Carving out a sacred space

Carving out a sacred space

Each day in May, Rise Retreats will share one moment to be mindful, to connect with God, carve out sacred space, and to create moments of stillness.

Community members are invited to reflect and respond by taking a photograph of their mindful moment and sharing it on social media using the hashtag #31mindfulmoments.

Lauren Harkness is Rise Retreats’ Founder. She told Insights that it was important that the daily practices be short and as effortless as possible.

“Many of us are feeling stretched and anxious right now, some juggling families and working from home,” Lauren said.

“Carving out sacred space for yourself to connect with YOU and God is often difficult.”

Rise Retreats launched in early 2019. According to Lauren, the mission was, “to create space for women to encounter stillness, to rest in God’s presence and experience times of refreshing and spiritual renewal.”

Rise hosted in-person retreats in Sydney and Brisbane and had a full schedule for 2020.

“Obviously, like everyone else, our best laid plans came to a halt because of COVID-19,” Lauren said.

“The need to isolate physically from each other has created an even greater need to connect spiritually and socially in meaningful ways.

“Thankfully we are blessed to live in a time when we have access to online platforms that help facilitate connection, so we decided to use these per-existing platforms to help facilitate connection and invite people to join us in creating moments of calm and spiritual reflection. In a world full of chaos, we believe that taking moments of reflection meets our deepest spiritual need.”

“Although we have paused our in person retreats, we have brought the key elements of our sacred spaces online and into people’s homes. We are giving people simple tools to create sacred spaces and engage in spiritual practices in their homes each day – tools including Christ Centred mindfulness, movement, and nourishment of the body and also deep stillness and prayer.”

“Our Rise 31 Mindful Moments online retreat has been created out of a time of crisis, but, ultimately these tools are for daily life.”

Lauren is also working on a series of retreats that will be launched over the next few months. Rise Retreats will also be offering in-person retreats across the country once restrictions have been lifted.

They are also in the process of finalising a podcast, a space offering simple guided meditations and thoughtful prayers.

For more information on Mindful Moments, visit the official website, or Rise Retreats’ Facebook and Instagram pages.

Share

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top