A Teaching on Centering Prayer via Gesture

“Centering Prayer is first and foremost a gesture…it’s the repeated practice of this [letting go] gesture, not outwardly but inwardly, at the level of what your consciousness is holding on to.” — Cynthia Bourgeault

What does a release of the wrist have to do with putting on the mind of Christ? Excerpted from the Introductory Wisdom School, Cynthia Bourgeault uses the simplicity of her hands to show us the subtle action of Centering Prayer. Follow the prompts in this 14-minute participatory video to reveal what it feels like to cling versus what it feels like to release using gesture to understand the heart of Centering Prayer. Cynthia reminds us that as we practice this internal release in Centering Prayer, we are discovering the “core attitude which will unite us with the teaching and Wisdom of Christ over and over again, from birth to the cross…We are teaching our body to learn to let go as the core default gesture in putting on the mind of Christ.”

Chants by Darlene Franz

Darlene Franz is a freelance oboist, music educator, singer, and chant composer residing in Seattle, Washington. Since 2006 she has facilitated music and attention sessions at Wisdom Schools and other retreats, workshops, and conferences throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Europe, and New Zealand.

Her work with groups cultivates the expansion of embodied attention and presence. Through active and meditative practices based in sacred mantric interspiritual chant, both accomplished and reticent singers can discover grounded, centered, whole awareness while singing together.

Listen to Darlene’s full collection of chants on her Bandcamp site here.

Chants by Paulette Meier

Paulette Meier is a singer/songwriter, whose strong alto voice has stirred hearts and opened minds for over 30 years in the pursuit of a peaceful, just and sustainable world. An active Quaker, Paulette was moved to set quotations from texts of early Quaker leaders to song and record them in chant-like, a cappella style in Timeless Quaker Wisdom in Plainsong, which includes many chants used in Wisdom Schools and gatherings as well in personal practice.

Inspired at a Quaker Wisdom retreat led by Cynthia, Paulette and Marcelle Martin, Paulette’s most recent chant CD, Wellsprings of Life: Quaker Wisdom in Chant, draws from Quaker quotes spanning the centuries and features Wisdom’s Nick Weiland on double bass and Andrew Breitenberg on piano. Bursting with the immediacy so present in the roots of Quaker spirituality, Paulette’s chants serve both as joyful and meditative elements of inner practice.

Explore all chants by Paulette Meier on her Bandcamp site.

Chants by Henry Schoenfield

Henry Schoenfield

“Chanting has been an integral part of my spiritual practice for many years. I was first introduced to chanting in the Christian monastic tradition in the late 1990s as a cantor in the seminary. Then in 2010, I was introduced to chanting in the Theravada Buddhist path. Both of these (and more!) influence the way that I approach chanting today – as a three-centered practice, an expression of essence, and blending of self with the whole. Chanting allows us to be nourished and to nourish by and with the vibration that lives and breathes in and through all that is.”

Explore all chants by Henry Schoenfield on his YouTube channel.

A sample chant by Henry Schoenfield, “Stay Together Friends,” based on the Rumi poem.

Sacred Movement Series with Henry Schoenfield

The Gurdjieff Movements are interpretations of sacred dances and rituals that Mr. Gurdjieff witnessed and studied during his travels in the search for truth. Through specifically composed music and gesture, the Movements transmit a teaching in language beyond our thinking mind. When we are collected in our three centers (intellectual, feeling, moving) and in present moment awareness, a deeper perception may arise. Although there are different kinds of movements, they are all forms of prayer, prayer offered in longing, in struggle. Mr. Gurdjieff saw them all as medicine.

Working with the Movements offer a practical approach to inner work. They function as a mirror — offering the possibility of seeing ourselves in action — and revealing the work that is ours to take up — work that is on behalf of ourselves, of each other, and of all that is.

They are constructed in such a way that none of the three centers can do the Movements on their own. There must be a harmony, a coherence. And even though the outer form is not the point of working with the Movements, when the music, form, and presence come together, something altogether new is possible.

The Movements are a powerful practice to help us find Presence — help us to be aware of when we lose Presence, and help us to return — over and over and over again.

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Event Details

When: Wednesdays: January 21, 28; February 4, 11, 18, 25 from 12:30-1:45 PM ET

Where: Online via Zoom

Cost: The total suggested donation for the six classes is $110. For those who need to pay less, feel free to offer what you can. If you can help support the work of the group by contributing to the scholarship fund, that would be most welcome.

Registration: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd4A9ExikM3IyD4SKby1tW1ONAu9X5dlDJ6JuqzY4OBB-diOA/viewform

Wisdom Pilgrimage to Armenia and Georgia

Join us for a 15-day pilgrimage through the ancient lands of Armenia and Georgia — an immersive journey into landscapes, cultures, and living spiritual traditions that have shaped these regions for millennia. We will visit sacred sites and encounter a rich human tapestry of musicians, artists, scholars, local residents, Gurdjieff groups, and lovers of these lands, allowing relationships and understanding to unfold naturally along the way.

Our days will be held within a contemplative rhythm that includes periods of silence, prayer, observation, and shared teaching. Armenia and Georgia were among the world’s first Christian nations, embracing Christianity in the early fourth century and carrying it through centuries of invasion and upheaval — Persian, Arab, Mongol, Ottoman, and Russian. Their faith, along with their unique alphabets, sacred music, monastic schools of learning, ancient wine traditions, and fierce love of independence as mountain cultures, continues to shape their living identity.

This pilgrimage is open to participants of all ages and backgrounds who feel drawn to a journey of depth, beauty, and inner work.

For the full itinerary, pilgrimage fee, and registration details, please contact Vesna Nikolic at vesna.nikolic5@gmail.com.

Event Details

When: September 6–20, 2026

Where: Armenia and Georgia

Cost and Registration: For the full itinerary, pilgrimage fee, and registration details, please contact Vesna Nikolic at vesna.nikolic5@gmail.com.

Yoga for Change: Embodied Spirituality and Activism for Yoga Teachers with Cynthia Bourgeault as a Guest Teacher

In a world at a critical moment —ecological collapse, war, systemic oppression, trauma, and a sense of uncertainty across communities and generations— we know that spiritual practice, to be truly meaningful, must enter into dialogue with reality and dare to respond to it.

With this conviction, “Yoga for Change: Embodied Spirituality and Activism for Yoga Teachers” was born: a 150-hour certificate program for committed teachers ready to step fully into their role as contemplatives and change-makers. Promoted by The Yoga Gallery, it will take place in Amsterdam from July 6 to 19, 2026.

Yoga for Change invites us to face head-on what is happening around us and to ask what role a yoga teacher can play today. The program explores a range of themes, including a critical and decolonized understanding of the yoga tradition; yoga for trauma, social justice, and collective liberation; psychology and neuroscience for emotional resilience; embodied non-duality and the meeting point between spirituality and activism; compassion in action; conscious communication for social change; leadership and purpose-driven teaching; sustainable community building; direct learning from lifelong activists, and more.

Grounded in research, theory and embodied practice, Yoga for Change is an invitation to teach, practice and show up with clarity and courage in response to today’s challenges. To return to the essence of spiritual practice and to embody our values as yoga teachers fully.

<<<Information and Registration Here>>>

Event Details

When: July 6-19, 2026

Where: Amsterdam, De Nieuwe Yogaschool, Netherlands

Cost: For more information, contact the organization at namaste@theyoga.gallery

Registration: https://theyoga.gallery/en/tyg/yoga-for-change-amsterdam-2026/

Gospel of Thomas, Gurdjieff Practices, and Inner Tasks with Sissy Stephens and Thomas Telhiard

We will engage in Gurdjieff and Fourth Way practices, break open the Gospel of Thomas, and work with inner tasks. We will gather for 8 sessions in the spring and 8 sessions in the fall.

Event Details

When: Spring sessions: Wednesdays, February 4 & 18, March 4 & 25, April 8 & 15, May 13 & 27 from 12:30-2:00 ET.

Where: Online, via Zoom.

Cost: Free with a suggested donation to Wisdom Waypoints: https://wisdomwaypoints.org/donate/

Registration: For information, please contact Thomas Telhiard at ttelhiar@gmail.com or Sissy Stephens at sissystephens@cox.net.

Starting a Local Wisdom Circle with Marcella Kraybill-Greggo

Many of us long to deepen our Wisdom practice and create more integration within our local spiritual communities. And yet, if there are no existing groups, we may feel intimidated by how to start our own Wisdom offering in our area. As part of our aim in supporting the ever-growing Wisdom network, Wisdom Waypoints is offering a 3-session training on how to start a local Wisdom Circle.

Across three gatherings, participants will de-mystify what a ‘Wisdom Circle’ is and gain comfort on how to facilitate an informal group in your own community. The first session will introduce the rhythm and tools of the “Wisdom Way of Knowing” which are integral components of a Wisdom Circle. The second session will be attending an existing Wisdom Circle to better understand the flow and experience. The third session will include reflections from the first two meetings and then offer a chance to explore practical questions for starting your own Wisdom Circle within your network of local friends, family, or peers.

The program will include an Experience Guide for starting your own local Wisdom circle with helpful teachings and resources. The event will be guided by Wisdom Waypoints Board Member Marcella Kraybill-Greggo who is the Director of Spirituality Programs and the Spiritual Direction Training Program at Moravian Seminary.

EVENT DETAILS

When: Friday, February 6, 11:00am-12:30pm ET Friday, February 20, 1:00pm-3:00pm ET Friday, March 6, 11:00am-12:30 pm ET

Where: Online via Zoom. A Zoom link will be sent several days before the first session.

Cost: There is a suggested donation of $45. We never want cost to be a barrier to participation, therefore, please pay an amount which is sustainable within your means.

Facilitator: Marcella Kraybill-Greggo

REGISTRATION

This event is now full, however we invite you to join the waitlist for an available space or for notification of our next training.

The Mindful Enneagram Series with Rob Creekmore

Mindfulness practice is a powerful way to awaken to our deepest potential for fulfillment, creativity, and relationship. But it is not a “one size fits all” approach. The Buddha offered many approaches depending on each person’s unique form of dukkha – unnecessary suffering – and how their particular mental, emotional, and physical conditioning contributed to this. For mindfulness to be effective it must work with our particular form of dukkha. This is where the Enneagram can help.

The Enneagram is a powerful map of nine different ways that dukkha arises for different people and the nine paths to liberation from those nine types of unnecessary suffering. Together mindfulness and the Enneagram can free you from your particular form of dukkha and awaken your unique and deepest potential for happiness and fulfillment.

If you’ve worked with mindfulness meditation – or tried to – and you feel it hasn’t worked, or you feel stuck and need to get to a deeper level, it may be because you’ve not found the particular approach to mindfulness practice that actually works best for you. This course will introduce you to how both mindfulness and the Enneagram, when used together, can be a powerful way to find an approach to mindfulness that truly awakens your particular deeper capacities of body, heart, and mind.

In each session we will explore the Foundations of Mindfulness at the core of Buddhist practice – how to cultivate mindfulness of body, feeling, and mind. Each session will also use the Enneagram to explore each of the nine types of dukkha and the nine particular ways that mindfulness practice can be tailored, based on your type, to free you from your particular dukkha “blind spot.”

You can find additional details on the Mindful Enneagram at Rob’s website here. If you have any further questions, contact Rob here.

Register Here

Event Details

When: Wednesdays, February 4-April 8, 2026, 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM ET (Total of 10 Wednesdays)

Where: Online, via Zoom

Cost: $200, Scholarships Available

Registration: https://imcw.org/event/?eventId=1688