For our in-person courses, retreats, and workshops, SoulStream will adhere to the current relevant provincial Public Health Officer’s orders in regards to wearing masks, vaccinations, and indoor organized gatherings. Bearing in mind that this is the minimum required, SoulStream will also adhere to any additional requirements of the retreat centres or other facilities we use and the organizers of the events. Necessary requirements will be clearly communicated in the event information.
Living from the Heart offers a learning community that invites participants to deepen their experience of intimacy with God and ourselves.
Biblically, the heart is the very core of life out of which intellect, emotions, and intentions flow.
Opening to God’s heart of love with our whole heart, especially in our most broken places, brings a healing integration within and provides the courage to offer our lives in loving compassion to the world around us.
Learning and Teaching Approaches
A variety of collaborative learning and teaching approaches are used including:
- mini-presentations
- short, structured written personal reflections on assigned reading;
- demonstrations
- small group discussion and activities.
Participants will be invited to engage their imaginations with the use of textures, colours, music, poetry, prayers—and plain old fun!
Between teaching times, we encourage mutual support among participants through SoulCare gatherings. The small team of facilitators will provide feedback on reflection papers and offer what they teach honestly and vulnerably, sharing experiences from their own current lived experience.
The Way of the Heart
Opens us to encounterGod personally, integrates body, soul, mind, and spirit, and helps us live out of who we truly are in ourselves and in Christ.
Spiritual Awareness and Receptivity
We explore ways to become more open to respond to God’s presence in all of life and identify what inhibits our receptivity.
Spiritual Transformation
We gain a deep sensitivity to the dimensions of spiritual transformation into Jesus’ image, coming to freedom in our deepest truth in God, dealing with the masks we hide behind, and cultivating spiritual practices that support our life in God.
Contemplative Prayer and Discernment
We come to understand that prayer is responsiveness to the active, living presence of the Spirit; learn ancient contemplative practices; and discover how prayer is integrated into all of life and deepens our ability to discern God’s heart.
Contemplative Living
With joy, we discover that our response to the world becomes a natural outflow of our awakening to God’s life in us, as we love our neighbour, care for the earth and seek justice.
“Living from the Heart offered me a safe and spacious place to explore my doubts, fears, and lack of spiritual answers. I didn’t end up with more answers, but what I received was so much more valuable. LFTH led me into a more authentic way of living that encompasses my whole being, enlarged my view of God, and deepened my awareness of the Sacred in me and all around me. LFTH was so much more than a course; it was a place of transformation.”
—Anonymous
“I joined Living from the Heart hoping to take my fledgeling contemplative practice deeper. The cohesive and vulnerable team of facilitators presented well-planned content that included beautiful and meaningful music and poetry. They also shared deeply from their personal journeys, which set the tone for a spirit of openness within the cohort. Although the days were intense, we had time to reflect individually as well as to share with others. It was clear that each and every person was respected in terms of where they were and how able they were to be open with themselves, others and God. My connection with myself and with God has indeed grown deeper and I look forward to continuing the journey as it unfolds. I am excited by life with God!”
—Anonymous
“Living from the Heart has been a journey of healing and new beginnings. I am so thankful for the creative way that the Christian tradition was offered to me, with both intellectual and spiritual freedom, which has helped me to live into the truest part of who I am. Today, almost a year later, I find myself walking much more gently with myself, others and God. I find myself opening to my day-to-day life looking longer and listening deeper to the ‘teachers’ that come almost every day.”
—Anonymous