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Schedule Change to May Retreat - now Ten Days - May 11-21

Thank you to everyone who responded to our survey gauging interest in a ten-day retreat. Results of the survey were positive and we've responded by changing this year's May retreat from a seven-day to a ten-day retreat.

Sandra Gonzalez and Wayne Coger, who were scheduled to hold the May retreat, are happy to be extending it to ten days. They will each give talks, be available for private meetings and participate in the group dialogues. For those who cannot stay for the entire ten days, part-time options are available.

The retreat is listed on the Calendar page of the Center’s website.

Other Retreats in February and March

February 16-23 Seven Day Silent Retreat

A few spaces still remain for full and part time attendees at this upcoming retreat, which will be facilitated by Susan Schepp and Wayne Coger.

Wayne Coger has led retreats since 2001. Susan Schepp began leading retreat in 2016. Both will be available for talks, group dialogue, and one on one meetings.

March 9-16 Seven Day Silent Retreat

This retreat will be led by Les Schaffer who worked for many years with Toni Packer and was encouraged by her to share the work of meditative inquiry with others. Les will be available for talks, group dialogue, and one on one meetings.

March 30, 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM All Day Sitting

We come together for a day of sharing silence, sitting, listening, and meditative dialogue. The day begins at 8:30 am with silent sitting, includes a talk by one of our retreat leaders, a vegetarian lunch, a group dialogue, and refreshments and social time before concluding at 4 pm. Register by either calling the Center or email.

Susan Schepp and Wayne Coger

Les Schaffer

Kevin, Mark, Marika,Tom

Moving On
Sadly, four of the current Springwater staff are leaving the Center this year. Kevin Hackett will be pursuing a master's degree in social work and will need to leave by mid-summer. Mark Bruno and Marika Graziani are looking for opportunities to live, work and perhaps begin a family in an eco-village or intentional community and plan to leave at the end of summer. Tom Klintworth hopes to retire to North Carolina or perhaps, at some point, Costa Rica. He plans to leave in July.

Job Opportunities

With the departure of four staff members opportunities are opening up for others who might wish to be part of the day-to-day work of Springwater.

There are specific areas that will need attention, but we can be flexible in how these jobs are approached—the main criterion is that someone applying to staff has an interest in the meditative work of the Center and is willing to learn some of the skills that are needed.

Positions opening are in housekeeping, gardening, web site maintenance, bookkeeping/business/financial, kitchen and publicity. Generally staff will also help with projects that are outside of their main area and we all share in work related to holding retreats, all day sittings and other events.

Outside of work there are opportunities to sit with each other, meet in group and staff dialogue, and attend retreats. We are also able to socialize and to enjoy the beauty of the land and the opportunities of the area.

Please write to Wayne Coger if you are interested in learning more about these possibilities and about what staff life and work might entail.

Remembering Mary Oliver

It's long been a custom here in Springwater to have readings on the last day of retreat. Among the favorites have been poems by Mary Oliver, the distinguished American poet who died in January. Toni Packer, the Center's founder, very much appreciated her poems and shared with her a clarity of seeing and love of nature. Many will remember hearing Toni and other retreat leaders and participants reading Mary Oliver's poem "Wild Geese":

You do not have to be good,
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting—
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

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