5-Day Silent Retreat with Cynthia Bourgeault and David Frenette

***Due to an overwhelming interest in this retreat, we are currently sold out of rooms on site. If you have added your name to the waitlist, we will be in touch in the event a room opens up!***

If you register as a Commuter, here is a document containing local accommodations that you may find helpful.

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A Rising Tide of Oneness
Unity Consciousness for a World in Bits and Pieces

Led by Cynthia Bourgeault and David Frenette

March 7-12, 2025

In this 5-day silent retreat, Cynthia will be teaching from her newly published book, Thomas Keating: The Making of a Modern Christian Mystic, in a deep dive into Thomas Keating’s final visionary insights on Christian nonduality and planetary Oneness. Joining her will be longtime Centering Prayer colleague David Frenette, bringing his own complementary insights into Unity Consciousness and contemplative service.

The retreat will follow a modified Centering Prayer Intensive format, with three daily hour-long sitting periods, morning and afternoon teaching, individual silence, embodiment practice. While the teaching will be based on Centering Prayer, experienced meditators on all spiritual pathways are warmly welcome.

The retreat will flow directly out of a day-long symposium on the same subject, featuring a rich gathering of Thomas’s longtime Centering Prayer students, interSpiritual colleagues, contemplative artists and activists, family members, and a strong cohort of younger contemplative voices. The closing event of the symposium, overlapping the opening event of the retreat, will be a canonical performance of Thomas’s final poetic teaching, The Secret Embrace, led by Thomas’s nephew Peter C. Jones.

SCHOLARSHIPS

There are a limited number of partial scholarships available for BIPOC or young adults wishing to attend this event. Please visit us here for more information, and to apply. Please do not sign up for the retreat if you have submitted an application. Please wait to hear from us. For questions, please contact us at: scholarships@garrisoninstitute.org.

TEACHERS

The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Bourgeault is an Episcopal priest and writer. She has been a long-time advocate of the meditative practice of Centering Prayer and has worked closely with fellow teachers and colleagues including Thomas Keating, Bruno Barnhart, and Richard Rohr. Bourgeault has actively participated in numerous inter-spiritual dialogues and events with luminaries and leaders such as A.H. Almaas, Kabir Helminski, Swami Atmarupananda, and Rami Shapiro. Bourgeault is a member of the GPIW (Global Peace Initiative for Women) Contemplative Council and recipient of the 2014 Contemplative Voices award from Shalem Institute. She is a founding Director of both The Contemplative Society and the Aspen Wisdom School. She is also the author of many books, including The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three, The Meaning of Mary Magdalene, The Wisdom Jesus, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, Mystical Hope, and others. For more information on Cynthia Bourgeault’s work, please visit her website.

David Frenette is author of The Path of Centering Prayer: Deepening Your Experience of God (Sounds True; 2012), a teacher of contemplative meditation, and a spiritual director/transpersonal counselor (now retired). He studied and worked with Father Thomas Keating for 35 years, and co-led a Christian contemplative retreat community under Fr. Keating’s guidance, where he lived monastically for 10 years. David has led Centering Prayer retreats at leading venues across the country, including 6 years at the Garrison Institute. His primary work is in developing spiritual and religious resources for contemplative practitioners, and supporting a unitive approach to meditation that includes body, mind, heart and spirit. David lives with his wife Donna in the Pacific Northwest, where he enjoys hiking in old growth forests, sampling Portland’s gluten-free food carts, listening to Beethoven, and meditating in his backyard studio shed.

COVID-19

The health and safety of our guests and staff is a top priority for the Garrison Institute. To attend a retreat or event all guests, teachers, and staff are required to self-test (at home antigen test is acceptable) within the 48-hour window prior to arriving for a retreat on site, and to bring a 2nd self-test kit when coming on site. We encourage everyone to self-monitor for symptoms of COVID-19 and other illnesses before your visit. If you experience symptoms or have a positive diagnosis, please notify us immediately at events@garrisoninstitute.org We will continue to follow any COVID-19 guidelines set forth by our local officials, New York State and the CDC.