Ongoing Weekly Online Programs: Guided/Group Companioning
Mondays 9:30 – 10:30 PST ( contact annmcglone@me.com )
Tuesdays 12:00 – 1:00 pm PST www.stillpointca.org
Wednesdays 9:30 – 10:30 PST ( contact annmcglone@me.com)
BSF Connect (Monthly – Open to those with Level I experience) Online – Third Monday of each Month – 10AM – 12PM Central Time – This informal offering provides a time for deepening understanding of biospiritual focusing with others through embodied practice, sharing, questions, and discussion.
Zoom link available through the monthly newsletter/email. Email bsfconnect20@gmail.com to be placed on the mailing list
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Online Program: Partnering for Focusing ( Level II )
Dates: Tuesdays – October 3, 2023, January 9, 2024, April 30, 2024, and August 13, 2024
Time: 1pm-3pm CST
Offered by: St. Benedict Center, 1126 Road I, PO Box 528, Schuyler, NE 68661-0528
Appreciation for the gift of Biospiritual focusing comes with the experience of regular practice —- and that happens most surely with a regular partner. If you are looking for a partner or have one but would like to learn more about how to companion one another, consider joining us for Partnering for Focusing. This Level II program is for those who have had a basic introduction to focusing and seek to grow in this practice with a partner.
Session One will offer the opportunity to find a partner as well as to learn more about companioning. The remaining sessions will include further companioning tips and sharing. Those who already have a partner are most welcome as a way of deepening their companioning practice. Partners will be invited to arrange 4-6 focusing sessions between quarterly meetings.
Prerequsite: Basic understanding of BioSpiritual Focusing through Level I program or other study.
Cost: $ 100.00
To register click here
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Online: Rediscovering the Lost Body Connection within Christian Spirituality – An Experiential Book Study– ( Level II )
Offered by: St. Benedict Center, 1123 Road I, Schuyler, NE 68661 402.352.2177
Dates: 8 Zoom sessions (on Sunday afternoons Aug, 4, Aug 20, Sep 10, Sep 24, Oct 8, Oct 22, Nov 5, Nov 17 – 2PM-4PM CST)
BioSpiritual Focusing enables us to find doorways into transformation in our relationship with God, self, and others – a growing sense of connectedness within the Whole Christ where we know ourselves gifted. While the practice begins simply with developing the gentle habit of noticing and nurturing important feelings, this experiential book study will offer an ever-deepening engagement and bring new understanding. Basic familiarity with BioSpiritual Focusing is expected. This is a Level II Program best suited for those with a basic familiarity with BioSpiritual Focusing who seek to deepen their understanding and practice.
Instructors: Debbie Sheehan & Sally Carlson
Cost: $ 240.00
Registration
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Online: A BioSpiritual Focusing Approach to Supervision for Spiritual Direction
Offered by: The Spiritual Life Center, 76 Sherman St. Hartford, CT 413-330-7878
Dates: 2nd Tuesday of each month, 6:30pm to 8:00pm, beginning September 10, 2024.
Using BioSpiritual Focusing during spiritual companionship can open the door to new insights and deep noticings of the movement of the Spirit. Using it in the context of peer supervision can be equally powerful. If you are familiar with BioSpiritual Focus and would like to hone your skills within the supportive peer supervision circle, please join facilitators Nancy Benben and Mike Smoolca
Donation: $ 30.00
Registration: Spiritual Life Center
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Online: Spiritual Growth and Healing with BioSpiritual Focusing
Dates: September 17, 24, October 1, 8, 2024 6:30pm-8:30 pm
Offered by: The Spiritual Life Center, 76 Sherman St. Hartford, CT 413-330-7878
In this 4-part series, BioSpiritual Focusing teachers Nancy Benben and Mike Smoolca will once again introduce the basic concepts of BioSpiritual Focusing and how it complements other contemplative practices. We will give participants tools and techniques to use Bio Spiritual Focusing in discernment, inner healing, and spiritual growth. Specific Topics will include:
- Psychological and spiritual foundations of BioSpiritual Focusing
- “Clearing of the Space” – opening your inner world
- Noticing a “felt- sense” and ” felt-shifts”
- Working with your inner critics
- Using BioSpiritual Focusing for discernment and deeper insight
Cost: Two tiers: $75 or $50
Register: The Spiritual Life Center
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OnSite:BioSpiritual Focusing: Multi-Day Silent Retreat (Level II)
Offered by: St. Benedict Center, 1123 Road I, Schuyler, NE 68661 402.352.2177
Date: Sun, Sept 22, 2024 – 6:00 PM — Fri, Sept 27, 2024 – 1:00 PM CST
Come to the quiet . . .where noticing and receiving with openness all that is most real within can lead to greater freedom and transformation. Bless yourself with a few days to simply be present and receive insight, healing, sense of connection or whatever is most needed now. Allow yourself to be gifted by God as you open yourself to the Great Love that holds and graces all.
This retreat will feature a morning gathering each day with an emphasis on deepening your understanding of biospiritual focusing as well as an opportunity for one-on-one spiritual direction each afternoon. The remainder of our time will be in silence — a spacious, open time of attention and connection with God, self and others. The retreat directors will be Debbie Sheehan, Jane King, Margie Walker, & Marisa Gilbert who are experienced spiritual directors and retreat leaders well practiced in biospiritual focusing.
Cost: $698.55 (Single)
Registration:
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OnSite: BioSpiritual Focusing: Day of Presence
Date: October 26, 2024 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Where: Genesis Spiritual Life Center, 53 Mill Street, Westfield, MA 01085
This workshop is an overview and introduction to the history and practice of BioSpiritual Focusing. Through prayer, presentations, experiential exercises, reflection, and discussion, you will become more aware of your own sacred story and the movement of God in your life. You will deepen your connection to the One, “in whom we live and move and have our being.” No prior experience with Focusing is needed.
This workshop is a prerequisite for other BioSpiritual Focusing programs.
Cost: $85.00
Register: Genesis Spiritual Life Center
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Online: Beyond the Myth of Dominance Book Study
Offered by: Center for Spiritual Development
Dates: Wednesdays: October 23-December 11, 2024
Join us for an energizing discussion about this powerful book by Edwin M. McMahon, one of the founders of BioSpiritual Focusing. The topic of this book seems especially relevant in the times we are currently experiencing. This program will focus on discussing two chapters a week beginning on October 23, 2024 and continuing every Wednesday through December11, 2024. This will be a peer gathering and will not involve any presentations – it is about cultivating and sharing your own experience of this wonderful text. Deacon Joe Marino will organize participants into groups for sharing.
Cost: $20.00
Register: CALL (714) 744-3172 or visit THECSD.ORG
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2025
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Online: Praying With the Whole Self Level I
Date: January 10, 2025 – 7-9PM & January 11, 9AM-12PM
“God looked at everything he had made and found it very good” (Gen 1:31). BioSpiritual Focusing is a way of opening the whole of ourselves—mind, body, and spirit—to a deeper connectedness with God, others, and self. Join us to learn more about how gently being with what is present within your embodied self can open the door to a deeper story—and to a greater sense of wholeness. This practice is simple yet profound. It can be helpful for anyone—young child to senior. It requires no more than showing up and a willingness to engage contemplatively with what is going on within. And the potential for transformation and growth unfolds in the process.
Presenters: Jane King & Debbie Sheehan
Register
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OnSite and Online: The Body’s Bridge to the experience of Living in God – Exploring BioSpiritual Focusing in Context of BioSpirituality
Where: Holy Family Monastery, 300 Tunxis Rd., W. Hartford, CT
Date: January 25, 2025 8:30 am-4:30 pm
Two Jesuits, Fr. Edwin McMahon and Fr. Peter Campbell, incorporated the embodied practice of Focusing into the larger context of BioSpirituality. Their work opens us to know ourselves as living within the greater Whole, the Body of Christ. During this day, we’ll experience BioSpiritual Focusing and explore, among other things, the embodied experience of grace and becoming a living expression of love. We’ll learn to reconnect to ourselves, one another, and to God, the Reality in whom we live and move and have our being. This program will be offered both in-person and online via Zoom. Information on how to access the program on Zoom will be sent to participants in advance.
This program will include a morning and an afternoon session of Centering Prayer.
Offering: $75, includes lunch
Register: Holy Family Monastery
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On Site: BioSpiritual Focusing Book Study and Practicum
Where: Genesis Spiritual Life Center, 53 Mill Street, Westfield, MA 01085
Dates: This program will meet weekly via zoom from 6:30pm-8:30pm beginning on Wednesday, February 19, 2025 and concluding on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. The sessions will be recorded and distributed after each meeting.
In this ten-week in-depth study and practicum, we will explore the practice of BioSpiritual Focusing, based on the book written by Fr. Peter A. Campbell, Ph.D. and Fr. Edwin M. McMahon, Ph.D, entitled, Rediscovering the Lost Body-Connection Within Christian Spirituality, available at the Genesis Book Store. Each evening will entail group discussion on the topics of specific chapters, followed by actual focusing sessions led by experienced facilitators. Over the course of this study, you will become more aware of the sacred story you carry in your own body and the movement of grace in your life.
Prerequisite: Basic familiarity with BioSpiritual Focusing is necessary and prior participation in a BioSpiritual Focusing: Day of Presence or multi-day BioSpiritual Focusing Retreat is recommended. You will also need to have a copy of Rediscovering the Lost Body-Connection within Christian Spirituality.
This program will be facilitated by Donna O’Connor and Mike Smoolca.
Cost: $200.00
Register: Genesis
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OnSite: Praying With the Whole Self (Level I)
Offered by: St. Benedict Center, 1123 Road I, Schuyler, NE 68661 402.352.2177
Date: March 1, 2025 – 10AM-4 PM
“God looked at everything he had made and found it very good” (Gen 1:31). BioSpiritual Focusing is a way of opening the whole of ourselves—mind, body, and spirit—to a deeper connectedness with God, others, and self. Join us to learn more about how gently being with what is present within your embodied self can open the door to a deeper story—and to a greater sense of wholeness. This practice is simple yet profound. It can be helpful for anyone—young child to senior. It requires no more than showing up and a willingness to engage contemplatively with what is going on within. And the potential for transformation and growth unfolds in the process.
Journeying Further (St. Benedict Center) Level II – Jane & Debbie
March 22-23, 2025
This weekend retreat is for those who have already had a basic introduction to BioSpiritual Focusing and seek to better understand how to be open to a more profound connection with God, self, and others. Deepening this gentle, embodied practice holds the potential for greater awareness and transformation. If you have experienced this practice, you are aware that, while it is simple, it is grace-filled. Join us to learn more. Our time will include presentations, partnered focusing as well as prayer and reflection.