Alcyon Center Open for Personal Retreats / Independent Groups
Contact guest registration coordinator Jen Harry to learn more about off-season personal retreats at or bringing your independents group to Alcyon.
Soul Friends for Women
Soul Friends is an invitation for women to come together around a small table of light to listen deeply to each other’s words in silence. Sharing without comment, dialogue, or questioning can be beautiful and spare. Stories told are held in trust by all. After the them is introduced, each woman finds an experience in her life where the theme comes alive for her. No one is called upon to speak, but we are all enriched when each woman shares her words of truth.
Readings on the theme of the month are sent out before we gather. Contact Joan to receive readings. No registration required/no fee. Please do let us know that you plan to come to help us prepare the room. Donations to Alcyon gratefully received.
Simple and Silent Personal Retreat
Simple and Silent weeks are open to guests who wish to experience time at Alcyon on their own. With guest hosts.
Portal Into Sacred Text
with Joan Jordan Grant + Lael Sorensen
Explore a practice that can set your life in a context of Scripture! Encounter Scripture fully embodied as a whole human being! Take up Scripture more seriously than you ever have before! Uncover Love that is rarely recognized in Scripture! See with new eyes the intractable parts of yourself in the orchard of Scripture! Taste an old practice of reading Scripture from the Judaeo-Christian tradition!
Recovery Cornerstone: Steps 1,2,3
An immersive weekend with the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, out of which we will read, sharing our experiences, and eventually taking a 3rd step together.. Contemplative practices in silence and heart woven through the program lend depth and weight to the weekend.
Soul Friends for Women
Soul Friends is an invitation for women to come together around a small table of light to listen deeply to each other’s words in silence. Sharing without comment, dialogue, or questioning can be beautiful and spare. Stories told are held in trust by all. After the them is introduced, each woman finds an experience in her life where the theme comes alive for her. No one is called upon to speak, but we are all enriched when each woman shares her words of truth.
Readings on the theme of the month are sent out before we gather. Contact Joan to receive readings. No registration required/no fee. Please do let us know that you plan to come to help us prepare the room. Donations to Alcyon gratefully received.
Simple and Silent Personal Retreat
Simple and Silent weeks are open to guests who wish to experience time at Alcyon on their own. With guest hosts.
Hidden Seed
Contact The Alcyon Center office for more information on this series of weekend explorations - invitation only.
Spring Work Weekend
Volunteers come free of charge to help with spring and fall clean up—and share meals, morning practice in Silence and great conversations!
Soul Friends for Women
Soul Friends is an invitation for women to come together around a small table of light to listen deeply to each other’s words in silence. Sharing without comment, dialogue, or questioning can be beautiful and spare. Stories told are held in trust by all. After the them is introduced, each woman finds an experience in her life where the theme comes alive for her. No one is called upon to speak, but we are all enriched when each woman shares her words of truth.
Readings on the theme of the month are sent out before we gather. Contact Joan to receive readings. No registration required/no fee. Please do let us know that you plan to come to help us prepare the room. Donations to Alcyon gratefully received.
Simple and Silent Personal Retreat
Simple and Silent weeks are open to guests who wish to experience time at Alcyon on their own. With guest hosts.
Dying Matters: Eight Life-changing Conversations
This weekend we will embark on a deep exploration of what it means to befriend death as a vital part of living a meaningful life. Through immersive experiential practices, and reflective exercises, you’ll develop a new relationship with the concept of mortality—one that is rooted in curiosity, courage, and awareness.
Simple and Silent Personal Retreat
Simple and Silent weeks are open to guests who wish to experience time at Alcyon on their own. With guest hosts.
Hidden Seed
Contact The Alcyon Center office for more information on this series of weekend explorations - invitation only.
Simple and Silent Personal Retreat
Simple and Silent weeks are open to guests who wish to experience time at Alcyon on their own. With guest hosts.
Exploring the Work of Valentin Tomberg
A weekend with Joel Park and Philip Malone of the Sophia Foundation. Contact The Alcyon Center office for more information on this weekend - invitation only.
Simple and Silent Personal Retreat
Simple and Silent weeks are open to guests who wish to experience time at Alcyon on their own. With guest hosts.
Simple and Silent Personal Retreat
Simple and Silent weeks are open to guests who wish to experience time at Alcyon on their own. With guest hosts.
Hidden Seed
Contact The Alcyon Center office for more information on this series of weekend explorations - invitation only.
Recovery Cornerstone: Silence, Heart, Earth
Finding the courage to face the world with soul asks us to learn a new stance. A series of simple soul practices brings us to open-hearted presence to the stones, the plants, each other and the future.
Simple and Silent Personal Retreat
Simple and Silent weeks are open to guests who wish to experience time at Alcyon on their own. With guest hosts.
Recovery Cornerstone: Steps 1,2,3
An immersive weekend with the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, out of which we will read, sharing our experiences, and eventually taking a 3rd step together.. Contemplative practices in silence and heart woven through the program lend depth and weight to the weekend.
Fall Work Weekend
Volunteers come free of charge to help with spring and fall clean up—and share meals, morning practice in Silence and great conversations!
Simple and Silent Personal Retreat
Simple and Silent weeks are open to guests who wish to experience time at Alcyon on their own. With guest hosts.
Hidden Seed
Contact The Alcyon Center office for more information on this series of weekend explorations - invitation only.
Recovery Cornerstone: Yoga + the 12 Steps
We will explore basic yoga postures and breathing techniques, and incorporate ancient yoga and 12-step philosophies into a physical and spiritual practice that is accessible to all people drawn to explore spiritual recovery from addiction to substances and behaviors.
Beauty in Silence Week Intensive
with Eric Erickson
Over several years, Silent Week has focused on practices of the Christian contemplative tradition as transmitted through the writings of the Desert Christians 4th-5th centuries), the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing (14th century), Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross (16th century), and Thomas Merton (20th century), and Teilhard de Chardin’s insights on the evolution of consciousness.
Details on the 2026 program will be available as the date approaches.
During Silent Week, the most vital questions are the ones we bring to our dialogue with Silence, with the support of our fellow retreatants. With Silence at the center, each day we will engage in five, 25-minute periods of contemplative prayer, about 90 minutes group discussion of excerpts from the text above, free time in the afternoons with the opportunity for individual spiritual guidance, while taking most meals and our evenings in Silence.
Portal Into Sacred Text
with Joan Jordan Grant + Lael Sorensen
Explore a practice that can set your life in a context of Scripture! Encounter Scripture fully embodied as a whole human being! Take up Scripture more seriously than you ever have before! Uncover Love that is rarely recognized in Scripture! See with new eyes the intractable parts of yourself in the orchard of Scripture! Taste an old practice of reading Scripture from the Judaeo-Christian tradition!
Simple and Silent Personal Retreat
Simple and Silent weeks are open to guests who wish to experience time at Alcyon on their own. With guest hosts.
Soul Friends for Women
Soul Friends is an invitation for women to come together around a small table of light to listen deeply to each other’s words in silence. Sharing without comment, dialogue, or questioning can be beautiful and spare. Stories told are held in trust by all. After the them is introduced, each woman finds an experience in her life where the theme comes alive for her. No one is called upon to speak, but we are all enriched when each woman shares her words of truth.
Readings on the theme of the month are sent out before we gather. Contact Joan to receive readings. No registration required/no fee. Please do let us know that you plan to come to help us prepare the room. Donations to Alcyon gratefully received.
Simple and Silent Personal Retreat
Simple and Silent weeks are open to guests who wish to experience time at Alcyon on their own. With guest hosts.
Beauty in Silence Week
Over several years, Silent Week has focused on practices of the Christian contemplative tradition as transmitted through the writings of the Desert Christians 4th-5th centuries), the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing (14th century), Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross (16th century), and Thomas Merton (20th century). This year, our focus is the practice of what St. Paul called “the mind of Christ” and how we may touch into and live out of Christ consciousness in 21st century society.
To undertake this, we need to be clear about and grounded in our contemporary worldview. We will explore first Teilhard de Chardin’s insights on the evolution of consciousness, then St. Paul’s evolutionary cosmology, and finally the evolution of global, spiritual consciousness in the spacetime we inhabit. Our text for the week isBeverly Lanzetta’s The Other Side of Nothingness.
During Silent Week, the most vital questions are the ones we bring to our dialogue with Silence, with the support of our fellow retreatants. With Silence at the center, each day we will engage in five, 25-minute periods of contemplative prayer, about 90 minutes group discussion of excerpts from the text above, free time in the afternoons with the opportunity for individual spiritual guidance, while taking most meals and our evenings in Silence.
Fall Work Weekend
Volunteers come free of charge to help with spring and fall clean up—and share meals, morning practice in Silence and great conversations!
Simple and Silent Personal Retreat
Simple and Silent weeks are open to guests who wish to experience time at Alcyon on their own. With guest hosts.
Simple and Silent Personal Retreat
Simple and Silent weeks are open to guests who wish to experience time at Alcyon on their own. With guest hosts.
Simple and Silent Personal Retreat
Simple and Silent weeks are open to guests who wish to experience time at Alcyon on their own. With guest hosts.
Simple and Silent Personal Retreat
Simple and Silent weeks are open to guests who wish to experience time at Alcyon on their own. With guest hosts.
Simple and Silent Personal Retreat
Simple and Silent weeks are open to guests who wish to experience time at Alcyon on their own. With guest hosts.
Simple and Silent Personal Retreat
Simple and Silent weeks are open to guests who wish to experience time at Alcyon on their own. With guest hosts.
Spring Work Weekend
Volunteers come free of charge to help with spring and fall clean up—and share meals, morning practice in Silence and great conversations!
Simple and Silent Personal Retreat
Simple and Silent weeks are open to guests who wish to experience time at Alcyon on their own. With guest hosts.
Simple and Silent Personal Retreat
Simple and Silent weeks are open to guests who wish to experience time at Alcyon on their own. With guest hosts.
Soul Friends for Women
Soul Friends is a quarterly gathering of women to listen deeply to our lived experiences. Both old and new friends gather around the solstices and equinoxes and a particular theme, such as mirrors, secrets, doors, trees, patience. Quotes from poets and authors help us prime the pump for our exploration of our own lived experience. Email us if you would like the readings before hand.
FMI email office@alcyoncenter.org.
Beauty in Silence Week
This retreat focuses on Thomas Merton’s mature writings and talks on prayer to inspire our own.
Our main text will be The Climate of Monastic Prayer, a late work published posthumously in 1969. We will also listen to excerpts of live recordings of Merton’s conferences on prayer (1967-68) to get a fuller sense of his personality and his distinctive approach to contemplative prayer.