Cultivating Joy. Becoming Community.
Be Still
A space to slow down, practice stillness, rest, and simply be. A quiet place to engage in the practice of recognizing and listening to that voice that knows you and knows the way but too often struggles to be heard and heeded through the noise of daily life. This is a place to experience and engage in contemplative, restful, and restorative practices such as private or guided meditation, reading, journaling, breathing exercises, yoga, or simply lying on a comfy sofa with a blanket and your thoughts.
To Be Still Is…
We are immersed daily in noise, both literal and figurative. Our world is filled with a constant barrage of messages telling us to do more and go faster. We are constantly told of our need to “save time” and be more efficient. Yet, when we find a way to eat faster or get more done in an hour, rather than reclaiming that time for deeply needed restoration or reflection, we fill every newfound minute with more “to dos.” Or others find a way to fill it for us. This room is a sacred space curated to help us rediscover the joy and value of quiet stillness in a world that is anything but.
Our teachers, employers, physicians, counselors, and clergy may speak of the importance of listening to others, to God, to our bodies, to our needs, but we’re given little or no space or support to do so. Being busy is a badge of honor and stillness has seemingly become one of the Seven Deadly Sins preventing you from being a “productive member of society.” The very fact that we are told we must be productive to be valued in society tells us where our societal priorities truly lie. After all, being productive is defined as “producing or able to produce large amounts of goods, crops, or other commodities.” Yet, we are human beings, not manufacturing plants or assembly lines. We need rest and quiet still spaces to breathe deeply and listen intently, so we can begin to know what needs to be picked up and what needs to be left behind when we begin moving again.
This room is about giving your soul the time and space it needs to breathe and the rejuvenating air you need to live more intentionally, authentically, and joyfully. In this space, we will explore practices that help us access what it feels like to put down the burdens that weigh on us, even temporarily, and the value of making regular space for it in our lives. There are endless ways to practice stillness, and not every practice is for everyone. This room will offer the opportunity to explore numerous forms in structured sessions, as well as providing the space and perhaps the affirmation and inspiration you need to practice what works for you individually.
Whether you are seeking opportunities to learn and practice things such as restorative breathing and stretching, guided meditation and contemplative prayer with others, or simply a quiet place to practice them on your own, read, or journal, this room is intended to ensure that you can count on at least one sacred space being held for stillness in a world that seems intent on pulling you away from it. What each of you takes away from your time in this room will be different and deeply personal. However, experiencing it in a curated space and in communion with others lightens the work of letting go of what’s not ours to carry and discerning what we need to take with us on our daily journey.
If you enter no other room in the House let it be this one. Being still is an intentional practice of presence. Being present is the essential element that nourishes all we are and will become. For this presence is the fertile ground that all other practices and experience are rooted in and that we need to sustain and allow them to flourish.
“We must empty ourselves of everything that fills us so that we can be filled with what we are empty of.” – Augustine