Wisdom School: Invitation to a Wisdom Way of Knowing

The Wisdom stream is at the contemplative headwaters of every religious tradition including Christianity. Wisdom takes many shapes and forms and is more concerned with the transformation of the human being than on a set of right beliefs. The Christian Wisdom lineage is about learning to listen to the Divine within and see that we are deeply interconnected in a larger whole of which we are meant to responsibly take part in. This kind of listening and seeing requires that we include our three centers of knowing—mind, feeling, and body—in the spiritual organ of the heart which sees from wholeness and oneness.

Join us for a Wisdom School for beginners on the path and experienced practitioners, designed to bring a rhythm of practice, learning, and integration in togetherness and solitude in order to invite a ‘wisdom way of knowing.’ With periods of teaching, centering prayer, chanting, embodiment practices, lectio divina, contemplative sharing and free time, this Wisdom School will explore the core tenets of the Christian Wisdom Tradition through the lineage of Cynthia Bourgeault. We will focus on the Wisdom tradition as the Way of the Heart, the organ of spiritual perceptivity, and dive deeply into the three centers of intelligence (mind/intellectual, feeling/emotional, body/sensation-al) which comprise it. Wisdom Schools prepare us to live more consciously and to show up in the world holding our post as planetary servants.

Retreat Schedule (please note that schedule is subject to change)

First evening:

7:00-8:30 pm Opening Evening

Daily schedule:

* Breakfast on your own

9:00 am Chanting and Centering Prayer

9:30 am Break

9:45 am Morning Session

11:15 am Break

11:30 am Embodiment Practice/Movement, or Conscious Work

12:00 pm Lunch (talking optional) followed by contemplative free time

2:00 pm Chanting and Centering Prayer

2:30 pm Break

2:45 pm Afternoon Session

4:15 pm Break

4:30 pm Contemplative Practice

5:45 pm Dinner (talking optional)

7:00-8:30 pm Evening session - reflection, discussion, synthesis of day’s work, ending with chanting and centering prayer

Last day:

* Breakfast on your own

9:00 am Chanting and Centering Prayer

9:45 am Final Teaching

11:00 Closing Circle

12:00 End & Departure

Retreat Facilitator: Heather Ruce

I facilitate Wisdom practice circles, groups, retreats, and Wisdom schools. I offer teaching and guidance in various embodied Wisdom, contemplative and mindfulness practices including Centering Prayer, Christian meditation, sacred chanting, lectio divina, conscious work, and sacred gestures. I have had many companions, guides, and teachers along the way, all of whom have contributed to who I am and the work that I do. My work is especially informed by my Masters education in family systems therapy and depth psychology and the teachings of Cynthia Bourgeault in the Christian Wisdom Tradition, and Steve Hoskinson in the integration of trauma healing and complexity science through his model Organic Intelligence.