Archive of Past News and Events
• An Introduction to Centering Prayer will be held on Saturday, May 8th, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church Rectory, 116 Sixth Avenue (corner of Park Place), Brooklyn. The presenter will be Richard Kigel, Coordinator, New York Chapter of Contemplative Outreach and the event is sponsored by Contemplative Outreach of New York City and St. Augustine. The event is free, and donations will be accepted. Coffee and tea will be provided; please bring your own lunch. Follow up sessions will take place May 13, 20 and June 3, 10, 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm. For more information and registration, contact Jean Prahl, 718.622.1712 - mjpbklny@gmail.com.
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• Yogic Philosophy Blog
My friend Hovey Brock has just started a new blog on the Yoga City website. Here's his description:
"If you have come to a place where you would like to have a better understanding of the philosophical context of your yogic practice then this blog is for you. My series will begin with an examination of the schools of thought that inform Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Full disclosure: I am no Indologist and this column will be as much a journey for me as for you."
Hovey is a trained yoga teacher. I look forward to following his blog on this website which provides information on all things related to yoga in New York City.
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• Quiet Day Retreat March 6th
How can we use the psalms in our personal prayer? Who is God in the psalms? On Saturday, March 6th from 10am to 3:30pm I will lead a quiet day retreat at Grace Church, Brooklyn on the theme “Making the Psalms Our Own.” We will reflect on our personal responses to the psalms and on some of the aspects of the psalms that can be challenging and problematic for us. We will look at different translations of the psalms and use them in lectio divina. Projects will be provided for deepening our relationship with the psalms. All activities will be optional and there will be plenty of time for quiet reflection. A box lunch will be provided, and we will eat in silence.
Sign up at the back of Grace Church or email me to sign up or for more information. Grace Church is at 254 Hicks Street, Brooklyn 11201.
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• There will be a nine day centering prayer retreat from March 12 to 20, 2010 at the Garrison Insitute in Garrison New York. This retreat will be led by David Frenette and is designed to help practioners to deepen their prayer practice, particularly those who sometimes feel stuck in their practice, discouraged by their thoughts or struggles to find God, and those who want to take their practice to the next level.
I attended David's retreat last March and found him to be a gifted teacher who uses approaches such as guided meditations and participant sharing to impart helpful ideas about practice without too much intellectual lecturing. His gentle style enables retreatants to learn while remaining in a contemplative mode. I highly recommend this retreat.
For more information or to sign up for this retreat, go to the Contemplative Outreach website.
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• Please note a change in two events with Thomas Keating previously listed on this page: Father Thomas, one of the founders of centering prayer, was hospitalized Labor Day night with a pulmonary embolism. Following a simple surgical procedure to ensure the clots do not move into his lungs, he has been resting and in good spirits at his home at St. Benedict's Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado. He expects to take at least six months off for rest and exercise and hopes to reschedule the previously scheduled events at St. Ignatius in New York City for next fall.
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The retreat from October 23-29 at the Garrison Institute in Garrison New York will still be held but Father Thomas will not attend and the retreat will be led by Gail Fitzpatrick-Hopler and Father Carl Arico, President and Vice President of Contemplative Outreach. It is possible to sign up for a two day retreat October 23-25 or a six day retreat October 23-29. These retreats are suitable for either beginners or longtime practitioners. They feature about three hours of centering prayer per day plus two or three hours of teaching. The rest of the time one can enjoy silence on one’s own, walk around the beautiful grounds of the Garrison Institute, and eat delicious vegetarian food.
For more information or to sign up for the retreat, go to the Contemplative Outreach website.
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• Dandapani, a monk for ten years at Kauai's Hindu Monastery in Hawaii, will be leading a travel-study retreat to South India in January 2010. I have traveled to India twice with Dandapani and the monks of Kauai. This is a wonderful way to learn intensively about Hindu customs and worship. Dandapani is a gifted organizer and teacher, and he will be visiting some of the holiest temples in India, including Chidambaram and the Meenakshi temple in Madurai.
For more information, visit Dandapani's website.
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• For those who are interested in learning to meditate, I highly recommend the courses at the Shambhala Meditation Center of New York. The Shambhala method is derived from Buddhist tradition but at the introductory levels is taught in a fairly secular way and can be used by students of any faith tradition. Shambhala offers meditation training in a number of different formats. There are one hour long drop-in classes offered every Wednesday at 6pm or Sunday at noon. For those who would like an intensive weekend experience, Shambhala Training Level I is being offered October 30th - November 1st and is offered regularly. There is also a weekly program being offered on Thursdays beginning on November 5th.
For more information, contact the Shambhala Meditation Center of New York.
Shambhala is an international organization with 165 centers, and if you are not from the New York area you may be able to find a Shambhala Center near you.
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• Dr. Meath Conlan, an Australian-born spiritual director who has worked in Christian, Zen and Hindu traditions, will be leading tours to Saccidananda Ashram at Shantivanam, India this December and January. Shantivanam was home for many years to the late Bede Griffiths, a pioneer in Christian-Hindu dialogue. Meath travels to Shantivanam regularly, was a friend of Bede Griffiths, and is a friend and mentor to my friend Dandapani. The trip will also include stops at a number of other spiritual centers, including Sri Ramana Maharshi's ashram in Tiruvannamalai and the Bodhi Zendo near the hill-station of Kodaikanal. For more information, visit diversejourneys.net or contact Meath at drconlan@diversejourneys.net.
I have visited the Shantivanam ashram and highly recommend it to those who are interested in exploring the intersection of Christian and Hindu beliefs and practices. Hare Christa, Hare Christa!
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• The Grace Church Centering Prayer Group will be starting up again on Tuesday September 8th at 7pm.
Centering Prayer is a silent, wordless form of prayer that is easy to learn. It bears some similarities to Zen meditation, but it derives from 14th century Christian methods of prayer. In this weekly group we sit in centering prayer for two periods of 20 minutes each, separated by a brief meditative walk. We then engage in lectio divina, a traditional way of praying with scripture. The meeting usually lasts about an hour and a quarter. Newcomers are welcome at any session.
More information on centering prayer.
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• Dandapani, a monk for ten years at Kauai's Hindu Monastery in Hawaii, will be giving a series of workshops on how to attract and sustain healthy happy relationships. The first workshop will be held on Wednesday July 22nd from 6:45-9pm. More information is available at Dandapani's website.
Dandapani will also be conducting a series of weekly classes called the "Essentials of Yoga" starting on Thursday July 23. In each class he will teach Hatha Yoga postures, discuss the philosophy of Raja Yoga, as well as practicing breathing techniques and conducting a guided meditation. More information on this class.
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• My sister Lucy Soutter and I are quoted in an article about Rameshwaram in the April/May/June 2009 issue of Hinduism Today. Rameshwaram is one of India’s holiest pilgrimage destinations, and pilgrims who visit are bathed in the waters of 22 wells. Lucy, my husband Mark and I along with more than 90 other pilgrims visited Rameshwaram in January 2008. A pdf of this article is now available online.
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• A centering prayer group will be meeting every two weeks in Dorothy Day’s chapel at The Catholic Worker, 55 East Third Street, Manhattan New York (near Second Avenue). Activities will include chant, reflection, spiritual readings and discussion as well as centering prayer. Beginners to centering prayer are welcome. This is a wonderful opportunity to practice centering prayer in an atmosphere blessed by Dorothy Day, the famous social activist and Catholic.
The next meetings are Wednesday, May 13th and 27th, 2009 from 6:30 to 8:30.
To RSVP or for further information, please contact Sandy Lofaso at meditativeprayer@aol.com
Learn more about centering prayer.
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• Quiet Day Retreat March 14
Where is God leading you? How do you listen for God’s voice in your life? On Saturday, March 14th from 10am to 3:30pm I will lead a quiet day retreat at Grace Church, Brooklyn on the theme of discernment. A number of discernment and prayer oriented activities will be offered, including talks, discussion, centering prayer, a DVD of Thomas Keating providing centering prayer instruction, guided meditation, and time for quiet reflection. All activities will be optional so that participants may have as structured or unstructured an experience as they would like. Lunch will be provided and we will eat in silence. Books and art materials will be available.
Sign up in the back of Grace Church or email me to sign up or for more information. Grace Church is at 254 Hicks Street, Brooklyn 11201.
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• Dandapani, a monk for ten years at Kauai's Hindu Monastery in Hawaii, will be giving another workshop on preparation for meditation on March 14. I have traveled to India twice with Dandapani and the monks of Kauai. He is an engaging and humorous speaker as well as a trained meditator, and I highly recommend this workshop.
4:00pm - 6:00pm
Saturday, March 14
1 East 28th St, 3rd Floor
(between 5th Ave & Madison Ave)
New York, NY 10016
To reserve a seat or for more information, contact Tatiana: tatiana@unifiedspirit.com 917-593-5982
Because of limited seating, it is suggested that you reserve your seats in advance.
$45 pre-registered, $55 at the door (cash or checks but no credit cards).
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• Bishop Gene Robinson, the openly gay Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire, gave this beautiful invocation on Sunday, January 18 at the opening of the inaugural festivities. It was not televised as it was supposed to be, a great disappointment to many for whom Bishop Robinson represents not only the Episcopalian church but also the hopes of gay people of faith worldwide:
A Prayer for the Nation and Our Next President, Barack Obama
By The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire
Opening Inaugural Event
Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC
January 18, 2009
O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…
Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.
Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic “answers” we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.
Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed” anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.
Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.
Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.
Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.
And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.
Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.
Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.
Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.
Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.
Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.
Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.
And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.
AMEN.
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• My husband Mark has returned from his trip to India, helping the Hindu monks of the Kauai Aadheenam and the French Cultural Institute to embark on a project to scan thousands of palm leaf manuscripts. Visit his website of photographs from his trip.
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• Dandapani, a monk for ten years at Kauai's Hindu Monastery in Hawaii, will be conducting two workshops in New York City. The first workshop will focus on simple tools to help create a balanced life and the second workshop will be an introduction to meditation. They will take place on Jan 18th and Feb 1st respectively. Learn more.
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• Dandapani, a monk for ten years at Kauai's Hindu Monastery in Hawaii, will be leading travel-study retreats to India in April 2009 and Malaysia and Cambodia in May 2009. I have traveled to India twice with Dandapani and the monks of Kauai. This is a wonderful way to learn intensively about Hindu customs and worship. Dandapani is a gifted organizer and teacher, and these trips are highly recommended.
http://www.vedicodyssey.com/index.shtml
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• My husband Mark Boyer is in Pondicherry, India this December, helping the Hindu monks of the Kauai Aadheenam and the French Cultural Institute to embark on a project to scan thousands of palm leaf manuscripts. These manuscripts are commentaries on Hindu scriptures. They are rapidly decaying and will be scanned over the next two years to preserve their contents. Here is a picture of a ceremony to bless the digital equipment that will be used in the project:
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• I will be teaching a course in Fall 2008 at Union Theological Seminary in New York called “Using the Psalms in Ministry.” In this course, class time will be spent reading the psalms in various translations; discussing students’ personal responses to the psalms; examining the many ways in which the psalms can be used in personal prayer, communal prayer and worship, pastoral care, reflection, study, and discernment; experimenting with use of the psalms in prayer, lectio divina, chanting, and singing; and group discernment. Students will be especially encouraged to grapple with the aspects of the psalms that they find challenging and problematic.
Course work will center on the production of a “psalms notebook” customized by students to help them with their ministries. Each notebook will contain the text of all the psalms annotated and supplemented by the student. Students will be required to produce a brief summary of each psalm’s content and a review of whether and how it might be used in their ministry. Other materials would be added to the notebook based on the students’ interests and ministries, including translations, journalling, contemporizations, analysis, historical information, and detailed descriptions of how the student might use the psalms in ministry in the future. Each student will also give a brief presentation on a single psalm and how it might be used in his or her ministry.
This class will meet on Tuesdays from 1:10 pm to 2 pm in Lampman Chapel.
For further information, go to Union Theological Seminary.