In the UK we are blessed with so many beautiful places where we can can go and gaze, and wonder, and connect with something much bigger than ourselves and our own existence.Places where generations before us have done the same thing, and where the sense of them pervades. And where that makes it somehow easier to lose ourselves into the infinite.
Losing ourselves in the infinite
And this is possible whether or not we have a religious belief.
All that is required is a humble acceptance that our science and our rationality are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what it means to know and understand. And to hold a hope for the future. A hope that the potential of what is out there is greater than our petty squabbles, self-interest and parochial concerns. And that there is still a way for it to win through.
Regaining perspective
The connection we seek helps us to regain a sense of perspective. It lifts us out of our own role in the squabbles, concerns and self-interest. It recalibrates us to a desire to play our small part in an emerging future of hope, of betterment, of potential. And it soaks away our anxieties, and replaces them with goodwill. It makes us, for a moment at least, better people. People of the promise.
our part in an emerging future of hope
For some of us that promise is in the person of Jesus. For others it is in Allah, or Yahweh, or Krishna or Buddha. Others find their spirituality in humanity. Or in tradition, beauty, nature, the cosmos, other dimensions, or of things unseen that our science has yet to detect. Or it may be in an, as yet, undefined mixture of these things. One that maybe has yet to resolve itself or reveal itself to us.
spirituality is not religiosity
Each of these things represent a spirituality. A recognition that there is something bigger and more important than ourselves. And a willingness to sacrifice (at least a part of) ourselves and our own egos to serve that.We experience it in things we cannot easily explain or rationalise away. For example, a connection between the mental, physical and emotional that threatens to overwhelm us and at the same time elevate us.
As a Christian in consultancy, I have been blessed to be able to do this regularly as part of a group that meets in monasteries around the country. Beautiful buildings, in beautiful settings, steeped in centuries of prayer as our antecedents sought the same connections that we are now making.
Features of successful retreats
Key features of the success of these retreats have been:
- Fellow travellers whom I know are authentic in their own search and vulnerability. And whom I can therefore trust with mine
- Visual and audio components which seem to tap into places below my conscious. And which trigger emotions and insights that are of the connection I seek
- Time and space to be myself. And the opportunity to be by myself even when I am in a space with others
- Opportunity and joy at being able to be a small part of the journey of those around me. And for those parts to become steps in my own journey
But lockdown has brought with it a new challenge. How do we do this when we cannot meet in spiritual locations?
Spirituality is not a place
Fortunately, what we seek to connect with does not actually need buildings, or vistas, or special places. It is us ‘human beings’ that appear to need those things to break through our patterns. To challenge the norms that harness our thinking and our vision into everyday usefulness. And through this, to release our thoughts from their unseen boundaries.
Last week marked an experiment of seeking to run an online spiritual retreat using virtual tools.
Tools for a online spiritual retreat
I have written this post to share, in practical terms, how we sought to recreate a retreat in the virtual space. Thereby allowing each of us to come together on retreat from our own homes. I am sharing this in the hope that it may form a basis to develop and implement your own online spiritual retreat. And that you also might share your ideas, and we can learn from each other in this way.
Our Online Spiritual Retreat utilised three conferencing tools in parallel to create the spaces we need:
Zoom supports the human interaction
We are utilising Zoom as the means to see each other, even when we are quiet, so that we can feel part of a shared journey. Part of this is the emotional connection and communication that takes place through our faces and our eyes.And part of this is our belief that our own humanity and who we are as people is something to be celebrated and given a place of honour. We are all made in the image of God, and we see God in and through each other. Zoom also supports the spoken components of our retreat. Through this, we share our stories and our struggles both in small groups and in open forum. The openness of our expressions and the timbre of our voices help to build the trust we need.
Conceptboard supports the stepping stones to spiritual interaction
We are utilising Conceptboard as the means to hold and structure the visual and audio components of our online spiritual retreat. Its infinite space enables us to lay out vast areas. And to use these areas to connect images and pieces of music. Things which have been used by God in the journey of individual retreatants. And which carry meaning and potential to do the same for others on the retreat.
Conceptboard allows us to zoom right in and see these at full resolution. It also allows individuals to play the music that has been embedded into the landscape. Conceptboard also allows us to quietly and non-intrusively offer pictures, and thoughts and scriptures to each other. Particularly where we feel we have been given them for someone else. This is an important, supernatural, part of our retreats – when God says something to someone that only He could know.
Whatsapp supports a back-channel of communication
We are utilising Whatsapp both for communication and sharing leading up to the retreat.
And for the option for people to physically ‘walk together’ (should they wish) in pairs and small groups, even when they are hundreds of miles apart.
The spine of the structure of the Retreat is laid out in Conceptboard. In this way the agenda – shown on the right – can be hyperlinked to the various sessions and spaces of the retreat, enabling people to quickly navigate from one to the other.Technology is only an enabler to the extent that it facilitates connection and avoids being a distraction, so it is important to keep things as simple and as intuitive as you can. It is also a really good idea to have a familiarisation session with people before the retreat in order to disconnect the retreat from any technical learning as far as possible.
Gathering for online spiritual retreat
Gathering for online spiritual retreatWe initially meet around a large central circle space as illustrated on the right. This echoes the meeting circle we use in physical retreats. It provides us with the opportunity to check in, share with each other, and reflect together on the theme that we have been given for the retreat.
Around the central space are the pictures of all of the retreatants. And behind each of their pictures is a larger space which reflects an image they have individually selected because it is is spiritually important to them in some way at this point in time.
Using these pictures personalises the space. The space can be used to place notes for the retreatant – either words that have been given for them, or encouragements, or pictures that were brought to mind during the sharing. (Notes can also be added using private chat in Zoom – whichever is preferred by the individual).Emerging spiritual themes
The central space can be used to capture and group any common themes that seem to be emerging for people on the current stage of their journey, and which may have something to say to all of us. This gives us a chance to see patterns in what is happening, and to seek to understand how we can engage with that.From this, each of us has the opportunity to make personal choices or observations about what it might mean for us individually. For some of us that might be affirmation, or opportunity, or comfort, or just a sense of being loved.
Eating together
Lunch time is an open affair. We have set up ‘Tables’ as breakout rooms in Zoom. And all retreatants have been made co-hosts so that they can move between tables at will. In this way, we are metaphorically breaking bread (eating) together, catching up on old relationships, and making new ones. Any table is set to seat six people to ensure the conversation is fairly easy. People keep an eye out to make sure no-one is sat on their own.
It is important to note that all of this is ‘offered’ to the retreatants. It is available as they choose to use it, as much or little as they wish. They can drop in and out as they feel drawn to do. Each participant chooses what they feel will be most helpful to them on this phase of their individual journey.
Spirituality is a personal choice
This is especially true of the period immediately after lunch. This time has been traditionally left open for people to walk in the grounds, individually or in small groups. Or to spend time on their own in a comfortable chair, or in the Abbey.
Personal (free) time
To recreate these options on our online spiritual retreat, we have set up everyone on Whatsapp so that they can literally take a walk in their own neighbourhoods, but talking in small groups as they go (groups that probably got formed over lunch). And we have created a virtual walk in Conceptboard as shown on the right.The virtual walk has been formed from high-res images that retreatants submitted. These are pictures of places where they felt connected to God. Either in their spirit, or through Him showing them something, or through ‘touch’ in some way. They are places where they would like others to walk. They were selected prayerfully.
The overall landscape was a picture that formed when I saw all of the submissions and wondered how best to lay them out. It was created in PowerPoint, and pasted in place. The idea is that people can gently follow a path. On the path, they tarry over the images that they themselves feel a connection with. Where they do sense a connection, they can zoom in so that the image fills the screen. They can use that picture to reflect on how it might have been used by God to bless others. And to seek whether He is using it to reach us too. Also along the paths are scripture verses, embedded YouTube videos of pieces of music, words, and poems. Each of which have been submitted by participants to bless themselves and others.
Spirituality is helped by ‘taking time’
People can follow paths individually, or they can form small groups using Zoom. In this way, they can share their experiences and insights for each other as they walk.
Of course people also have the option to use this time in isolated reflection. (As they can use any time on the retreat.) It may seem strange to do this, since it could be done at any time, retreat or no. However, there is something special about knowing that in parallel there are others doing the same thing in different ways. Perhaps it a sense of their love for you that makes it all the more powerful. Something about knowing that they are praying and hoping for you to make progress on your own journey.
Re-gathering and Listening Groups
After this ‘walk’ time, the retreat regathers in the circle to share any insights and blessings that emerged for people – and there always is.
Finally the retreat breaks up into Listening Groups of three or four people. These are created as breakout groups in Zoom, and they have a specific area of the Conceptboard that is hyperlinked to their breakout room name. This means that that particular group is in their own visual and audio space, private from everybody else.Listening Groups are a wonderful experience. They focus on one participant at a time in silent prayer – each time asking God to share something, a verse, a picture, or a story, for that person. They are deeply personal, and there are nearly always tears – good tears, not bad tears. The silent prayer runs for about 10-15 minutes. We then have a time of sharing. Each listener will share what they saw or heard, and provide these as sticky notes to the person being listened for. The person being listened to then responds with how that fits in for their particular journey at this time, They then state what they would like prayer for around that, and the group then prays for them. The group then moves their focus to the next participant.
In many ways Zoom provides the facility for everything that happens in the Listening Group sessions on physical retreats. But Zoom also has the added advantage that each participant can record the session, and listen again at a subsequent time. Retreatants can use the Conceptboard spaces to add sticky notes for the images, verses and words. And each individual can take these away from the session. Listening Groups are confidential to the four people involved, and so they clear any content away at the end.
The opportunity to return to the online spiritual retreat
There is then a final review in the large circle, and people leave the retreat. In every case they leave with a greater sense of connection and purpose. But the space remains. Password protected, and available for any of the retreatants to return whenever they feel it will be helpful to tap back into what they saw, heard and felt at that time. A holy place.While the illustrations above are specific to a Christian retreat, our belief is that God loves EVERYONE equally. Our sacrifice is to be a practical incarnation of that love. Yes, I know we often don’t do it particularly well, but that shouldn’t stop us from trying to get better at it. However the point is, that we believe God reaches out to everyone, albeit in different ways – a sense of the infinite, a feeling of a connection with something/somebody beyond ourselves, a belief that there is so much more, and a desire to make a difference.
God doesn’t play favourites
So, even if you feel that I am misguided about its source, I know that if your have read this far, you will be able to relate to the underlying experiences and hopes. And I know that your own spiritual retreat will be your own way of better connecting with that. And so I offer all of the above as a means to help you to pursue that. If you would like to see the layout of the retreat firsthand, we have created a blank copy of the online spiritual retreat for you to explore. Please be aware it is a big file and takes a while to fully populate.
While the pictures and the words may be different, the circle space, the lunch, the spiritual walk, and the listening circles are all ways for people to collectively connect with something much bigger than themselves and their our own existence – whatever you understand that to be for you and your community. And I hope that what I have shared will help you to do that in some way. Because, when we humbly enquire in this way, and when that enquiry solicits a reply of affirmation and hope, then we stop focusing on ourselves. And most of the ills in this world currently arise from a focus on ourselves, and we need to move beyond this if we are to survive.
This is a bit of a departure for the toolchest, but if this works for you, please share it with others. And if you discover ways to improve it, I would be immensely grateful if you would share it back to me.
Does it work?
The virtual retreat space that was created enabled me to have time to deeply connect with the Lord, others and myself. During this time of confusion and uncertainty, I had moments of clarity, challenge and confirmation. This helped me feel more grounded and confident to step away from those things that are hindering me and step into those things I am being called towards. I am full of gratitude for having had the opportunity to share in this type of retreat experience!
Jani Rubery
I was amazed at how effective the day was as a retreat experience – in some ways it was even more focused than actually being together at a monastery. It was really enjoyable and the “walks” , complete with beautiful views, were just lovely and genuinely reflective. It is wonderful to be able to revisit them quietly after the event.
Jeremy Clare
I have shared some of my experience with some friends, fellow travellers in Christ, and they have been staggered by the effect this retreat has had on me.
Janette Green
Acknowledgement: The model for retreating that forms the basis of this online virtual retreat has been developed by Waverley over many years.
Track your progress to ensure the efficacy of this strategy.