A Weekend-long Retreat with M Freeman
February 9-11, 2024
Explore, savor, and rest in the numinous through this weekend-long retreat with contemplative guide, media artist, and writer, M Freeman.
During this spacious weekend participants will be invited to write, share reflections and insights, and enjoy lots of solo time. All this wonder happens along the Washington State coast at the fabulous Sou’wester Lodge and Vintage Travel Trailer Resort.
Retreat starts Friday, February 9th at 7pm and wraps up Sunday, February 11th by 11am.
Retreat registration is on a sliding scale starting at $325.00.
The retreat fee does not cover lodging. Book your room, cabin or vintage trailer directly with the Sou’wester. Be sure to let them know you are participating in the Contemplative Rest retreat and ask for all the available discounts. Additional discounts are offered for additional nights before and after the retreat!
In-person only at the beloved Sou’wester Lodge on the edge of the Pacific in Seaview, Washington.
Inspired by decades of heart-centered contemplative practices and by Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh’s mindfulness teaching that rest is our most basic peace work, Freeman’s Contemplative Rest nurtures awe as a profoundly fortifying, embodied resource.
We’ve all had unforgettable experiences of awe. Maybe it was at the ocean, or on a mountain. In a hospital room or with your cat, your pup, your child. Beholding a flock of birds, finding yourself in moonlight, among the vibratory buzz of honey bees, lying on the earth, the sound of a loved one, or emerging from a long, hard, dark night. Freeman will lead participants through exploring, honoring and savoring lived moments, and then guide folks into reverent, somatic, contemplative rest.
How does Contemplative Rest help make peace?
This is where contemplative practice becomes an art. An imaginative space. A healing space. A personally transcendent space. Operating from the notion that we can make profound change within our own hearts and bodies, Freeman (who reckons with complex post-traumatic stress) creatively engages awe as a gentle antidote to anxiety, fear, and a range of personal challenges. In this third iteration of the Contemplative Rest retreat, in light of these deeply troubled times worldwide and here in the USA in this unfolding election year, Freeman will invoke the art of Contemplative Rest in recognition of the notion that “The essence of the violence of the world is in our hearts” and put our communal practice in the context of healing and softening our own hearts in service of collective good, for the benefit of all. This work is not about us alone, rather, it’s about us all. To engage contemplative practice communally is a force multiplier. Simply put, Thich Nhat Hanh tells us, “The collective energy generated on such occasions is a gift that we can offer ourselves, one another, the city, and the world.” Imagine.
Retreat Schedule (watch for updates)
Bolded days/times are scheduled group gatherings
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- Friday Feb 9th | 4:00pm | Sou’wester check-in begins
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- Optional on Fri, Feb 9th | 5:00-7:00pm | M’s Cinema Divina films screening in Sou’wester’s Microcinema Red Bus Theater
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- Fri, Feb 9th | 7:00-8:30pm | Opening Gathering & Rest Preparation
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- Saturday, Feb 10th | 10:00-11:30am | Explore, Savor & Communal Contemplative Rest; Discussion
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- Optional on Saturday, Feb 10th | 11:30am-2pm | M’s Cinema Divina films screening in Sou’wester’s Microcinema Red Bus Theater
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- Optional on Saturday, one-on-one 20-minute Sessions | 12-1pm | Contemplative Guidance (schedule in advance of retreat, notify M)
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- Saturday, Feb 10th | 2:00-3:30pm | Explore, Savor & Communal Contemplative Rest; Discussion
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- Optional on Saturday, Feb 10th | 3:30-5:00pm | M’s Cinema Divina films screening in Sou’wester’s Microcinema Red Bus Theater
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- Optional on Saturday, one-on-one 20-minute Sessions | 4:00-5:00pm | Contemplative Guidance (schedule in advance of retreat, notify M)
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- Saturday, Feb 10th | 5:00-6:15pm | Communal Contemplative Rest & Reflections
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- Saturday, Feb 10th | 6:45-8:30pm | Potluck! Bring food to share: take-out or homemade and nonalcoholic beverages that meet your dietary/health needs.
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- Sunday, Feb 11th | 9:00-10:30am | Contemplative Rest & Closing Insights, Wishes & Intentions
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- Optional on Sunday, Feb 11th | 10:30-11;30am | M’s Cinema Divina films screening in Sou’wester’s Microcinema Red Bus Theater
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- Optional on Sunday, one-on-one 20-minute Sessions | 11:00am-12pm | Contemplative Guidance (schedule in advance of retreat, notify M)
Watch a little video of M talking about Contemplative Rest.
RETREAT REGISTRATION HERE. Retreat fee is on a sliding scale starting at $325-$500. Lodging not included.
RESERVE YOUR LODGING DIRECTLY THROUGH THE SOU’WESTER. Book your room, cabin or vintage trailer directly with the Sou’wester. Be sure to let them know you are participating in the Contemplative Rest retreat and ask for all the available discounts.. Plus additional discounts for nights added before/after the retreat. Consider extending your stay!
Sou’Wester Lodge
3728 J Place
Seaview, Wa 98644
(360) 642-2542
Questions? Write: marefreeman at gmail dot com or use this form.
A few notes:
About the “numinous” – what some might call the Divine, others might call Creator, Presence, God or Goddess, the Mystery, I like to call the numinous. I first encountered the word, numinous, some years ago in The Idea of the Holy (published in 1923) written by Christian theologian and philosopher, Rudolf Otto (1869-1937) The book is an exploration into religious experience that transcends dogma, morality, and rationality, Otto coined the word numinousfrom the Latin numen (the Divine) and omen (a happening believed to be a sign). He explains the numinous as non-rational, mysterious…the thrill of awe…rapture and exaltation; a state irreducible to any other; a state that cannot be strictly defined; it cannot be taught, one must be guided and led on by consideration and discussion of the matter until they reach the point at which ‘the numinous’ begins to stir, to start into life and into consciousness…evoked, awakened in the mind (p. 7). For me, the idea of “the numinous” is powerfully liberating.
About “The essence of the violence of the world is in our hearts” – was said by James Finley in Turning to the Mystics, a podcast by the Center for Action and Contemplation. It’s in season 2, (John of the Cross), episode 6, dialogue 2, That line grabbed hold of me and hasn’t let go. It’s a line that, for me, ties directly to Contemplative Rest as a peacemaking practice, a gentle practice that increases capacity for compassion (self-compassion and compassion for others) cultivating an inner peace, the kind of personal peace that might be foundational and necessary work for each of us committed to fostering world peace.
About M Freeman
Media artist, writer, contemplative, spiritual director, and independent scholar, M Freeman works at the intersections of reckoning and resiliency, queerness and film, and contemplative, creative and social art practices. Author of The Illuminated Space: A Personal Theory and Contemplative Practice of Media Art (The 3rd Thing, 2020/winner of the Nautilus Book Award Gold Medal for Creativity & Innovation) and creator of Cinema Divina (short films for contemplative practice), Freeman is the founder of Contemplative Rest: Exploring, Savoring & Resting in the Numinous; and co-curator of Good Symptom: A Serial Anthology of Time-based Disturbances. Their text and media arts essays have been published in or at The Fourth Genre, Ninth Letter, TriQuarterly, Blackbird, Rolling Stone, Abbey of the Arts, and Good Symptom. Their films are screened on PBS and in galleries, spirituality centers and festivals worldwide.
