Ravished By Light (Blog)

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Upcoming Offerings with The Stillness Collective

It’s the new year and my partners and I at the Stillness Collective are celebrating with new online and in-person offerings! (We just had the honor of leading a guided Examen with Wellspring Church in Long Island City, as part of their Experience Rhythms Retreat for the new year.) Keep reading to see what interests you!

Discernment as a Way of Life: A Practical and Spiritual Approach to Decision Making

When life asks you to choose one road over another, do you find yourself plagued with doubt, fear, and immobility? At the Stillness Collective, we believe developing discernment is vital to a strong, healthy Christian experience. We have created a course that will guide each participant in practical and spiritual approaches to decision making in partnership with God.

Our next 4-week course meets on Monday nights and includes one individual spiritual direction session. When we offered this course last spring, we received extremely positive feedback as well as suggestions for improvement. We’ve taken this feedback and revamped the course to make it shorter and more accessible while keeping all the wisdom and practical helps that made it so invaluable to our first recipients. This class is fully online, so you can take it from anywhere!

Dates: February 13, 20. 27, March 6
Time: 7-9 pm
Location: Online (Zoom)

Would you like to learn more about our discernment course? Join us for an interest meeting on February 2nd at 12 noon.  Click here to register.  

The Ignatian Spiritual Exercises: A Ten-Week Journey

The Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola, are a time-tested pathway to deep spiritual formation, growing you in the love of God, understanding of your calling, and discernment of God’s presence and invitations in your life. I will be leading a 10-week Ignatian Exercises small group starting on March 9th, via Zoom. The group will meet weekly for a half hour to an hour, depending on group size.

Are you interested in learning more about the Spiritual Exercises? We have an info session on February 6th at 7pm. Click here to register. 

Or, if you would like to contact me directly about the Exercises, either in the 10-week or 9-month form please email me at cmyers.spiritualdirection@gmail.com.

Lenten Retreat: Remain in my Love

As you journey through Lent this year, what does it mean to you to believe in and remain in God’s love, to fully surrender to his unconditional love and embrace? 

As you follow God’s invitation to receive his transformational love, what hidden parts of you might he heal and release to the light? 

Join The Stillness Collective for a Lenten retreat featuring guided reflections on Scripture, live music, and time for meditating on the freely given grace of God’s love. 

When:  March 4th, 9:30am – 1pm 
Where: Coram Deo, Midtown Manhattan
Register: by February 19th with code EARLYBIRD for 10% off

As always, I would be honored to journey with you as your spiritual director. For a free exploratory conversation, please get in touch at cmyers.spiritualdirection@gmail.com.

In faith, hope, and love –

Carrie

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Live Contemplative Prayer + The Spiritual Exercises

Live Guided Meditation

Do you need to nourish your soul this summer? Join us at The Stillness Collective for a live guided meditation based on Scripture on Tuesday, July 26th, at 7pm. RSVP here to receive the Zoom link. This is a FREE event! David Buchs will be providing music and there will be an optional time of sharing after the meditation concludes.

The Ignatian Exercises: A Life-Changing Journey of Spiritual Formation

Also, I’m happy to report that I’ve completed my training in accompanying directees through the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises! Created by St. Ignatius of Loyola and used for centuries in the spiritual formation of Jesuit priests, the Spiritual Exercises take you on a 34-week life-changing journey through Scripture, prayer, God’s unfailing and creative love, and understanding how to recognize the work and calling of God in your life. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Exercises totally changed my relationship with God and prayer, even though I became a Christian at age 5. I became more peaceful and confident, less anxious, more compassionate, and more accepting. My trust and faith in God grew. I became a better parent and partner. And the changes didn’t stop when the Exercises were over. My encounter with God and the prayer and discernment practices I learned during those nine months continue to define and deepen my faith.

If you have a deep desire for more intimacy with God, are looking for greater peace and freedom in your life, want to explore your calling, or perhaps are finding that your old ways of reading the Bible and praying aren’t satisfying to you anymore, and have the time to invest in daily reading, prayer, and journaling, the Exercises might be for you. The Exercises usually launch sometime in September, so that the readings on Advent and Easter roughly line up with the church calendar. If this stirs something inside of you, I would love to be your director and guide through the Exercises! Please contact me at cmyers.spiritualdirection@gmail.com to find out more information and to discern next steps.

In faith, hope, and love,

Carrie

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A Meditation Flow Chart

I had the privilege last Friday of leading a meditation class and guided meditation via Zoom for about 50 employees at UBS, where a friend of mine has been organizing activities for AAPI month. I’m sharing this meditation flow chart I put together for anyone who is interested in how I sequenced a meditation class for a secular setting. This was a roughly 12 minute meditation, backed by the music “Dream 2” by David Buchs, which I played on a loop. (The slide template is from myfreeslides.)

For a Christian audience and with a time frame of 15-20 minutes, I might start with these same steps and proceed to some kind of contemplative prayer – a Lectio Divina, a reflection on Scripture, a breath prayer, an Examen, or simply a conversation with God. I would also frame the time of prayer by asking God to guide our time, and then thanking him for his presence.

During the discussion time after the guided meditation, most of the questions and comments I received came from people who had been struggling to meditate on their own and found it so much easier to be gently guided into a contemplative space. If that’s your experience, I encourage you to listen to this guided meditation on Romans 8 at The Stillness Collective and to subscribe to the website for information on upcoming releases.

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Discernment as a Way of Life: A New Course

Come join me and my partners in The Stillness Collective in a new course! It’s called “Discernment as a Way of Life: A Practical and Spiritual Approach to Decision-Making.” It launches Sunday, May 15th and will go for six weeks.

Why are we offering this course?

Because we’ve noticed lately that we know many people who are in the midst of big life-changes and discernment processes. They are seeking to make decisions with God, but don’t know how.

That’s where our course comes in. We’d like to introduce you to a well-loved book by Elizabeth Liebert called The Way of Discernment. It offers a time-tested, practical method of Christian discernment, based on the spirituality and practices of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

In our own lives, we’ve found it immensely comforting and empowering to have a method to follow rather than being left to muddle through with trial and error – or well-intentioned but not always helpful advice.

We also believe that Ignatian discernment doesn’t just help with decision making! It provides a framework for experiencing God in a deeper way in our day-to-day lives.

We want you to have these tools at your disposal, so that you, too, can grow in your experience of God and have a greater understanding of and confidence in his leading in your life.

I’m really excited about this course! Ignatian discernment is something I turn to over and over for wisdom and guidance. I hope you’ll join us and see what impact it could have on your life, too!

As always, thanks so much for being here and for your support. And please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have.

In faith, love, and hope –

Carrie

Course details: Sundays from May 15 – June 19 (six weeks), 7-9pm, via Zoom. For more information, including pricing, visit the course page at The Stillness Collective. Or, come join our information session on Thursday, May 5, at 7pm. Register here.

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Meditations for Thanksgiving

Exciting news! My partners and I at Soul Space are releasing not one, but FIVE guided Thanksgiving meditations for the month of November. One, like always, will be free. If you’re an email subscriber already, you’ll have already received it in your inbox. If you’re not a subscriber yet, you can become one at no cost simply by signing up on our website. The other four will be released a week at a time to those who sign up for our Patreon community.

This month, all of our releases are themed for Thanksgiving. Our free release, which you’ll receive as a link in your inbox as soon as you subscribe, is on Colossians 3:12-17. This recording will be yours to listen to whenever you choose on our website, or to download into your personal device.

If you get our emails already or head to our website, you’ll notice some changes. First, we’ve renamed and rebranded ourselves as The Stillness Collective. Our mission continues to be to help people create space for restoration, rest, and stillness in their busy lives. Our meditations are one part of that mission. Spiritual direction is another part. The last, new piece – coming soon! – will be retreats.

You can still find a free sample meditation – Romans 8:32-39 – on our website under the heading “Guided Meditations,” but our new monthly release will now be available only to those who are on our mailing list, rather than posted online. Again, our mailing list can be joined at no cost and you’ll receive a link to a new meditation every month, which you can listen to online or download.

The other four meditations are based on ancient Christian forms of contemplative prayer – that means they are tried and true and experienced by Christians all over the world and for many centuries. Every month, as a Patreon supporter of The Stillness Collective, you’ll receive one guided Ignatian prayer, one Lectio Divina, one Examen, and one breath prayer. These will also be available online and to download. (To read more about these four forms of prayer, visit this link. )

We would love for you to join our community of supporters by signing up for Patreon. We know there are lots of options for meditation and prayer out there, but we believe that our guided prayers have a few features that make them special. First, they are planned and written by three experienced Christian spiritual directors who are immersed in contemplative practices and also trained in helping people connect with God and get in touch with their deep longings and desires. Second, you have the option to pair the meditations with monthly spiritual direction (and soon, retreats!), which will support you as you seek to encounter God in your everyday experience. Third, our meditations are set to beautiful ambient music composed specifically to help people enter into contemplation. And finally, you will be able to download our meditations and keep them forever, even if you choose to end your subscription.

I hope you’ll take a look at our offerings! Listen to our free meditation on Romans, sign up for our one free monthly meditation, and visit our Patreon page. Through December, we’re offering a discount on our four-meditation monthly package, so now is a great time to join our community. Thanks so much for being a part of our journey!

Follow me on Instagram @ravishedbylight

The Stillness Collective Logo created by Tony Colon, Starlight Studio NYC

The Stillness Collective Website Design by Joy Lee, Fonder Studio

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New Meditation on SoulSpace: An Invitation For Restoration – 1 Peter 5:7-10

As the covid crisis drags on and on (thanks, Delta variant), I admit to feeling exhaustion and discouragement – and sometimes, when I think about near impossibility of achieving global herd immunity or about covid wards filled to overflowing again, something close to despair. Now that we know that vaccinated people can catch and transmit the super-contagious and seemingly deadlier Delta variant, I also worry more about my 10-year old, who is too young to be vaccinated herself. Like many others, we were just venturing out into “normal” summer activities, like the community pool, the water park, and summer camp, and are now having to reconsider. (We actually did pull her out of summer camp, after compliance to the “always wear masks” policy proved to be, shall we say, problematic.)

When I’m caught in worry and fatigue, I can find it difficult to engage with Scripture prayerfully, rather than just see words on the page. Ignatian prayer tools like the Sacred Space app, which I use regularly, offer questions and prompts that help get through my mind and body fog, opening me up to an encounter with Jesus through the Word.

Our new guided contemplation on 1 Peter 5:7-10, which you can find on our website at soulspace.center, does something similar. It asks you to reflect on Scripture line by line, thought by thought, in a way that both breaks down Scripture into manageable chunks and expands on it, with the background of David Buch’s gorgeous ambient music to help quiet and ground you in the Holy Spirit’s presence.

Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you . . . 
He will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.
1 Peter 5:7, 10

How has God met you in the past? How can reflecting on your story with God bring you hope for the future? How can you give your burdens to Jesus, now, in the present? What prayer and other spiritual practices might help sustain you through tough times?

Our contemplation invites you into these questions, always in the context of God’s compassionate love and care. Listen and come away strengthened and refreshed. Or listen just before bedtime and let the soothing music and God’s presence carry you off to a peaceful sleep!

Thanks so much for continuing to listen to our work! I hope it brings you to a place of stillness, intimacy, and peace in your Creator.

– Carrie

Soul Space Center reflections are created by Janine Rohrer (writing, vocals), David Buchs (composing, sound editing), and Carrie Myers (writing).

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New Contemplative Reflections on Psalm 16 and Philippians 4:6-9

My partners and I at Soul Space released a new reflection yesterday! Featuring Psalm 16, it invites us to make God the center of our hope and trust, to follow him in his way of life and joy, and to see the abundant ways he is already present in our lives. 

Last month, we also released a reflection on Philippians 4:6-8, a contemplation to help us cope with anxieties and fear by following the Apostle Paul’s RX for peace: gratitude, prayer, and focusing our thoughts on all that is good and comes from God. 

In the meantime, we are also planning more reflections for the fall! Starting in November, we are hoping to release a series of 5 meditations per month. One will continue to be free, and the other four will be behind a paywall of some sort – we’re still working out the details. Our first series will be in November, on Gratitude (of course!), and in December, an Advent series entitled, “Opening Ourselves Up . . . to God’s Holy Disturbance.” Each month will include four different types of prayer based on the month’s theme: an Ignatian imaginative prayer, a Daily Examen, a breath prayer, and a Lectio Divina. 

We’ve gotten some really great feedback on what we’ve done so far, so thank you to all who have listened, responded, and shared with your friends and family! All of us have had our lives and relationships with God changed by contemplative practices (and by spiritual direction) and are passionate about bringing them to as many people as possible. – Carrie

Find me on Instagram @ravishedbylight

Find SoulSpace on Instagram @soulspacecenter

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An Invitation to Rest (New Guided Reflection On Isaiah 43)

It’s been a while since I updated, but my partners and I at Soul Space have continued to release at least a recording a month. If you haven’t checked our site lately, this is good news for you! You’ll find a Daily Examen as well as a guided imaginative meditation on Matthew 11:28-29 that invites you to bring your burdens to Jesus and exchange them for his rest. This month, our new reflection takes you through Isaiah 43:1-4, a beautiful and mysterious passage in which God promises his people that neither fire nor flood will harm them nor separate them from his love and promises. (I could be wrong, but I think I remember one of the characters in one of my favorite childhood books, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, by Madeline L’Engle, quoting this verse to someone he loves.)

As always, I hope our meditations will help you experience the peace and presence of the Holy Spirit within you, calming your fears, building your faith and trust, and growing you in inner freedom and joy.

Find me on Instagram at @ravishedbylight and @soulspacecenter

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A Meditation for Advent

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light.
For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine. 
Isaiah 9:2     

This year, these words from Isaiah seem more resonant than ever. 2020 has been – and continues to be – in some ways darker than imaginable. With the first vaccines being administered, a glimmer of light is beginning to make its way through, but we almost certainly still have long months of fear, loss, and isolation to go.

At Christmas, we celebrate the arrival of Jesus, the Light of the World, the one who brings us hope and salvation, but we also acknowledge the loss and the brokenness he came to redeem. What has your experience of the darkness been this year? Where has God been present to you in suffering and mourning, and who has he been to you?

I invite you to listen to this meditation from the spiritual directors at Soul Space on Isaiah 9:2-7.  Let Scripture, music, and the Holy Spirit move you to reflect on the character of God and what it means to hope in God in the midst of a season of darkness and waiting.  

May you have a blessed Advent season and may the light of Christ fill your heart and sustain you with life, peace, and love.

Visit the Soul Space website here: soulspace.center.

Find me on Instagram @ravishedbylight and on @soulspacecenter

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A Meditation for Thanksgiving (plus a bonus!)

This meditation, written and narrated by Janine Rohrer and with music by David Buchs, my partners at Soul Space, might be just what you need for the holidays. It invites you to reflect on God’s faithfulness even in times of struggle, sorrow, and loss and to offer praise – not out of ignorance or forced cheerfulness, but out of a deep encounter with God’s care and love. I hope it will help you find strength and peace as you celebrate Thanksgiving this year.

There’s also another new meditation up on soulspace.center! (Scroll down to see it.) This one is a guided Daily Examen. This prayer practice developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola creates a rhythm of looking back at each day with God, to find where he was present, where we were present to him, and where we might have lost sight of him and his desires for us. Practiced regularly, the Examen builds awareness of God’s continual abiding with us no matter what our external circumstances and grows us in love, joy, patience, and all the fruits of the Spirit. I encourage you to commit to praying the Examen at least a few times a week – the perspective and immersion in God’s presence it offers is a much-needed gift in these uncertain days. (For those with little people, here’s an earlier post I wrote on doing the Examen with kids, along with a review of a book that can help.)

May your Thanksgiving be blessed with love, health, the warmth of friends and family (even if it’s through a Zoom screen!), and, above all, the grace and fellowship of the Lord.

Find me on Instagram @ravishedbylight and @soulspace.center.