Llysfasi Spirituality Workshop
St Denys Retreat Centre, Ivy House, Warminster
Monthly weekends January to July 2012
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP
The Workshop is based principally on the dynamics of the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola. The initial weekends are given to an experiential journey through the major life themes of the Exercises. The later weekends are given to two weekends of silent retreats in which participants companion another member of the Workshop. During the retreats there are seminars on the art and practice of accompanying as well as one-to-one supervision with a team member.
The advantage of the Workshop being over a period of seven weekends is that it is a time commitment that is more manageable for some people and that there is time between each weekend to reflect on and integrate the process. This mirrors the process of a ‘retreat in daily life’.
The whole Workshop process includes:–
- Times for prayer and personal reflection.
- Times of contemplative listening to each other in small groups.
- A time of accompanying another on a weekend retreat with supervision.
- Sessions during which the team share something of their experience in relation to a contemporary understanding of the Spiritual Exercises as a pattern of our own soul journey and a help in accompanying others.
- The opportunity throughout the Workshop to engage with a variety of resources which can expand and deepen our relationship with God: e.g. Art, music, poetry, story and dreams, as well as the riches unearthed in Scripture.
- We are mindful that some psychological insights, particularly Jungian, can be helpful in giving a contemporary understanding to the Spiritual Exercises.