic practices and values in the heart of Seattle where she lives with her husband and dog, an old Weimaraner rescue fondly dubbed Abbess Petunia. Christine’s greatest passion is the weaving together of three threads: creative expression, contemplative practice, and the rhythms and cycles of the natural world.
She earned her PhD in Christian Spirituality and her professional status as a Registered Expressive Arts Consultant and Educator (REACE) through the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association. The expressive arts is an approach to creative expression which focuses on the process of creating, rather than the product, and what we can discover about ourselves and God in the unfolding of our work.
She is the author of three books: Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening and Awareness (with Lucy Wynkoop, OSB, Paulist Press, 2008); Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire: The Christian Spiritual Practice of Praying with the Elements (Ave Maria Press, March 2010); and Awakening the Creative Spirit: Bringing the Expressive Arts to Spiritual Direction (with Betsey Beckman, Morehouse Publishing, February 2010). She also publishes a series of Reflective Art Journals which bring together her love of photography with reflections on different aspects of the spiritual life.
She offers 6-Week online discussion-based classes including Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist and Eyes of the Heart: Photography as Contemplative Practice and E-Courses which are taught through email only for the liturgical seasons 0f Advent & Christmas (coming in December 2010), Lent: Benedictine Spiritual Practices, and Easter: Practicing Resurrection (coming in April 2010). She has had students from around the world participate including across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
She also works as an adjunct faculty member at the School of Theology and Ministry (Seattle University), the Program Coordinator for the Ignatian Spirituality Center, art editor for Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction, and leads Expressive Arts Supervision Groups for those who are in ministries of soul care and compassionate listening.
