April 26 - 28, 2019 Spring Retreat
Listening and Living with the Sacred revealed through the Natural World and the Seasons
A Retreat with Amy Hyatt
Before the many Sacred Books that guide a variety of spiritual traditions, humans experienced their relationship with the Sacred through the Natural World and our own Bodies. To this day, there are lineages in most spiritual traditions that still encourage followers to seek guidance through direct relationship with Natural World. At the same time, many have forgotten how it is to be in relationship with the Natural World insulated by the human built environments of our buildings, our cities/towns, our technology and our ability to ship foods and material goods from almost anywhere in the world, almost any time!
During this Spring Guild Retreat, Amy will lead us together through a series of practices and explorations that can help us in listening to the Sacred through the Natural World on a daily basis. She will also share insights and stories from various lineages about the physical and spiritual benefits that can emerge through attuning ourselves to the Seasons of the place where we live. She will also suggest how all of this can inform our practices as spiritual guides for others.
In 1991, Amy Hyatt met a teacher (visiting Artist in Residence in a university program) and role model who reconnected her with the Natural World and who role modeled for her how to listen to the Sacred in the Natural World. This person, Kaylynn Sullivan TwoTrees, challenged her to find this lineage of Listening to and Living with the Land and the Sacred in her own Ancestral lineage. From that time, Amy has been backtracking her ancestral lineage AND developing her relationship and capacity to live guided by the Sacred revealed through the Natural World. (She is a human being stumbling and learning, not enlightened! Please don’t place her or TwoTrees on a pedestal!!).
Since 2001, Amy has been working at Vermont Wilderness School and within an international movement seeking to Rebuild Nature-connected Communities through Mentoring and Deep Nature Connection. Within the network of communities and schools who use a methodology called “Coyote Mentoring,” Amy is an internationally recognized and sought-after facilitator, coach and mentor. Amy weaves together several influences and teachers in her facilitation. Her role models, teachers and mentors include her family growing up in UCC church in Ohio, TwoTrees, Mark Morey and the Vermont Wilderness School learning community, the Guild for Spiritual Guidance, Thea Elijah & Perennial Medicine, and her Aikido community of practice…AND most of all – the Great Miami River Valley of southern Ohio where she was born, the West River & Green River Watershed in southeastern Vermont, and Orchard Cove along Lake Champlain… and the Life Source of All.
Over the last 10 years, Amy has shared with several Guild Apprenticeships a popular 2-hour session called “Listening to God through Nature”. She shared a version of the 2-hour session at a Graduate Guild Retreat in Spring 2008 as part of a Joan Deiters Autumn Guild Retreat. She also facilitated the community building portions of the 35th Anniversary Guild Retreat in Spring 2014. With popular reviews for all these experiences, Amy is returning to offer a full weekend!
During this Spring Guild Retreat, Amy will lead us together through a series of practices and explorations that can help us in listening to the Sacred through the Natural World on a daily basis. She will also share insights and stories from various lineages about the physical and spiritual benefits that can emerge through attuning ourselves to the Seasons of the place where we live. She will also suggest how all of this can inform our practices as spiritual guides for others.
In 1991, Amy Hyatt met a teacher (visiting Artist in Residence in a university program) and role model who reconnected her with the Natural World and who role modeled for her how to listen to the Sacred in the Natural World. This person, Kaylynn Sullivan TwoTrees, challenged her to find this lineage of Listening to and Living with the Land and the Sacred in her own Ancestral lineage. From that time, Amy has been backtracking her ancestral lineage AND developing her relationship and capacity to live guided by the Sacred revealed through the Natural World. (She is a human being stumbling and learning, not enlightened! Please don’t place her or TwoTrees on a pedestal!!).
Since 2001, Amy has been working at Vermont Wilderness School and within an international movement seeking to Rebuild Nature-connected Communities through Mentoring and Deep Nature Connection. Within the network of communities and schools who use a methodology called “Coyote Mentoring,” Amy is an internationally recognized and sought-after facilitator, coach and mentor. Amy weaves together several influences and teachers in her facilitation. Her role models, teachers and mentors include her family growing up in UCC church in Ohio, TwoTrees, Mark Morey and the Vermont Wilderness School learning community, the Guild for Spiritual Guidance, Thea Elijah & Perennial Medicine, and her Aikido community of practice…AND most of all – the Great Miami River Valley of southern Ohio where she was born, the West River & Green River Watershed in southeastern Vermont, and Orchard Cove along Lake Champlain… and the Life Source of All.
Over the last 10 years, Amy has shared with several Guild Apprenticeships a popular 2-hour session called “Listening to God through Nature”. She shared a version of the 2-hour session at a Graduate Guild Retreat in Spring 2008 as part of a Joan Deiters Autumn Guild Retreat. She also facilitated the community building portions of the 35th Anniversary Guild Retreat in Spring 2014. With popular reviews for all these experiences, Amy is returning to offer a full weekend!
The Graduate Guild
The Graduate program of the Guild for Spiritual Guidance is open to all who have completed the two year Apprenticeship Program (AP). The Guild founders believed that the process of learning to listen spiritually and to respond to all life in a sacred manner was an on-going journey, and conceived of the Graduate Program as a way to encourage graduates to continue engaging in an intentional process of commitment to the spiritual life journey. The Graduate Guild empowers members to deepen their engagement with the wisdom and practices which were introduced during their AP experience.
Twice a year, Graduate members are invited to gather for a weekend retreat – a time away designed to offer space for quiet and contemplation, as well as ongoing education, and the opportunity to gather with those who share a common commitment to the journey. The weekend themes rotate between the four strands and continue to nourish the on-going development of how we are called to listen spiritually and to respond with sacred intent.
Twice a year, Graduate members are invited to gather for a weekend retreat – a time away designed to offer space for quiet and contemplation, as well as ongoing education, and the opportunity to gather with those who share a common commitment to the journey. The weekend themes rotate between the four strands and continue to nourish the on-going development of how we are called to listen spiritually and to respond with sacred intent.
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We get ready for group pictures very efficiently.
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The Graduate Program also maintains a Prayer Team that offers on-going prayer support for all of its members, and encourages small regional gatherings of those who live in close geographical proximity.
Notably, as a community, the Graduate Guild empowers our members to integrate their spirituality within their current professional work, local community, spirituality and/or place of worship. Members are affirmed for their gifts of presence and compassionate listening, and are encouraged to embark on ministries in the art of spiritual guidance and companioning. Our members serve, professionally, as community activists; therapists, pastoral counselors; social workers; medical professionals; educators; business executives and consultants; non-profit executives and administrators; artists; body-oriented therapists/teachers; teachers of diverse kinds; clergy, pastors and religious leaders; spiritual directors; and, more. Membership in the Guild is understood to involve a commitment to a sustained discipline in the life of the Spirit, including a lifelong pursuit of the inward journey and concerned response through sacred action in the world. |
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Wisdom traditions continue to examine their beliefs in light of profound shifts in consciousness. Committed to exploring the edges of Mystery, the founders of our Guild – among them, John Yungblut, Henri Nouwen, Madeline L’Engle, Walter Wink, Morton Kelsey, Douglas Steere, and Nan Merrill – were at the forefront of the spiritual awakening emerging in the midst of their time. As seekers and spiritual leaders, the Graduate Guild continues to be deeply committed to this process and to our response/ability to contribute a voice to this ongoing movement. |
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