Writing as a Spiritual Practice
A 28-day creative journey
- Online retreat
- Self-study, start anytime
- Move at your own pace, in your own place
- Lifetime access
Registration Fee: $120 USD
Would you be nourished by a 28-day commitment to writing as a spiritual practice?
Do you long for some guidance and structure to get you into a sacred rhythm?
What might happen if you release the need for perfection and let the Creative Spirit guide you?
Program Description
This 4-week program begins with a 2-hour recorded webinar led by Christine Valters Paintner who will guide you through different exercises to help you yield to the process of writing as a journey of discovery, rather than holding too tightly to the end product.
In this way words become maps and help you to encounter new parts of yourself, your calling, and your relationship to the divine. You will engage in both free writing and poetry writing, and are welcome regardless of level of experience.
This is a generative program, you are not here to edit your work, but to show up for the Creative Source when you slow down and listen to what is erupting in the silence. In addition to the writing exercises Christine will include lectio divina, silence, reading of poems, and gentle movement invitations to shift your energy and focus.
Following the opening recording there will be 27 days of writing prompts designed to take about 20 minutes a day to cultivate a writing practice.
Each day you will receive a link to a video where Christine will introduce a theme in creative practice and connect it to one of her poems, giving a brief reflection about how the poem was inspired. Then she will invite you into a lectio divina practice with the poem through listening to her reading and then sharing a video version of the same poem. Repetition means you have a chance to let the images work on you. This is followed by a writing prompt and 5 minutes of quiet music to help hold the space for you.
In addition to the daily recordings there will be two additional writing prompts included each day if you have some extra time to explore.
Note: This program was originally offered as a live retreat so please disregard any reference to sharing as a discussion forum is not included in this self-study version.
What's Included
Each day you will receive a link to a video where Christine will introduce a theme in creative practice and connect it to one of her poems, giving a brief reflection about how the poem was inspired. Then she will invite you into a lectio divina practice with the poem through listening to her reading and then sharing a video version of the same poem. This is followed by a writing prompt and 5 minutes of quiet music to help hold the space for you.
* 1 Opening, recorded 2 hour webinar led by Christine Valters Paintner
* 27 days of recorded writing prompts designed to take 20 minutes each + 2 additional writing prompts included each day
* Closed captions and downloadable transcripts
* Ongoing access to the materials in our private and easy-to-navigate retreat platform on Ruzuku.
What's Included
- Two hour recorded opening session with Christine Valters Paintner that includes an overview of the retreat and supported writing time
- 27 days of recorded writing prompts and supported writing time designed to take 20 minutes per day
- 27 Lectio divina practices with a poem of Christine's included in the recorded daily prompts
- 2 additional writing prompts each day
- Closed captions and downloadable transcripts
- Lifetime access to all material in our private and easy-to-navigate retreat platform
Part of the creative practice is opening ourselves to an exploration of imagination into worlds that feel a little bit beyond our edges of comfort at times.
Weekly Themes
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Weekly Themes
Week 1:
Attuning with the Heart
This first week the poems and writing prompts will encourage you to cultivate the eyes and ears of your heart, those spiritual perceptions which allow you to see beauty all around you. One of the gifts you offer the world as a writer and artist is to invite others into a contemplative gaze with you.
Week 2:
Sacred Rhythms
As a creative, when you attune to the rhythms of life and the natural world around you, you discover a flow of blossoming and fruitfulness followed by releasing and resting. You do not need to create non-stop all the time. The sacred cycles of the day and year help to attune you to the wisdom nature offers you.
Week 3:
Coming Into Wholeness
You may feel divided in yourself. Part of you longs to create and write, the other is either distracted or pulled in other directions. What does it mean to be an artist of daily life? What are the old stories you carry about who you are and can be?
Week 4:
Following the Call
After three weeks of dedicated writing practice, you hopefully are able to start claiming your creative inheritance and birthright more fully. For this final week you will explore the signs and synchronicities which urge you on the writing path.
Rhythm of the Retreat
The retreat begins with a 2 hour recorded opening session led by Christine Valters Paintner offering an overview of the retreat, writing prompts, and supported writing time.
Each day for the following 27 days you will receive a link to a video where Christine will introduce a theme in creative practice and connect it to one of her poems, giving a brief reflection about how the poem was inspired. Then she will invite you into a lectio divina practice with the poem through listening to her reading and then sharing a video version of the same poem. This is followed by a writing prompt and 5 minutes of quiet music to help hold the space for you.
There are two additional writing prompts per day for you to engage with as your time allows. You could write with them during the retreat or come back at a later time. You have ongoing access to all material.
Your Guide for the Journey
Christine Valters Paintner, OblSB, PhD, REACE
Christine Valters Paintner is the online Abbess and director of AbbeyoftheArts.com, a virtual monastery exploring contemplative practice, creative expression, and ways to nourish an earth-cherishing consciousness. She is a spiritual director, teacher, pilgrimage guide, Benedictine oblate, and author of numerous books on spirituality and the arts. Her deepest belief is that the earth is the original monastery—a wisdom guide and mentor in living a soulful and vibrant life. Visit the “About Christine” page for more information.
I’m always writing to discover. I’m always writing to discover what I know. I’m always writing to discover new connections that I hadn’t made before.
Praise for the Retreat
Registration
$120
Registration Fee
If you need a different payment plan or a scholarship to make this program accessible, please get fill out our scholarship request form.
Terms and Conditions
Please consider your purchase carefully and review the many free materials we have on our website to make sure the program will be a good fit or get in touch with any questions.
We ask that you honor our work by not sharing the program materials with others who are not enrolled.
Please contact us for permission to quote in settings beyond the program
Some self-study retreats include video or audio recordings of sessions that were recorded in a live community offering of the retreat and may make reference to forums or other modes of sharing. Please disregard these as self-study retreats do not have these available.
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If you choose a payment plan and stop payment before fulfilling the commitment without contacting us to make other arrangements, your access to the program will be removed.