Writing from the Heart :
A Journey of Creative Expression,
Contemplation, and Connection
with Nature’s Rhythms
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Online Contemplative Writing Retreat
NEXT RETREAT: MAY 2025
Dates to be confirmed: Email me to be on the list to receive first info
A Zoom retreat with Tania Casselle and Sean Tetsudo Murphy Sensei
“The whole retreat was inspiring, uplifting, and energizing.” Previous participant.
Our online contemplative writing retreat is designed to invigorate our creative lives, soothe and support our aching hearts in these challenging times, and help us connect to the wisdom of the season.
We will meet via Zoom for 3 live writing sessions over 3 days for a total of 9 hours. (See times below.)
In these sessions we will write together and share our words in the virtual retreat community we’ll create over the weekend. Creative writing exercises and practices will explore various ways to free our natural flow of expression, bypass our inner critic, express our authentic inner voice and access our true source of creativity.
We’ll draw on mindfulness and other contemplative practices to help us drop below the surface of our busy lives to connect with the deeper river that flows and sustains us. In these times, it’s more important than ever to keep a sense of balance and inner awareness, so these practices will not only stimulate the creative process, but help us center and ground ourselves.
We’ll connect to the taproot of our hearts to express via the intimacy of the page our grief, anger, fears, hopes and love for a world that sometimes seems bewildering.
This is the first in a series of four quarterly retreats in 2025, designed to harmonize with the turning of the seasons and draw on the wisdom of the natural world. A seasonal rhythm pulses beneath the noise and busyness of our modern life… a continuous drum beat… a heartbeat calling us home. However, it is too easy to lose touch with that heartbeat in our fast-paced world.
Can we maintain a deeper connection to our own hearts and the heart of the natural world amid the noise and polarities of the media and social media?
Come join us and sip from the wisdom of the seasons, whether you join for just one retreat or all four! (Dates for the May, August and November retreats to be confirmed.)
Our emphasis is on the creative process, in a supportive and inspiring atmosphere. We will not be critiquing your writing. And if you don’t want to share your writing with the group by reading out loud, that’s fine too. Beginner writers and experienced writers are equally welcome… we just ask you to bring your open hearts and willing minds, a notebook and a pen!
** Participants from previous retreats may recognize some of the foundational practices that we share, but other elements will be new to you. **
HOW IT WORKS:
- We will meet by Zoom video calls.
- This is a live group experience, no part of the retreat is prerecorded.
- To create a sense of community, we ask you to attend at least 2 out of the 3 sessions.
- If you have to miss a session you will receive a recording that you can access for 30 days.
“I loved connecting with other writers and there was a genuine atmosphere of trust
with one another that allowed us all to feel safe,
which gave us the courage to share our work.” A previous participant.
SCHEDULE of 3 sessions over 3 days:
Friday February 7 :
6 pm – 8:30 pm Eastern Time
(5 pm – 7:30 pm Central / 4 pm – 6:30 pm Mountain / 3 pm – 5:30 pm Pacific / 11 pm – 1:30 am UK)
* Note for UK writers – we know this is late for you to attend live! However, we will send you the recording of the Friday session immediately after we end that evening, so you can watch it on your Saturday morning and then join us live for the remaining Saturday and Sunday sessions which are convenient for UK time.)
Saturday February 8 and Sunday February 9:
11 am – 2:15 pm Eastern Time
(10 am 1:15 pm Central / 9 am – 12:15 pm Mountain / 8 – 11:15 am Pacific / 4 – 7:15 pm UK)
Optional Extra: Arrive early on Saturday and Sunday for optional meditation starting 15 minutes before the session formally begins, led by Sean Tetsudo Murphy Sensei.
Or convert to your time zone using New York in the bottom right box to compare your local time to Eastern Time.
Read about the instructors here
FEE:
Please choose your own fee along this sliding scale according to your means: Between $210 – $360.
A sliding scale allows people with more limited assets to participate, while writers with more financial latitude can find a figure that suits their means.
Your generosity also allows us to offer low income spaces in our courses.
We also have two spaces at $75 for low income writers. (Note: You do not need to prove that you are on a low income. Just say you want that space and it’s yours.)
We do not want budget to be a barrier to joining us! So if the $210 – $360 sliding scale is too much for you but you don’t need a low income space, please choose your own fee between $75 and $210.
Spaces are limited, register soon!
REGISTER HERE TO JOIN US ← Click link for Registration Form
OTHER COMMENTS FROM WRITERS IN OUR PREVIOUS ZOOM RETREATS:
“The exercises helped me to forget about my concerns and just write.”
“I loved the content. It was always engaging and the writing exercises were challenging yet fun.”
“Broke through my writing block as I hoped.”
“Tying things in with the seasons gave a unique perspective and an added layer of depth to everything I learned. There was more wisdom given through this course than I could’ve imagined possible.”
“I am thrilled that I came away with a pretty firm idea for a new project.”
“It broke some through some sort of tightness I’d acquired by not being able to meet with other writers.”
“You are both excellent teachers, knowledgeable on the craft of writing, expert facilitators and this just shined during the 4 days. You both have a truly beautiful presence and the retreat was superb on every level.”
REGISTER AT THIS LINK TO JOIN US
If these dates don’t work for you but you would like to be alerted when we offer this retreat next time, please email us at: MurphyCasselleWriteNow@gmail.com.
THE INSTRUCTORS
Tania Casselle has been a writer and editor for 20+ years, published in numerous books, magazines, newspapers and online media in the US, Europe and Asia. She is a former committee chair for the American Society of Journalists & Authors. Her nonfiction, fiction, poetry and radio work have been recognized in numerous awards and anthologies. As a writing coach and teacher, she works with people individually and in group seminars in person and online. She holds a Masters in Transpersonal Psychotherapy and follows a contemplative path in the Zen Buddhist and Christian mystic traditions. Tania is on the board and faculty of the nonprofit Sage Institute for Creativity & Consciousness. She is an alumnus of the Living School for Action and Contemplation, founded by Fr. Richard Rohr, and serves as a Guide and Facilitator for the Center for Action and Contemplation’s Essentials of Engaged Contemplation year-long course.
Tania helps writers on every level, teaching not just the craft and business of writing, but also exploring the deeper creative and spiritual impulse, helping writers free their natural writing voices and navigate internal blocks. A Brit from London, Tania lives in New Mexico.
Sean Murphy is a 2018 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellow and an authorized Zen teacher (Sensei) in the American White Plum Lineage. He is an emeritus member and officer of the Spiritual Directors International board of directors. His One Bird, One Stone: 108 Contemporary Zen Stories (Hampton Roads 2013), won the 2014 International Book Award in the Eastern Religions category. He is the award-winning author of three novels with Bantam Dell Books, receiving the Hemingway Award for a First Novel for his The Hope Valley Hubcap King, the 2009 National Press Women’s Communication Award for best novel for The Time of New Weather, and the 2017 William Faulkner Wisdom Award for novel-in-progress for his current project, Wilson’s Way. He is the founder of the nonprofit Sage Institute for Creativity & Consciousness, which hosts an innovative meditation leaders training program. He teaches writing and meditation at UNM-Taos. Sean’s website: murphyzen.com
