Journey Toward Wholeness

On-Campus Registration  |  Commuter Registration

If you are seeking funds or alternate payment options to participate in this program, please wait to register and first complete our Financial Assistance Application.

All registrations are due by 10/24/25.

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“And you? When will you begin that long journey into yourself?”  -Rumi

In every season of life, there is a call to make sense of our place in the world, to discover our gifts and ways of being of service, to live into the highest vision of which we are capable, to figure out what is ours to do and find a way to do it. How do we discern that call in these tumultuous times? In the midst of political division, war, environmental destruction, and attacks on the most vulnerable members of our communities, we are pulled in many directions and may be tempted to run away or withdraw into ourselves. What can we offer our beautiful, needful world? How can we find the quiet power and groundedness that comes from listening to our souls?

In order to hear the still, small voice within, we need community. Parker Palmer writes that “If we are willing to embrace the challenge of becoming whole, we cannot embrace it alone…We need trustworthy relationships and tenacious communities of support.” In The Journey Toward Wholeness, a four-retreat series based on the work of Parker Palmer and the Center for Courage and Renewal, we will create such a community—– a Circle of Trust®. Guided by core principles, including the belief that everyone has an inner teacher, we will create a trustworthy, welcoming space that honors the integrity and identity of each person. We will experience the power of stories; practice the skills of deep listening, asking open and honest questions, and spiritual accompaniment; explore “shadow” and paradox as sources of insight; and embrace nature as a teacher. We will be invited to consider the questions of our lives using the cycles and metaphors of the seasons, as well as poetry, music, art, silence, and reflective practices as doorways for inspiration and transformation. A centerpiece of each retreat will be an opportunity to participate in the Quaker process of the Clearness Committee. All of this takes place amidst the natural beauty and rhythms of community life at Pendle Hill, which provide an ideal seedbed to inspire, nourish, and deepen this work.

What questions are you holding in this season? Join us for a deep dive into your soul’s journey, cultivating the ground for hope and renewal in our lives, our workplaces, our communities, and our world.

This retreat is intended for all of us who are eager to bring our unique gifts to the work of caring for our communities and ourselves. We extend a warm and explicit welcome to BIPOC folks, queer folks, and other people navigating the world with marginalized identities.

Leaders

John Baird has served as clerk of two Friends meetings, head of two Friends schools, a board member at Pendle Hill and the Friends Council on Education, a religion and a biology teacher, and a Friend in Residence at Pendle Hill and Woodbrooke Study Centre. He has been prepared as a facilitator by the Center for Courage & Renewal and has led retreats and workshops for schools, meetings, conference centers, and churches. He loves working collaboratively to create space for listening to one another in such a way that we can hear our Inner Teacher, discover our gifts, and support and encourage each other in bringing them into the world. John is a member of Durham (NC) Monthly Meeting. He and his wife are the parents of three grown children.

Mariam I. Habib holds courageous, generative space for growth and transformation. She is a therapist, facilitator, and educator rooted in the liberatory power of love, empathy, and human dignity. As a queer bicultural person, Mariam is well-versed in helping people navigate the complexity of identity, belonging, purpose, and path. She holds a particular commitment to trauma survivors, queer folks, immigrants, and people of color, and strives to help all her clients develop an authentic and joyful sense of self. Using relational, contemplative, and somatic practices, she helps people move through difficulty and return to our inherent wholeness. She brings an intersectional and anti-oppressionist perspective to all her work.

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