Holland House would like as many people as possible to enjoy and gain benefit from our events and our pricing is carefully considered.
However if your circumstances are such that it’s not possible to attend an event due to the cost, do please ask for a bursary application form, either by emailing reservations@hollandhouse.org or by telephoning 01386 860330. Bursaries are limited to one application per person per calendar year.
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Tue18Feb202010:00 amHolland House
Today is a Quiet Day organised by friend of Holland House, Graham Pharo.
The theme is
"Awareness of the Presence" - Becoming aware of "the Other"
In discovering the presence of God "right here, right now" we prepare for that transformation which the realisation of this will bring.
Graham will lead us via a series of short talks and time for personal reflection. Cost includes refreshments and lunch.
Click here to book this lovely Quiet day, then put it in your diary as a treat for early in the New Year https://www.hollandhouse.org/product/awareness-of-the-presence/
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Thu20Feb20209:30 am
One of a series of day retreat’s on offer throughout 2020, working with the teachings of Fr Richard Rohr, Franciscan Friar, author and leader of the Centre for Action and Contemplation.
Led by Rev'd Ian Spencer these retreats are based on themes from Rohr's book of daily meditations "A Spring within us".
Theme for today is "The Perennial Tradition". Rohr writes "The three recurring themes in all world traditions and philosophies; 1) There is a Divine Reality inherent in the world 2) There is in the human soul a capacity and longing for this Reality and 3) the final goal of existence is union with this Divine Reality. He goes on to write "the very proof that you have met with the Christ is that you then see the risen Christ everywhere else" . We shall be exploring the theme of the Perennial Tradition and our experiences of it, or not......
Each day will include teaching, discussion and free time to practice/consider what we’ve learned.
The day will conclude with a contemplative Holy Communion service (optional but all invited) followed by afternoon tea at 4pm.
Cost £40 and includes morning coffee, 2 course lunch and afternoon tea.
To book your place on this popular retreat click here ...https://www.hollandhouse.org/product/richard-rohr-meditation-day-feb-20/
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Mon24Feb202010am - 4pm
£30 to include lunch & refreshments.
A day to set aside in the company of Bishop Michael Hooper and fellow pilgrims as we begin the journey of contemplation and prayer that is at the heart of the Lenten season.
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Wed26Feb2020Fri28Feb202010:00 am
The Yoga of preparation: Wednesday 26th - Friday 28th February
Lent is traditionally a time of preparation for Holy Week and Easter, and yoga can help deepen this time and provide a practice to see us through.
In the second chapter of Patanjali's yoga sutra - it's written that the yoga of action (kriya yoga) requires discipline / purification (tapas), self-reflection (svadhyaya) and trust in a higher Being (Isvara pranidhana).
For Christians looking for a Lent practice, we can interpret these as 1) valuing our bodies 2) reflecting on our attitudes and actions and 3) deepening our faith in God
Using asana (postures), meditation, and prayer / worship, we'll create a practice together that will strengthen and encourage us throughout Lent. Our time will also include some chanting in sanskrit and also Taize style, free time for reflection, and of course Holland House's legendary food. Everyone will leave with a practice to take home and use.
Our Christian text is from Marks gospel - 14:32-41, focusing on "keep watching and praying".
Whether you're a Christian who already goes to a yoga class, or if you have an interest in how yoga can support your faith - do come along. No previous experience of yoga is necessary, and I've a limited supply of yoga mats for those not already going to classes.
Cost includes accommodation, meals and refreshments.
Click on this link to visit the shop and book. Places limited to 10, so don't delay! Yoga for Lent
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Mon02Mar202012:30 pm
Monday 2nd March 2020
Following a two-course lunch, enjoy this illustrated talk on the friendship between Ivor Gurney, Herbert Howells and F.W. Harvey, and how their work was stimulated by Gloucestershire, the Severn, and the Malvern Hills. The talk covers their early lives and their years of close friendship before World War I. Each of the three would find an artistic outlet in music and poetry but their futures would be very different.
£18pp. Arrive at 12.30pm, lunch served at 1pm. -
Thu05Mar20209:30 am
Contemplation.
Led by Rev'd Ian Spencer these retreats are based on themes from Rohr's book of daily meditations "A Spring within us".
Theme for today is "The common wonderful". Rohr writes "only the non-dual, contemplative mind can hold everything in its wholeness, including death and resurrection. Such wisdom-seeing allows you to hold the full promise of Real Life, which is big enough to even include death". We shall be exploring this theme and looking at, for example "you are not that important AND your name is written in Heaven"...........
Each day will include teaching, discussion and free time to practice/consider what we’ve learned.
The day will conclude with a contemplative Holy Communion service (optional but all invited) followed by afternoon tea at 4pm.
Cost £40 and includes morning coffee, 2 course lunch and afternoon tea.
To book your place on this popular retreat day click on this link ...https://www.hollandhouse.org/product/richard-rohr-meditation-day-march-5th/
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Tue17Mar202010:00 am
“PRAYING DIFFERENTLY” is for folk looking for a richer experience of prayer.
Many of us find prayer either difficult, less than satisfying, or have grown bored with it.However the Christian faith has a very rich heritage of prayer, for example prayer ropes, icons, meditation, rosary, nature-based, chanting, scripture-based, and more. This one day retreat explores a variety of prayer practices, and can be booked by individuals with a maximum of 4 people at any one time (more by prior appointment). It's not necessary to come as a group. This allows for personal discussion time with the tutor in the afternoon.If your prayer life isn’t as rich as you’d like it, "praying differently" offers other ways and practices. See and experience prayer afresh, and regain your enthusiasm and commitment to the sacred and transforming practice of prayer.
To book click here....https://www.hollandhouse.org/product/praying-differently-tuesday-17th-march/
Led by Revd Ian Spencer, Warden of Holland House.
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Thu16Apr20209:30 am
One of a series of day retreat’s on offer throughout 2020, working with the teachings of Fr Richard Rohr, Franciscan Friar, author and leader of the Centre for Action and Contemplation.
Led by Rev'd Ian Spencer these retreats are based on themes from Rohr's book of daily meditations "A Spring within us".
Theme for today is "Transformative dying" . Rohr writes "Historically.....God was not considered friendly and always needing placating. God was distant and scary .... not someone you fell in love with or with whom you could imagine sharing intimacy. Jesus presented a much different image of God, but it seems very hard for people to let go of their punitive ideas of God....... Just four days after Easter Sunday we shall be exploring the theme of what kind of dying is truly transformative?
Each day will include teaching, discussion and free time to practice/consider what we’ve learned.
The day will conclude with a contemplative Holy Communion service (optional but all invited) followed by afternoon tea at 4pm.
Cost £40 and includes morning coffee, 2 course lunch and afternoon tea.
To book your place on this popular retreat click on this link ....... https://www.hollandhouse.org/product/richard-rohr-meditation-day-april-16th/
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Thu16Apr202010am - 4pm
Quiet Garden Days (Run by the friends of Holland House)
£18pp to include a sandwich lunch and refreshments
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Sat25Apr202010am - 4pm
Come and spend a peaceful day at Holland House with Marianne. We will focus on experiences of light - in religion, in art and in our own lives. There will be time to listen, to share and to enjoy silence as well as a delicious lunch.
An opportunity to consider experiences of light in the major religious traditions, in works of art and in the experiences of ordinary people.Whether in abstract visions or in the form of angelic beings, light has a transformative effect. There will be time for silent reflection and also the opportunity to share our own experiences.
Marianne enjoys leading Quiet Days. She has written on religious and spiritual experience and on Dame Cicely Saunders and the hospice movement. She is currently studying for a PhD on the ‘fruits of spiritual experience’.
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Tue05May202010:00 am
“PRAYING DIFFERENTLY” is for folk looking for a richer experience of prayer.
Many of us find prayer either difficult, less than satisfying, or have grown bored with it.However the Christian faith has a very rich heritage of prayer, for example prayer ropes, icons, meditation, rosary, nature-based, chanting, scripture-based, and more. This one day retreat explores a variety of prayer practices, and can be booked by individuals with a maximum of 4 people at any one time (more by prior appointment). It's not necessary to come as a group. This allows for personal discussion time with the tutor in the afternoon.If your prayer life isn’t as rich as you’d like it, "praying differently" offers other ways and practices. See and experience prayer afresh, and regain your enthusiasm and commitment to the sacred and transforming practice of prayer.
To book click here ...https://www.hollandhouse.org/product/praying-differently-tuesday-21st-may/
Led by Revd Ian Spencer, Warden of Holland House.
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Thu21May202010am - 4pm
Quiet Garden Days (Run by the friends of Holland House)
£18pp to include a sandwich lunch and refreshments -
Wed10Jun20209:30 am
One of a series of day retreat’s on offer throughout 2020, working with the teachings of Fr Richard Rohr, Franciscan Friar, author and leader of the Centre for Action and Contemplation.
Led by Rev'd Ian Spencer these retreats are based on themes from Rohr's book of daily meditations "A Spring within us".
Theme for today is "Non-dual Consciousness". Rohr writes "non-dual consciousness is our ultimate act of solidarity with humanity and even the doorway to wisdom. ......Jesus never said "you must be right", much less, "you must be sure you are right". Instead he said "you must love one another". We will be exploring the theme of non-duality and the "freedom in Not Knowing".
Each day will include teaching, discussion and free time to practice/consider what we’ve learned.
The day will conclude with a contemplative Holy Communion service (optional but all invited) followed by afternoon tea at 4pm.
Cost £40 and includes morning coffee, 2 course lunch and afternoon tea.
To book your place on this popular retreat click here.......https://www.hollandhouse.org/product/richard-rohr-meditation-day-june-10th/
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Thu18Jun202010am - 4pm
Quiet Garden Days (Run by the friends of Holland House)
£18pp to include a sandwich lunch and refreshments -
Thu16Jul202010am - 4pm
Quiet Garden Days (Run by the friends of Holland House)
£18pp to include a sandwich lunch and refreshments -
Thu06Aug20209:30 am
One of a series of day retreat’s on offer throughout 2020, working with the teachings of Fr Richard Rohr, Franciscan Friar, author and leader of the Centre for Action and Contemplation.
Theme for the day: Contemplation. Rohr writes "the lower-level unconscious mind is completely dualistic, judgmental and oppositional. It always takes sides. Contemplation goes beyond words (which naturally differentiate this from that) to pure, open-ended experience. Consciousness is not the same as your brain .... it is participative knowing"
Led by Rev'd Ian Spencer these retreats are based on themes from Rohr's book of daily meditations "A Spring within us".
Each day will include teaching, discussion and free time to practice/consider what we’ve learned.
The day will conclude with a contemplative Holy Communion service (optional but all invited) followed by afternoon tea at 4pm.
Cost £40 and includes morning coffee, 2 course lunch and afternoon tea.
To book your place on this popular retreat click here.....https://www.hollandhouse.org/product/richard-rohr-meditation-day-august-6th-2/
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Tue18Aug202010:00 am
“PRAYING DIFFERENTLY” is for folk looking for a richer experience of prayer.
Many of us find prayer either difficult, less than satisfying, or have grown bored with it.However the Christian faith has a very rich heritage of prayer, for example prayer ropes, icons, meditation, rosary, nature-based, chanting, scripture-based, and more. This one day retreat explores a variety of prayer practices, and can be booked by individuals with a maximum of 4 people at any one time (more by prior appointment). It's not necessary to come as a group. This allows for personal discussion time with the tutor in the afternoon.If your prayer life isn’t as rich as you’d like it, "praying differently" offers other ways and practices. See and experience prayer afresh, and regain your enthusiasm and commitment to the sacred and transforming practice of prayer.
To book click here ....https://www.hollandhouse.org/product/praying-differently-thursday-18th-august/
Led by Revd Ian Spencer, Warden of Holland House.
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Thu15Oct20209:30 am
One of a series of day retreat’s on offer throughout 2020, working with the teachings of Fr Richard Rohr, Franciscan Friar, author and leader of the Centre for Action and Contemplation.
Led by Rev'd Ian Spencer these retreats are based on themes from Rohr's book of daily meditations "A Spring within us".
Theme for today is "Letting go". Rohr writes "to paraphrase Meister Eckhart, the spiritual life has much more to do with subtraction than it does addition. All great spirituality is about letting go........ we tend to think at almost every level that more is better .... [however] .... "less is more" and Zen has come to prominence in the West as we have now come to realise this". We will be exploring the theme of "letting go", including letting go of the need to be right !
Each day will include teaching, discussion and free time to practice/consider what we’ve learned.
The day will conclude with a contemplative Holy Communion service (optional but all invited) followed by afternoon tea at 4pm.
Cost £40 and includes morning coffee, 2 course lunch and afternoon tea.
To book your place on this popular retreat click here..https://www.hollandhouse.org/product/richard-rohr-meditation-day-october-15/
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Wed21Oct202010:00 am
“PRAYING DIFFERENTLY” is for folk looking for a richer experience of prayer.
Many of us find prayer either difficult, less than satisfying, or have grown bored with it.However the Christian faith has a very rich heritage of prayer, for example prayer ropes, icons, meditation, rosary, nature-based, chanting, scripture-based, and more. This one day retreat explores a variety of prayer practices, and can be booked by individuals with a maximum of 4 people at any one time (more by prior appointment). It's not necessary to come as a group. This allows for personal discussion time with the tutor in the afternoon.If your prayer life isn’t as rich as you’d like it, "praying differently" offers other ways and practices. See and experience prayer afresh, and regain your enthusiasm and commitment to the sacred and transforming practice of prayer.
To book click here ...https://www.hollandhouse.org/product/praying-differently-wednesday-21st-october/
Led by Revd Ian Spencer, Warden of Holland House.
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Fri30Oct2020Sun01Nov20205:00 pmHolland House
This retreat is for anyone interested in the work of Benedictine Monk Fr Bede Griffiths, or in how the experience of India can help illuminate the Christian tradition in new ways.
John Ryder writes "Many Christians have struggled to find the Christ we know in our hearts in the churches where we grew up. We imbibed an image of God delivered in dualistic terms, excluding perspectives from other spiritual traditions.
Jane Lichnowski and John Ryder, along with Revd Ian Spencer, will offer a weekend to facilitate a deepening process of spiritual understanding through an exploration of the Katha Upanishad. This accessible Hindu scripture opens up questions of life and death, and invites us to journey into the ultimate nature of who we are. It provides an opportunity to hear and reflect on the Katha Upanishad, held within the Benedictine rhythm of the day as at Shantivanam (Bede's Indian monastery), with times of meditation and prayer, silence and sharing. Also, opportunities for yoga, contemplative walking in the beautiful grounds, and an Indian-style Eucharist.
This is a unique opportunity rarely offered in the UK, do book early to secure your place. Email Revd Ian Spencer if you have any queries (ian.spencer@hollandhouse.org)
To book your place, visit the shop on this link Bede Griffiths - Going Beyond
Jane Lichnowski and John Ryder are founder-members of the Bede Griffiths Sangha, a loosely - knit community of people formed 25 years ago after the death of Father Bede. (see www.bedegriffithssangha.org.uk)
Revd Ian Spencer is an Anglican Priest, Warden of Holland House, and yoga teacher.
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Fri06Nov2020Sun08Nov202012:00 pmHolland House
International Aramaic scholar Neil Douglas-Klotz returns to Holland House in 2020 to guide us through the Beatitudes following the path to "ripeness".
Breathing with Unity, Living with Blessing
Chant, Movement and Contemplative Prayer with the Aramaic Jesus
This year at Holland House, we will return to the heart-awareness of the present moment with a journey through the Beatitudes of Jesus in Aramaic. Through chant, simple circle movement and contemplative prayer, we will re-enter the state that Jesus calls tub, “blessedly ripe—at the right time and place” We will follow the journey of one of the most profound aspects of Jesus’ teaching, the Beatitudes in Matthew. This is a healing journey that takes us to deepest part of ourselves and then resurrects us in power and joy. Whether or not you have joined in these Aramaic retreats previously, this is a wonderful doorway into Jesus’ native spirituality and way of meditation.
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Wed25Nov202010:00 am
"Thomas Merton's Legacy to Interfaith Dialogue"
Thomas Merton OCSO (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist, and student of comparative religion.
Merton was deeply committed to Interfaith dialogue, corresponding with Monks and Religious Leaders all over the world. Indeed it was on such a trip to engage with the Buddhists of Thailand that he tragically died on December 10th 1968.
Revd Dr Bonnie Thurston is a New Testament scholar who held the William F. Orr Professorship in the New Testament at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary from 1999 to 2002. She is the author or editor of twenty two theological books and six books of poetry, and wrote one of the first PhD dissertations on Merton.
Dr Thurston is a spiritual director and experienced retreat leader, and a founding member and past president of the International Thomas Merton Society.
Holland House is delighted to welcome Dr Thurston to lead a day on the principles of Interfaith Dialogue as espoused by Thomas Merton. This is an exciting one-off opportunity for anyone interested either in Merton or Interfaith work. An expert in Merton, Dr Thurston will lead us in a day of both learning and discussion regarding how we also might go about the critical work of Interfaith dialogue in the 21st century.
The day includes all refreshments and hot lunch and concludes at 4pm with afternoon tea.
To secure your place on this fabulous one-off event, click on this link https://www.hollandhouse.org/product/2496/
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Thu10Dec202010:00 am
“PRAYING DIFFERENTLY” is for folk looking for a richer experience of prayer.
Many of us find prayer either difficult, less than satisfying, or have grown bored with it.However the Christian faith has a very rich heritage of prayer, for example prayer ropes, icons, meditation, rosary, nature-based, chanting, scripture-based, and more. This one day retreat explores a variety of prayer practices, and can be booked by individuals with a maximum of 4 people at any one time (more by prior appointment). It's not necessary to come as a group. This allows for personal discussion time with the tutor in the afternoon.If your prayer life isn’t as rich as you’d like it, "praying differently" offers other ways and practices. See and experience prayer afresh, and regain your enthusiasm and commitment to the sacred and transforming practice of prayer.
Led by Revd Ian Spencer, Warden of Holland House.