Groups

Groups can play a vital role in developing soul resilience. As daily life gets more bumpy, we need a deeper sense of fellowship and support, and a group can help everyone in it to find deeper insights, creative ideas, fresh understanding. Whilst in-person groups can go deeper, online groups are more accessible, so both are possibilities.

Faith, Hope, Resilience

A reflective day

How can we find our steady centre in these uncertain times? Where do we place our faith and our hope? This day of exploration and support will include times of prayer, meditation and sharing, with periods outside for walking contemplation as a micro pilgrimage, and for communing with Nature as a micro vision quest: recognising the power of space and silence.

Our venue is Garn Farm, a conservation smallholding and woodland near Longtown, in a beautiful valley overlooking the Black Mountains. See more at www.warmthandwonder.co.uk .

Alan Heeks has many years’ experience exploring Nature and faith as sources of resilience, and is deeply interested in how communities can deepen to help us adapt to climate change.

Simon Lockett is a pioneer in re-introducing pilgrimage to Herefordshire, and has a long-standing love for contemplative prayer and spiritual connection with the natural world.

Practicalities

Monthly online group – A Sufi Garden

This is a monthly group, free to join, on a Wednesday evening 7.30-9.00pm UK time, led by Alan Heeks and Karim Hadden. It offers soul nourishment with chants, body prayer (devotional movement) and meditation, drawn from the Sufi tradition. Limited numbers: if you’d like to join us, contact Alan or see www.karimandsusanne.co.uk/calendar. September 11, 2024 – Finding the Sufi twist: These days, what seems to be reality in the human world of social media, fake news and actual crises, is mostly depressing and disempowering. However! For centuries, the Sufis have helped us to see life differently: to twist perception so that we perceive the divine link and the cosmic joke.
     This evening we will draw on Sufi poets like Rumi and Shabistari, and dance towards beauty, joy and playfulness. 

Past Events

Hope and Resilience in the Climate and Ecological Emergency: A retreat led by Alan Heeks and Jonathan Herbert, Friday Feb 3 – Sunday Feb 5, 2023 at Hilfield Friary, Dorset: Using material from the Christian contemplative tradition, from Joanna Macy – a Buddhist and deep ecologist,  and from Jem Bendell’s Deep Adaptation approach, the group will explore ways to grow through emergency. We will move from a place of gratitude to a place of lament, to a place of learning to see differently and seek inspiration to act for the common good. There will be time for listening deeply to each other, meditation, walks and space for silence. Read more.

Soul Resilience Weekend Retreat, Feb 25-27, 2022: How your core self can help you grow through storms, with Alan Heeks and Jane Sanders. This retreat is a chance to explore how the deep wisdom of your soul can help you to stay centred and positive, and clarify your purpose: why your soul has chosen to be here in a time of huge change. Venue: Hazel Hill Wood near Salisbury. For details of content and how to book, see here. If you’d like to book a place, contact Alan.