The Secret Garden
REV. DR. STEPHANIE RUTT
The door is slightly ajar. It is covered with vines and some flowers. The latch is rusty. But, you can see through just enough to know that something beautiful, mysterious, known and unknown, lies inside. Like us.

In this 16-week experiential exploration, we will venture into our inner secret gardens. Using books only as resources for supportive understanding, we will enter through the narrow passage with only the ways of the heart as our compass. The mind, you will find, will be quite delighted being informed by that which is just beyond its understanding. 
Each class will engage a variety of expressive techniques such as free-form art and journaling as may enhance the experience and understanding. No journeying, dance or meditation experience required!!  
The Secret Garden - Optional Individual Class Offerings
While participants are encouraged to experience the full 16-week exploration, the program is offered in 4 parts which allows you to take one or more of the four offerings. Each individual offering is $80 for the 4 week class. ​
Part 1: Journey with the Ancients
February 7th - 28th
​Using Shamanistic techniques, we will embody the ecstatic postures first discovered and documented by anthropologist Dr. Felicitas Goodman. 
​Reading: Where the Spirits Ride the Wind: Trance Journeys and Other Ecstatic Experiences by Felicitas D. Goodman & Ecstatic Body Postures: An Alternative Reality Workbook by Belinda Gore​
Tuition: $80
Required Reading:
Where the Spirits Ride the Wind: Trance Journeys and Other Ecstatic Experiences by Felicitas D. Goodman
​Ecstatic Body Postures: An Alternative Reality Workbook by Belinda Gore
​Sweat Your Prayers: Movement as Spiritual Practice by Gabrielle Roth
​​Doorway to the Sacred: Transform Your Life with Mantra Prayer by Rev. Dr. Stephanie Rutt
​The Mindfulness Workbook: A Beginner’s Guide to Overcoming Fear & Embracing Compassion by Thomas Roberts
Start Date: February 7, 2019
​Number of Sessions: 16
Number of Participants: Min 4/Max 10
Day/Time: Thursdays, 6:00 to 8:00pm
Tuition: $320 - 16 week class
Part 2: Sweat Your Prayers
March 7th - 28th
Moving into the five rhythms first offered by Gabrielle Roth: flowing, staccato, chaos and lyrical, we will move into the final rhythm, stillness. The body is the most immanent teacher revealing the transcendent within.
Reading: Sweat Your Prayers: Movement as Spiritual Practice by Gabrielle Roth
Tuition: $80
Part 3: Sound Your Note
April 4th - 25th
Engaging in extended sound and mantra meditations, we will bask in the silence that follows where participants are invited to engage either in eastern meditation techniques, vipassana meditation, or in Christian contemplative practice, centering prayer. 
Reading: Doorway to the Sacred: Transform Your Life with Mantra Prayer by Rev. Dr. Stephanie Rutt
Tuition: $80
Part 4: Cultivate Mindfulness
May 2nd - 23th
Cultivating mindfulness is a way of life. Here we will explore how we transform fear into love in our everyday lives.
Reading: The Mindfulness Workbook: A Beginner’s Guide to Overcoming Fear & Embracing Compassion by Thomas Roberts
Tuition: $80
And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed
And every morning revealed 
new miracles.
Frances Hodgson Burnett