Map of the Dancing Monks
Join the Map of Dancing Monks Our community reaches around the globe. We invite you to participate, connect, and be part of our Abbey. Join Now View Map As a virtual monastery, our community reaches around the globe. As of November 2025, over 1700 people have affirmed the Monk Manifesto to join the Holy Disorder […]
Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist
Jan 12, 2026 – Jan 13, 2026 @ 3:30 pm GMT – 4:30 pm GMT –
with Christine Valters Paintner and guest teachers
Our retreat 12 week companion retreat to the book The Artist’s Rule will explore where the paths of the monk and artist meet. Drawing on monastic spirituality from the wisdom of desert, Celtic, and Benedictine traditions, we will explore together contemplative practices that support and encourage the flowering of our creative visions.
Sabbath as a Way of Being in the World ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, Tomorrow Simon and I will be joined by guest musician Will Boesl for our monthly Contemplative Prayer Service. Our theme this month is the 6th principle of the Monk Manifesto, Sabbath. Here is an excerpt from our Monk in the World self-study retreat. Principle 6: I commit to rhythms of rest and renewal through the regular […]
A Blessing for the Underworld Journey ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
A Blessing for the Underworld Journey*Holy One who is ever-present,even in our darkest nights anddescents to the underworld, bless us with a felt sense of your abidingas life strips away all our comfortsand securities, everything we thought we needed. Help us to build our enduranceand strengthen our vision to see you shimmering in the night. […]
Dancing Monk Feast Day: St Clare of Assisi
Sunday August 11th is the feast of St Clare of Assisi (1194-1253). We are pleased to offer a reflection, creative prompt, and prayer to guide your celebration of this remarkable saint. We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become. Clare was born and raised in Assisi, where she lived her […]
Gratitude for Dancing Monks, Earth-Bound Angels, Self-Care, and the Contemplative Path
Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, Every four weeks I go to the hospital to receive an infusion of a biologic medication to keep my rheumatoid arthritis under control. Each time I go I am full of gratitude at the way modern medicine has allowed me to mostly keep my mobility 32 years after being first […]
Decolonizing Contemplative Practice: Cultivating a Loving, Liberating Presence in the World
Oct 27, 2023 @ 4:00 pm IST – 6:00 pm IST –
with Claudia Love Mair and Christine Valters Paintner
We will create a safe space and a brave space to ask where we struggle with and feel challenged by anti-racism work. We will explore how the contemplative path offers us vital practices. Through teaching, stories, meditation, reflection, conversation, and creative prompts, we will open this conversation together.