Gurdjieff for Christians
Fish pond at Claymont Retreat Center, Charles Town, W. Virginia
Thursday Mornings - 9:00 to 10:30am
April 30 - Session 1: Cynthia's journey & Session 2: Intro to Gurdjieff
May 7 - Session 3: Attention
May 14 - Session 4: The Law of Three
May 28 - Session 5: The Law of Seven
June 4 - Session 6: The Enneagram
June 11 - Session 7: Self-Remembering and Self-Observation
June 25 - Session 8: Reciprocal Exchange
July 2 - Session 9: Gurdjieff and Jesus
July 9 - Session 10 | Part 1: Conscious Labor
Session 10 | Part 2: Intentional Suffering
(we are not meeting May 21 or June 18)
All-Cohort Practice & Integration Sessions
May 6, June 3, June 17 at 7pm ET | Zoom Link
Meeting ID: 889 1700 0423 | Passcode: 612379
April 29 - session 1 - Cynthia'journey & session 2 - intro to Gurdjieff
INNER TASK: Noticing Habits
We are very much creatures of habit. We are often unaware of our habits because they are hard for us to see. Many habits are automatic reactions that we have learned through imitation. Habits can keep us “asleep” because we often don’t think about why we do what we do. We just do it.
We have Thinking Center habits (opinions we parrot or repeat); Emotional Center habits (quick and automatic emotions we express); Moving Center habits (repeating postures, gestures, ways we move in the world). Over these next few weeks, simply notice habits without changing or judging. Pause and notice.
May 7 - attention
Continue working with Lord Have Mercy and Noticing habits ;)
May 14 - law of three
INNER TASK: noticing thresholds
Thresholds are places of movement, choice and opportunity. They can also be moments of tension, discomfort, alertness, pausing. On a threshold, we can move forward or back or we can pivot away and stay in the same loop we have been in. Somewhere, I remember learning that we physically take a breath at a threshold, perhaps a subtle preparation for not knowing what may be around the corner.
Whether the threshold is in moving from room to room, inside to outside, sleeping to waking, one relationship to another; the invitation is to simply notice. No need to fix or change - but notice: what are you thinking about? how are you feeling? what is your body doing? what are you aware of in sensation? And if needed, come back to yourself. Collect your atmosphere - connect to your body and sensation and that ever increasing awareness of I AM.
May 28 - law of seven
Seated movement exercise
This week, allowing yourself to choose either the Octave movement or Movement 39. With each movement - precede the exercise with an equal time to settle, decontract, be present and collected. Inside the movement, be aware of sensation in each posture and any associations you may find. Finish your practice with a third period of time to allow your digestion & integration. (for example - if exercise is 8 minutes, you would let your body relax for 8 minutes before and offer 8 minutes after to integrate.)
Movement 39: https://wisdomwaypoints.org/2021/07/gurdjieff-movement-39/
INNER TASK: noticing thresholds
CONTINUE NOTICING MOMENTS OF THRESHOLD - in the moment when possible.
Whether the threshold is in moving from room to room, inside to outside, sleeping to waking, one relationship to another; the invitation is to simply notice. No need to fix or change - but notice: what are you thinking about? how are you feeling? what is your body doing? what are you aware of in sensation? And if needed, come back to yourself. Collect your atmosphere - connect to your body and sensation and that ever increasing awareness of I AM.
June 4 - enneagram
Exercise and movements
Continue working with any of the seated exercises we have worked with. And - I encourage you to watch the recording of the zoom Movements class with Heather Ruce.
Here is the vimeo link: https://vimeo.com/1198433085/161560ec6e?fl=tl&fe=ec
INNER TASK: noticing your Yes's and your No's
Pay attention when you notice these inner responses. No necessarily changing the response - but noticing it - in your thoughts, feelings, & sensation. This will be helpful moving into the next session on Self-Remembering and Self-Observation - two very important concepts in the Work.
June 11 - self-remembering & self-observation
Exercise and movements
Continue working with any of the seated exercises we have worked with. Let yourself be drawn in - with curiosity. Let yourself trust something you don't fully yet understand.
And - I encourage you to watch the recording of the zoom Movements class with Heather Ruce.
Here is the vimeo link: https://vimeo.com/1198433085/161560ec6e?fl=tl&fe=ec
INNER TASK: Self Remembering
Cynthia says that “all the stuff you had to go through, becomes the food that, as we plow it back under through inner observation, through conscious attention, through the capacity to dis-identify, as we place it under the light on consciousness - it becomes the food that allows the growth of this essence into what it was the foundation for in the beginning. It supports the future growth of consciousness, and the emergence of a self which doesn’t exactly live at this level. As you live more and more out of this transformed and transubstantiated essence, you’re living out so something else, which is already beginning to be, can emerge.”
So for our inner task, try to just notice yourself, without judgement or blame. Just witness how you go about your day, or maybe just as you go about a task. What do you notice as you do this? What if you were something more than your personality or your life story, your opinions, your body, your likes and dislikes, your nationality or gender or race or cultural heritage – who would that be? And could you remember this self as you go about your task? What do you notice now?
June 25 - reciprocal exchange
Exercise and movements
I suggest returning to the Lord Have Mercy exercise.
And - I encourage you to participate with this recording of the 2nd zoom Movements class with Heather.
Here is the vimeo link: https://vimeo.com/1202590698/7ddf360e4f?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci
INNER TASK: conscious pause
During the day, remember to pause at least 3 times. Connect with your breath, sense your feet on the ground. Take three conscious breaths. Outwardly, no need to change anything, this is an inner pause. However, if you find it helpful, you can also stop the outward activities. Has the energy that is radiating from yourself into the world changed during and after the pause?
Strive to take at least one pause when you are in communication or sharing space with another person. This is an inner task and does not need to be visible to another. See if you can receive the other fully into yourself. Notice. Has anything changed in the quality of your relationship?
Try not to set Timer or Alarm to remind you of the Pause. When you remember – what is it that called you to remember. May we be quietly grateful to that which called us back to ourselves.
July 2 - Gurdjieff & Jesus
INNER TASK: conscious pause
For these two weeks - continue the remembering in a pause at least 3 times each day.
Connect with your breath, sense your feet on the ground. Take three conscious breaths. Outwardly, no need to change anything, this is an inner pause. As you pause, notice where your attention is directed and where you are spending or offering your energy. And come back to yourself, Remember Who You Are.
July 16 - concious labor & intentional suffering
we did it!
our next session will begin in August 2026 - stay tuned. And as always - I encourage you to keep working with the exercises and inner task. Between sessions, if there is one you are drawn to (or resistant to!), let this be your work. Much love.