The enrollment cycle is closed.
Groups begin three times a year.
Join the wait list to be notified first.

If you long to …

  • Pay attention to the invitations and movements of your life from week to week

  • Observe a gentle spiritual practice that keeps you grounded and connected to others who practice it too

  • Be seen by other women who know how to offer presence

Our 3-month weekly examen group is for you.

A weekly touchpoint structured around our weekly examen practice, plus whole-group sharing that promotes connection with contemplative kindreds

4 to 8 members, plus a facilitator

60 minutes per week

3 months for $119. Installment options available by request.

“This group is something so soulful, so genuine, something I'd only hoped before might be found. Our meetings tended to be imbued with synchronicity, often rendering us graced and gobsmacked by the commonalities of our sole spiritual journeying. The experience of kinship was a reassuring and immeasurable treasure.”

—Lisa L.

What previous participants have said:

“The examen group has answered a longing present in my heart for community for years. I have found a safe place to be vulnerable, to be loved and accepted, and to learn from women seeking a new level of depth in their own hearts. Being a part of this group is making a difference in my life and I am grateful.”

—Angie M.

Prior to signing up for the 3-month experience, I had been pondering how to incorporate deep, communal reflection and sharing into my spiritual life. Particularly, in conversation with a spiritual director, I had articulated a longing to work with, rather than against, my more extroverted tendencies in shaping my spiritual practice. This way of sitting with others, the self, and the Divine felt like a natural outgrowth of many other meaningful experiences in my life, but with the helpful additions of structure and intentionality. I hope you find, like I did, opportunities to more clearly listen to yourself in the context of togetherness, in addition to the sweetness of engaging with your companions on the journey.”

—Megan M.

“My experience with my examen group exceeded everything I could have imagined. Week after week, that hour was a soft place to land and share and listen. I felt invited, seen, heard, and held by women I had never even met. Reflecting on my weeks with amazing and like-hearted women was a gift I didn’t know I was missing in my life.”

—Priscilla S.

“My Light House examen group has provided me with something I've been missing over the last several years: sanctuary. This group has become my safe space for holy listening, expansive contemplation, and life-changing sharing.”

—Jen B.

“The weekly examen group gives me a powerful ritual through the weekly practice. What a relief it is to step into this space and know that just by following the structure, more will be revealed to me and released from me. I come out at the end of the hour with a wider view of the landscape of my week. What surprised me was how much love I've experienced in the online space. I imagined that it being online with a structured practice, that the result would be mostly contemplative for me. Possibly distanced. What's really happened is that love has bloomed with the women in my group within the structure.”

—Alice F. 

“This group was a discipline allowing me to slow down, connect with myself and the divine, and notice the deeper parts of existence. Furthermore, it was an invitation, the first I'd received in a long time, into a communal spiritual space that was safe and welcoming to every part of me.”

—Megan T. 

“My favorite thing about the examen group experience was the consistency of showing up with other lovely souls who turned from strangers to dear companions along the journey. As someone who often is leading and holding space for others, I so appreciated being able to show up and be carried along by the familiar rhythm every week and Christianne's gentle guidance. It was truly an anchor and bright light during this season for me.”

—Lindsay V.

  • Our 3-month groups meet weekly on Zoom for 60 minutes. They are led and held by a facilitator through this 3-month period. The first 15 minutes are given to the facilitated examen practice; the remaining 45 minutes are given to group sharing from the practice.

    A private online group space is included for optional sharing between meeting times.

  • We ask members to attend the groups as faithfully as possible, but we understand and make room for the ways life happens—illness, scheduled vacations, unexpected family circumstances, etc. We have a process in place for letting the group know if you can’t attend on a certain week.

  • As a contemplative community, we tend to draw women who know how to hold space and offer presence. This is not an advice-giving space or a life-venting space. It is a space that can hold you in the details and realities of your life and growth through the vehicle of the weekly examen practice.

    Each member is given a chance to share from the examen practice each week, and the group listens with supportive attention, offering noticings and encouragement as the relationships in the group begin to grow.

  • Members of our 3-month groups are invited to continue forward as full members of the Light House community for contemplative women. Full membership includes the opportunity to join a permanent weekly examen group, weekly threads that support your ongoing spiritual practice and growth, quarterly retreats, and other opportunities for connection. Learn more about our community rhythms here.

  • Not at this time. The permanent weekly examen groups inside the Light House are where our members find their deepest experience of community—their “community within the community.” In this way, our 3-month groups give you a taste of what it’s like to find community within the Light House. You learn one of our primary spiritual practices through the weekly examen. You also learn through this group experience our ways of being together and sharing our lives in community. For these reasons, we ask that you start here.

  • Our 3-month groups open three times a year—usually January, May, and August.

FAQs

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