Susan Latimer

Chanting is my go-to practice for grounding, centering, heart-opening, healing. When I was unable to do Centering prayer during my 8 months of treatment for stage 3 breast cancer (2017) I chanted. I am a singer, pianist, Episcopal priest, and mom of two grown children, Franklin and Cecelia. In 2019 I moved back home to Southern CA after 35 years on the East Coast. I have been blessed by connections in the Wisdom community of Cynthia Bourgeault’s students since 2015, and started writing Wisdom chants soon after. I have learned much about the spirituality of the voice from my study with Therese Schroeder-Sheker. In March of 2020  I felt called to offer a chance for folks to gather on Zoom and chant together. Soon afterwards my friend Elizabeth Combs joined me.

Fay Cox

Faye first began studying and making retreats with Cynthia in British Columbia in 2005. I am more thankful than ever for the 20 years of study and practice with Cynthia and in this Wisdom community, and grateful that my Episcopal Church here in Santa Barbara is open to my bringing this tradition into our faith community. I am otherwise working on launching a publishing house called Hourbooks, books that take an hour to read on essential topics for now, rooted in the consciousness shift from mental to integral. Time with my beloved granddaughters is a source of joy and love.

Ginny Fisher

Ginny Fisher leads chanting from her home in Columbus, Ohio. She began attending weekly online chanting sessions after being introduced to chanting through the CAC’s Introductory Wisdom School. She finds that chanting is a way for her to clear away the fog and anxieties of daily living, allowing her to find her center and feel the comfort and steadfastness of home that she finds there. Chanting and Centering Prayer have helped her become a more patient, open, and empathetic parent, wife, and teacher of dyslexic middle school students.

Joy Hayter

Chanting is very grounding for me. It’s an embodied spiritual practice that engages all three of our centers – moving, emotional, and intellectual -- and brings us straight to the heart.  I love this about chanting with a group of people—how we find a new state of being rooted in the heart. And when we find ourselves in the heart, all is well, things feel whole, and true compassion and other fruits of the spirit just flow out.

Personally, I find it a perfect prelude to a meditation practice such as centering prayer, and a delight on its own. When I feel a little “off base,” I might chant -- in the car, or quietly in the grocery line or the dentist’s office —it helps me to show up as a whole human being. I’ve been surrounded with music all my life, and have often woken up with melodies in my heart. It has been a natural expansion of the wisdom path for me to become more involved in chanting – leading groups of people intoning them together, writing them, and simply offering them as prayer.  I’m a retired scientist and I live in Northern California and offer spiritual direction, and facilitate retreats and workshops. I recently published a book (with foreword by Cynthia Bourgeault) called The Cosmic Web: Hope For Our World Through Science and Spirituality.  You can find out more about me (and hear some of my chants) at joyfulfillment.com.

Taizé

Orange, CA

Offered in prayerful collaboration between Stillpoint and Emmaus Spiritual Ministries

Slow down and unplug at this hour-long service designed in the style that began in Taizé, Saône-et-Loire, Burgundy, France. This service includes prayer, simple beautiful music, a time for silence and sacred readings. Chants are sung many times over as a prayer of the heart. All faith traditions are welcome.

Third Thursdays, 7-8pm PT
Sacred Heart Chapel
480 S. Batavia Street, Orange, CA

Laguna Beach, CA

First Thursdays, 7-8pm PT
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church
428 Park Ave, Laguna Beach, CA 92651

Pasadena, CA

Every Wednesday 6-7pm PT
All Saints Church
132 N Euclid Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101
626-796-1172

Fullerton, CA

First Wednesdays, 7-8pm PT
Emmanuel Episcopal Church 
1145 W Valencia Mesa Dr, Fullerton, CA 92833
714-879-8070

Torrance, CA

Second Thursdays, 7-8pm PT
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
1432 Engracia Avenue, Torrance, CA 90501
https://www.andrewandchrist.org/

Add your local Taizé service listing here.
Contact April Hunt: ahunt@stillpointca.org