A new season at Community of Spiritual Practice

As the seasons change, so do we! Community of Spiritual Practice is always evolving and changing, working to meet the needs of our community (that's you!).

Last a couple weekends ago, we met to talk about what's working, what isn't, and what changes we should make (if any) to how we are doing things. Here's what's changing and what's staying the same:

Changing:

• Our weekly pattern will be changing a bit.

  • 1st Thursday -- Community Practice

    • A member of the community will teach/lead a discussion on a spiritual practice or ritual that works with most belief systems for the community to try out for a month, then we will reflect back on that practice at the end of the month.

  • 2nd Thursday -- In Depth Learning

    • This will be a series for going deeper into a topic and monthly attendance will be required if you want to all of the practices. There are some things we would like to teach that require knowledge and practice of multiple skills before we can dive in. For example, we would love to teach connection with guides, but that can't happen unless we are confident people have solid practices in regular energy hygiene and protection, have an understanding of how they experience spirit, and are regularly practicing. That will be the focus of our series this year for 8 weeks. We can schedule catch-ups for folk, but we don't find it to be responsible practice to work with people on connecting with their guides unless we know they have a practice in clearing, protection, and listening.

  • 3rd Thursday -- Community skill/knowledge share

    • So many of you have fantastic spiritual practices and areas of knowledge and we would love for you to share them with the community. This is the night for you to share a practice you've had for years or a recent hyperfixation.

  • 4th Thursday -- Chill together

    • Sometimes it's nice to just have a place to come to relax in community. On these nights we will have something relaxing or fun to do, from coloring to reading to games.

• New gathering flow

  • We want people to generally know what to expect when we gather and to always get some kind of grounding moment. When we gather we will

    • Have a moment of clearing as we enter the space

    • Ground/center for 5-10 minutes

    • Check in with each other

    • Do the thing for the week

    • Have a moment of sending

• Extended gathering time (7-8:30)

  • We want to leave space to get all of this done and also have enough time for discussion, so we are leaving space for things to last until 8:30. If you only have an hour to spare, that's totally fine, we want you to come for however long you have. We also want to leave space for when conversations or meditations need to keep going, or for when people need extra support.

• Snacks each week instead of dinner once a month

  • When we first started, I was very invested in the importance of people gathering around a meal, but that doesn't seem to be as important to the community. So, for now, we're going to bring snacks each week

• Christian Practice Night Moved to the 3rd Wednesday of the month, location TBD

  • We hope this will make it less confusing for both the people who want to come to Christian Practice Night and the people who do not want to accidentally end up at a Christian Practice Night.

• Possible new location TBD

  • We are still searching for a location that fits us well. We really matched well with the mission of 12 Baskets, but the regular interruptions were difficult. We are glad to have the space we have now, but there are some things about the space that make it difficult. If you know of a space that might better fit what we do, please let us know!

What will stay the same:

• Thursdays starting at 7.

• Focused on building compassionate, supportive community centered in liberation for all.

• Following the pattern of the Wheel of the Year.

• Still a place for people looking to receive support for their spiritual practice in community and people looking to find the spiritual practices that best fit their lives.

Things we would like to do:

• Find more ways to be of service to the community and integrate mutual aid into our lives together.

• Figure out how to better support the healers and justice advocates in our community.

• Find other times/ways to gather to be more accessible to people who want to come, but can't fit our current schedule into your lives.

That's about it! We hope these changes work for you! If you have feedback or other ideas, please email Elizabeth at elizabeth@communityofspiritualpractice.org.