March 4, 2019
Forward to a friend.
Like us on Facebook. 
An unbearable loss

Robert Frost wrote of the transition from winter to spring and cautioned that the past can often reach into the present and make the future feel farther away:
The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You're one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,
A wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you're two months back in the middle of March.

So it is here, at the Christine Center, as this month we lose through resignation the incomparable service and presence of our director of spiritual deepening services, Annie Lea. Like Frost's wind off the frozen peak, our past has delayed our season of change.

Annie began attending retreats and volunteering at the center more than eight years ago, eventually taking leave of her nursing career and home in Chicago to give herself to full-time service to center. Two years ago, she became our program director, and last year accepted her current post as a member of our executive team.

Annie blessed the center with an unprecedented professionalism, bringing strength, diversity, and organization to our programming. Her work is the chief reason the center's finances are as strong as they are this fiscal year. We owe her a great debt of gratitude.

Be glad of water, but don't forget
The lurking frost in the earth beneath
That will steal forth after the sun is set
And show on the water its crystal teeth.

Despite the setback, the Christine Center must press on. We are now in search of a program director, and we will need coachable volunteers to help with hospitality. If you're interested and would like to explore these opportunities to serve, please contact me.

Russell King, Executive Director 
Andrea Russell’s Silent Meditation Retreat

March 15 – 17 (Friday-Sunday)

Join Andrea Russell and Sheryl Lilke on a meditation retreat. During the retreat, we’ll focus on slowing down and deepening your meditation practice. Days will include gentle yoga to prepare your body for sitting, several periods of seated and walking meditation, dharma talks, and opportunities to ask questions and receive support. Much of our time together will be spent observing noble silence, enabling us to turn our attention inward and create community based on shared devotion to practice. It’s a wonderful and welcoming environment for those who are new to retreats or yoga and meditation. Click here for more information and to register.
Equinox Yoga and Meditation Retreat

March 21-24 (Thursday – Sunday)
with Amie Heeter, CYT 500
Tuition: $250, plus meals and lodging

Retreats are an invitation to dive deep, intentionally, into a place that supports the opportunity to see inside and listen. We will harness this seasonal transition of winter to spring and utilize tools to vitalize, clear, empower, and inspire. Our days will include breath centered hatha yoga, meditation, Yoga Nidra, writing, reflection, and group discussion- as well as ample free time to explore the surroundings and enjoy the quiet, creative atmosphere. Special attention will be given to cultivating a Sankalpa, an intention born of the heart meant to bring us closer to that which supports growth, meaning, and embodied potential, and actively erodes unconscious thinking and behavior patterns that hold us back with dysfunction and cycles of self-sabotage. May this retreat help carry you into a fruitful season of activation and empowerment. Some yoga experience required, open to all levels of practitioners.  Learn more.
Mandala Weekend: Discovering Beauty and Light

March 22-24 (Friday-Sunday | 10 am – 5 pm daily)
with Sister Gabriele Uhlein, OSF, PhD
Tuition: $60 a day / $30 for half days (all materials included, meals and lodging are additional)
Commuters are welcome. Bring a bag lunch or purchase a delicious vegetarian meal for $16.

Learn how to make mandalas and discover creativity, relaxation and meditation. Relax, refresh and reflect as your hands create circles of beauty and light. Sister Gabriele provides guidance and introduces how to use mandala making as a form of prayer and meditation. No previous drawing or art experience is necessary. We will use artist grade colored pencils and watercolors. All materials are provided. Mandalas make wonderful personal keepsakes to honor special occasions and lovely one-of-a-kind gifts.
Only where love and need are one,
And the work is play for mortal stakes,
Is the deed ever really done
For Heaven and the future's sakes.
--Frost
Awakening a new depth consciousness

March 22-24 (Friday-Sunday)
with Tom Roberts
Tuition: $150, plus meals and lodging

The importance of cultivating quiet and peace has been the bedrock of many spiritual traditions, leading to the skillful return to presence.
During this retreat, we will explore the depth teachings of the Zen tradition (specifically the Hsin Hsin Ming) along with Hesychasm, Kenosis and Apatheia practices of the early Christians, as valuable methods in achieving a renewed depth of spiritual consciousness. In addition to contemplative time, study and discussion, we will immerse ourselves in a meditation method leading us toward a direct experience of the depth spiritual essence. Tom will also be sharing a singing bowl sound experience. As the Zen teachers implore: “cultivating a method of no method." Learn more. 
Yoga Nidra 24

March 28-29 (Thursday-Friday)
with Patricia Wack
Tuition $95, plus housing and meals

"The mid-week, once-a-month yoga retreat is a wonderful idea! It's a great break from everyday life. Everything is excellent. The Christine Center never disappoints."--November 2018 retreat participant

Enjoy 24 hours of restoration and rejuvenation through the easiest yoga practice of all – simple, deep, natural rest. The Christine Center welcomes you to a monthly day designated for health, well-being, and ease. Each month, one of our featured instructors will offer a Yoga Nidra-based program designed to help you experience quiet clarity and calm from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. Join us as we take a 24 hour “time out” from our busy lives to unwind one serene breath at a time. You may even choose to extend your stay and create your own customized personal retreat. Our woodland sanctuary awaits you. Learn more. 
Your help is needed and appreciated

The Christine Center has, over the past year, made great strides forward toward its goal of sustainability, but we still need your help. Lives have been transformed here, lives are being transformed as you read this, and with your financial support lives will continue to be transformed for years go come. Please, let the spirit move you here.
We are eternally grateful for your donations!
Or mail your gift to
The Christine Center W8303 Mann Road Willard, WI 54493
Thank you for your support!
Visit our website to see all our programs and more information about the Christine Center!